Path of Exile- f2p arpg goes open beta 1/23

[Human Snorenado]

Sup bitches, this is Triumph and I'm your host for arpg corner.  Today we're gonna talk about Path of Exile, a charming little f2p indie venture from some wankers in New Zealand.

Watch this vid for a basic overview



Seems pretty good.  For the most part, it is.  DAT SKILL TREE.  Oh, dat skill tree.

Because it's functionally impossible to talk about an arpg without comparing it to D3, HERE.



Some quick points for people too lazy to actually watch videos:

-PoE has no ingame currency, fucking everything is barter based, even with merchants.  This means there's no AH, for all of you ZOMG I'M A HARDCORE WANKER types.
-PoE's combat is a floatier experience that is less viscerally satisfying.  Move speed has improved a bit- you can get it on your boots as well as on the passive skill tree, and the phase run skill is being replaced by a potion that you get as a reward for a very early quest.  Still, it takes up a potion slot now and I still view this as retrograde, shitty game design. 
-Because selling all of your shit off is ALWAYS useful, you will pretty much always be picking shit up to sell off to merchants.  This leads to a lot of annoying trips to town and then back out into the world to kill monsters.
-There are a very, very limited number of skill respec points available as quest rewards, which means either plan your character's progression out right or have fun levelling a new one.  Again, I find this to be fucking awful, retrograde game design.

Having said all of that, the game is still definitely worth playing; personally I find it better than Torchlight 2 but not as good as Diablo 3.  It is DEFINITELY worth free.  Frag and I will be talking about it in a future (not next, but next next) ep of the cruncheons.

[Human Snorenado]

SHIT.  Obviously meant to post this on the gaming side.  Uh, could a mod move it?  Thanks.

[Phoenix Dark]

Got into the closed beta today because I couldn't wait for tomorrow lol

Combat feels much better than it did the last time I played, back in August 2012. Movement can still be clunky but overall it definitely feels smoother; I'm playing a melee class though (Marauder), haven't tried ranged although I've generally heard they control better. I've been watching Kripp play the game a bit over the last week or two just to get back into the world of the game, and I gotta say I'm super hyped. I really can't wait for the weekend, when I'll have a shit ton of time to sink into this.

I look forward to seeing what changes the open beta patch makes, and I definitely like what I've seen thus far. I'm currently in the first big dungeon of Act I (Axiom Prison, Brutus' lair basically) and I gotta say it's pretty awesome. The fog of war that blinds your view ensures you run into shit tons of mobs, and the game is actually tough. Fucking Necromancers, man...

[Human Snorenado]

You're playing a melee class?  I DON'T BELIEVE IT.

[Phoenix Dark]

Oh yes, I'm going for a leech life tank 

BUT I'll also make a ranged Templar!

[Human Snorenado]

ranged duelist

Don't care if it sucks, I'll end up with a witch eventually anyway

[hampster]

You should give some impressions on the cruncheons of American McGee's Akaneiro if you're talking (free) arpgs. I have no idea if its good but I like the okami meets mcgee artstyle.

I'll give this a shot but I'll miss sending my pet into town to sell stuff

[Fragamemnon]

Limited respec is barbaric.  Bartering just makes everything a PITA but I fully agree with the developer's position that making a useful currency in a game is a huge undertaking and forces all sorts of design considerations and constraints that might endanger the rest of the product.

I'll play it because I like ARPGs, but being the progressive-minded gamer that I am and not some nostalgia-riddled shithead, I expect I'll like it less than D3.

[ToxicAdam]

I haven't really got sucked into an ARPG since TQ. I will give this one a shot.


I kind of like the idea of limited respec and having to pull your trawl back to town to clear out inventory. Forces the user to make hard decisions that have ramifications. Maybe I am just brainwashed to old-school ways.

[Brehvolution]

 
A Frag sighting

[MrAngryFace]

Didn't like this much during closed beta- just felt very uninteresting and the environments were a big pain in the ass during fights against ranged. Its different though- i'll give it that.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Limited respec is barbaric.  Bartering just makes everything a PITA but I fully agree with the developer's position that making a useful currency in a game is a huge undertaking and forces all sorts of design considerations and constraints that might endanger the rest of the product.

I'll play it because I like ARPGs, but being the progressive-minded gamer that I am and not some nostalgia-riddled shithead, I expect I'll like it less than D3.

Did you like D3?

[Fragamemnon]

Limited respec is barbaric.  Bartering just makes everything a PITA but I fully agree with the developer's position that making a useful currency in a game is a huge undertaking and forces all sorts of design considerations and constraints that might endanger the rest of the product.

I'll play it because I like ARPGs, but being the progressive-minded gamer that I am and not some nostalgia-riddled shithead, I expect I'll like it less than D3.

Did you like D3?

Liked it-and still like it-a lot. And I like it most for some of the reasons that the vocal critics hate it. D3's design is full of controversial genre decisions that really make sense when you go and look how awkward things can get in other loot-driven games.

[MrAngryFace]

NO U ARE WRONG IT IS WORST DISAPPOITNMENT EVER GLSFKJGLKFJGLKJFG!!!!! *spittle*

I love D3 and liked ME3

[Phoenix Dark]

D3 is fun, I spent a lot of time with it. But I definitely am way more interested in PoE's level of customization than D3's, which is sort of non-existent. I remember Jay Wilson saying trillions of builds were possible in the game lol, but in reality you have a handful that work at the highest levels.

I love the passive tree in PoE and while I wouldn't mind being able to re-spec at will, I like how it instead is built into the item/barter economy. Right now I have about 4 Orbs of Regret, or whatever they're called, that you use to unlearn skills; a bit of haggling in trade chat can get you more in no time. That's cool, imo

IMO one of the best ways to judge controls is during hectic combat gameplay, regardless of the game's genre. Back in August I found myself fumbling around, barely able to survive fights due to weird bugs or fucked up hit detection. Last night I almost felt like I was playing a slower version of my D3 Barb. As my attack speed gets higher the combat will feel even better. Hell just watching streams of high level players shows how smooth shit is later. That's a questionable game design decision - it seems like it makes more sense to hook people early with fast, tight gameplay - but since I plan on long term investment in the game it's not a big concern to me.

[Steve Contra]

Limited respec is barbaric.

This is all that needs to be said.  Limited respec is ok when you have nothing to do but jerk off and play games, but for people with real lives, it sucks.

[Human Snorenado]

F'realz about limited respec.  It's like, "hey buddy you know those previous 20 hours you sank into crafting this character?  haha, it's all fucking worthless for the next part of the game and you have to start over."  It's literally regressive game design and should be roundly mocked whenever possible.

Having said that, I expect that I'll play until I hit that wall, then probably just roll a completely different class and fuck around some more.  The skill tree is really fun to fuck around with, too bad they make you walk a tightrope.

Some other things I didn't mention about PoE-

-there is pvp, for people who like that sort of thing (you know, assholes) however it's on a separate pvp server
-they run ladders and limited time pvp ladders
-they have a hardcore mode- if your hardcore character dies though, you don't lose it- instead it gets shifted over to softcore, which is one of the design choices I like
-the items and orbs give you a lot of chances to fuck around with your items- you can upgrade regular items to magical items, reroll magic items, add a new affix, change the color of slots and all sorts of other fun shit

It seems like they're catering to competitive nostalgia-tards who like shit like pvp, ladders and other forms of competition with this game.  Frankly, that's not me- I like a robust pve system, but there's still enough here that I will fuck around with it, mainly because HEY IT'S FREE!  The next arpg I've really got a boner for is Grim Dawn and the D3 expansion.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Where is the download link?

[Human Snorenado]

http://www.pathofexile.com/

Click on "download now"

If you've already dl'd the client from the closed beta, all you have to do is launch it though and it will auto-update with the open beta patch.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I was just there and didnt see anything :s

[Human Snorenado]

"Our patching servers and website are both under extreme load. We are working on adding capacity. Thanks for your patience."

I'm sure this is ok though, because they're not Blizzard

[Cerveza mas fina]

 

Youre right though blizz would get killed over this.

[Great Rumbler]

I figured something was wrong because I gotta download 2.5 gigs of patches and it's taking forever and a day.

[Human Snorenado]

Youre right though blizz would get killed over this.

Blizzard DID get killed over this at D3's launch

[Human Snorenado]

I figured something was wrong because I gotta download 2.5 gigs of patches and it's taking forever and a day.

I don't know what you're talking about, my 12 mbs connection is dl'ing shit at a brisk 129k/second 

[Great Rumbler]

To be fair, Blizzard is a massive and wealthy company, and people shelled out $60+ for D3. Path of Exile is basically an indie game and it's completely free to play. I'm willing to give Grinding Gears a little bit of slack on this one.

[Human Snorenado]

To be fair, Blizzard is a massive and wealthy company, and people shelled out $60+ for D3. Path of Exile is basically an indie game and it's completely free to play. I'm willing to give Grinding Gears a little bit of slack on this one.

Me too.  What I'm not willing to do is give people any quarter when they start in on "zomg so much better than D3" and then offering up stupid examples such as limited respecing as a reason it's better.  I fully expect to hear shit along the lines of "yeah yeah yeah the core combat is better in D3 but FUCKING LADDERS N PVP ON DAY ONE BITCHES!" which is basically admitting "yes, the core gameplay in D3 is better, but I want to flaunt my epeen and see my name on a leaderboard, that's more important to me"

[Great Rumbler]

Internet gonna internet, as far as that goes. I like Paths of Exile, don't love it, and I'll probably never play it as much as I did D3. But I paid $60 for D3, so there ya go.

[Phoenix Dark]

"Our patching servers and website are both under extreme load. We are working on adding capacity. Thanks for your patience."

I'm sure this is ok though, because they're not Blizzard

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46818171&postcount=1682

I swear these fanboys are fucking disgusting.

[Human Snorenado]

Haters gonna hate.

I'm in and playing open beta now.  Forgot some other pro-tips (mostly applicable if you haven't played before)

-your first purchases from Nessa the vendor should be a coral ring, coral amulet and a belt that has + energy shield.  The ring increases your max health, the amulet gives you regen, and energy shield gives you a buffer that has damage taken from it BEFORE your hp.  I was lucky and just got a nice coral amulet to drop.  I'm also happy to see that they now compute regen per second like every other fucking game, instead of per minute just to be different.
-you have two weapon sets and can switch between them by using x.  Don't try to be all "hurr hurr ranged is fer newbs", this game isn't like D3 and you CAN die early which is annoying, so don't be that guy.  Snipe some bitches before you start melee'ing them.

[Phoenix Dark]

post yer in game names bros

Goinio

[Human Snorenado]

fuxschistchum

Yes, it's just a bunch of nonsense.

[Phoenix Dark]

servers down

THANKS ALOT, BLIZZARD

[Smooth Groove]

How are the graphics compared to D3?

[Phoenix Dark]

See for yourself


It's a very dark style that fits the genre perfectly to me. Obviously D3 looks better overall, a 20 man group can't really compete with Blizzard in that regard. But the engine is great and I prefer the overall art/look. Water looks great, and the lighting is pretty good especially in dungeons.

[Smooth Groove]

I care more about the variety.  D3 environments got boring real fast.

[Phoenix Dark]

Sunk a lot of time into Act I today, had a blast. Everything feels better. I've died a few times due to getting swarmed, shit is pretty crazy at times. The Ground Slam build seems pretty potent so far dps wise but I feel like my health/armor are too low

[Cerveza mas fina]

Can't wait to try this out

The launch trailer looked kind of cool and dark

[ToxicAdam]

I put this on download last night before bed and woke up to an error of some sort. Sucks.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

I'm liking this. Playing witch and thinking I might go full-on necro. Maybe. Limited respec is so scary.

[MrAngryFace]

Err you guys DO see the difference in scale between an indie open beta and the launch of Diablo 3 right? If not you're fuckin idiots.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Yeah I think everyone knows something on the scale of D3 almost can't go right.

[Phoenix Dark]

Here are some builds
http://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/16xe76/open_beta_is_almost_here_list_the_best_builds_you/

Those are from closed beta era but still rather recent. Also the game's forum has builds for every class
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum

You don't have to 100% stick to any build but it's good to have a decent blueprint of what your plans are. I'm going for the Ground Slam Marauder in the first link, but I'm spending more points on life than the build calls for.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Whats all this freedom for if I'm gonna go with a cookie cutter build from the get go?

I plan on playing with my build till I hit a wall or get bored.

[Human Snorenado]

Whats all this freedom for if I'm gonna go with a cookie cutter build from the get go?

I plan on playing with my build till I hit a wall or get bored.

Fortunately, you can always just respec when you hit a wa- OH SHIT WAIT

And THAT'S why you plan out a build beforehand.  Because when you do hit that wall, you'll be all "oh fuck, should have planned, now I have to completely redo all of this content because of this dumb, regressive game design"

Of course, I'm sure your loot drops will be better and you'll get all the pussy because you were a rebel and went with some shitty, suboptimal homebrew build.  You are a beautiful and unique snowflake!

[Great Rumbler]

Luscinda [crazy witch gonna mess you UP]

Let'd do this, nerbos!

[Cerveza mas fina]

Ima come online and fuck you up with my homebrew build brah!

Because there's pvp in this game.

[Phoenix Dark]

Oh I certainly agree, just saying a general blueprint can be helpful.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I love spending 30 minutes deciding where to put points in.

Blueprints are great once you HIT THAT STAGE where it really matters.

[Human Snorenado]

I'm also playing Vagisil the witch

[Cerveza mas fina]

Is there one ww server or is it us/eu?

[Human Snorenado]

Is there one ww server or is it us/eu?

Pretty sure there's us/eu/asian

[Cerveza mas fina]

 

[Cerveza mas fina]

20kb/s

 

[Great Rumbler]

Looks like the server's down.

[Stoney Mason]

Looks like the server's down.

Yeah I was just playing and the server went down.

I played to like level 10. I really like it. I like the system. It seems smart and flexible. It's buggy and such. Me and a friend had to do a couple of quests twice because one of us died in both situations and the boss monster didn't drop 2 of the items we needed but as far as the actual gameplay I enjoy it. I'll leave out the Diablo Comparisons. It obviously can't compete on production values and things like that but ultimately I liked it and will continue to play.

[OptimoPeach]

Huh, not sure why but I never thought of these games as ARPGs.

Can anyone say how the PvP is? Fun? High skill cap? Relatively balanced?

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAEdUUUhcdNJNXl2BBmy2-p-_j

I'm only level 10 but here's my tree. I'm trying to do a dual wielding sword class. I haven't looked up any builds or anything as I think its more fun to try to build it out myself the first time.

I do like the idea of planning out builds and sort of passively buffing my guy in a direction. You didn't really get that feel from Diablo as it felt more like just unlocking a bunch of different options when you did the early leveling in diablo 3 rather than trying to focus on something.

[Human Snorenado]

That sounds about like the build I'm planning Stoney, except that I'm focusing on bow skills first and then will start dumping passive points into dual wielding later on.  Ranged is too good early on.

[Stoney Mason]

Yeah the bow class seems pretty fun and powerful early on. I normally play an archer in these kind of games but I decided to try something different although eventually I will also spec out the bow side. I'm the tank right now and my nephew is a shadow class bow person at the moment. He seems to be enjoying the bow side of things.