Path of Exile Release

[Majes]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that Path of Exile is going from Open Beta to release on Oct. 23rd. I've linked a Gamespot interview with the creator about the things they are adding...
http://au.gamespot.com/shows/now-playing/?event=path-of-exile-2-20131004

Ill try to sum it up so far...
Game will be released on Steam on the 23rd.
2 new leagues will start on the 23rd
New trigger gems that activate on hit
New spells, one of which animates armor off the ground to fight for you
New PVP options 1v1 tournament and capture the flag
Completed Act 3 with End-story boss fight

I probably missed some things, but I'm pretty excited for this release. Hope some of you who tried it out will come back and give it another go. It's progressed a lot over the past few months.

 

[darkewaffle]

Pass.

 

[clok1966]

best Diablo clone going, better then D1 and D3.. (d2 still is the bar to measure from). Nothing new once you have played Diablo, but dang fun on hardcore. Free and the best "new" diablo clone around. Might even fire it up again and shoot through all 3 acts.

congrats POE on going to release.

 

[smackababy]

Did they use all that money they got from the beta hire some people to make animations that look like they came out after 1998 and add more than 5 total sounds in the game?

I disliked some design decisions of PoE, but the overall game was good. I just couldn't get past how bad it looked / felt. The production value seems far to low to hold my interest for long (as is the case with most indie games). I might give it a try again once it releases though. D3 and Blizzard are dead to me now.

 

[Majes]

Did they use all that money they got from the beta hire some people to make animations that look like they came out after 1998 and add more than 5 total sounds in the game?

I disliked some design decisions of PoE, but the overall game was good. I just couldn't get past how bad it looked / felt. The production value seems far to low to hold my interest for long (as is the case with most indie games). I might give it a try again once it releases though. D3 and Blizzard are dead to me now.

Not sure what you mean about the animations... They've done a lot of work on the armor. The spells looked awesome from the start and in fact they had to tone a few things down to help with system lag. Here is a link that shows some of the things people are doing with armor...

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/520629

Im a huge fan of the style direction they took.

 

[smackababy]

Not sure what you mean about the animations... They've done a lot of work on the armor. The spells looked awesome from the start and in fact they had to tone a few things down to help with system lag. Here is a link that shows some of the things people are doing with armor...

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/520629

Im a huge fan of the style direction they took.

When I last played, when Act 3 was the last thing released, the game had pretty poor animations and a very small number of actual game sounds. It wasn't so much the art direction, just that the animation smoothness was terrible for a modern game. I could have probably forgiven that if this game released along side D2, however it didn't.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Sweet. I haven't gotten to play much since GW2 game out, but I will have to get back into this. Enjoyed it like crazy while I was playing the beta.

 

[Unoid]

fun game with tons of potential, but no polish. and +1 the animations are crap. It feels like a 1997 game. Swinging weapons or spells feel like they have input lag and are generally unsmooth and on a 8 axis controller.

 

[Grooveriding]

Cool. Overall I enjoyed PoE more than D3. It's a shame you couldn't take PoE items and character building and use it with D3's game engine. As both are PoE is the better game because you can actually play it and feel like you're building a character.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I liked what I played of PoE, but I didn't like the fact that if you didn't build in some pre-defined fashion that your character was useless in the endgame.

 

[smackababy]

I liked what I played of PoE, but I didn't like the fact that if you didn't build in some pre-defined fashion that your character was useless in the endgame.

That was one of the problems I had with it. Not that I don't mind meta gaming, just that not allowing real respecs only punishes casual players. Plus, the fact that a lot of the skills were <do X % more damage with Y type of weapon> made it really silly. You have no idea what end game weapon you'd be using at level 15.

 

[JamesV]

I liked what I played of PoE, but I didn't like the fact that if you didn't build in some pre-defined fashion that your character was useless in the endgame.

I wouldn't believe everything you read on those forums.

I played about 6 months ago, and made a fire-based Witch with every single fire-based node I could get to; which meant I skipped many life nodes (which everyone swears is the only way to play). Fireball and Firestorm totems with some good gear (5L chest, 5L fire staff - don't remember name), and I could mostly breeze through end game maps.

No, I couldn't just stand there and spam that cold spell or stand back and rely on skeletons/etc; I had to move and keep on my toes, but my build wasn't anything like the standard 'you must spec this way' builds.

Was able to have huge amounts of quantity/quality as a squishy Witch, and it worked. Maybe I died more than the cookie-cutter builds, but not so much I couldn't get up to the higher levels... think I was 77 (been a while so not sure exactly, but it took me many, many maps to go up one level at that time.

 

[Dumac]

When I last played, when Act 3 was the last thing released, the game had pretty poor animations and a very small number of actual game sounds. It wasn't so much the art direction, just that the animation smoothness was terrible for a modern game. I could have probably forgiven that if this game released along side D2, however it didn't.

I don't agree. The animations aren't amazing, but I think most of what you are talking about in terms of responsiveness is intentional. A beginning character is meant to be clunky, similar to D2.

As your character levels up and becomes stronger, your attack speed and movement speed increase, creating a more fluid feeling while playing. By the end of the first difficulty, my characters felt pretty smooth to play.

I liked what I played of PoE, but I didn't like the fact that if you didn't build in some pre-defined fashion that your character was useless in the endgame.

That isn't true at all. There are tons of viable builds, and the game's skill system makes it easy to go out and plan your own build - you just need the interest to do so. D3 is the game with cookie cutter builds that rotate based on patches.

Sure, you can gimp your character if you are dumb, but it is pretty hard to do. Unless you just pick things willy nilly, you should end up with a decent character. Your second go will probably be much better, as you learn about the game, but actually my first character (build completely my own, no research done) made it to the endgame and was very self-sufficient.

 

[Dumac]

That was one of the problems I had with it. Not that I don't mind meta gaming, just that not allowing real respecs only punishes casual players. Plus, the fact that a lot of the skills were <do X % more damage with Y type of weapon> made it really silly. You have no idea what end game weapon you'd be using at level 15.

The game gives you 30-something respec, and you can buy/find more easily. I think that is pretty generous.

The whole idea behind the characters and skills is that you are supposed to go in with some idea of what you want to do, at least the second time around. That's a big part of the fun - finding a weapon or skill you want to use and then building a character around it.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Did they use all that money they got from the beta hire some people to make animations that look like they came out after 1998 and add more than 5 total sounds in the game?

I disliked some design decisions of PoE, but the overall game was good. I just couldn't get past how bad it looked / felt. The production value seems far to low to hold my interest for long (as is the case with most indie games). I might give it a try again once it releases though. D3 and Blizzard are dead to me now.

Wow, really? I thought it was visually a pretty good looking game. Looks better than Diablo 3 imho

I agree about the sound though. It's poor.

 

[smackababy]

I don't agree. The animations aren't amazing, but I think most of what you are talking about in terms of responsiveness is intentional. A beginning character is meant to be clunky, similar to D2.

As your character levels up and becomes stronger, your attack speed and movement speed increase, creating a more fluid feeling while playing. By the end of the first difficulty, my characters felt pretty smooth to play.

This didn't happen for me at all. I made it through about halfway into the second difficulty. It still felt like the animations were missing frames or not properly done. A big problem was probably, I was actively playing D3 at the time, so I was used to that extremely smooth, polished engine / graphics.

The game gives you 30-something respec, and you can buy/find more easily. I think that is pretty generous.

The whole idea behind the characters and skills is that you are supposed to go in with some idea of what you want to do, at least the second time around. That's a big part of the fun - finding a weapon or skill you want to use and then building a character around it.

I disagree. A lot of people going into these games don't know anything about them or what skills to pick. Stuff that sounds good starting out, might turn out to be bad later on. I just think locking a player into what weapon choice they made at level 10 is pretty silly. At least 1/4th of the nodes were for weapon specific stuff.

I didn't think the game was bad, I just disliked that specific design implementation they went with. I also disliked the no real economy approach. It just makes trading so much harder, in the sense of upgrading. Nobody wants your bad gear for their better gear. And the idea that I should go farm X number of item to trade for something is just as arbitrary as farming for gold, but even harder to do.

 

[Dumac]

This didn't happen for me at all. I made it through about halfway into the second difficulty. It still felt like the animations were missing frames or not properly done. A big problem was probably, I was actively playing D3 at the time, so I was used to that extremely smooth, polished engine / graphics.

Weird. Maybe it was a class issue? My witch and ranger seemed to get better as I played, but I didn't have any high level melee characters

Either way, it isn't on the level of D3, so that may have been it as well D3 was amazingly smooth.

I disagree. A lot of people going into these games don't know anything about them or what skills to pick. Stuff that sounds good starting out, might turn out to be bad later on. I just think locking a player into what weapon choice they made at level 10 is pretty silly. At least 1/4th of the nodes were for weapon specific stuff.

I can see that, but that design is intentional. The lead dev stated he expects most new players to get to the middle of the second difficulty before (hopefully) starting a new, better planned character with their gained knowledge. It caters more to people who like to plan out builds than just play the game, and it takes some time before you fully understand how the game works.

It didn't happen to me exactly, as my first character made it to the endgame fine. I did still create 6 or so other characters though.

I didn't think the game was bad, I just disliked that specific design implementation they went with. I also disliked the no real economy approach. It just makes trading so much harder, in the sense of upgrading. Nobody wants your bad gear for their better gear. And the idea that I should go farm X number of item to trade for something is just as arbitrary as farming for gold, but even harder to do.

The economy is one of my favorite parts of the game, but again it all comes down to preference. PoE was made with a particular player base in mind, and D3 with another. I think it is good that both varieties exist.

 

[Snock514]

Thank god someone had the patience to correct these confused posts..

 

[JamesV]

The economy is one of my favorite parts of the game, but again it all comes down to preference. PoE was made with a particular player base in mind, and D3 with another. I think it is good that both varieties exist.

Same. I thought what they did with orbs/etc was pretty revolutionary. Besides even finding them, you could trade junk items for some orbs that were in demand (jewelers from alts/etc from merchants).

Much more interesting than just plain 'gold', and you could use it on your gear too.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

PoE is a great game and I hope more people try it out with the release publicity etc
I personally dont play it simply because I grew out of action rpgs... It just doesnt do it for me anymore, if I play an online game I want a persistent world where I can meet people randomly walking around etc while action rpgs are basically single player games with multiplayer components

Either way, PoE has some really amazing things in the way of itemization and character builds etc, you can play the game for months just remaking characters over and over trying different things, just like good old D2... I dont know of any other game nowadays that gives you so much freedom

So yeah for those who still enjoy that kind of game, PoE is the best out there (lets see if that changes with Reaper of Souls)

 

[HumblePie]

I enjoyed the game mostly, but the only reason I quit was the desync issues. Couldn't stand them.

 

[praeter]

I moved on from D3 to POE and find it more enjoyable. It's not as immersive as a MMO, but as I get older with work and family I don't have time for hardcore MMO gaming. ARPGs provide entertainment and quick on/off.

I found a guild on POE to provide like-minded people to party up with and chat on mumble, and for me the game is pretty good. Certainly fun enough to keep my interest and I'm definitely looking forward to release.

 

[fstime]

PoE is very unpolished but conceptually it is superior to D3 and you can only complain so much for a game that is free to play.

D3 has zero depth, it the the exact opposite. While it is very polished, they really screwed up with being able to change your skills on the fly. On top of that, the gear is boring with best in slot items making everyone's character look the same, crafting is overly simplistic, the loot drops are horrible with 99.99% being trash, and the auction house idea sucks (and a reason why all your drops seem so bad, it also makes the game anti-social because it makes trading not necessary).

They basically did everything wrong because they kept very little of what made D2 great.

 

[chadashcroft22]

Really sad they haven't implemented a better trading system in the game. Wonder if they fixed the horrible sound engine they used in the game. When I disabled it I got 2x faster loading on my ssd. And how about end game maps do you still run out of them when you play solo or have they fixed that?

I think it's great they add content but when they ignore huge bugs like these to add hundreds more cash shop effects it goes to show you what is more important.

 

[Dumac]

Really sad they haven't implemented a better trading system in the game. Wonder if they fixed the horrible sound engine they used in the game. When I disabled it I got 2x faster loading on my ssd. And how about end game maps do you still run out of them when you play solo or have they fixed that?

I think it's great they add content but when they ignore huge bugs like these to add hundreds more cash shop effects it goes to show you what is more important.

Money is the most important aspect of making any game. I think it is great of them to make it free to play and actually only charge for completely optional things, like graphical weapon/armor effects.

Each patch that usually fix a decent amount of bugs, add 3-4 uniques, and maybe a new skill or big feature. I think that is a pretty good stream of content coming out.

The game doesn't need a better trading system - bartering is the intended system.

I have no clue what audio problems you are referencing, since I didn't have any.

Also yes, the map system has been tweaked.