Hindsight; Path of Exile: Awakening

I've decided to add another type of "column" to my regular ramblings. I will periodically writing under the heading "hindsight" to reflect on what I've experienced after playing some form of new game content, be it a new game, DLC, or a major content patch. Being that I've spent quite a large amount of time over the past few days with Path of Exile's new offering, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my insights. Warning, if you are wanting to experience the new content through fresh eyes, there will definitely be spoilers.

My love for Path of Exile hasn't been particularly well hidden to readers of this blog. I've mentioned it a few times in other blog posts and written a whole blog about it prior to release. Here I am now, writing again about it post release. I'm sorry! The currency/crafting system, the story, and the character building have always had my number. Moving on, I was so pumped for this game's release that I immediately logged in when it became available and jumped into the 6000 person queue for entrance into the game. When I finally got logged in, I quickly jumped to the options menu and scanned the various tabs for changes. The first that I noticed was the option for "Lockstep" for networking mode. One of the biggest challenges for Path of Exile has been desync. Imagine this; You're in the middle of a particularly tense mob fight and decide to retreat through a doorway for a quick breather. You make it through the door, take a deep breath, and are instantly pulled back through the doorway into the middle of the mobs you just went through. Frustrating! This is an example of the desync that has been the bugaboo of players since the game originally launched. However, Grinding Gear Games has touted their new system as a resolution to this longstanding problem. I'm about twenty hours deep now and have had virtually zero desync issues, so I'd say they've delivered on this promise. At times, my characters do  seem to be suffering from some mild stutter stepping, but I'm not willing to cast a stone at the new system in regard to that issue just yet.

I'll take that...and that...and that

Another new feature that has been particularly well received by many, including myself, is the addition of a loot filter system. Path of Exile is a gambling game. You kill a monster and somewhere in the inner workings of their game server a virtual slot machine sets into motion. Although mine often seems to be broken, sometimes it pays out and you get an item. In fact, as you progress in the game, it's rarer to not get an item from an enemy. If you are very lucky you might get something nice and then you get the accompanying rush of chemicals in your brain. Ahhhhh, dopamine.  Back to the point, most of the stuff you will find laying on the ground is garbage. It can be very tricky for newer players to sift through the dirt to find the gold hidden within, but this new option can greatly aid them. Using a .filter file that you (or someone who knows more than you) writes with specifications about the different items that drop, the game will then further increase the visibility of important items. I'm currently using the loot filter "NeverSink" and it works pretty well. Valuable currency item's names pop up highlighted in gold, for example. It makes looting much faster and easier for all players. A+ on this one GGG.

psst..I got a deal for ya..gems!

Satisfied, I closed the options menu and went to work on my new character. As I was working my way through act 1 in the first difficulty I observed that most things were fairly static. I could tell a difference in a few graphical touches. They added a few new mobs types in some of the zones. (parasite controlled sideways walking crabs, yuck) However, something that was quick to jump out to me as a veteran player was the relocation and addition of certain waypoints. In PoE, you have three ways of moving around. You can use waypoints to access any other waypoint that you have found, you can use a scroll of town portal to go back to the town in the act you are currently in, or you can exit the game to character selection and log back in. Before Awakening, some of the waypoints were in seemingly random places, often out of the way or hard to find. Post Awakening, these waypoints have been relocated into better locations that are much more convenient for the player. Another good quality of life improvement. Another QoL improvement was the addition of skill gems for sale in the town hubs. In the old days, skill gems could be hard to find for certain classes because they weren't a quest reward. People would make alt characters, lovingly referred to as mules, to collect quest rewards for gems that they didn't have access to on their other characters. Of course, you could buy the gems from other players, but that also takes money that some players haven't aquired yet. Voila! Now you can purchase quest reward gems from the potion/jewelry vendor in each town. (i.e. Nessa in act one) Worth noting, not all gems from quest rewards may be purchasable by your current class. There still are some restrictions in place, but for the most part they are. This was particularly helpful on quest rewards where I wanted multiple gems, but could only choose one.





I worked my way through the three old acts in the first difficulty, as I've done numerous times before. Often appreciating the small, thoughtful changes that were put into the game. After a few hours, I finally triumphed over Dominus and received my reward; act iv. My immediate impressions of act iv were that GGG has definitely honed their craft at creating content. The different zones all have a distinct feel to them and look gorgeous. The monsters are both simultaneously horrific and awesome. As my leveling partner and I beavered through the content, I couldn't help but notice that the difficulty had been ratcheted up quite a bit. Normal mobs seemed to have quite a bit of health and could become very dangerous in large packs. However, the real danger lies in the bosses of this part of the game. These boss fights are hectic! They feel less like the old boss fights and more like raid bosses from an MMO. Gone are the days of running into the bosses lair, moving to sidestep a few attacks, and grinding the boss into a pulp. Each boss has distinct mechanics that require some form of strategy to overcome. Unless you vastly out gear the content to trivialize it, engaging in a face to face conflict will often result in a very quick death. Often the strategy involves being patient and choosing your openings carefully. Knowing when to disengage is key. At first, I was a bit frustrated with the new bosses. I've been around in PoE for quite a while, and I'm not used to being so sorely tested. However, when I became accustomed to the fights and learned the mechanics, I felt much more rewarded for defeating those bosses. Being able to walk away from a fight and think, hey, I didn't die, actually means something now.

There has been a bit of an uproar through various channels about the difficulty of the act iv content. In response to this, GGG issued a minor patch to address some of the overtuned damage of the last boss fight, but largely left everything else untouched. Message received. It's supposed to be brutal. However, if you are thinking about playing, don't let the difficulty scare you off. Unless you play in a hardcore league, death is never permanent. When you die in a fight, you don't restart fresh and the boss doesn't regenerate health. It's possible to just revive and rush the boss down, if you are struggling with certain fights. You can always ask friends for help! Well, I suppose it's time for me to get back to leveling and looting. If  you do decide to pick up the game, add me to your friends list (Nerdstalgicsigh) and I'll toss you some stuff to help you get started. Until next, #GameOn!