And with every free content update, it just keeps getting better. What has changed in since then is the level of polish in the game.įrom the FF7-style handling of skills in the game, to the FFX-style passive skill web (with nearly 1400 nodes in it as of this latest update) the Diablo approach to atmosphere and dungeon crawling, and a Dark Souls level of unforgiving learning curve, it’s little surprise that many people, myself included, have long considered PoE to be the Diablo III that players deserved. This hasn’t changed a bit since I first bought into the backer beta in the before times of the long-long-ago. And you WILL enjoy every damn minute of your failure. You WILL reach a point where you can no longer progress because of it. For an ARPG, is has an incredibly steep learning curve. Path of Exile is overwhelming, to say the least. Of this, I am certain.Īnd if none of that paragraph makes sense to you, fear not you’re certainly not alone. Despite the wealth of new opportunities for ludicrously amusing and powerful builds in Ascendancy, none of that challenge is lost. Not by necessity, mind you, but because I play in Hardcore leagues, and, as ever, the isle of Wraeclast spares no opportunity to violate your characters’ orifices and your own personal pride in equal measure. I’ve played three of PoE: Ascendancy’s new Ascendancy classes now a Flameblast Elementalist Witch in the preview build, and both a Dual RF Totem Chieftain Marauder and an SRS Necromancer Witch in live.