Path of Exile free to play in about six hours.

[shoju]

You must be around my Shadow's level, as I've just started Act 3 Cruel as well. I've been playing solo as well, but I'd be happy to party up with you if you see me online.

I'm level 53. Next up is the Battlefront, but I'm not sure I'm "ready" for it. I'm open to partying up with a lurker

It won't. Merciless requires a huge grind as melee. You've got to have max resistances, 3k+ life, 4k+ armor, and other stats or you'll just go splat so often. I'm in Merciless with my new Melee character and been having to farm Ledge until around lvl 59.

At 53, I'm still just over 2k HP, Not sure what my armor is, but my ES is stuck at 600.

I figure I will probably make a bee line to the ledge, and see what I can do there.

Most of my gear is late 30's to early 40's. my jewelry is definitely lower than that.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/113210

After getting a dozen or so characters to end-game, I think this is my last character. Although if he does die I'm sure I'll be playing him in default when I feel like grinding, but I'll certainly be playing less and less.

This is the furthest I've made it in the game. I love Act III. It is my favorite Act BY FAR.

Even though the game is grindy, I love feeling of progression in it. You grow exponentially as you upgrade gear. More skills, better skills, and greater stats. I've had some pretty decent gear on my higher 70+ characters, but I could still have upgraded them to about 2 or 3 times as powerful as they were (4k life, 5k armor, 5k dps)

My big problem is that melee is at a huge disadvantage. It's frustrating. I feel more gear dependant on my Templar than on my Witch, or my ranger.

I like the game. I like the gameplay. But the more I play, the more I'm finding that the bartering and crafting system is just not my thing. I feel like I've wasted so much trying to make pieces. I could have just used that same currency to trade for something better.

I looted a sweet 5 socket chest that would be an upgrade for me. I blew through almost all of my chromatics, and my small pile of fusings trying to get it to something I could use. And now it sits. Not usable yet. And I'm out of orbs.

But yes, I notice a lot of people losing interest, which I kind of expected after getting my first character to end game map progression.

I would like to see the end of Merciless, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Finishing Cruel, and then getting the gear together in early Merc will be the key. If I continue to feel like I've been stuffed, I'll probably pack it in, and just go back to playing games on the Wii, and enjoy my retirement from online gaming.