Path of Exile

[Winnow]

Figured I'd make a separate thread for this.

There is a new season starting on March 10th. The game is free to play so it would be a good time to check it out.

In Path of Exile, there are multiple ways you can play it. There is a permanent server where your character can play forever but 99% of the players don't play that mode. They even have a zero death mode if you are crazy enough to be willing to have your character perma die with a single death.

The mode most people play are 3 month seasons called "Leagues". Delirium League will start up March 10th. Everyone starts fresh. Leagues last about 3 months. Each league introduces a game mechanic just for that season.

I literally spent 2-3 hours before I started the game (again, I had played a few years ago) studying wtf you're supposed to do and how to build your character. The game has ridiculous flexibility on how you can build your character. There must be 1,000 plus nodes on the passive tree.

The good news is that there are a ton of builds out there and an app called "path of building" that you can import a build someone posts so you can follow the passive tree and also know the skill gem builds and support skills to use.

The game is truly free to play. You don't need to spend a dime. They make most of their money off cosmetic items. The only quality of life thing worth buying are stash tabs and currency tab. A currency tabs sorts all of the game's various currencies so they don't get jumbled around on a regular tab inventory screen. That would be in the $10-15 range for better inventory management. You'd know long before even spending that much if you wanted to keep playing the game.

I'm testing out a Witch/Zombie build right now to see if I want to start out with it on the 10th. There's no advantage starting out on the first day, but you'd probably want to wait until then so your character doesn't get wiped. You could play in the metamorphosis league or standard server right now to just see what it's like.

Developer support for this game is through the roof and it won't stop when Path of Exile 2 comes out (although it will also be F2P and no reason not to switch over with the way the league seasons work.

Each league has its own soundtrack. I actually got distracted in one dungeon by how great the background music was. There are no cut scenes but the quests are voiced well.

Here's a short audio clip of siren song as you approach the bosses lair in Merveil's Caverns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu1TSpwjhow

If you like games like Diablo 3, Path of Exile is worth trying. It holds your hand a lot less than Diablo though. While there is a ton to the game, stat crunching, etc, the actual game play is the same as something like Diablo, 5 skills, your potions, etc. You can create very easygoing builds, like the zombie build I'm playing right now where you hit very few keys, or you can do a high maintenance build that you can min/max efficiencies etc.

Path of Exile is one of those games that takes a few hours to know if you're going to like it. If you make it that far, you'll probably keep going (if you like this type of game). You can just start playing and probably do ok but eventually you'd want to theorycraft.

I also like that your entire character(s) build, inventory etc are up to date real time and visually on the POE website. You can view everything while not playing the game. Pretty amazing how much support this game gets and you don't have to pay for each expansion like D3. Great example of a game that does well financially because people are willing to support it with cosmetics due to the dedication and constant updates by the developers. The way this game is setup, it has amazing depth but also you can play casually, no rush or feeling left out of something if you take your time.