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The weirdest thing about Path of Exile
cheyane
Member LegendaryPosts: 9,385
Since you have to go through the acts each time you level a new toon the game is always judged by a new player when you start in Wraeclast on that miserable beach. I will be the very first one here to admit that the beginner experience is very dreary and nothing absolutely recommends it. While it might evoke a modicum of interest as an absolutely new player by the third time it can really grate. The fact that the graphics are poor in the first few acts and even with the journey peppered with interesting stories and lore, it cannot rise above its cheap look. This cannot be helped as the game released in 2013 making it 7 years old and to be honest it looks even more dated than that.
However the thing that strikes me the most and as a player who enjoys this aspect is all the time one spends actually thinking about what build you might want to try. This facet of the game is what keeps people coming back because the repetitive nature of it sure does not. That each league introduces new gems and changes to how the skill gems work is the sheer brilliance of this game. It constantly reinvents itself by introduction of new mechanics that can make it to the standard version of the game. So in spite of seeing that beach for perhaps the 19th time I am there once again relishing the idea of getting to try to kill Kitava twice and making it to the maps.
Recently I downloaded Path of Exile again and went back and promptly logged out when I saw my characters. I hadn't played for perhaps over two and half years and I had quit in a fit of rage having died yet again on a map with my Scion Necromancer at level 88 when my progress forward was being constantly wiped out by deaths. The skill tree was reset and searching through my links I discovered some were no longer working and the path I took had been changed because the tree itself had undergone some changes. I didn't know how to play anymore. I also found out that the build I had would not be any good as the new meta was the Witch Necromancer and the Scion had fallen into disfavour amongst the Necromancer aficionados. I could not find a single good build on the Scion forum for a necromancer that wasn't stacking a ridiculous amount of auras. So I made the decision to start over and learn the game. I'll be honest and having played this game before I still found all the various changes, the terminology, new skills, new boss gems, new weapons and armour, the whole meta on advanced characters really tough to get back into. Slowly over a week I became reacquainted with the game and my love for it once again blossomed.
The thing is almost none of my characters work on their previous build simply because a lot has changed but learning about these new changes and watching videos of how very clever individuals have used newer skills in their builds is exciting. It opens up new possibilities and of how I might redesign my old characters and try out all these exciting changes. It is not without a sense understanding that I can commiserate with brand new players when they complain about the complexity that no guide claiming to cater to new players can help with. It's just the nature of the beast that to truly enjoy it you have to fall in love and embrace that it is complex and you're not going to grasp that while starting out and not even when you clear Act 10. You're just scratching the surface of what this game has to offer. What a remarkable journey it can be if only people would just look past its poor first few acts.
However the thing that strikes me the most and as a player who enjoys this aspect is all the time one spends actually thinking about what build you might want to try. This facet of the game is what keeps people coming back because the repetitive nature of it sure does not. That each league introduces new gems and changes to how the skill gems work is the sheer brilliance of this game. It constantly reinvents itself by introduction of new mechanics that can make it to the standard version of the game. So in spite of seeing that beach for perhaps the 19th time I am there once again relishing the idea of getting to try to kill Kitava twice and making it to the maps.
Recently I downloaded Path of Exile again and went back and promptly logged out when I saw my characters. I hadn't played for perhaps over two and half years and I had quit in a fit of rage having died yet again on a map with my Scion Necromancer at level 88 when my progress forward was being constantly wiped out by deaths. The skill tree was reset and searching through my links I discovered some were no longer working and the path I took had been changed because the tree itself had undergone some changes. I didn't know how to play anymore. I also found out that the build I had would not be any good as the new meta was the Witch Necromancer and the Scion had fallen into disfavour amongst the Necromancer aficionados. I could not find a single good build on the Scion forum for a necromancer that wasn't stacking a ridiculous amount of auras. So I made the decision to start over and learn the game. I'll be honest and having played this game before I still found all the various changes, the terminology, new skills, new boss gems, new weapons and armour, the whole meta on advanced characters really tough to get back into. Slowly over a week I became reacquainted with the game and my love for it once again blossomed.
The thing is almost none of my characters work on their previous build simply because a lot has changed but learning about these new changes and watching videos of how very clever individuals have used newer skills in their builds is exciting. It opens up new possibilities and of how I might redesign my old characters and try out all these exciting changes. It is not without a sense understanding that I can commiserate with brand new players when they complain about the complexity that no guide claiming to cater to new players can help with. It's just the nature of the beast that to truly enjoy it you have to fall in love and embrace that it is complex and you're not going to grasp that while starting out and not even when you clear Act 10. You're just scratching the surface of what this game has to offer. What a remarkable journey it can be if only people would just look past its poor first few acts.
Comments
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
They also balance around the new league and that can get very off-putting too. I had a build I especially enjoyed and it got nerfed because it was too damn good.../sigh. It was a build that was featured in their 'build of week' series. The lesson is not to try their 'build of the week' because more often than not it will get 'balanced'.
I personally think the D3 adventure system is much better, it allows you to skip the story when leveling after you've completed it once on any character.
The endless delve event they had was a much more enjoyable leveling experience for me. You didn't even have to do the lab, which I don't hate anymore though.
POE would be dead without leagues and leagues have added lots of great new content to standard. While they do overnerf builds in order to shake up the meta, it is better in terms of variety and replayability.
https://steamcharts.com/app/238960
I am just commenting on how a new player or one that is returning like yours truly can become overwhelmed but all in all it is a game worth investing in. Hell I spent another 50 Euros of stash tabs just a couple of days ago. Pack rat like me is a boon to GGG. Not to mention how much I have spent when I played before and I am happy to do it because I want to support the game.
And then act 2 hits you. In the face. With its stupid jungle. Its backtracking, ridiculous monkeys, people to save or kill (kill of course, all of them) and that darkness thingie. Its horrible, absolutely horrible and it sucks the life out of me every time.
Then I push through but the experience has already been tainted, the next two acts are pure pallet cleanser and only after that does it get interesting again. But that first act? I still love it to this very day.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
And who cares if they sell cosmetic bundles for whales unless you are a collector who can't control your spending? Your complaints make zero sense.
I was kicking myself when I started enjoying the game that I had wasted so many years of not playing it. You may be right about the first Act though. It does indeed create an impression with its setting.
Granted that some of the lore seem to contradict each other but there are quite a few well written pieces of dialogue there. The setting in that horrible temple with the screams in the background and what Piety was doing there. None of it interested you?
This is an action rpg so the repetitive nature is one of the things you see in this genre and to a degree quite unavoidable especially if you play more than one character and because there are so many possible builds this seems unavoidable but I would argue that even in a world like World of Warcraft there is repetition.
So if you only played one character I am confused about the loop you talk of.