Game Testing - DJB Forum Archive

Valhavoc

25-02-2013 20:22:42

Path of Exile
Sent this over some Fist Email channels and thought I'd post it here also for people curious about the game.

Review:
Much like Diablo 3, Path of Exile is an Action Based RPG (ARPG). Though it shares similarities with Guild Wars 2, and Diablo 2 as well. The designers have stated they stole lots of ideas from other games they liked, so this should be expected. The game itself is ridiculously more complicated than any ARPG I can think of (in a good way, especially if you like Theorycrafting or math). Take one look at the Passive Skill Tree and you'll understand why. That doesn't even touch on the combinations of Skill Gems (approximately 80), and Support Gems (approximately 50) you can use to augment the abilities granted by a Skill Gem. These Gems also "level up" with you, increasing in power and having additional requirements to equip as they level. If leveling a gem would cause your character to not be able to equip it, the game will grey out that option. A thoughtful point rather than having someone accidentally make a skill unusable. The Gems are primarily divided into three colors Red for Strength Based, Blue for Intelligence Based, and Green for Dexterity Based Skills. Any character can use any gem, so long as they meet the requirements for it (for green there is probably a Minimum Dex Requirement, etc).

This brings us to classes. PoE has six classes, divided up based on the primary attributes (Str, Int, Dex). The "pure" classes start in the Passive Skill Tree focused on one specific part of it: Marauders are Strength based (lower left side of Tree), Witches are Intelligence based (top of tree), and Rangers are Dexterity based (lower right side of Tree). The "hybrid" classes start in between them: Templars are Strength and Intelligence based (upper left side of Tree), Shadows are Intelligence and Dexterity based (upper right side of Tree), and Duelists are Strength and Dexterity based (bottom of the tree). How you build your character across the skill tree will greatly influence what they can do. It is possible to build Intelligence Caster Marauders or Strength based Rangers who use melee weapons. Although it would likely be more efficient to start with a class more focused on your end game goals, the flexibility is there.

Another significant change from the Diablo genre is that drinking a potion doesn't use all of it, and potions will refill over time. There are also several different kinds of potions, ranging from your standard Health and Mana ones to Increased Armor, Increased Movement Speed, etc. Rare versions of these potions also exists which can have multiple types of effects, such as a Health Potion that boosts your Resists and Increased Movement Speed. Additionally, in a Diablo 2 throwback, PoE has two sets of weapons which you can have equipped. The "X" key will switch between them.

Currency is not based on gold like most Fantasy ARPG games, instead currency is based around items similar to a "Scroll of Identification" from Diablo 2. There are many different types of these, and they can occasionally drop from Monsters or Objects in the world as well as getting them when trading in items you find to a vendor.

Starter Tips:
At the beginning of the Game, the first thing you want to focus on is picking up some + Life Gear. Coral Rings sell for 3 Wisdom scrolls from a vendor named Nessa who is in the first town you get to, pick up the one with the most +Life you see. Hopefully you can find a second one while killing monsters, if not, go ahead and buy another. At level 8 you can get a Leather Belt which will add more +Life Gear. Look +Life % nodes in the Passive Tree near where you start, it will go a long way in preventing alot of early game deaths. The run from town back to where you died can be a pain and take a while, so everything you can do to minimize that is good. The other perk to getting +Life early on is you may not be sure where to build your character to yet. When you figure it out you may want to re-distribute some Skill Points in your Passive Tree. Unlike most games you can't completely start fresh, there is only a limited amount of points you can respec throughout the game. You get these respec points through quests and from an item called an "Orb of Regret".

A note on how skills calculate in game, I'll use Life as an example. Items which say "+ to Maximum Life" are applied before Talents which are "+ X% to Maximum Life". So, life would be caculated as follows (Base Life + "Total of + to Maximum Life From Items) * (1 + "Total of +% to Maximum Life"). This makes combining + to Maximum Life and + % to Maximum Life, or any other stat for that matter, very strong.

Some Other Tips:
- Selecting and assigning skills is more similar to Diablo 2, click on the boxes in the lower right to pick which ones you want.
- The game does have a Minimap, but it needs to be activated in the Options window (very useful, highly recommend).
- You can hide Global and Trade chat in the Options window as well
- Recommend you turn on the "Show Life / Mana Levels" in Options for number readouts above the Globes.
- When selling to a vendor Control + click will move an item from your inventory to the Sell Window.
- Similar to Diablo games, pressing shift while attacking will keep you in place.
- Pressing Z will toggle so that all items on the ground remain highlighted at all times. If you do not use this option you will need to press alt will show the items on the ground. Do this often! Items don't appear to auto-highlight after they drop like in Diablo. After each kill hit Alt and check for loot!

Closing
All that said. PoE is completely free to play, no cost to download, no cost to subscribe. The game is funded through Microtransactions, some examples of stuff you can get through this are extra Stash Tabs, extra Character slots, Non-Combat Pets, Item Effects/Aura,visual changes to existing skills (Summon Statues instead of Skeletons), Dance Animations,