Path of exile? (Diablo 3 type free game)

Jonny7

Saw somewhere mentioned there's an open beta this weekend, anyone playing this, is it worth a go?

Dcully

Played it a few months back in closed beta, brilliant game,far better than diablo 3, its one hardcore game.
It and torchlight are far better than D3 with a fraction of the budget.

ShadowHearth

i played closed beta too. i sort of really enjoyed it.

It was ages ago though, i am pretty sure it is even better now. Really loved that passive stats skill tree thing.

are they releasing it soon, or its open beta soon only?

Magill

Dcully wrote: »

Played it a few months back in closed beta, brilliant game,far better than diablo 3, its one hardcore game.
It and torchlight are far better than D3 with a fraction of the budget.

I haven't played path of exile yet, but torchlight isn't far better than D3 at all.

I've been waiting for PoE to go into open beta before playing it (I have a beta invite), because im pretty sure thats the last character wipe they are doing.

ShadowHearth

Magill wrote: »

I haven't played path of exile yet, but torchlight isn't far better than D3 at all.

I've been waiting for PoE to go into open beta before playing it (I have a beta invite), because im pretty sure thats the last character wipe they are doing.

I havent tried Torchlight 2, but from the videos i dont really think it is that much better... I know D3 did some major **** ups, but it got to the stage where it is cool to bash D3 and anything that is remotly in same genre is better 150%. :pac:

I am looking forward to this. I really loved the whole stone-skill system.

YouSavedMyLife

Gonna give this a play when its open. Watched a few streams of Kripp playing it and somethings like very dated, the minimap for example. Plus when there is a full room the screen seems to be a cluster**** of spells everywhere, looks very messy. Although ill reserve my final judgement after i actually get to play the thing. Could be alot of fun.

Diablo 3 is a fantastic game. The best game of its genre i have ever played. But the AH really really ruined the game and made the endgame Diablo 2 style of trading and runs obsolete.

KilOit

Played it ages ago, wasn't a whole lot to do since only few maps were available, had a lot of fun though and would be interested to see how far it has come! Threw some money their way for beta stuff i was that impressed

Big Knox

It is rather oldschool in alot of ways as it seems to try capture the feel of D2 as a whole but it goes too far in alot of ways. However from what I've played (lvl 24) it gets the majority of things right.

Itemization, loot, the item based economy and everything that goes with it seems really well thought out so far. Tradable skill gems that can be levelled up is also genius. The atmosphere and playstyle is D2 through and through but I'm not sure on the class / hybrid upgrade system yet. Initially it seems a little messy but in theory you have an insane amount of diversity in there.

Will definitely be putting alot of time into it once it goes live!

ShadowHearth

Open beta at 23rd

does it mean it will be full game out and gradually updated to full game and progress is saved? Or is it just open beta with 1 act like it was before?

I would love some more hack and slash, but dunno if i want to go back in to diablo 3 now...

Magill

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Open beta at 23rd

does it mean it will be full game out and gradually updated to full game and progress is saved? Or is it just open beta with 1 act like it was before?

I would love some more hack and slash, but dunno if i want to go back in to diablo 3 now...

Its the last progress wipe. So im assuming the full game, otherwise it wouldn't make much sense (Maybe the full game is already released in the closed beta, not sure).

ShadowHearth

Magill wrote: »

Its the last progress wipe. So im assuming the full game, otherwise it wouldn't make much sense (Maybe the full game is already released in the closed beta, not sure).

Aye. I sow this last progress wipe. So I presume it's the last and 23rd it's going to be on full blast? If so then I will start playing properly at 23rd.

In reality 23rd is a release of game, but all these devs of free to play games keep their backs safe by branding it as beta. So invade there will be needed major design changes or fixes they have excuse - beta.

So far tribes, hawken did the same thing.

Magill

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Aye. I sow this last progress wipe. So I presume it's the last and 23rd it's going to be on full blast? If so then I will start playing properly at 23rd.

In reality 23rd is a release of game, but all these devs of free to play games keep their backs safe by branding it as beta. So invade there will be needed major design changes or fixes they have excuse - beta.

So far tribes, hawken did the same thing.

Yeah pretty much.

Dcully

Magill wrote: »

I haven't played path of exile yet, but torchlight isn't far better than D3 at all.

We are all entitled to our opinions, to me Torchlight 2 is better than D3.

Big Knox

It's hard to say one is better than the other. D3 had an insane budget and has been in development a hell of alot longer. On paper D3 is the better game but I got a lot more enjoyment out of Torchlight2 it has to be said.

D3 for all it got right got far more wrong and pretty much killed a 16 year old franchise with some terrible decisions driven by Blizzards hungry nature to milk it and the games massive fan base for all they could.

Torchlight while not as ambitious in its approach done everything right and made an extremely fun and suitably deep ARPG so in that respect I would have to agree Torchlight2 is the better game and deserves more credit!

And to get back on topic, PoE seems to be doing what the D3 devs should have done since day one and that's making a game that's a worthy successor to D2. Creating an Item based economy that will thrive on player trades at higher difficulties which has enough depth to keep the game alive for a long time to come! Ladders are back and better than ever and they're introducing new ladder rulesets similar to Dark Souls where players can invade anothers game and kill them for their loot which sounds fantastic!

aN.Droid

Dcully wrote: »

We are all entitled to our opinions, to me Torchlight 2 is better than D3.

And to most of the internet

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/diablo-iii

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/torchlight-ii

The user score difference

ShadowHearth

Big Knox wrote: »

It's hard to say one is better than the other. D3 had an insane budget and has been in development a hell of alot longer. On paper D3 is the better game but I got a lot more enjoyment out of Torchlight2 it has to be said.

D3 for all it got right got far more wrong and pretty much killed a 16 year old franchise with some terrible decisions driven by Blizzards hungry nature to milk it and the games massive fan base for all they could.

Torchlight while not as ambitious in its approach done everything right and made an extremely fun and suitably deep ARPG so in that respect I would have to agree Torchlight2 is the better game and deserves more credit!

And to get back on topic, PoE seems to be doing what the D3 devs should have done since day one and that's making a game that's a worthy successor to D2. Creating an Item based economy that will thrive on player trades at higher difficulties which has enough depth to keep the game alive for a long time to come! Ladders are back and better than ever and they're introducing new ladder rulesets similar to Dark Souls where players can invade anothers game and kill them for their loot which sounds fantastic!

Well. 2 hours ago i would defend diablo 3 a bit more. I really liked it up to just now.

I logged in to play for ****s and giggles. Had my level 60 barb with 13 level paragon.

So i did a big run and made 250k Gold. i was really happy. then i checked gold price... 0.25eu per 1mil. i had 10eu on my battle.net account, which i puted away ages ago just to have it. i spend 5-6eu. bought 20mil+ gold. I always wanted Full Immortal king armor and grandfather since diablo 2. 4 minutes later i had a full set with good stats and awesome grandfather.

So..... i just got back in to the game and from act 3 inferno i steamrolled up to diablo. diablo was pretty much hold button and wait untill its health drop. :rolleyes: Something i could not do in 150h i spend in diablo 3 i did with a help of 6eu in about 30min.

AH KILLED DIABLO FRANCHISE!

gizmo

So you engaged in pay-to-win behaviour and now you're angry because it made winning too easy? :pac:

ShadowHearth

gizmo wrote: »

So you engaged in pay-to-win behaviour and now you're angry because it made winning too easy? :pac:

well, not really. 5eu and 4 min got me stuff that would take me months of playing.

In a way i do understand what you saying, but it should not be soooooooooo cheap and easy. for example in EVE online you can buy plex for 18eu and sell it for 600mil in game currency. thing is 600mil is a nice sum of money, but it is not something that would make you retire and face roll anything in your way. So the ISK i earn in game makes me feel like it has its weight and not useless, if that makes any sense.

Here i spend a fiver and i am ultimate god of the whole game. i was not even picking up yellow loot anymore. 99.9% of it is trash which will sell for 1k. Why would i even waste my time with it if i can get 1mil for 0.25eu!!!

gizmo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

well, not really. 5eu and 4 min got me stuff that would take me months of playing.

In a way i do understand what you saying, but it should not be soooooooooo cheap and easy. for example in EVE online you can buy plex for 18eu and sell it for 600mil in game currency. thing is 600mil is a nice sum of money, but it is not something that would make you retire and face roll anything in your way. So the ISK i earn in game makes me feel like it has its weight and not useless, if that makes any sense.

Here i spend a fiver and i am ultimate god of the whole game. i was not even picking up yellow loot anymore. 99.9% of it is trash which will sell for 1k. Why would i even waste my time with it if i can get 1mil for 0.25eu!!!

Well an important distinction needs to be made here, Diablo 3 is a single player game whereas Eve is a multiplayer one. I'm vehemently opposed to the idea of play-to-win options in the latter but in the former? If someone has already shelled out for the game then, in the context of the Auction House, they shouldn't need to spend a lot of money to get the stuff they want and play the game how they want.

If I were you I'd chuck the money and go back to playing the game you obviously enjoy with the possibility of cool item purchases with loot you've earned yourself.

As an aside, if Blizzard ever do introduce PvP then they're going to have a serious problem on their hands with pricing like that.

ShadowHearth

gizmo wrote: »

Well an important distinction needs to be made here, Diablo 3 is a single player game whereas Eve is a multiplayer one. I'm vehemently opposed to the idea of play-to-win options in the latter but in the former? If someone has already shelled out for the game then, in the context of the Auction House, they shouldn't need to spend a lot of money to get the stuff they want and play the game how they want.

If I were you I'd chuck the money and go back to playing the game you obviously enjoy with the possibility of cool item purchases with loot you've earned yourself.

As an aside, if Blizzard ever do introduce PvP then they're going to have a serious problem on their hands with pricing like that.

Aye. to be honest i dont know how will they even be able to introduce expansions to this game. this paragon leveling system and gold price such low i cant see anything good. Imagine items in expansion going for hundreds of billions lol. Leveling? level 61 + paragon level?

They got a mess on their hands right there.

Magill

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Aye. to be honest i dont know how will they even be able to introduce expansions to this game. this paragon leveling system and gold price such low i cant see anything good. Imagine items in expansion going for hundreds of billions lol. Leveling? level 61 + paragon level?

They got a mess on their hands right there.

They really should have had a more in depth beta, the game atm is so much better than it was on release. Bar itemization and the AH, its pretty decent. Could defo have used a couple of more acts tho.

The actual gameplay imo is much nicer than in torchlight2, it just feels much more satisfying smashing tons of mobs in D3. One of the main reasons i don't like torchlight is its art style.. i just don't like its looneytoon feel. PoE does seem to be more meaty and the artstyle is much more to my taste so im looking forward to trying it out. The skill system looks great too.

ShadowHearth

Magill wrote: »

They really should have had a more in depth beta, the game atm is so much better than it was on release. Bar itemization and the AH, its pretty decent. Could defo have used a couple of more acts tho.

The actual gameplay imo is much nicer than in torchlight2, it just feels much more satisfying smashing tons of mobs in D3. One of the main reasons i don't like torchlight is its art style.. i just don't like its looneytoon feel. PoE does seem to be more meaty and the artstyle is much more to my taste so im looking forward to trying it out. The skill system looks great too.

Totally agree. Diablo 3 now is a lot better game then it was on release. They fixed a lot of things and made it a lot better. I guess AH is just over filled with supply and lowered prices on stuff so badly. Drop rate is still horrible at the same time so it just makes south more sence just to buy stuff for gold. I bough Immortal kind hammer for 65k gold!!! That's just one example.
I love the world, love the feel, love the art style. Everything is great, but economy and trading aspect of the game went to tits. Economy has a huge part of D2.

I just really hope they won't rush out path of exile. I really want it to be a good game. Lets hope simple thing like rare items won't be far superior then legendary...

Big Knox

I can't recommend this enough right now. Have been playing a lot heading into OB and they have made some serious steps in the right direction with it all. For any fan of D2 that was disappointed with D3 this is the game for you.

It is rather oldschool in a lot of ways, as the map and mini-map are very D2 in style and are rather ugly but it's not a major concern. The atmosphere is fantastic and the game looks great especially in Acts 2 and 3. The class skill and passive skill systems can be very daunting at the start but it leads to a massive amount of depth and diversity of playing styles so it is worth sticking it out. However even doing your research before starting you will probably somewhat go off track with your first character, especially if it's a hybrid.

The game still isn't fully finished as of yet but there's a massive amount of content regardless. They have put a huge amount of effort and thought into itemization and the economy and it looks set to be in great shape for OB. Everything in game is a tradable drop, with your usual randomly generated loot tiers, various different types of loot altering orbs, skill gems which can be leveled up to make them more powerful, all the the way to the end game content which are maps that open portals to instances that have random properties and can give big bonuses to item find and rewards while placing random but very specific limitations on parties and players. A very cool system!

Big Knox

Open Beta Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWbXdDpyarA

ShadowHearth

I will defo give this a go. Just going to wait for wipe and release.

Cheers for round up Knox!

Wossack

played alot of this a good few months back, but the wipes kinda knocked my stuffing out

will hold off for the OB though - really enjoyed it when I was playing

TheDoc

Have given it a few goes through the various beta stages.

Interesting enough, in fairness once I got passed the fact its literally a Diablo clone in theory, its pretty good.

Oddly enjoyable, decent streaming community with it, and I've got a few friends I've been playing with through the various stages. PLan to actually play this more in the coming days and weeks.

Big Knox

TheDoc wrote: »

Have given it a few goes through the various beta stages.

Interesting enough, in fairness once I got passed the fact its literally a Diablo clone in theory, its pretty good.

Oddly enjoyable, decent streaming community with it, and I've got a few friends I've been playing with through the various stages. PLan to actually play this more in the coming days and weeks.

Regarding the streaming, it's definitely going to be the go to ARPG for the foreseeable future as the game already has a massive amount of depth and much more is planned! After the disappointment of D3 I'm delighted this has turned out the way it has. It's going to be a major time sink me thinks and the community is already shaping up nicely!

Dcully

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7H8i-V95Aw

DeSelby83

When this goes into open beta will it be in beta like say dota2 which is essentially the full game with gradual changes and updates or will it then close again for a time before it leaves beta?

CrazyRabbit

I'm pretty sure I still have a spare beta invite key (they emailed me to say I had another one a few weeks back). First come, first served.

Magill

Ill take it if you still have it.

Big Knox

RopeDrink wrote: »

Played one of the much older Beta's quite a while ago - A friend in League of Legends casually asked me one day if I was going to try PoExile - I hadn't heard a thing about it so gave the beta a go.

Ended up donating to them as the game seemed like something I could stick with and this gave me permanent access to it through it's development so I could log in anytime and mess about.

It's a solid game - It looks great and they're really delving into improvements over time. Some of my earlier gripes with it in the older beta have since been remedied going by the look I gave it last week so thats always a healthy sign.

I'm not overly keen on the way the builds work as it's all ridiculously huge... Should see the build-screen - You can quite literally take any path and build any way but I feel it'll still boil down to "If you didn't follow x, y or z build template you will underperform" but we'll see how that goes.

I should probably make a few more PoE videos before the big beta opening - Give the game a bit more experimentation while I can.

This is what I touched on earlier regarding the passive skill tree and I agree for newcomers it is quite daunting to see it and start placing points in! However in the grand scheme of things it's a very rewarding set-up for players who put some graft in as it really adds a deep system with a limitless amount of possible builds when coupled with the skill gem system.

It does however mean your first character or two possibly won't work out as a min/max character and re-rolls will be needed but again I think this is a good thing! There are re-spec orbs which grant you a skill point refund so altering of builds can be done also!

Magill

Can you respec ?

CrazyRabbit

Magill wrote: »

Can you respec ?

You can get respect points as quest rewards. But not many. And if I remember correctly, you can trade certain items to vendors to get an item that gives a respect point. (don't quote me on that...it's been a while since I played"

CrazyRabbit

Magill wrote: »

Ill take it if you still have it.

Will PM you.

Big Knox

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

You can get respect points as quest rewards. But not many. And if I remember correctly, you can trade certain items to vendors to get an item that gives a respect point. (don't quote me on that...it's been a while since I played"

Yeah you can't respec in the traditional sense but you get respec orbs that refund a point of your choice. Certain quest rewards give them and they have a small chance to drop so you can trade for them!

They are part of the games "currency" along with the multiple loot altering orbs.

Magill

Thats interesting anyway, really not very noob friendly. I like the sounds of it tho, gotta think more about what points/paths to go.

Fnz

Whatever about providing in-game respec options; will the game be mod-able in such a way that players can 'hack' themselves a respec?

Because, y'know... analysis paralysis.

Big Knox

Fnz wrote: »

Whatever about providing in-game respec options; will the game be mod-able in such a way that players can 'hack' themselves a respec?

Because, y'know... analysis paralysis.

Ha I know the feeling, I've been trying to work out a character build since I first supported over a year ago and I know once OB starts I'll be level 30 with no skill points used!! :P

Definitely won't be modable though, everyone plays online and to maintain a steady economy and fairness across the board any form of character training would be considered a hack.

Fnz

Big Knox wrote: »

Ha I know the feeling, I've been trying to work out a character build since I first supported over a year ago and I know once OB starts I'll be level 30 with no skill points used!! :P

Definitely won't be modable though, everyone plays online and to maintain a steady economy and fairness across the board any form of character training would be considered a hack.

Hopefully the 'respec points' come think and fast. I have a problem with being asked to make decisions based on no information (i.e. how will going down X skill tree 'feel to play' in 50 levels time).

CrazyRabbit

Fnz wrote: »

Hopefully the 'respec points' come think and fast. I have a problem with being asked to make decisions based on no information (i.e. how will going down X skill tree 'feel to play' in 50 levels time).

Then you'd have to do what everyone did in Diablo II. Start a new character and have fun leveling up a new build!
I had over 20 characters in Diablo II, and each one taught me more about the game.

Big Knox

Fnz wrote: »

Hopefully the 'respec points' come think and fast. I have a problem with being asked to make decisions based on no information (i.e. how will going down X skill tree 'feel to play' in 50 levels time).

Afraid I agree with Rabbit on this one. It's part and parcel of the game style! You will never ever be happy with your first character in something like PoE. You learn the game from making new characters and experimenting with new builds and you pass your loot on to each as you go!

In a way it sort of embodies the game. Loot is completely random and you find yourself farming for weeks to get that right weapon you need and it's similar with characters. It may take you several attempts but eventually you will get it right!

Doing your homework will help immensely of course. The game has been in closed beta a long time and already has a big following of hardcore min/max theory crafters that have great build info and ideas on the forums!

Big Knox

Key here for anyone that wants it, only 4 days until OB but someone might get some use out of it:

SHU4W-LFLVV-7NEE3-HHMCV

DeSelby83

Big Knox wrote: »

Key here for anyone that wants it, only 4 days until OB but someone might get some use out of it:

SHU4W-LFLVV-7NEE3-HHMCV

Thanks for, I'll have a bit of time to play this this weekend

Fnz

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Then you'd have to do what everyone did in Diablo II. Start a new character and have fun leveling up a new build!
I had over 20 characters in Diablo II, and each one taught me more about the game.

Big Knox wrote: »

Afraid I agree with Rabbit on this one. It's part and parcel of the game style! You will never ever be happy with your first character in something like PoE. You learn the game from making new characters and experimenting with new builds and you pass your loot on to each as you go!

In a way it sort of embodies the game. Loot is completely random and you find yourself farming for weeks to get that right weapon you need and it's similar with characters. It may take you several attempts but eventually you will get it right!

Doing your homework will help immensely of course. The game has been in closed beta a long time and already has a big following of hardcore min/max theory crafters that have great build info and ideas on the forums!

Perhaps I'm missing something (genuinely). I'm not familiar with how the skills/damage work in PoE, specifically - but Diablo-style game mechanics seem very simple. I don't understand what starting each of the billion permutations (of each class) from scratch 'teaches' you about the game, beyond what could be achieved via respecs.

Hours of 'doing your homework' on forum threads, youtube videos and build guides to get the most from (and avoid gimping) your character, seems like needless busywork - sub optimal and providing imperfect information. Likewise, having to spend hundreds of hours to try 10 similar (but different) builds for yourself discourages experimentation.

An easy respec feature can cut all that out.

Magill

Fnz wrote: »

Perhaps I'm missing something (genuinely). I'm not familiar with how the skills/damage work in PoE, specifically - but Diablo-style game mechanics seem very simple. I don't understand what starting each of the billion permutations (of each class) from scratch 'teaches' you about the game, beyond what could be achieved via respecs.

Hours of 'doing your homework' on forum threads, youtube videos and build guides to get the most from (and avoid gimping) your character, seems like needless busywork - sub optimal and providing imperfect information. Likewise, having to spend hundreds of hours to try 10 similar (but different) builds for yourself discourages experimentation.

An easy respec feature can cut all that out.

I donno, it depends on how you look at it. A lot of people like the whole theorycraft/research side to these games, infact i'd go as far to say its one of the main reasons people continue to come back to them. The best players will put the time in to really understand the gear/spec. Number crunching is what these games are built upon tbh.

Big Knox

Fnz wrote: »

Perhaps I'm missing something (genuinely). I'm not familiar with how the skills/damage work in PoE, specifically - but Diablo-style game mechanics seem very simple. I don't understand what starting each of the billion permutations (of each class) from scratch 'teaches' you about the game, beyond what could be achieved via respecs.

Hours of 'doing your homework' on forum threads, youtube videos and build guides to get the most from (and avoid gimping) your character, seems like needless busywork - sub optimal and providing imperfect information. Likewise, having to spend hundreds of hours to try 10 similar (but different) builds for yourself discourages experimentation.

An easy respec feature can cut all that out.

It's part and parcel of the true ARPG. Respecs are for MMO's. Part of the ARPG experience is making that character that's viable to rip up the hardest difficulties when you get it right and also having fun trying out different builds. You are free to trade and use gear willingly and it's the skill system that is sort of "soulbound" to your character as such!

It also comes down to the ladders and race events which are a big part of things. Respecing characters during race and ladder events would completely go against the entire point of them. Remember you can be be power levelled in these games by other players, it's not a grind to level once you know the system and it becomes quite easy.

Also allowing respecs basically kills the lower level economy of trading items as a few months down the line long term players will have one of each character at max level and lower level items become obsolete! Partying is also rewarded with tougher enemies and better drops to encourage group play. If a new player decides to start a few months down the line and everyone has their one character at max then the early portions of the game will essentially be dead and that can be off putting as the game is quite tough when solo at times.

I know it seems like having the option to respec makes life that bit easier but it would change the dynamic of the game so much. I don't want to sound cheeky but if you do play PoE and stick with it I bet you will change your mind down the line!

Big Knox

Lads I have one more beta key, was keeping it for a friend but he hasn't been around in a few days and there's only 4 days of closed beta left so let me know if anyone wants it!

CrazyRabbit

Fnz wrote: »

Perhaps I'm missing something (genuinely). I'm not familiar with how the skills/damage work in PoE, specifically - but Diablo-style game mechanics seem very simple. I don't understand what starting each of the billion permutations (of each class) from scratch 'teaches' you about the game, beyond what could be achieved via respecs.

Hours of 'doing your homework' on forum threads, youtube videos and build guides to get the most from (and avoid gimping) your character, seems like needless busywork - sub optimal and providing imperfect information. Likewise, having to spend hundreds of hours to try 10 similar (but different) builds for yourself discourages experimentation.

An easy respec feature can cut all that out.

If you play as the Shadow class, you can spec for swords, claws, or bows. Each play very differently.
In the passive skill tree, there are certain skills which give huge boosts to various things. Choosing one path over another to select these high value passive skills can completely alter your character.

And it's the same for the other 5 classes. This game plays like D2, but it has so much more depth and customisation.

Big Knox

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

If you play as the Shadow class, you can spec for swords, claws, or bows. Each play very differently.
In the passive skill tree, there are certain skills which give huge boosts to various things. Choosing one path over another to select these high value passive skills can completely alter your character.

And it's the same for the other 5 classes. This game plays like D2, but it has so much more depth and customisation.

What are you planning on rolling for OB? Do you have a build in mind? I'm still undecided. I didn't play enough to really get to grips with each class but I kind of wish I did go a bit deeper now.

I was thinking flicker strike dagger shadow but the CI nerf has me worried now so I may just go Witch for a safe first run!