Path of Exile is a real Devil -- here's why.

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WippitGuud wrote:

If you want a MMO that follows the exact same concept to compare to, I would point you towards one of my previous "devils", Perfect World.

Free to download, free to play. I was utterly shocked at the number of people who purchased stuff just to look good. You have a choice of mounts in-game already, but you could have this nice flaming lion as a mount for $40. Sure, your spellcaster chick looks lice, but what about a silk kimono for $10?

And then you get people who buy TEN of them, and sell the other nine for in-game money. So people who don't spend a cent get to have their $40 mount. But PWE still got their cash for it. Win-win.

I'm sure there's characters worth more than my 2011 Grand Caravan in the game...

My only gripe for looking good... I'd want to change POV when in towns only. Just so it's easier to look at people. But that is a lot of rewriting that has to be done...

Yes, but...

The guy who dropped $400 on flaming lion mounts, then traded 'em for in-game gear, effectively paid $400 for in-game gear. Doesn't matter that PWE got their cash; he spent real-world cash to buy power. ='[.]'=

Damn, I wish I saw this thread earlier.
I'd like to contribute but reading 5 pages of huge posts first is not something I'm very interested in. :P

Hey, I even mentioned the rmah, Tagek! How could you possibly resist?!

@Dust7: I would like to believe that the majority of what I say here is somewhat divorced from simple binaries like good/bad or wrong/right. This may result in the argument being watered down, but I'll take that over polarising assertions any day of the week. :)

The crux of my message is fairly straightforward, I think: Path of Exile is the world's first ARPG in MMO clothing. Unlike Diablo 3, which is inheriting almost inevitable MMO trappings (some more likeable than others, perhaps), Path of Exile is choosing them. It is banking on the same vanity that comes into play when the world is open and dozens if not hundreds of people gather in the one place.

...This is quite the gamble for a game that is almost all instances and yet has 'shared' town hubs smaller than any other I've seen in either MMO or ARPG. It's also risky given the absolute lack of zoom, inspection of other players and/or 'inventory doll' self-examination features. There's little doubt something is in the works regarding the last issue, but still -- just how desirable is a gorgeously unique character when you can't sit in town and have the masses fawn over it now and then?

The solution to this, or at least one thereof, relates to my slight confusion over people calling for an auction house with PoE, because GGG are clearly trying to integrate the website/forum with in-game characters. There is a plan to implement site-based trading, which to me is potentially more elegant and efficient than a shoe-horned auction house pop-up window. I mean, just how desperate and wretched will the Exiles of Wraeclast seem if they can just call up a window and start shopping for gear? Of course, website trading isn't really that much more 'believable' but if that's how they want to play it, so be it. I'd be more in favour of town-based trading posts, but that's neither here nor there.

Back to the issue: if indeed there is website trading in the works, perhaps there is also potential for people to see what cosmetic/aesthetic items you've purchased for your various characters. Because we've accepted this is about vanity and little else, then let's really jump-in head first and show off those tail feathers. When you click on someone's name right now on the site, you don't see all that much. Posting history, join date, that sort of thing. I presume that web functionality intentions may include things like 'items for trade' and maybe images of what each character is wearing. I note that we can see a graphical 'list' of our current characters when we log in, and that clicking each brings up some nice statistics, but the initial image doesn't yet reflect the in-game appearance of the character.

So I think at least some of the groundwork for 'publicly' visible characters-in-full-getup on the site has been laid.

I think that'd be a really nice way to justify forking out spare change (and then some) to pimp your chars, so to speak. :)

There's undoubtedly a huge amount of potential in how GGG can integrate the in game world and the out of game world. I've brought this up with Chris on quite a few (and he of course agrees) but there should be as little barrier between the website and the game as possible. Five years ago this sort of concept would have been impossible, but today this is an absolute reality, and in another five years it's simply how everything will be. This of course starts with the basic social functions like trading and chatting between people in game and out of game as well as basic character/inventory/stash management. There's really no upper limit to how integrated the two worlds can be.

Imagine checking your friends list on the website to see who's online (it tells you where everyone is playing, which characters they're using, who they're partying with, etc) then you can start chatting with people and they might show you some sweet loot they found or a cool cash shop effect they bought. There's even a cool spectator mode where you can watch your friend play from inside the browser. After chatting a bit your friend invites you to join their party. You accept (still from the website) the invitation then pull up one of your characters to switch around their gear a bit. When you're ready you press a button at the top of the webpage which automatically launches the game client and loads you right into your friend's instance. While you're playing you can pull up an application your smart phone where you can keep track of your friend list and chat without having the popups cluttering your screen. Or if you would rather, you can pull up your inventory on your smartphone and manage it from there so you never actually have to pull it up on screen. Or if you and your friend are the type that like to split up while you're partied, you can spectate your friend from your smart phone.

That all just kind of scratches the surface of the sort of cross-platform integration that I would one day love to see in this game.

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tpapp157 wrote:

There's undoubtedly a huge amount of potential in how GGG can integrate the in game world and the out of game world. I've brought this up with Chris on quite a few (and he of course agrees) but there should be as little barrier between the website and the game as possible. Five years ago this sort of concept would have been impossible, but today this is an absolute reality, and in another five years it's simply how everything will be. This of course starts with the basic social functions like trading and chatting between people in game and out of game as well as basic character/inventory/stash management. There's really no upper limit to how integrated the two worlds can be.

Imagine checking your friends list on the website to see who's online (it tells you where everyone is playing, which characters they're using, who they're partying with, etc) then you can start chatting with people and they might show you some sweet loot they found or a cool cash shop effect they bought. There's even a cool spectator mode where you can watch your friend play from inside the browser. After chatting a bit your friend invites you to join their party. You accept (still from the website) the invitation then pull up one of your characters to switch around their gear a bit. When you're ready you press a button at the top of the webpage which automatically launches the game client and loads you right into your friend's instance. While you're playing you can pull up an application your smart phone where you can keep track of your friend list and chat without having the popups cluttering your screen. Or if you would rather, you can pull up your inventory on your smartphone and manage it from there so you never actually have to pull it up on screen. Or if you and your friend are the type that like to split up while you're partied, you can spectate your friend from your smart phone.

That all just kind of scratches the surface of the sort of cross-platform integration that I would one day love to see in this game.

Yeah, that sort of stuff dazzles me. I feel like an old man trying to understand rss feeds. Conceptually it's obviously sound and all very fascinating, exciting even, but I'm not sure just how much of it I'd actually use. I tend to load a game up before really thinking about that game, unless of course I can't access it (guess who's at work?). And if I can't, I usually take that as a sign that I probably shouldn't. Heh.

The roleplayer in me rails against the idea of extra-game (extra here used in the same way as 'extra-curricular') trading, character manipulation, etc...BUT the roleplayer in me was never invited to play Path of Exile in the first place, so he takes a backseat to the gamer, who thinks it's all very cool and clever.

Like I said, I don't think I'd personally use many of the features that much, but given that the site goes down if the game does, then the foundations are there, for better or worse, to mesh the two in ways very few other games have dared try.

It seems almost superfluous at this point -- PoE pushes plenty of other frontiers, but it certainly would be another huge selling point.

Pretty well written post, very perceptive. Not surprising since you seem to be one of the few intelligent species who muck about in global chat at times, haha. Great points and I agree for the most part, but it is what it is I suppose. It all boils down to how much you love the game and what your own personal desire is for tweaking out your characters.

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111uminate wrote:

Pretty well written post, very perceptive. Not surprising since you seem to be one of the few intelligent species who muck about in global chat at times, haha. Great points and I agree for the most part, but it is what it is I suppose. It all boils down to how much you love the game and what your own personal desire is for tweaking out your characters.

Actually, I've added over 30 people to my friends list based purely on their behaviour in global chat.

Having only been aware of this game for about a week now, I hadn't yet thought of it this way. Now OP has almost convinced me to upgrade to a Silver Support Pack xD

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Maui wrote:

Having only been aware of this game for about a week now, I hadn't yet thought of it this way. Now OP has almost convinced me to upgrade to a Silver Support Pack xD

Heh, I actually talked someone into going Diamond this past week or so. Well, he wanted to, but there is no accounting for the Wrath of Wife over these things.

Seriously, though, while I naturally support supporting GGG all the way, I'd hold out until seeing more in the cash shop. Since this thread is all about vanity, I probably would not have dropped a grand if the highest reward were something less utterly gratifying than 'make your own unique for everyone to find.'

lol another thread?

I guess the rapidly declining players and the fact that doomsday for poe is close to only about 2 weeks away, this is absolutely not the way to try and convince people to play a game that isn't even half as good as D2 (2 not 3).