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Why you should play this game
Path of Exile offers a mature, complex, challenging gameplay and is highly recommended for those who enjoy the Action RPG genre. The game is a labeled as "ethical free to play" meaning in-game purchases are aesthetic or do not offer any kind of gameplay advantage. They are very generous with free features, such as giving you access to over 20 free character slots. It's important to note this game is online only, so it's suggested you have a decent internet connection to prevent lag that will lead to character deaths and frustrations.
I've been playing Path of Exile heavily and there's a lot of exciting reasons to make this your go to Action RPG. The game is extremely complex. There's a lot of advanced mechanics and gameplay systems, so it can seem daunting at first but it'll keep you engaged for many months by constantly learning how the various gameplay mechanics, skills, and items work.
PoE is a constantly evolving game. The developers release frequent updates by adding several new unique items, skills, or gameplay features. It's incredibly exciting reading all these updates. Each new skill or item can vastly change how existing builds work. There are four Acts in the current build and several more planned to be released during the game's estimated ten year life cycle. This is one of the best selling points that keeps me wanting to play Path of Exile, it's a game that I can devote time to and enjoy the rewards from it for many years to come.
There are various leagues or game modes that you can create and play your character in that offer different gameplay experiences. By default there is Normal League and Hardcore League. If you choose to play Hardcore and your chatacter dies, you'll be moved to the Normal league, with no opportunity to return to Hardcore league on that character. There are race leagues that last anywhere from one hour to over eight, and prizes are rewarded based on how high level you reach or by reaching certain goals or conditions. There are also temporary leagues that last several months, which are a lot of fun for players who enjoy having an economy and personal inventory reset.
Reasons you should not play this game
Many call this game "Path of Gambling" as the method used to improve your items is extremely random in outcome. There are usable items that exist to improve your gear by generating random attributes (life, mana, armor, etc). The problem with this is that you can spend weeks saving up these items to try and improve your gear, only to never get that modification or high number roll. I've personally farmed for over a month to try and improve an item that was worth improving, but had no luck after using currency to try and improve it.
Getting Started
There's seven Classes in Path of Exile to choose from: the Witch, Shadow, Ranger, Deulist, Marauder, Templar, or Scion. The biggest difference between each class is where you start off in the gigantic skill tree. Now the skill tree can seem intimidating at first, but if you don't feel like investing too much time reading and planning your build, don't worry about it. Just pick whatever sounds useful, such as more health, more strength, or more damage. Your opinion on what passive skills are best to pick will change based on your play experiences, so it's not worth trying to perfect your build right away. It's worth noting that you do get items or quest rewards that let you re-pick a limited amount of passive skills.
The Witch starts off with some amazing Mana support, which can be crucial for your build. The amount of mana and mana regeneration directly ties into how many skills you can use. You may think mana support will just mean you'll have to chug potions less, but that's not true. Not too far into the game you'll have access to skills, supporting skills, and auras, but will not be able to use them all due to mana constraints. The Witch also has great access to Minion buffs, Energy Shield, and spell damage passives.
The Shadow class has amazing critical strike passives. So much so that any build centered around critical strikes will certainly end up in the Shadow's skill tree. Aside from doing more damage, critical strikes from an elemental source will also have a chance to apply a status effect on your target. Cold has a chance to freeze, lightning issues a shock debuff which amplies the damage the target takes, and fire can make the target burn for damage over time. The Shadow's skill tree tends to focus on a mix of Energy Shield and Evasion defenses.
The Ranger is a fantastic starting class for Bow or Projectile attacks, or classes utilizing Evasion and Life. A physical based bow build is a very strong reason to pick the Ranger.
The Duelist class is a very strong choice for life based Melee or Bow/Projectile builds. It has fantastic life regen nodes available, strong damage passives, good armor or evasion- basically anything you would want for a Melee or Bow build. It also has quick access to the major keystones Iron Reflexes, Iron Grip, and Unwavering Stance. On top of the above benefits, they have quick access to the Marauder, Ranger, or Scion class tree.
The Marauder is one of the most popular starting classes for a reason. Health. Lots of health and resistances are available immediately. They also have fast access to the passive keystone “Resolute Technique”. This passive makes it so all of your hits never miss, but in turn can't deal critical strikes. The Marauder also has quick access to the “Blood Magic” keystone, which fully depletes your mana pool and allows you to cast spells using life instead of mana. This is amazing if you've picked up a lot of life nodes and prefer not to use separate mana potions on your limited potion bar. It's important to note that I believe the recent patch has nerfed Blood Magic significantly as certain Auras such as Grace, Wrath, and Anger are now percentage based.
The Templar has an incredible starting area for melee and magic users. You'll have access to good damage and life talents almost immediately. It also has a very natural and quick progression to the Marauder or Witch areas. The only downside I could see is that it takes a bit longer to go to some of the major keystones (Resolute Technique, Blood Magic, Iron Reflexes, and Eldritch Battery). Otherwise it's a very strong class to use for Strength based Melee users, or Spellcasters, especially Fire damage ones.
The Scion is the newest class introduced with the release version of the game. It's available to play only after you've completed the main quest line in Act 3. Located in the center of Path of Exile's massive skill tree, it has the ability to reach opposite ends of the skill web. This is useful for some advanced builds, such as Energy Shield Spellcasters who want to use Ghost Reaver and Vaal Pact. But it's also very good for basic builds, as it contains in abundance most everything you need near-by: Life, Energy Shield, Evasion, Physical Damage, Projectile Damage, and Spelldamage.
For further details regarding the basics of the game, I suggest reading the official website's game section and forums. If anyone has any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them. I'll try to keep this thread updated. Feel free to suggest useful links or anything else.
- Patch 2.5.0 - Content & Balance Updates for Breach Challenge League
- Breach Challenge League announced. Live on December 2nd.
- Patch 2.4.2 - New Channel Skills. DirectX 64 bit client. Forsaken Master Updates.
- Patch 2.4.1 - Atlas and Sextant updates.
- Patch 2.4.0 - Atlas of Worlds Patch Notes.
- Atlas of Worlds Feature Page.
- Path of Exile's Official Site - PoE Goods Item Trading - Poe.Ninja Currency Valuation
- PoE Wikipedia - Skills - Uniques - Vendor Recipes
- PoE Item Affixes Wesbite - PoELab.com Daily Layouts
- Vorici Chromatic Calculator - Mikelat's Aura Calculator
- PoE Reddit - Neversink's Loot Filter - Prophecy Info
- Online Skill Tree Planner - Offline Skill Tree
- PoE Craft Atlas Map - Essence Guide - 2.4 Map Guide
Why you should play this game
Path of Exile offers a mature, complex, challenging gameplay and is highly recommended for those who enjoy the Action RPG genre. The game is a labeled as "ethical free to play" meaning in-game purchases are aesthetic or do not offer any kind of gameplay advantage. They are very generous with free features, such as giving you access to over 20 free character slots. It's important to note this game is online only, so it's suggested you have a decent internet connection to prevent lag that will lead to character deaths and frustrations.
I've been playing Path of Exile heavily and there's a lot of exciting reasons to make this your go to Action RPG. The game is extremely complex. There's a lot of advanced mechanics and gameplay systems, so it can seem daunting at first but it'll keep you engaged for many months by constantly learning how the various gameplay mechanics, skills, and items work.
PoE is a constantly evolving game. The developers release frequent updates by adding several new unique items, skills, or gameplay features. It's incredibly exciting reading all these updates. Each new skill or item can vastly change how existing builds work. There are four Acts in the current build and several more planned to be released during the game's estimated ten year life cycle. This is one of the best selling points that keeps me wanting to play Path of Exile, it's a game that I can devote time to and enjoy the rewards from it for many years to come.
There are various leagues or game modes that you can create and play your character in that offer different gameplay experiences. By default there is Normal League and Hardcore League. If you choose to play Hardcore and your chatacter dies, you'll be moved to the Normal league, with no opportunity to return to Hardcore league on that character. There are race leagues that last anywhere from one hour to over eight, and prizes are rewarded based on how high level you reach or by reaching certain goals or conditions. There are also temporary leagues that last several months, which are a lot of fun for players who enjoy having an economy and personal inventory reset.
Reasons you should not play this game
Many call this game "Path of Gambling" as the method used to improve your items is extremely random in outcome. There are usable items that exist to improve your gear by generating random attributes (life, mana, armor, etc). The problem with this is that you can spend weeks saving up these items to try and improve your gear, only to never get that modification or high number roll. I've personally farmed for over a month to try and improve an item that was worth improving, but had no luck after using currency to try and improve it.
Getting Started
There's seven Classes in Path of Exile to choose from: the Witch, Shadow, Ranger, Deulist, Marauder, Templar, or Scion. The biggest difference between each class is where you start off in the gigantic skill tree. Now the skill tree can seem intimidating at first, but if you don't feel like investing too much time reading and planning your build, don't worry about it. Just pick whatever sounds useful, such as more health, more strength, or more damage. Your opinion on what passive skills are best to pick will change based on your play experiences, so it's not worth trying to perfect your build right away. It's worth noting that you do get items or quest rewards that let you re-pick a limited amount of passive skills.
The Witch starts off with some amazing Mana support, which can be crucial for your build. The amount of mana and mana regeneration directly ties into how many skills you can use. You may think mana support will just mean you'll have to chug potions less, but that's not true. Not too far into the game you'll have access to skills, supporting skills, and auras, but will not be able to use them all due to mana constraints. The Witch also has great access to Minion buffs, Energy Shield, and spell damage passives.
The Shadow class has amazing critical strike passives. So much so that any build centered around critical strikes will certainly end up in the Shadow's skill tree. Aside from doing more damage, critical strikes from an elemental source will also have a chance to apply a status effect on your target. Cold has a chance to freeze, lightning issues a shock debuff which amplies the damage the target takes, and fire can make the target burn for damage over time. The Shadow's skill tree tends to focus on a mix of Energy Shield and Evasion defenses.
The Ranger is a fantastic starting class for Bow or Projectile attacks, or classes utilizing Evasion and Life. A physical based bow build is a very strong reason to pick the Ranger.
The Duelist class is a very strong choice for life based Melee or Bow/Projectile builds. It has fantastic life regen nodes available, strong damage passives, good armor or evasion- basically anything you would want for a Melee or Bow build. It also has quick access to the major keystones Iron Reflexes, Iron Grip, and Unwavering Stance. On top of the above benefits, they have quick access to the Marauder, Ranger, or Scion class tree.
The Marauder is one of the most popular starting classes for a reason. Health. Lots of health and resistances are available immediately. They also have fast access to the passive keystone “Resolute Technique”. This passive makes it so all of your hits never miss, but in turn can't deal critical strikes. The Marauder also has quick access to the “Blood Magic” keystone, which fully depletes your mana pool and allows you to cast spells using life instead of mana. This is amazing if you've picked up a lot of life nodes and prefer not to use separate mana potions on your limited potion bar. It's important to note that I believe the recent patch has nerfed Blood Magic significantly as certain Auras such as Grace, Wrath, and Anger are now percentage based.
The Templar has an incredible starting area for melee and magic users. You'll have access to good damage and life talents almost immediately. It also has a very natural and quick progression to the Marauder or Witch areas. The only downside I could see is that it takes a bit longer to go to some of the major keystones (Resolute Technique, Blood Magic, Iron Reflexes, and Eldritch Battery). Otherwise it's a very strong class to use for Strength based Melee users, or Spellcasters, especially Fire damage ones.
The Scion is the newest class introduced with the release version of the game. It's available to play only after you've completed the main quest line in Act 3. Located in the center of Path of Exile's massive skill tree, it has the ability to reach opposite ends of the skill web. This is useful for some advanced builds, such as Energy Shield Spellcasters who want to use Ghost Reaver and Vaal Pact. But it's also very good for basic builds, as it contains in abundance most everything you need near-by: Life, Energy Shield, Evasion, Physical Damage, Projectile Damage, and Spelldamage.
For further details regarding the basics of the game, I suggest reading the official website's game section and forums. If anyone has any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them. I'll try to keep this thread updated. Feel free to suggest useful links or anything else.