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As of today, I think, PoE is open beta. It's a Diablo-style game with some interesting ideas on class progression.

http://www.pathofexile.com/

I saw the skill tree posted to Reddit, but until it gets labeled I won't feel the pull of the min/maxer.

--Patrick

Damnit people, I don't have time for a new computer game right now! I'm going to have to check this out though, it looks like too much fun not to.

I should also mention it's F2P.

CynicismKills said:

I should also mention it's F2P.

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Sold. Gonna have to try this out when I get home. I feel moderately ok with that, now that I've finished off each of the 4 major side-quests in Skyrim as well as the Dragonslayer achievement and ended the civil war multiple times.

PatrThom said:

I saw the skill tree posted to Reddit, but until it gets labeled I won't feel the pull of the min/maxer.

--Patrick

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You mean as in here: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB ?

(Is it me or some skills are missing?)

tegid said:

You mean as in here: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMB ?

(Is it me or some skills are missing?)

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It seems that PatrThom's image is the tree with /all/ skill nodes for every class, whereas in-game, what class you pick determines what kind of skill nodes are available to you and the link you posted for the skill builder defaults to the Witch class.

I've learned my lesson too many times on these games. I'll give it 3 months and see if people still like it.

Wahad said:

It seems that PatrThom's image is the tree with /all/ skill nodes for every class, whereas in-game, what class you pick determines what kind of skill nodes are available to you and the link you posted for the skill builder defaults to the Witch class.

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From what I understood you have the whole tree available to you regardless of class, however the class you choose determines where you start on the board so getting to some of the other parts would take a lot of skill points.

CynicismKills said:

From what I understood you have the whole tree available to you regardless of class, however the class you choose determines where you start on the board so getting to some of the other parts would take a lot of skill points.

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Yeah, that.

Played for a while as a Shadow, got up to level...7? 8? It's alright, I guess. The item system is neat! Still kind of eh on the passive tree though.

The passive tree is so daunting it's hard for me to form an opinion yet. I like that I have pretty solid control of how my Templar is going to develop, though. Early thoughts:

+Gemming for skills, similar to FF7's Materia system. The gems level while they're equipped and will give you anything from new weapon strikes to spells.
+If you're into that kind of thing, it feels a LOT like Diablo 2. Small, managed inventory space, identify/portal scrolls, etc.
+No gold. All items are bartered for with NPC sellers, including when you sell stuff. Generally you'll get identify scrolls and shards of an Orb that when completed will upgrade items. This could be a solid way to keep the market in check.
+/- Still deciding on how I like this passive tree. An interesting concept, especially the major slots that usually add an attribute but take something away as well (Dodge upped by 20%, but you no longer have an AC, etc)


- Similar to D2, there's a lot of do quest/return to town. It feels a little stale off the bat if you're looking for something fresh, but to those just wanting a fun dungeon crawl, it's not a big problem I suppose.

I'm trying to think of more, but I'm only about level 5 or so with a couple quests done. I'll throw some more thoughts out once I've got a little more time in the game. For now go in expecting Diablo II in gameplay, and FF7 and 10 in character development/customization.

Ooooh, X (aka davidr64yt) of X's Adventures in Minecraft, just started a series on this one. His first video is close to the 2 hour mark, so I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but I imagine it'd give a good idea of what the game is like.

I'm supposed to be sleeeeeeeeeeping...

--Patrick

Got a Templar to level 17, and just finished Act I. The game feels a bit light on story unless you want to sit through slow voice acting and scrolling text, but overall it's a good time and actually challenging, at least so far. Monsters group up regularly, bosses hit hard and do more than just autoattack, and potions are heal over time, not instant heal, so watching health is really important.

So far I'm having a lot of fun with it. Started with a Marauder (I always start with the big melee class, it's my getting-to-know-the-game class of choice), and then moved on to the Witch.

Oh my, I hadn't realized this game is free! (Even beyond beta)

Cleared Act I. Still a dual wielding Shadow. I have a better grip on the passive tree now that I've taken a few minutes to sit down and study progression so that I can plan out some stuff. Only problem now is getting my aim to work out better - I have problems trying to hit enemies when they walk to and fro a lot, causing my character to simply walk alongside them rather than attack them.

Wahad said:

Cleared Act I. Still a dual wielding Shadow. I have a better grip on the passive tree now that I've taken a few minutes to sit down and study progression so that I can plan out some stuff. Only problem now is getting my aim to work out better - I have problems trying to hit enemies when they walk to and fro a lot, causing my character to simply walk alongside them rather than attack them.

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If the controls are like Diablo, and so far it looks like they are, holding shift will make you stand and attack rather than move.

It will.

Ravenpoe said:

If the controls are like Diablo, and so far it looks like they are, holding shift will make you stand and attack rather than move.

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Except that doesn't help a lot when you're a melee character and you need to be up close. I can stand there swinging all I want but if they're just running around out of my reach then we're both not murdering eachother and nobody wants that!

There's definitely some issues thanks to latency when you're swinging at enemies. I've had a few hits/Cleaves that should have connected just pass right through.

Wahad said:

Except that doesn't help a lot when you're a melee character and you need to be up close. I can stand there swinging all I want but if they're just running around out of my reach then we're both not murdering eachother and nobody wants that!

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Find a good quicksilver flask or some passive skills that increase speed. It also looks like there are a few item prefixes that affect movement speed. That, or switch to a two-handed weapon. They seem to have a little bit better reach.

Now that I've found my rhythm with this game, I currently am a cold-based dual wielding Shadow. After picking up a curse gem (Frostbite) as a reward in act 2, trading to get an Ice Nova gem and finding the Hatred aura gem which turns my physical attacks to physical-and-cold attacks, everything pretty much falls apart into icy chunks. I love it.

Edit; just finished Act 2. Damn, that boss was a pain in the ass.

Wahad said:

Now that I've found my rhythm with this game, I currently am a cold-based dual wielding Shadow. After picking up a curse gem (Frostbite) as a reward in act 2, trading to get an Ice Nova gem and finding the Hatred aura gem which turns my physical attacks to physical-and-cold attacks, everything pretty much falls apart into icy chunks. I love it.

Edit; just finished Act 2. Damn, that boss was a pain in the ass.

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Yeah, I love how difficult the game is, cleared A2 last night on my Shadowknight Templar (2h weapons, plate and curse focus). That A2 boss was brutal and I was usually about 3-5 levels over the monster level of every map.

I went back to my Marauder (2h lightning strike with +loh and +fire damage), and have him up to level 37, in Act 3, pretty close to the end battles, I believe. This game is awesome. Now I'm just torn as to whether I should head directly into Cruel, or move on to other character classes - since I actually want to play other classes in this game, unlike D3.

I've also been co-op'ing with my brother, him on the Ranger and me on a Shadow. Normal monsters don't seem much harder but we have to play it really safe with blue and up enemies, especially ones that get extra damage bonuses. We found that evasion is pretty worthless compared to armor/energy shields, which is kind of annoying for him since he has to hunt down Str in the Passive tree to keep some armor on him.

CynicismKills said:

I've also been co-op'ing with my brother, him on the Ranger and me on a Shadow. Normal monsters don't seem much harder but we have to play it really safe with blue and up enemies, especially ones that get extra damage bonuses. We found that evasion is pretty worthless compared to armor/energy shields, which is kind of annoying for him since he has to hunt down Str in the Passive tree to keep some armor on him.

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Yeah, they've specifically mentioned that they want to re-examine and re-tool Evasion before launch, probably for that very reason. Also, I never quite cease to be amazed at the number of people who QQ when the servers hiccup, because they were almost through an area, or because they'd cleared an area out and were storing all of the loot from that zone on the ground and lost it when they dc'ed. I'll admit that it can be really annoying when you're 3 zones in from the last waypoint and you dc and have to find your way back through; but on the other hand, the higher level I am when I go to face Piety, the better.

Ok, you guys. I've only had the chance to play for about an hour and made it all the way to level 3. It's like y'all are speaking a foreign language, albeit a strangely compelling one.

--Patrick

Gared said:

Yeah, they've specifically mentioned that they want to re-examine and re-tool Evasion before launch, probably for that very reason. Also, I never quite cease to be amazed at the number of people who QQ when the servers hiccup, because they were almost through an area, or because they'd cleared an area out and were storing all of the loot from that zone on the ground and lost it when they dc'ed. I'll admit that it can be really annoying when you're 3 zones in from the last waypoint and you dc and have to find your way back through; but on the other hand, the higher level I am when I go to face Piety, the better.

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I was thankful that the major server hiccups started right after I cleared A2. If I had lost my progress on that last boss I would have been upset. Otherwise it wasn't a big deal, really. Also, I turned global off because it was driving me nuts.

I'm a little hesitant to level my Duelist, too. They start in an odd spot on the Passive tree and it seems fairly difficult to get anything useful because the two paths don't link up much like they do on other hybrids.

Finished Act 3 on Normal, and started Act 1 on Cruel. It's a big difference in difficulty. Not D3 jump from Whatever to Inferno difference, but a big difference none the less. Be prepared to either upgrade your gear, or die a lot.