Path of Exile (F2P Action MMORPG)

[Marion Ette]

Path of Exile - Official Website

Path of Exile is a free-to-play, fantasy-based action MMORPG with a few really interesting features (descriptions from website):

Skill Gem System

Spoiler: show

Action RPGs have always been about two things: devastating skills and valuable items. Skills in Path of Exile are items - gems that grant abilities when socketed into equipment. A wide range of support gems allow the behaviour of skills to be modified. You can augment your Fireball to chain from enemy to enemy or split into multiple flaming projectiles. Up to five support gems can affect a skill at any time. Because gems level up independently and some are hard to find, they can be very valuable in trade.

Passive Skill Tree

Spoiler: show

All of Path of Exile's character classes share its vast passive skill tree. Starting at one of six distinct locations dictated by their chosen class, players can focus on the core specialities of their class or travel across the tree to build complex combinations of skills from various disciplines. Scattered across the tree are Keystone passives that drastically alter the way a character is played. Resolute Technique removes your ability to get critical strikes, but also prevents enemies evading your attacks. Necromantic Aegis grants the properties of your shield to your minions rather than to you. Combining these passives with clever item and skill gem choices allows players deep levels of customisation.

Item System

Spoiler: show

Path of Exile is completely designed around items. Any game system that can be itemised with random properties has been. Our flasks are persistent items that have mods. Our end-game areas can be found as Map items that have mods altering their challenges and rewards. We've gone as far as removing gold as a currency and basing our trade economy around orbs that can randomly reroll the properties of other items. We have carefully constructed our item system for veterans of the best Action RPGs.

One thing in particular that really impresses me about this MMO in particular is that their cash shop, unlike many other MMOs, does not allow characters to "break" the game in any way; they do not sell buffs, weapons, armor or anything that would give a competitive advantage. All items from the CS are purely cosmetic in nature.

Basically, this game is my current addiction. Definitely worth a try if you're into fantasy-based MMOs.

[Loki]

I remember hearing about Path of Exile since uh... Diablo 3 release. IIRC, they were compared with one another based on their somewhat similar combat but kept with the dark tone whereas Diablo 3 looks sillier and Torchlight/2 has made a less serious tone.

I think it was TotalBiscuit who played for a while and had to fight zombies on a beach with a stick in rags. Looked okay.

[Marion Ette]

Yeah, you do start off fighting zombies on a beach with your class's equivalent of a stick. XD Obviously, weapons get better and skills become more diverse as you go on. The graphics aren't astounding, but I tend to prioritize gameplay over graphics.

My character is a Witch with a necromancer build, and PoE has my favorite "pet/summon class" system of any MMO I've played. Zombies are your bread and butter pet, and basically, all you need to summon a zombie is a corpse. You can have about 3-6 zombies out at a time depending on skill level/perks. Zombies don't have a time limit; they last for as long as they have health. Skeletons don't require a corpse, but they decay over time, so they're good starter summons for when you need to build up corpses. You can have about 6-9 of these. Spectres are my favorite... They're the ghosts of enemies (I believe this includes unique enemies... definitely the tier below that, though), and though they tend to be weaker than the mob itself, they are super duper useful... I can currently summon two of these, and again, they last as long as they have health. The difference in mechanics for the various summons is pretty nifty. Also, even though I'm a necromancer, I can still use all the spells that an elemental mage can (though I have less variety given that I have all these summon spells equipped).

All in all, if I were to summon every pet at my disposal, I would have... 17 units. I'm a one-woman army. :3

[Loki]

Wasn't really comparing graphics rather than the style of art they use. Like comparing Rembrandt with Picasso. They're both good in the art department, just different. Anyway, it definitely looks better than Aliens: Colonial Marines graphics-wise. LULZ!

Looking at their website, I might have the minimum requirements to run it lol. Not sure if I will try it out though. I have a not so great history with MMOs. And I've already been eyeing Phantasy Star Online 2... which I really should never touch =3=

The skill tree looks insane. It's more of a skill jungle than a tree, which is nice because it allows everyone a chance to make completely unique characters until someone finds a way to metagame it and tell everyone to make perfect builds and calls you underpowered if you choose different skill build.

I also saw the classic Tetris inventory. Very Diablo I/II, something both D3 and TL1/2 both didn't keep and it's a nice bit of nostalgia. Not sure if the loot itself is cool.

I do like it when a F2P MMO's microtransactions are purely cosmetic. I really hate when games are F2P just to try to trick people into going full MMO with subscriptions just to unlock the rest of the map.

[Marion Ette]

Originally Posted by Raptor Jesus

I do like it when a F2P MMO's microtransactions are purely cosmetic. I really hate when games are F2P just to try to trick people into going full MMO with subscriptions just to unlock the rest of the map.

I have actually quit MMOs solely based on their cash shops. The worst example of this: I was a Venomancer (pet/summon class with maximum of two pets active) in Perfect World, and I enjoyed playing that MMO with my boyfriend quite a bit... Until I realized that the two strongest pets by far for Venomancers could only be purchased in the Cash Shop. There was no way to earn them in the game. Even if the cost of those pets was likely less than the cost of a pay-to-play MMO, it still annoyed me that I was a Lv.40 character just finding out that I would need to make a monetary investment just to keep my character feasible at Lv.60+. No thanks.

The loot is pretty interesting. Instead of currency, you barter with items that upgrade/alter stats for items, so you can customize quite a bit. Chromatic orbs change colors of sockets, alchemy orbs change rarity, etc. And even though alchemy orbs can be hard to find, I tend to have one on hand when I really feel like I need one.

The skill tree is insane. I used the one on the website to plan mine out. It can be fun to play with, just to see what kind of passive builds you can make.