What is dragging the game down?

Hmm, i love these kinds of transparent threads - While i don't see anything wrong with having more character customization options it was pretty clear in what direction this thread was heading from the original post and what kind of mindset moved the OP to make it in the first place... So i went on a journey to see when and where the cliché insult to male players playing female characters would pop up, and wasn't surprised at all when i found it, made by the OP, just as expected.

Having a problem with playing older characters or even female characters usually stems from some sort of insecurity and seems to be a problem of the younger demographic in general (it's the same with 'mature content' - "young adults" (14-21) are far more likely to complain about 'childish things' and cartoony graphics than adults (22+) since, as with gender identification/sexual orientation they often still have the need to prove their adulthood to themselfs and others).

On topic: The templar is basically the Monk equivalent anyway, so i don't see the point of the D3 comparison.

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BrianWeissman wrote:

This is an interesting thread. While there is something to be said for having customization in how your characters look, or what sex they are, you need to realize that we're trying to tell a story. Wraeclast is an ancient island with an ancient history, and the characters that you're playing there fit into that history.

All of them are exiles from a nearby sister continent called "Oriath", with a specific individual past. They're exiles on Wraeclast for a reason, not just marooned on its beaches by accident. Because each character has a backstory, it makes no sense for them to be customizable, as far as the narrative story goes.

The Templar is an old, wizened man because that's the consequence of his story. He's was a member of Oriath's religious warrior order for decades, before he made decisions that resulted in banishment. The Templars of Oriath are older, monastic, and male by definition, so it would make no sense for the Templar to be young, or different in appearance.

We've tried to make the characters in Path of Exile diverse enough that everyone can find someone who appeals to them. We have a bulking brute of a man, a slim, handsome blademaster, a delicate but powerful spellcaster, a stealthy, athletic archer and a wise, elderly warrior of might and virtue. We also have an unannounced sixth class that people are going to love.

All of these classes fit into the lore of Wraeclast and Oriath, and all of them have a specific tale to tell. By allowing too much customization, in appearance and sex, we dilute that story, and risk making the characters too generic.

I hope that you understand our decisions based on this feedback :)

To be honest, I didn't even read/listen to the complete Act I-III quest conversations until I did it on my gazillionth character about three months after first playing.

I think developers put too much importance in the story for ARPGs. I liked the Diablo story but it didn't really want me to keep playing it for more than a few weeks because character development was terrible and actually, there are too many negatives to go into in detail.

I just don't feel immersed when i am repeating the same quests over and over and over and over and over and over. I think if ARPG developers put their time and resources into making lots of fun and engaging boss and mini-boss type of encounters and various random events that can occur in various map types and focused on a strong tile based random map design which made really nice maps which were challenging then I think long-term it would make the game more fun to those who plan to be playing it year after year.

But that is my personal opinion, i tend to burn out on an ARPG when everything becomes so predictable it is almost the groundhog day moment where bill murray is counting the seconds between events that have occured so frequently to him that he has memorised everything.

To be fair, in this regard OP has a point.

At the beginning I was rly wondering why my first character ever, a duellist, was wearing a red shirt to begin with. Why red?!? That kinda looks weird for a fighter. I'd prefer black much more. Or grey, but nothing so shiny. It simply reminded me of gay clothing (there are people who seem to like this)

If you make a character, you somehow identify yourself with him or her. Therefore and as the majority of players is usually young (maybe 16 to mid 20), the character design should reflect that imho.
But in POE you often have the choice to get around that by making 1 character you prefer over another, and going to the other character's part of the tree, if you wanna have both starting nodes within your build. This happens in the majority of builds and therefore allows you to choose whichever char you prefer b/w 2. I always use witch/shadow for that reason :)

@ Brian: I am sorry, but I feel you are mistaken here. Lore and story is nice and interesting, but the majority of games doesn't generate enough of it to satisfy expectations.
If I want to enjoy a nice tale/story, I would rather read a book. Or I would watch a movie. Or there are exceptional games in atmosphere, like baldur's gate 2 (but that is like the only one that I know at least..I hear there is final fantasy etc, but I am only into computer and less console games)
Thus people don't really care about lore. If it is acceptable, nobody will ever talk about it. For example the streamers show how games are played today. Dialogues are often deactivated, music is turned off. People prefer to listen to their own music while playing, at least after the first playthrough.

I don't believe at all that anyone would mind if it were against the story to some extent if you could customize character design. In contrast I think there are more players like OP, who unconsciously dislike certain characters because they cannot identify themselves with them.

Now I would not suggest to implement full customization for every character. But if for example every character had 2 different versions, maybe allow both genders for some and different age for others, as you see fit, that would be totally satisfying imo.
Yeah that's what diablo did and it was really cool. Besides skills and gear, there was more diversity just through character choice. The female warcries always sounded hilarious :)

I have a possible solution to this. Admittedly it doesn't necessarily pertain directly to class customization, it does directly refer to cosmetic customization.

Take a look: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/463501

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BrianWeissman wrote:

We also have an unannounced sixth class that people are going to love

Oh i cannot wait! Does that also mean there will be more options in the passive skill tree or is there already a pre-reserved spot for it in the existing patch?

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Bearthesnake wrote:

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BrianWeissman wrote:

We also have an unannounced sixth class that people are going to love

Oh i cannot wait! Does that also mean there will be more options in the passive skill tree or is there already a pre-reserved spot for it in the existing patch?

math isn't your strong suit... is it ? rofl

side note: this is a "very" old thread, recently necro'd

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Dan1986 wrote:

To be fair, in this regard OP has a point.

At the beginning I was rly wondering why my first character ever, a duellist, was wearing a red shirt to begin with. Why red?!? That kinda looks weird for a fighter. I'd prefer black much more. Or grey, but nothing so shiny. It simply reminded me of gay clothing (there are people who seem to like this)

Black is a color for an assasin. And grey is for a poor man. The duelist is proud and very fast to feel offended man, probably the son of some non-important noble. He is NOT an assasin and he is NOT a fucking beggar.
Red is also the color of valor, and in the time PoE is set, red dye wasn't cheap, so it's also a sign of social status.

To me, that red shirt is fitting for the character.

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BrianWeissman wrote:

a delicate but powerful spellcaster

I lol'ed at this.

To clueless people: That sixth character is the Shadow.

This guy must be a troll

Runes ape graphics is ugly as he'll eve though people play the game. I don't think this is a big issue. There are way more important fundamental issues.

I'm not here to play dress-up. I don't fire up any game to play dress-up.