Have you guys been playing Path of Exile?

Just wondering if anyone here has starting playing Path of Exile now that it's fully released, and available on Steam. Anyone who's been playing it, how do you like it? If there's enough people here playing it, I'd like to get a good discussion going about the various unique systems of the game. If the ingame chat is any indication, there's still quite a bit of confusion (understandably so) about the skill and item systems. If anyone here is having trouble, we could make this something of an FAQ thread. I've been playing for quite a while, and I think I've got a pretty good grasp of how everything works. I'll answer any questions, if I can.

So yeah. Anyone else been gettin down on this super awesome free to play iso-ARPG?

Its pretty dope, but sometimes i feel like the passive tree is too much lol

Once I get through a busy patch of school work I'm hoping to give it another shot. I enjoyed the time I spent with the beta, I just need to convince a couple friends to try it with me.

Game is seriously too addicting for me to play. Had to uninstall. Too similar to everything D2 did well.

@takeiteazy3: That's a common perception. Hahaha. It can be pretty daunting at first, but it starts to make a lot of sense, especially once you've played a few different classes, and see where each one starts. There actually is some rhyme and reason to it. =P

Just don't be too worried about it at first. A lot of new players make the mistake of trying to go for a really specific, powerful build, right off the bat. Ya really just gotta take it one level at time, grab passives that will help you immediately, and don't be worried about making a bad build that ends up worthless on the highest difficulties/endgame. Get more ambitious after you've leveled a few characters into the 30s, and get a better feel for the passive layout.

Yah, I started playing again. Did a ranger in the beta that was pure damage and got owned by one of the bosses. This time I'm doing a marauder and spending most of my passives into making me a bit tankier. I've having a lot more success this go around :)

@Cwagmire21: That's a good idea. Marauder is pretty much made to be tanky. I've got a tank marauder in standard league, left over from beta, but I've been playing my new Scion since release. Class is sweet. I've made my Scion pretty similar to my Marauder actually, but with lots of intelligence and energy shield, too. A tank mage. Plays pretty great, but I think I'll have to party with faster characters for support in later difficulties.

Never played the beta for long but I'm totally hooked on the launch release. I'm playing a templar and the active skills are awesome, I'm having a lot of fun with trying out every new gem and seeing how I can combine it with other skills to get its full use.

This game is amazing. One of the best ARPGs I've ever played and the fairest F2P model I've ever seen.

Early on It can be boorish...How ever once you get passed like lvl 10 to 18 it really picks up..The second act is awesome especially with friends..Ive been playing with easy an choson from gamestop..We have been having a ton of fun..If you guys care to join us where like lvl 26 atm..Feel free to add me to friends list..We also created a guild )..The tree is fun..How ever it took me awhile to figure out I wanted to dual wield..There many different paths you can choose as a warrior..

Might try it after I've finished my exams, I've heard good things about and wanted to give it a go for a while

I've been so busy with school, I just haven't had a chance to really check it out. In a few weeks, maybe!

I'm enjoying it quite a bit. From a design stand point, this game is much superior to Diablo 3.

Yeah really enjoying it. That said I find the currency system to be overly complicated and think it's a pretty stupid thing to link it to crafting. I understand it prevents inflation but it makes crafting a pointless expensive activity.

To me it's a huge desync one shotting monsters with fail hardcore mode. Seriously what killed it for me was the desyncing and dcing at random times in hardcore mode to where I would just die. After beating it in all three difficulties I found it to be boring and repetitive. The only good thing it really had was it's passive tree that was a great system.

Have you done much crafting in the late game? Crafting is quite pointless early in the game, since crafting orbs (at least the most useful ones) are very hard to come by, and even if you use them and make something awesome, it'll be outclassed by random loot drop later on. But once you're in the late game (merciless difficulty, endgame maps and such), when you're not likely to just find stuff any better, the crafting is immensely important. Just spend the early game collecting orbs, building a stash. Then, when you've got really good, high-level base equipment to work, that's when you start crafting.

played it, liked the mechanics more than D3, but i still think it's boring. just click click click clickety click. i think i've had my lifetime dose of isometric action RPGs.

That's certainly understandable. I'm glad that I never seem to get tired of the genre. And the item and skill systems of Path of Exile make it feel so fresh, even though it still is, at its core, another point and click arpg.

Temped to install it but I know I get bored of Diablo style games really quickly.

Playing with a friend? The only way these games are meant to be played are with friends. Otherwise, like playing any game oriented for coop by yourself, will be a snoozefest.

60 lvl marauder, this game fantastic, well was some crappy 2h axe build was die a lot, but after i changed on my 2handed mace build with HP usage, now i am owning on Merciless difficulty.

You should give it a try. It is, on the surface, a Diablo style game, but the item crafting and skill systems are completely fresh and unique. And it's free. Nothing to lose.

The game is very nice but after they release it on Steam then I have alot of lag. I die all the time because of lag and playing online with people is almost unplayable for me sometime. So I stop for awhile. Hopefully they fix it in the next patch.

How's the story?

This is one of those games that I had to stop playing because the lack of time. Very addicting game indeed.

It's really annoying sometimes that there are tons of superb games waiting for you to play, but there's not nearly enough hours in a day... :/

very addicting, but the lag is annoying. character jumps into a huge mob and then I die...

I occasionally play it for a couple of hours.It can be very addictive.

I got a huge backlog of really good games to play through though.

it still has horrible dysync.

i didn't try PoE with a friend, but i did play D3 with friends. it was definetly better that way, but i just lost interest pretty quickly. i used to play about every single action rpg in the 90's, so i don't know if that's it...

The game is ridiculously fun and addictive. Started playing for the first time on Monday and initially I had the intention on playing with a "test" character that was supposed to be temporary, just so I could familiarize myself with the mechanics and such....A week later and I'm still playing with that "test" character that just hit level 18 last night on Nemesis League. That's how addictive it is. "Just one more level, just one more quest", is what's going through my head everytime I realize that it's time to call it a night after spending almost the entire day with my eyes glued to the monitor.

I finally downloaded it from Steam a week ago, and I'm hooked on it.

I can't believe it's free.

I just couldn't get into it like I did with Diablo II. It's mediocre IMHO.

Sure have,best action RPG in years.

Pretty solid game, the skill tree is awesome IMO, skills upgrading the more you use them is pretty sweet as well. I'd recommend to play it with a friend.

Good to hear there are plenty of people gettin into it. Game is way too good.

I've played it a bit and I'll go back to it occasionally. The gameplay isn't as good as Diablo 3's though. I thought D3 was more fun to play.

I played with it in the Beta and found that I didn't enjoy the aesthetics of it.

I agree. At least for me, the main reason why I kept playing Diablo 3 and had any sort of fun in it was because of co-op. Thanks to a couple of Gamespot members/friends I was able to get several hours of fun game time out of it. If I went at it "solo," it would have just been a bit of novel enjoyment but nothing else.

The art style is nice although it could have received more of a polish treatment. But that's probably due to the lack of funds, it being free-to-play and all. I wouldn't have mind paying $5-10 so they could have increased the production values. Other than that, I do like that it's dark and gritty, like the older Diablo games.

I like that they let us keep our beta characters but my paladin guy is a mere level 7. That's my highest character. If anyone that has a fresh new character and they'd like to group up.. hit me up on Steam. My steam id: Elann 2077. Cheers.

Watched the review on here yesterday and downloaded it straight away! Should hopefully get a few hours spare tomorrow to try it

Can you go through the game solo or is mp mandatory? I tried the Beta, i didn't sit down well with me, has it improved since then? Also, is it easy to re-customize your character or once you set your skills that's it?

And since it's Free to Play, there has to be micro-transactions... does it offer an advantage or just passive items that doesn't really tip the scales?

The free-to-play micro-transactions do not "tip the scales" sorta speak. It doesn't change the game at all. It's "just there." You can go through the game solo. Just don't join any parties on the sign-board. But I like how you can create your own party, put in a description like "anyone around my level can join up and quest!" and you'll get so many people joining from the main town hub.

The only thing I see a bit of an issue with is the tracking of other party members and such. If they are not in the same area, their potrait won't show up in the upper-left hand corner until you have entered your area. It requires a bit of communication to track each other down, but it's not a major gripe. Often, party members lose each other especially when you have 1-2 "speedsters" in the group that leave people behind.

As for improvements.. It has improvement a pretty good deal since beta. So far, I only know of "refund points" you get as a reward from quests you do. But they only refund a few points, not all of your points. I'm sure there's something on the micro-transaction store that allows you to fully respec but I cannot confirm that. On that note, it's pretty difficult to make a "mistake" on the passive skill tree. Most of the paths are very fair and they seem pretty balanced. You won't mess up your build so much if you cross over one path to experiment or what not.

I avoid most games that are F2P.

I have been playing it on and off since Alpha, but I keep getting bored of it rather fast. Desyncs and the bleugh combat can sadly not be fixed with friends and I have more fun theorycrafting builds than I have playing the game. On the bright side, theorycrafting builds is fun and the atmosphere is the best I have seen in this type of game since Diablo 2.

Are there any hippies in the game?

this games free? umm i may try it now

Alright cool. I did try it out a bit, it was fun. What sucks is that you have to finish the game once to get the Scion... I just wanted to play with that character cause it was cool... I made a shadow and I'm finding the traps really fun to play with :D

Downloading as we speak, as I'm interested to check it out considering it's free.

Yeah, the scion is pretty darn cool. With that class, it'll be easier to combine different combos from the passive skill tree because you start in the center. What level are you now? Personally, I find it incredibly addictive and I'm not too crazy about ARPGs. I just keep going back to it. I'm playing as a Ranger.

Nice interview with developer who knows what the f' he's talking about (SCION), with Gamespot.

I'm around level 7 or 8. I have to admit, it is fun, much more fun than D3.

I saw that interview and it's pretty much why I really want to play the Scion D:

Just started a Witch...the passive tree is huge

If anyone wants to add me, Monsieur_X