Path of Exile

Path of Exile
Original title	Path of Exile
Studio	Grinding Gear Games
Publisher	Grinding Gear Games
Senior Developer	Chris Wilson (Lead Designer)
Erstveröffent- lichung	Microsoft Windows: October 23, 2013 Xbox One: August 24, 2017 PlayStation 4: March 26, 2019
platform	Microsoft Windows , Xbox One , PlayStation 4
genre	Action RPG Hack and Slay
Subject	Fantasy
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer
control	Mouse , keyboard , gamepad
system advantages preconditions	Windows XP (SP3) or newer, 1.4 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT or ATI Radeon X1950 Pro, 8 GB storage space, broadband internet connection
medium	Download
language	English , Brazilian Portuguese , Russian , German
Current version	3.11
Age rating	PEGI

Path of Exile ( German  "path of exile" ) is a fantasy - action role-playing game of the independent New Zealand game developer company Grinding Gear Games . It is a downloadable free-to-play - online game designed and is in continuous development. The initial final version 1.0.0 was released on October 23, 2013 for Windows . Since then, extensions have been published at regular intervals. The game was released for Xbox One in August 2017 and for PlayStation 4 in March 2019 . Path of Exile is largely based on Diablo II in terms of its game mechanics and is therefore also a hack-and-slay game.

action

At the beginning of the game, the player is on a prison ship together with other prisoners sentenced to exile. Thrown overboard, the character is stranded on the coast of the cursed continent Wraeclast , which serves as a place of exile for the Oriath kingdom , only clad in rags and a weapon that is typical for the character class but not particularly powerful. Wraeclast is populated with all sorts of monsters, wild animals, mutants, undead and bandits and for the players it is first about making your way from camp to camp together with other exiles and surviving. In the course of the game, however, it gradually becomes clear that Wraeclast is not only home to exiles and monsters, but also the Ebony Legion , which apparently has its own conspiratorial plan in the legacies of a fallen empire.

Gameplay

General

The aim of the game is that the player leads his character through ten "acts" of increasing difficulty full of monsters, wild animals and opponents:

Part One

• Act I: The Shore is a large stretch of coast. - Boss : 'Merveil, the Siren'
• Act II: The Forest is a large section of the jungle. - Final boss: 'Vaal Oversoul'
• Act III: The City of Sarn is an ancient, ruined capital of a fallen empire. - Final boss: 'Dominus, Ascendant'
• Act IV: The Highgate is a camp on a mountain with mines. - Final boss: 'Malachai, The Nightmare'
• Act V: Oriath is a section of the capital Theopolis of the empire of the same name / island Oriath. - Final boss: 'Kitava, the Insatiable'

Part Two

• Act VI: Return to Beginnings takes the player back to the areas of Act 1 and Act 2. - Boss: 'Tsoagoth, The Brine King'
• Act VII: An Encampment Displaced takes place in the Great Forest again. - Final boss: 'Arakaali, Spinner of Shadows'
• Act VIII: Divine Sisters is the return to Sarn. - Final boss: 'Solaris, Eternal Sun; Lunaris, Eternal Moon '
• Act IX: Betrayal and Strife leads the player into the areas of Act 4 and the 'Vastiri Plains'. - Final boss: 'The Depraved Trinity'
• Act X: An End to Hunger the player returns to Theopolis to finally defeat Kitava. - Final boss: 'Kitava, the Insatiable'

Epilogue

• Access to the 'Templar Laboratory' and the 'Maps', which represent the so-called endgame area.

The 6 new acts partly contain already known sections + several new ones , such as the Karui Fortress in Act 6 (Act 1) or The Causeway in Act 7 (Act 2)

In contrast to other games of the genre, Path of Exile does not rely on gold as the game currency, but on various items , so-called currency items . These items can be used to improve existing equipment in a variety of ways, and they are also used for trading with the various NPCs and for trading with other players. Due to certain breakpoints in the chain of conversion of these objects, the " gold farming " should be effectively counteracted.

Gems are a core element of the game ; magical gemstones that are inserted into socketed items such as armor, helmets, shields and weapons and that give the wearer skills and spells. Each skill acquired in this way can also be further modified and individualized with so-called support gems . The gems used can also be leveled up and inserted into other socketed objects. There are 3 colors for Gems, each of which is linked to one of the 3 attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence): red (strength), green (dexterity) and blue (intelligence). Each of these gems only fits into a base of the same color. A piece of equipment can have several sockets with the same or different colors. Connections may exist between the bases; only in this way is it possible to reinforce one gem with another. It is possible with special items to influence the amount, color and connection of the base, this happens at random.

Another special feature of the game is its unusually large and complex Passive Skill Tree (PST), in which the desired ones can be selected from a total of 1350 passive skills and combat techniques. For each level you get one point, which you can use for an ability or an increase in a status value. It is also possible to get additional points for completed quests. It is also possible to use Refund Points to undo a decision already made in the PST. Refund points can be obtained as a quest reward or through special items.

Character classes

There are three attributes in the game; Strength ( Strength ), dexterity ( Dex ) and intelligence ( Intelligence ).

• Marauder (Marauder) : The Marauder is a barbaric tribal warrior and relies primarily on one- and two-handed weapons and strength.
• Ranger : The ranger is an archer and ranger. Above all, she relies on skill.
• Witch : The witch is a witch and a magician. She relies on intelligence and mana .
• Duelist : The Duelist is a nimble fencer and swordsman. He relies on strength and skill.
• Templar (Templar) : The Templar is a holy warrior who relies on strength and intelligence.
• Shadow : The Shadow is an assassin and trapper. He relies on both skill and intelligence.
• Scion (descendant) : The Scion is the daughter of corrupt nobles who was abandoned on Wraeclast for murdering her unloved husband on their wedding night. She is an all-rounder and relies on all three attributes.

All character classes use the same talent tree, the choice of class only determines the starting point within the talent tree. Therefore, all talents contained in it can be combined in almost any way, but the distances to the individual talents are correspondingly longer and therefore require the investment of more talent points.

Business model

Path of Exile is free-to-play and is financed with so-called micro-transactions ( Micro Transactions ). This includes commercially available game content, such as special animations of the game characters or spells, item auras, account extras or even "pets". Thus, the microtransactions only cover convenience extras and customization options, which does not make it a so-called pay-to-win game in which paying players can acquire significant gaming advantages compared to non-paying users. In the closed beta phase, an early beta access (Betakey (s)) with kiwi as a character “pet” could be purchased at various price levels.

Development history

The story of Path of Exile began when a small group of New Zealand enthusiasts were disappointed with the commercial games of the genre (action RPG or hack and slay) and decided to develop their own game. This went unnoticed for three years before it was officially announced on August 1, 2010. During the development phase, the game designers obtained a lot of feedback and suggestions for improvement from the community via forums or direct inquiries on specific topics.

On January 23, 2013 the developer opened the so-called open beta phase with the release of version 0.10.0. Compared to the closed test phase, all existing characters of the community testers were reset and most of the previous equipment was deleted. However, the item shop was also opened in the open beta with the option to purchase cosmetic items, which is how the business model came into effect. The developer also announced that no further reset was planned for the transition to the final version and that characters created since the beginning of the open beta could continue to be used.

The final version 1.0.0b was released on October 23, 2013.

On June 3, 2014 the game was in version 1.1.4. The main change until then is the 1.1.0 Sacrifice of the Vaal patch , which contains new game content as well as many other items.

On August 22nd, 2014 the add-on Forsaken Masters was released with the update 1.2.0 . With this seven masters come into play who can teach the characters new crafting options and skills.

On September 26, 2014, Grinding Gear Games announced in a press release that the number of players on Path of Exile has grown to more than seven million.

On July 10, 2015, the expansion The Awakening was released with the 2.0.0 update . With this comes Act IV. There are now socketable slots within the skill tree into which these jewels can be used.

Update 2.1.0 was released on December 11, 2015, which includes new leagues such as the Talisman Challenge League, new Gems, unique items, changes to the game balance and the additional challenge Den of the Wolven King.

On March 4th, 2016 the extension 2.2.0 was released; this introduces Ascendancy classes, Trials of Ascendancy, the Labyrinth, new supply bottles and new trade features.

On August 4th, 2017, version 3.0 called The Fall of Oriath was released, which contains a number of bug fixes and balancing corrections in addition to some new equipment. A new league, The Harbinger Challenge League , was started at the same time.

Version 3.5 with the name Betrayal was released on December 7, 2018.

Version 3.6 called Synthesis was released on March 8, 2019.

On June 7, 2019, version 3.7 with the name Legion was released.

Version 3.8 with the name Blight was released on September 6, 2019.

On December 13th, 2019 version 3.9 with the name Metamorph was released together with the extension Conquerors of the Atlas . In Conquerors of the Atlas, the atlas and the endgame have been completely redesigned.

Version 3.10 with the name Delirium was released on March 13, 2020.

Version 3.11 named Harvest was released on June 19, 2020.

reception

Rating mirror

publication	Rating
Browsergames.de	87%
Buffed	8 of 10
GameStar	89%

The game received mostly positive reviews.

“Apart from the ongoing server issues and memory usage, I've had a fantastic time playing path of Exile this week. I didn't really find the story behind the quests very appealing, but I don't think many people play action RPGs for the story. The art style and randomized maps gave me some serious D2 nostalgia, and the permanent character customization options and ladder plans are the biggest things missing from Diablo III. In my opinion, Path of Exile is the sequel Diablo II deserved. "

“Aside from the ongoing server problems and memory usage, I had a fantastic time playing Path of Exile this week. I didn't really find the story behind the quests appealing, but I don't think a lot of people play action RPG because of their plot. The artistic style and the randomly generated maps sparked real Diablo 2 nostalgia in me, and the permanent character customization options and leaderboard maps are the most important things that are missing in Diablo 3 . In my opinion, Path of Exile is the sequel Diablo 2 deserves. "

- Brendan Drain : Massively

"Path of Exile has some unique problems of its own to sort out, as well. Dungeons in the game are programmed to reset automatically following a very short period of inactivity; This headaches when, after clearing the first part of a lengthy, multi-level map, you die and have to fight through the entire bottom floor again. [...] I'm also not convinced that the game's current business model is sustainable. [...] These guys have gone out of their way to avoid typical microtransactions - your bonus experience potions and the like - but I worry that not enough players will care about vanity items to keep the business afloat. I'd love to be proven wrong, though. But is Path of Exile a better game than Diablo III? I guess that depends on how you felt about Diablo. Personally, I enjoy both games for very different reasons, but I can see how fans of Diablo II might prefer Exile over Blizzard's most recent effort. "

“Path of Exile also has some unique problems to solve for itself. The dungeons are programmed in such a way that they reset themselves after a short period of inactivity; this causes a headache if you die after cleaning the first half of a long, multi-level map and have to fight your way through the entire entrance area again. [...] I am also not convinced whether the business model is sustainable enough. [...] These guys have done everything to avoid typical microtransactions - your bonus experience points and the like - but I'm afraid that is not enough to keep the store running. I would be happy if the point turned out to be wrong. But is Path of Exile the better game compared to Diablo 3? I think it depends on what you think of Diablo. Personally, I like both games for different reasons, but I can see why Diablo 2 fans might prefer Exile over Blizzard's recent endeavors. "

- Dustin Quillen : 1UP

Web links

• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Path of Exile - Official Path of Exile Wiki. Retrieved July 9, 2017 . 
2. ↑ POE Community Wiki: The 10 Acts in Path of Exile (POE WIKI). Gamepedia, accessed on August 16, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Path of Exile: The Open Beta starts today - information on the process. buffed.de, January 23, 2013, accessed December 2, 2013 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Path of Exile in the Path of Endless Possibilities test. In: GameStar . IDG Entertainment Media GmbH , February 8, 2013, accessed December 2, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Path of Exile: Account Reset After Open Beta? gameplorer.de, February 11, 2013, accessed on December 2, 2013 . 
6. ↑ http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/545530
7. ↑ PC Games - Path of Exile: Action RPG with more than 7 million players
8. ↑ http://browsergames.de/path-of-exile/path-of-exile-test-monsterschnetzelei-im-grossen-stil
9. ↑ http://www.buffed.de/Path-of-Exile-PC-235735/Tests/Path-of-Exile-im-Free2Play-Test-1029656/
10. ↑ Massively ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ 1UP ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.