Yeah I also find the animations and sound effects rather sub par, one of the main gratifying draws of ARPGs is blowing up roomful of enemies with wild abandon but this game doesn't seem to give the same feeling at times.
Stating the obvious, but this is a beta. Of course it will lack some polish.
IMO while I like the game I think it will crash and burn. They're too generous. They should sell this game for $20 on steam and the beta is so open that many people will burn themselves out playing it before the game is even officially released. They come across as a bit naive.
One thing that is on my wishlist is for the passive skill tree to be color coded. I've spent hours looking for skills that may or may not even exist because I don't know if I had overlooked them. By keeping all similar colored skills' backdrop the same color I can easily find them on the tree.
I agree in that I think the sound was the first negative thing that I thought about with this game. When I swing a heavy war axe I want to feel my speakers rumble in its power. Lightning spells just sound like a small fizzle and enemies die quietly and peacefully. I want to hear those demons fry and sizzle and feel the bass from my speakers.
One thing that is on my wishlist is for the passive skill tree to be color coded. I've spent hours looking for skills that may or may not even exist because I don't know if I had overlooked them. By keeping all similar colored skills' backdrop the same color I can easily find them on the tree.
I don't know about end game, but so far I feel as though I am not super powerful.
I really feel like this game is severely lacking polish, which is a huge misstep in today's market. The art in the game is so minimal. All chainmail looks the same, no matter the quality or level. Even the legendaries I've found look identical. I've found a couple and they look the same.
Fans of Diablo franchise should treat Path of Exile as the unofficial sequel to Diablo 2- the game that should have been.
It's absolutely ridiculous how Blizz took 5 years to churn out Diablo 3 with same damn mechanics (excluding skills), yet the 20-man company of PoE do it all in a breeze in couple of years.
PoE has:
-PvP (why was this so fucking hard Blizzard? Diablo 3 still doesnt' have it!?). See how easy PvP was? It's a light mindless fun.
- Entirely new currency system that's barter based. Took awhile to get used to, but it's actually more efficient than meaningless gold. Bartering actually naturally integrates recipe system too (similar to DII's Horadric Cube).
- It seemlessly integrate's Final Fantasy 7's materia system. Equipments have colored sockets and some sockets are linked. You insert same colored gem (which contain skills) into sockets to use them. Linked ones benefit from each other with endless combinations of skills and modifiers (split shot, turns skill into a turret, etc)
- Potions are revamped with an amazing twist. They refill automatically with kills, so you only carry 5 of them (belt slots). And they are treated like Diablo's Magical Items. You can enchant them or identify them. They include creative properties like insta-heal at low life, dispel status effects, or +70% armor or resist while regenerating. You can also use utility potions that make you run fast temporarily. And of course, utility potions also refill automatically and can come with additional magical properties.
- There are tons of gems consisting of modifiers, all skills, auras, curses, etc. Because skills are not class specific, any 6 classes can utilize all skills in the game! But with careful attribute requirements, classes have flexibility AND retain identity.
- Amazing universal passive tree. All 6 classes share one gigantic map of passive skills. You just start in a different 'root' based on the class. So arguably, each class can whip out incredibly amount of different builds using different gems, sockets, and passive points.
How does this mega gaming company Blizzard fail at following up with Diablo 3?
Fans of Diablo franchise should treat Path of Exile as the unofficial sequel to Diablo 2- the game that should have been.
After hearing some rumors, I don't think we can fully blame the developers. I heard that there was internal pressure from the WoW team to simplify D3. They framed it as applying lessons learned during the 5 successful years of WoW to help make D3 a better game. Biggest problem with that mindset was that the audience for D3 is different than the audience for WoW.
I wish it was more "intuitive" to play, with tutorial and other things. Some stuff just confuses me, I don't know about the purpose of many things in the game. Item levels, waypoints etc..etc..
What happens after the first play through? I mean beating act 3. What happens next?
I loved (and still love!!) D3, but realize that PoE is truly a fantastic game!
I wish it was more "intuitive" to play, with tutorial and other things. Some stuff just confuses me, I don't know about the purpose of many things in the game. Item levels, waypoints etc..etc..
The graphics are *awesome* in my opinion and exceeded what I expected from a free game big time - blows TL2 entirely out of the water! (Haven't played TL2 in ages, it was only fun for a short time. TL2 graphics, animations, spells and many other things: Shiate! No fun playing a wiz in TL2)
I can see PoE having a HUGE, HUGE potential.
But the devs need to make it more intuitive, I never had a problem even as beginner in D3 (way, way back!) wondering to know what to do next etc...this is where they need to work at.
It feels just like doing baal or cow runs in D2. Love it.