Path of Exile

Path of Exile

Game comes off as gaming arpg's reddit to Blizzards Digg 4.0. They're doing an open beta stress test this weekend. Client files aren't that big so you can get in on the action this weekend. I've heard of the game mentioned in passing by countless disillusioned Diablo 3 players as an alternative (along with Torchlight 2).

So the game, how's it play. It does things differently. There is no accumulation of gold. You can sell stuff for identity scroll pieces and other assorted items. So there's not one chunky currency pool to draw from. A lot of the loot I've been finding is socketable. The key being you'll receive or find gems that enhance your equipment pieces, and these gems level up as you use them, certain gems enable usable skills and not just pure buffs. The mana/health potions seemingly refill themselves as you're venturing around the landscape, chatters say that's tied to kills your character makes(?), so it's nice not having a large chunk of inventory space lost to endless potions. Inventory panel itself feels small, so you won't be toting around two aisles worth of ikea furniture in your backpack. And jesus fuck, the skill tree goes on for miles, seriously. When you level up you get the daunting choice of figuring out what you want to improve on your character. It took awhile to get used to the visuals and speed of the game. Camera has a weird isometric angle compared to Diablo or Torchlight. The gameplay speed is a bit slower than what I'm used to or was expecting. Can't say I'm entirely hooked on the game - the same way I feel about devoting time to Krater - it shows a lot of promise and it's cool to see a smaller team of devs give up a significant challenge to the big boys.

You can also optionally commit to giving the guys money in exchange for closed beta access, with tiers similar to any recent kickstarter campaign.
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So it wasn't just me feeling the combat felt lacking in some respects. Though, I think I'm mostly done with clicky diablo-likes for the time being. Had a good run with the three characters, 200 hours, in D3. Not completely disillusioned with Blizzards game as others are more quicker to dogpile on (of which I was vocal about the skewed droprates killing natural expected progression for a loot game), a decent value at $60. Will probably spend the weekend learning the finer points of Crusader Kings and continuing my KOTOR run - or most likely get sidetracked by the wife and do touristy stuff in San Fran with our friends. Which hopefully will involve Batman and an Imax screen.