Path of Exile

[Firecrest]

So I take it PoE is worth playing?

It's worth trying out at least. It's FTP and so there's no harm done if you don't like it. The only purchasable items are cosmetic, so you don't have to feel like you need to pay money to see content or progress decently - which is nice.

I've got maybe 20-30 hours or so in it and it's been fun. The graphics aren't as high quality as D3, but they're much darker and grittier. That's good and bad. All the inside/underground dungeons have an extremely limited sight distance. And no way of increasing it (game probably needs +1 Light Radius items). I've got a 28 inch monitor and can only see a circle of light in the darkness that’s like 7 inches across. It’s kinda nice for the surprise when you round a corner into a pack of mobs, but generally it’s just seems like a waste.

I also am not a fan of the fact that my character’s primary stat (Int) doesn’t actually make me stronger in any way. Each stat increases two things for your character. Off the top of my head (so I might be getting this wrong), Str increases melee damage and HP, Dex increases Accuracy and Dodge, and Int increases Mana Pool and Energy Shield (think overshield). So Int users (and probably Dex too) don’t have a lot of incentive for maxing their primary stat. I’d rather see stuff like +Spell Damage and +Attack Speed tied to a main stat so that you can feel like you’re getting stronger.

I’d like to see more interesting/powerful “super talents” in the stat tree too. I’ve not played all the classes to really know, but they seem pretty lackluster. Like they don’t make a big enough effect on your character. For the most part, I do like the whole stat tree thing though.

You get all your abilities from socketable gems and all your stat increases from a wide open stat tree. You pay a price for this insane amount of customization though. There’s very little difference between one class and the next besides your starting position in the stat tree. Some of the classes with similar starting points suffer from a real lack of identity. A rogue, for example, is really no better or worse of an archer than the Hunter – and similarly, the Hunter is no better or worse at evasion melee. Besides the fact that I would waste some points getting to the Str side of the tree, I could make my Witch into a two-handed club swinging melee character if I felt like it. Or I could turn a Warrior into a curse casting Minion Master. That's good and bad IMO.