Is there power-leveling/power-acting in this game?

Greetings,

As most of you may know, Diablo 3 kinda sucked. And as most of you may know, there are numerous Action RPGs in development right now.

That being said, here's some sort of an introduction: I played Diablo 2 for years, and the aspects I enjoyed the most was power-acting/power-leveling my friends, gathering loot, dueling, those kinds of things everybody did back then but Blizzard didn't quite expect their game to turn out that way.

Anyways, I noticed the skill tree is fixed in Path of Exile, and hard to change (rare orbs). I don't mind creating multiple characters in order to try out builds, as I did in Diablo II but... In D2 I could receive a power-level from a friend, or even, join a public baal run game for a couple hours and I was high level. Half the fun resided in actually joining those public games, chatting with other players or your friends (whichever applies).

I like clearing the content of a game, but once or twice is enough. Seriously, who cleared Diablo II act 3 more than twice? Not many people. What I want is to be able to skip the content once I've cleared it with a character, and be able to reach a mid-high level in a reasonable amount of time (below 10 hours). Though, that's if I have a high-level character willing to do it for me. Otherwise, tough luck, clear the content.

Please don't mention how I can't bring in Diablo II to the matter, because D2 is THE reference in the genre of Action RPGs.

So yeah, will your game conquer me and my friends? We have high expectations, but we are also power gamers and willing to play a good game for a long time.
But if I'm forced through your content for dozens of hours every time I create a new character, you can forget about me.

yes i would also like to know this as this was my favorite thing to do in d2, i remember back when there was like heaps of lower levels following a lvl 70+ guy and it was so fun!

You obviously look like you are being sarcastic to me.

Anybody who played D2 for more than a month knows that leveling is not important, it's something on the side and that's what people liked. Yet, you could always level, because level 99 was really far away!

If you're not being sarcastic then you sound like a kid, no offense. :P

There are experience penalties for killing enemies far from your own level. There are even higher penalties if another, higher-level character is in the area with you. Being rushed by a high-level character will return very low amounts of experience.

The purpose of these systems is to prevent the power-leveling/rushing practice that was so prevalent in D2. Sure, it may have been fun, but there's a problem with the game if you can skip almost all of it and just play the last areas.

The most efficient way to level is to fight enemies near your level with other characters near your level, or solo.

The formulas:

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Malice wrote:

Level also affects the amount of XP you gain from killing enemies. There are two penalties that are applied, one when in a party, and another based on the relative level of the player and monsters. Both of these are applied at the same time if you are both in a party, and too far above or below the monster level.

The multiplier for XP while in a party is players share (Level+10)^2.71 divided by the total of all players shares. For example, if a level 10 player was partied with a level 30 player:

Level 10 player's share: (10+10)^2.71 = 3355
Level 30 player's share: (30+10)^2.71 = 21957
Total Shares: 3356 + 21957 = 25313

Level 10 player would receive: 3355/25313 = 0.132 = 13.2% of the XP
Level 30 player would receive: 21957/25313 = 0.867 = 86.7% of the XP

The player also suffers a penalty to XP if they are too far above or below the monster's level. There is a safe level range where no penalty is applied, which is equal to three, plus one for every sixteen complete player levels. Any additional level difference in excess of this safe range is called the Effective Difference.

The formula then applied is:
((PlayerLevel +5)^1.5) / ((PlayerLevel+5+(EffectiveDifference^2.5))^1.5)

So a level 24 character has a safe band of 3+1=4 levels. So from Monster level 20 to 28, there is an effective level difference of 0. At Monster Levels 19 and 29, the Effective level difference is 1. The Effective Difference matters in either direction.

1. You can play with high-level friends, and you will level much much faster just because of the rate things will die in that sense yes you can be power-leveled. Although like the poster said above it will result in a massive loss in exp. However unlike d2 you cannot complete the absolute minimum amount of quests like skipping the sewers in act 2 i believe. most of the content is set up so you must complete the vast majority of it.

2. Currently there is no interface to set up groups in the diablo 2 or diablo 3 sense just by joining games. the grouping system in PoE is more similar to that of WoW. Besides killing the same boss in the same difficulty multiple times such as Merveil and the bandits greatly diminishes the loot rewards and the exp reward since most of it is from a quest...

3. Global chat is implemented in the Closed and hopefully in the Open Beta, and a stronger community has been created because of it.

My two cents: You will not be able to create exactly the build you want for your first character, nor will it be the most efficient maybe even to the point that it is unplayable in higher difficulties. It takes at least 1 or 2 level 30+ characters to be able to obtain a wide enough variety of skill gems to even begin to start crafting focused and effective builds. Take for example the character in the latest character build showcase, a melee witch. She used Wrath, Anger, Grace, Discipline, Elemental Hit, Cleave as well as some other skills. All of these skills are offered as quest rewards however, none of them except Wrath and Discipline are offered to the witch, and discipline only in cruel. Therefore she had to roll at least one other character up to cruel or trade orbs for gems (which should be stockpiled for 50+)

The vast majority of high level currency (regal,exalted,chaos,gcp,etc) seem to drop just as much in cruel and ruthless as merciless, as well as skill gems that cannot be attained through quests by the character currently being played (see melee witch example.) These orbs seem to function more valuable in trade than as a consumable until level 50+ so you can gather gear that could be useful for your current or future characters.
Subsequently rushing through lower difficulties to get to higher ones is not always beneficial or even viable if you have not accumulated substantial orb and gem wealth.

As a HC league player I am glad there is no power lvling, its righteous to receive the reward proportionate to the effort or skill you invest in the game.
Have heard people bragging they are lvl 60 + on D3. What a joke! With the poe system you earn your bragging rights. 8)

Well, my apologies, but I doubt I will be playing this game. ^^

It looks cool and all, but there are so many ARPGs out there (including those still in development), that I want one which will last years for me. A game which forces me to replay its content will not last years for me.

I stopped playing Diablo III the day they nerfed power-leveling/acting.

> Have heard people bragging they are lvl 60 + on D3

You can't brag about anything involving Diablo 3 anyway. I've been a huge Hardcore fan on Diablo II, played it for years before the trigger PKs came about and ruined it (and then there was chicken), and yes, I've power-leveled many characters in order to play. And I died numerous times with different very high level characters, highest was 98 T_T

A game doesn't start and end within the leveling. In fact, and in my case, I prefer playing many different characters which level fast and get geared, all the while trying builds. That's when the fun starts. And it can start for long ;)

It's hard to describe why I actually want such a feature, but to date, Diablo II is the only game that kept me playing for years, apart from Baldur's Gate II but that's a single player game...

Every other game out there I got bored with the content. I don't get bored with the loot though, but if I get bored with the content before the loot, then I get bored of the game. Power-leveling fixes that!

Sadly, I wish you all good luck and much fun in Path of Exile. I definitely understand your point of view, and I wish I could enjoy playing a Hack n Slash game the way it's meant to but... I just can't! If I get a key I might just reply on the forums and give it out to someone, so stay tuned. ^^

Last EDIT:

> its righteous to receive the reward proportionate to the effort or skill you invest in the game.

Well, I completely agree with that. But I get bored, what can I say! I've seen those quest-lines, numerous times. I can't stand them anymore! That's what power-leveling fixes, and that is what I believe should be in the recipe for a very successful Action RPG Hack n Slash game.

Anyway... If you don't like the power-leveling, don't use it! No one cares if you invested 3 hours, or 15 hours, or 30 hours to level your character, this isn't an MMO! In the end, the character is high level, with good gear, and that's all that matters and that's when things start being very fun!

Well, that was my last edit. By the way, I don't mean to change whatever way the game is played right now, I was just inquiring. :)

Yours,
Dax

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Well, my apologies, but I doubt I will be playing this game. ^^

That's fine. We don't really care. Everything's for nobody.

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It looks cool and all, but there are so many ARPGs out there (including those still in development), that I want one which will last years for me. A game which forces me to replay its content will not last years for me.

Oh please, most ARPGs are this way. If you just want the end-game why are you even playing an ARPG? Just play WOW or something that lets you reach max level after sneezing.

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I stopped playing Diablo III the day they nerfed power-leveling/acting.

The fact you played D3 at all makes me question your judgment :P

Anyone with experience with Activision-Blizzard (not the old Blizzard)could tell you that D3 was going to be shit, casualified, trivial, lame, insipid, WOW-like and poorly crafted

"

A game doesn't start and end within the leveling. In fact, and in my case, I prefer playing many different characters which level fast and get geared, all the while trying builds. That's when the fun starts. And it can start for long ;)

Part of the game of creating a character though SHOULD be how feasible it is to level said character through the non-endgame content. Overcoming various bosses with limited amounts of skills and gear.

If you don't want to play, nobody's forcing you, but the game's going to be free in about a month. So it seems silly not to try the game out, if you're a fan of ARPGs. I personally think power leveling is the symptom of a poorly designed game - why make ALL this content if you're just going to skip it all?

I heartily recommend Dungeon Defenders for all od Dax's power levelling, loot, and inflatory $$$$ needs :)

Don't even get me started on DD. I mean, I think I really liked the game at first - for an indie tower defense game anyway.

And then like... over night, the online part of the game was ruined. Well, I guess it was inevitable. You can memory edit the game after all lol.