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cynan
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Path of Exile anyone?

Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:58 pm

I've seen threads about Diablo III and Guild Wars 2 recently. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Path of Exile? For those who don't know, it's and action RPG and what one might call a Diablo clone. Created by a small studio in New Zealand (of about 18 people), it really looks quite impressive. It's still in closed beta, and while not as polished looking as Diablo 3 (yet), it promises more depth (just check out the passive skill tree). It is also intended to be Free to Play, with the open free beta slated to begin around the end of this year. Currently, the only way you can play the closed beta is to know someone who can send you a key, or to buy one yourself for $10 as sort of a Kickstarter deal (proceeds apparently will go to later expansions, etc).

Here's the website

Here's a youtube review of the beta by a Diablo III Guru (I think this is the guy that is credited to have beaten D3 first on hardcore or some such)

Opinions?
 
lilbuddhaman
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Re: Path of Exile anyone?

Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:50 pm

Put about 60 hours into while waiting for D3 to come out.

Excellent, Amazing, Deep, Rich, Rewarding Item + Skill system.
Above Average Looking, Good Performing Engine.
Poor, Amateur, Simple, Ugly Content / Art Assets.

Game needs more content, but the core of the game is simply as good as it gets for an ARPG. I could not possibly give an accurate description of it's depth without confusing someone...so uh....find a better post about it somewhere ??? :-)
I am jaded. I am cynical.
 
MaxTheLimit
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Re: Path of Exile anyone?

Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:14 pm

I'm a gold member in the game, so I obviously love the game.

My only real issue is they clearly lack resources. There have been issues they have been working on for a long time and are still working on now.

The positive side of that is they listen to their community like no other developer I've ever come across.

The game itself is terribly addictive. I've put a whole boatload of hours into it. There is going to be 3 acts at open beta, and 4 on full release. Apparently Act 3 is just waiting to be deployed. Chris of Grinding Gear Games says they have a goal of a new act ever 9-12 months for the 10 year lifespan of the game. Sounds like a lot of content to me.

Biggest issue they are working on now is desync issues. Being an online only game means this is to be expected. The good news is that when playing D3 my desync issues were worse than they are in PoE.

It's jolly good fun and I hope to see you guys in there.
 
cynan
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Re: Path of Exile anyone?

Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:35 pm

Agree that the content is a bit slim with only 2 Acts. I've also heard they should have a third act coming out in the next couple of months when they start the open beta, but I didn't know they were planning 4 for the release. Are you sure about this? Apparently they have a rough plan of releasing the equivalent of a new act or so each year after release. I wonder how this will work with level scaling... Or if they will simply reset the game each time a new major chunk of content is released (which could bother some of the more casual players).

I started playing a couple of weeks ago and, though I've never played much 3rd person ARPGs (Diablo or clones), I immediately was drawn to the quality and depth of the game. (And yes, it's surprisingly addictive - I can't remember the last time I've stayed up most of the night gaming by myself, but this happened a couple of times during the last couple of weeks :oops: ) They have been steadily making tweaks to their beta builds and it apparently runs smoother now than ever (so you may want to give it another quick look if you haven't played in a while). I also really like that they don't have any of that auction house crap or even a external currency selling which seems, at least form my mostly ignorant perspective, to do more harm than good overall in D3.

I really haven't noticed many desync issues to speak of. In the 3 or so dozen hours (not that I've been really keeping track) I've put in I did have the client shut down twice with some "unexpected error". And another one or 2 times my computer hard locked - but I think the latter was a graphics/driver hiccup). Mostly, it's been running pretty stably.

The one thing that worries me is the Free 2 Play model. I don't see how this isn't going to result in a flooding of the servers (at least upon release) and also a lot of less desirable types that will just mostly spam the chat and generally be disruptive. I'd almost rather pay some sort of a fee up front (like Guild Wars 2 or D3 if this will minimize such issues) - but maybe I'm giving the popularity of the game too much credit. And then then there is the question of how the game will continue to be profitable enough to maintain given that the developers are promising that none of the microtransactions offered will be incremental to game play (the non Play-2-Win notion is noble and good - but just how much money can they make of of aesthetics and upgrades like extra camp inventory slots...).

It'd be nice to see some of the TR ARPGers in there. Who knows, maybe we can try a quick coop game...
 
MaxTheLimit
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Path of Exile anyone?

Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:50 pm

cynan wrote:
... but I didn't know they were planning 4 for the release. Are you sure about this?


Yes. They've said it in a few interviews, and in the forums.

cynan wrote:
Apparently they have a rough plan of releasing the equivalent of a new act or so each year after release. I wonder how this will work with level scaling... Or if they will simply reset the game each time a new major chunk of content is released (which could bother some of the more casual players).


The team has said publicly that there will be no more resets after OB release. They haven't said how they will insert new acts. In a recent interview Chris said that they have plans and they don't want to make all the grinding and levelling people have been doing before the new acts come out pointless. Exactly what their plans are, I don't know.

cynan wrote:
I also really like that they don't have any of that auction house crap or even a external currency selling which seems, at least form my mostly ignorant perspective, to do more harm than good overall in D3.


The closest thing there will be to an auction house is a website and in game trading system. Apparently you won't need to be in the game to make trades. Sounds interesting. I do worry about external sites using this to make money though. I don't know what safeguards against this there are.

cynan wrote:
I really haven't noticed many desync issues to speak of. In the 3 or so dozen hours (not that I've been really keeping track) I've put in I did have the client shut down twice with some "unexpected error". And another one or 2 times my computer hard locked - but I think the latter was a graphics/driver hiccup). Mostly, it's been running pretty stably.


The patch a week ago or so did wonders for stability. Desyncs are a problem, but one they say they are working hard on. I'm hoping it gets better not worse. Thankfully in the past OB stress test things seemed to hold up okay.

cynan wrote:
The one thing that worries me is the Free 2 Play model. I don't see how this isn't going to result in a flooding of the servers (at least upon release) and also a lot of less desirable types that will just mostly spam the chat and generally be disruptive. I'd almost rather pay some sort of a fee up front (like Guild Wars 2 or D3 if this will minimize such issues) - but maybe I'm giving the popularity of the game too much credit. And then then there is the question of how the game will continue to be profitable enough to maintain given that the developers are promising that none of the microtransactions offered will be incremental to game play (the non Play-2-Win notion is noble and good - but just how much money can they make of of aesthetics and upgrades like extra camp inventory slots...).


I absolutely LOVE the ethical microtransaction policy.
I am worried about the general public. They say the in game chat will be moderated upon release. It's hardly moderated at all right now. Hopefully that will make things liveable.

cynan wrote:
It'd be nice to see some of the TR ARPGers in there. Who knows, maybe we can try a quick coop game...


True that. Anyone here can feel free to add me. I'm usually up for some co-op. I'm going light on it at the moment because I'm holding off so I don't burn out before OB release.

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