A honest review from a new player

Hello exiles!

I made a POE account time ago, but I never got time to try it. So I decided to start with legion. I have 2 characters in POE one lvl 89 and one lvl 93, so I could make an opinion about the game.

I know this days nobody cares about anything, I am just putting this down maybe my opinion will matter some how for the future of POE.

Game engine = very good
Yes, there are bugs, but from what I've heard is a in house game engine, I am glad I don't see another unreal or unity attempt to make games and fail. The engine seems very competent. I know there are bugs with disconnection, I've had a few also, but I hope this will be fixed. I do appreciate the time put into developing this game from scratch.

Graphic style = some how good
Ok, this is a very subjective thing. I found graphic style very good in some parts, really disappointing in some other, I feel like game engine is capable but the art team can't deliver. But again, this is just my opinion, I could write a few pages here, but I try to keep this as short as possible.

Game play = outstanding
I am not a fun of ARPG, I love RPG games, I love Action games, but I do dislike the combination between them. Just to clarify this. Overall I found game play to be very good, entertaining.

Music and sounds = outstanding
I give a big 10 here, no other comments.

Leveling and endgame = from good to disappointing
I enjoyed leveling, was a really nice experience, I disliked the acts part, I can't understand why peoples cant stop copy Diablo over and over and come with original ideas.
From act 1 to act 10 game was very interesting for me.

After act 10 I found it a disaster. Even before reaching act 10 I need to trade items. ZERO items I could use dropped for my chars. Even after act 10, still zero items dropped for any of my chars. I got all items by trading with other peoples. I found this really disappointing.

And now comes the worst part, trading.

Trading = atrocity
This don't need to much comments, this game is good, trading is an atrocity, a total nonsense. This needs to be fixed.

Micro-transactions = disappointing
I've spent in first week around 100$ on stash tabs. After I got all types of stash I had the feeling I do actually play the game. No, stash tabs are not optional, are mandatory. And store is full of things.
I personally found MTX disgusting, I prefer to pay for a game full price from start.

Also buying things is disappointing, you only can order for 20$ max, if you buy more you need another order.

If this business model works for GGG, well, good for them. For me, is just a bad taste and a disappointment.

Social aspect = totally missing
Right, you are alone, you can type in general, anything else don't exist. There is no social aspect or interaction. Party finder is used by bots or traders.

Hideouts = love this
Probable best part of the game, hands down.

Conclusion
POE have a big opportunity, but I am feeling is losing it, because of marketing decisions around it.

One more thing, this is my first post on this forum, if any of you are in doubt about what I've said, you can check, I've streamed every single second from legion on twitch. You can find me on twitch. No, this is not a self promotion, I only wanted to say my opinion about this game.

Respect your opinions, but PoE takes much longer to understand and master, than rolling two builds in one league.

Crafting and use of the bench is critical.

Knowing how/what links and builds work, and maximizing those with the passive tree is vital.

Knowledge of area drops, with divination cards, helps with progression.

Trading, while helpful, isnt essential. People play and are very successful with SSF.

In summary, you cannot give PoE a good (or bad) review in this short of a gameplay window. I know that some people dont want to invest many 100's of hours, but imo that's required to give a more accurate review of the game mechanics and experience. Note that your opinions on sound, art, mtx, are separate from this and you can certainly have a valid opinion on those in short order.

Once you learn the ropes, the items you find are "good enough". You'll never find items as easily as you can from trading, but if you don't trade you'll get along fine. You wont have nearly the power associate with the traded for items, but you don't really need that.

Trade is bad because they don't want it to dominate their game. It already has too big of an influence, but it can be said that it's not "required".

The only fixes for trade would either eliminate it all together, or reduce it to a requirement.

I agree and disagree on some of your points..

they are valid even if I disagree.

They could do better fixing the game engine in general, nothing has changed my mind regarding that topic.

Stashes my stance will never change regardless of the fact that I decided to buy a supporter pack because Legion for me is insanely fun for me, so if I enjoy something this "free" I thought I would reward GGG for the league in general.. I have a different opinion when it comes to servers and how some of them around the world need serious updates for the amount of new players joining the game as it becomes more popular.

and yes, it's a very popular opinion lately and don't feel discouraged to say it that trade is awful in the game.. price fixers and flippers are only making it worse.

"

TeoTheLeo wrote:

Graphic style = some how good
Ok, this is a very subjective thing. I found graphic style very good in some parts, really disappointing in some other, I feel like game engine is capable but the art team can't deliver. But again, this is just my opinion, I could write a few pages here, but I try to keep this as short as possible.

Please elaborate.

"

LowBudget780 wrote:

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DarthSki44 wrote:

In summary, you cannot give PoE a good (or bad) review in this short of a gameplay window.

Yes you can.

Of course you could.

Do whatever you want. You can get all your reviews from your 8 year old nephew. I dont care.

Edit: like here, give this a spin and try not to laugh. https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/9dsejj/path_of_exile_the_review_ign_is_a_joke/

Solid post. I've been playing off an on for a few years now. I get, like, 40% of this game. But that's mostly because I don't have much time to play.

The playthrough Acts 1-10 is fine; the first time. I hate having to do it over and over again.

Trade system sucks, yea, but once you figure out how to use the trade macros you get pretty savvy with it. Learning which items are worth something is big too. But for someone just starting the game, I agree the trade system is ludicrous.

I don't totally understand crafting myself. Not complaining, but it'd be neat if exalts were more common than they are so I could get into crafting a bit more. I feel like I'm missing a large portion of the game.

"

LowBudget780 wrote:

Nothing in his review even requires in-depth knowledge, two leveled characters is plenty of time to come to these conclusions. Care to explain how any of these observations require advance playtime?


Game engine = very good

Graphic style = some how good

Game play = outstanding

Music and sounds = outstanding

Leveling and endgame = from good to disappointing

Trading = atrocity

Micro-transactions = disappointing

Social aspect = totally missing

Hideouts = love this

Of course, my post accounted for this, and you omitted it when you quoted me, for whatever reason. So I have no idea what you are talking about.

Game mechanics and understanding crafting, betrayal encounters, delve, ect.. takes time

"

LowBudget780 wrote:

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DarthSki44 wrote:

Of course, my post accounted for this, and you omitted it when you quoted me, for whatever reason. So I have no idea what you are talking about.

Game mechanics and understanding crafting, betrayal encounters, delve, ect.. takes time

You tried to be a clever little whitenight and failed miserably.

Stay classy!

I'm pretty sure I've only played one other league, the harbinger league. It was alright but I'd get bored as soon as I got to maps and killed the end game bosses.

I came back to the game for legion and I have to say they made great improvements to it.

The end-game feels better now. Before when I got to maps and killed the end-game bosses I got bored instantly of the game. There didn't seem to be much point to push my character further if I could already do everything...and it was just so hard to make money and improve my character... what's the point. But now at least the maps are more rewarding now so I have actually been enjoying them. Previously I would get less from my maps that I was putting in a lot of times...that shouldn't happen unless your doing specific maps for specific items and the maps are expensive. There's also delve now, which I'm just starting to push since I've cleared all maps/uber elder/uber atziri etc.

I definitely think the improved droprates are better now. I've actually been able to try my luck at crafting much more now which makes the game way more fun when you can make your own gears. And the ability to try and corrupt items. It was just hard to do that kind of stuff. It was hard to just get 1 ex drop in the league.

I still think there needs to be more end-game content though. When I think end-game I think two things would be good - maps are integral part of the game now so it should include them but also the ability to push your characters. I'd like to see a change in Zana. When she randomly spawns in maps and gives you a choice at another map to run. I'd like the ability to upgrade that map a tier if I complete the map without dying. And for there to not be a cap at T16. I want to push my character as far as it can go, and the higher the map gets upgraded the harder it is to complete. I'd also like to see bosses harder to kill and more rewarding to kill. A lot of people just skip bosses for now since they aren't rewarding. I'd like the bosses on maps to have specific end-game loot that drops rare. I think these changes would get people sticking around for much longer.

Also I think that stats on uniques and items should scale a bit better with item level. And item levels can get much higher with upgrading maps etc to promote pushing higher content.