Path of Exile 2 Becomes Victim of Its Own Success As 450,000+ Players Overwhelm Servers

[Vario]

I liked what I saw of the plot and setting in PoE but it never felt like it was a main part of the experience so they didn't develop it. I actually hate the constantly shifting meta patch cycle that a lot of games have in the modern era. I also think the giant skill tree just makes the game more convoluted and in the end everyone ends up using a cookie cutter build because the difficulty forces it.

 

[bug]

Hack and slash and Arpg are the same thing. Does POE play differently to Victor Vran, Grim Dawn, Torchlight, Van Helsing or indeed Diablo?

It does. Boss battles are much more DOTA-like. Basically, the first 10 times you go up against a boss, you're dead. The next 10-20 attempts, you'll start winning. And I would say after about 50 fight you really start figuring out what's going on. It's what kept the game interesting for me. But, since I played mostly on my own, I simply could not keep up. Many battles/maps were simply out of reach for SSF.

But yes, it is an ARPG/hack'n'slash.

I liked what I saw of the plot and setting in PoE but it never felt like it was a main part of the experience so they didn't develop it. I actually hate the constantly shifting meta patch cycle that a lot of games have in the modern era. I also think the giant skill tree just makes the game more convoluted and in the end everyone ends up using a cookie cutter build because the difficulty forces it.

Correction: everybody tries to use a cookie cutter build. For many players (myself included), the ban hammer falls way before they can get there and the cookie cutter builds change.

 

[Vayra86]

I liked what I saw of the plot and setting in PoE but it never felt like it was a main part of the experience so they didn't develop it. I actually hate the constantly shifting meta patch cycle that a lot of games have in the modern era. I also think the giant skill tree just makes the game more convoluted and in the end everyone ends up using a cookie cutter build because the difficulty forces it.

Yeah, PoE kinda overkills the complexity and depth aspect, I agree. I did sink many hours into it, but you have to be really dedicated for this. Its all about expectations going in. This is not a game where you need to be playing the ultimate endgame content, really. There's so much to discover before that; and I really liked how PoE 1 threw lots of challenges at your build. You really get tested, for example in the labyrinth, but also the demands on resilience and damage output throughout. The game is full of little walls like that, in much bigger way than Diablo 3/4, or Grim Dawn.

 

[Onasi]

@kapone32
I personally adore Grim Dawn and consider it to be the closest the genre actually got to evolving and meaningfully marrying the loot grindfest with cool narrative beats and even some attempts at choice and consequences. Too bad Crate are more interested in their mediocre survival town builder than making a sequel and even the expansion they announced 1.5 years ago is still nowhere to be found.

I am curious how Titan Quest II will turn out. Grimlore did some good work with SpellForce III, but what they’ve shown of TQII so far looked… a bit disappointing.

 

[Vayra86]

@kapone32
I personally adore Grim Dawn and consider it to be the closest the genre actually got to evolving and meaningfully marrying the loot grindfest with cool narrative beats and even some attempts at choice and consequences. Too bad Crate are more interested in their mediocre survival town builder than making a sequel and even the expansion they announced 1.5 years ago is still nowhere to be found.

I am curious how Titan Quest II will turn out. Grimlore did some good work with SpellForce III, but what they’ve shown of TQII so far looked… a bit disappointing.

I believe Asterkarn is coming out not too long from now, there was a big patch for GD leading up to it not too long ago, right?

And yeah, Farthest Frontier is mediocre in many ways I agree, but I did like what I saw and played so far. Its quite fun.

 

[Onasi]

@Vayra86
That’s what I thought this summer.

 

[Mitohondri]

Is PoE2 legit better than D4 or is it too early to tell? I heard it's actually somewhat challenging other than the mindless spamfest that D4 is.

Really looking forward to getting into it later as it gets out of EA.

PoE1 is better than D4, so PoE2 can just be more better .

D4 end game is boring to me, loot, classes, Spiritborn is like 100 time more powerful then any other class, character customisation, loot, stats, it all basically sucks so much, that I have more fun playing D3 instead, since I dont have time for PoE

 

[bug]

@kapone32
I personally adore Grim Dawn and consider it to be the closest the genre actually got to evolving and meaningfully marrying the loot grindfest with cool narrative beats and even some attempts at choice and consequences. Too bad Crate are more interested in their mediocre survival town builder than making a sequel and even the expansion they announced 1.5 years ago is still nowhere to be found.

I am curious how Titan Quest II will turn out. Grimlore did some good work with SpellForce III, but what they’ve shown of TQII so far looked… a bit disappointing.

Loved TQ, but didn't get into GD one bit. Got (seemingly) random one-shots against random bosses, got tired of that rather quickly. And there's a SpelForce III?

 

[Dahita]

Hack and slash and Arpg are the same thing. Does POE play differently to Victor Vran, Grim Dawn, Torchlight, Van Helsing or indeed Diablo?


I hear you I guess the issue is that POE was around the same time as Victor Vran, Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn. I enjoyed it but the lack of pace made it a sleep inducer Grind fest after some time. Especially compared to the Games I mentioned before. Torchlight 2 can be finished in a Weekend if you try. The skill tree was the biggest hook for me with so many choices.

Not quite. All those you're mentioning are hack and slash games, starting with Diablo. Action RPGs are games where you control your character fully, hence the "action", in a RPG world. God of War, Elden Ring, The Witcher, those are ARPGs. The term has been used willy-nelly for every type of game, but the ones where you just click on packs of monsters to hack and slash are called... hack and slash.

Granted, POE2 added the space bar roll, but IMO that doesn't change much regarding the "action" aspect. There is none, you're still pointing and clicking on monsters to kill them.

 

[Kapone33]

Not quite. All those you're mentioning are hack and slash games, starting with Diablo. Action RPGs are games where you control your character fully, hence the "action", in a RPG world. God of War, Elden Ring, The Witcher, those are ARPGs. The term has been used willy-nelly for every type of game, but the ones where you just click on packs of monsters to hack and slash are called... hack and slash.

Granted, POE2 added the space bar roll, but IMO that doesn't change much regarding the "action" aspect. There is none, you're still pointing and clicking on monsters to kill them.

Interesting take. What you are describing are 3D Action RPgs. That was started with Kingdoms of Amulaur or even Shadow of Mordor. That does not mean that Games like POE are not ARPGs. The very first ARPG I played was probably Zieliard way back in the day. I don't know what made it change but Grim Dawn is not a Hack and Slash but an ARPG. Just like the Baldur's Gate Games on PS.

 

[Dahita]

Interesting take. What you are describing are 3D Action RPgs. That was started with Kingdoms of Amulaur or even Shadow of Mordor. That does not mean that Games like POE are not ARPGs. The very first ARPG I played was probably Zieliard way back in the day. I don't know what made it change but Grim Dawn is not a Hack and Slash but an ARPG. Just like the Baldur's Gate Games on PS.

Being in 3D has nothing to do with it. Could be in 2D and still be an ARPG. A click and hit is not an action RPG, and Grim Dawn is a hack and slash, where you hack and slash hordes of monster. I know everyone keeps mixing the two, but that is erroneous. It's ok with you want to stick to your idea of ARPG, I'm not here to change your mind.

How 'Diablo' Defined the Hack and Slash Roleplaying Game

Blizzard's hellish dungeon crawler 'Diablo' turns 20 this month, and it defined the 'Hack 'n' Slash' role-playing game

www.rollingstone.com

 

[bug]

As usual, let's ask our friend:

Action role-playing game - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hack and slash - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Vayra86]

As usual, let's ask our friend:

Action role-playing game - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hack and slash - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As I was thinking... Diablo and Grim Dawn are ARPGs and not hack and slash.

Funny how convinced people can get of something wrong. A sign of the times...

Not quite. All those you're mentioning are hack and slash games, starting with Diablo. Action RPGs are games where you control your character fully, hence the "action", in a RPG world. God of War, Elden Ring, The Witcher, those are ARPGs. The term has been used willy-nelly for every type of game, but the ones where you just click on packs of monsters to hack and slash are called... hack and slash.

Granted, POE2 added the space bar roll, but IMO that doesn't change much regarding the "action" aspect. There is none, you're still pointing and clicking on monsters to kill them.

The third person action RPGs you are referring to are just Third Person Action.

They're not a very defined genre. The fact there's a small skill tree to guide some progression does not make it an RPG. You're not roleplaying either in God of War, in the sense that you get to define your role yourself: and that's primarily why Diablo and the like are action RPGs: the definition of your role is determined by action-oriented gameplay. In other words, you don't need a high Charisma score here to find your way out of numerous conversation dialogs. You just need the best build to overcome the combat challenges.

A lot of games borrow some part of the ARPG's complexity and concept, but that does not make them ARPGs. The typical ARPG is isometric perspective, has a pretty tight and defined combat system, and can include any number of moves beyond point and click. A lot of ARPGs have slowly added some more maneouvrability to their concept, but that does not impact what kind of games they are. A dodge button is just one of the many options ARPGs can use in terms of skills to learn to make you build the right characters.

The core concept in an ARPG is that everything is in service of the character/class progression, and entirely combat oriented. Take away the realtime element and you end up with a CRPG or Tactical- CRPG - and to make sure a CRPG isn't too onesided, you most often see those accompanied with more non-combat RPG elements, or a campaign.