I've followed and played Path of Exile for over a year now, since closed beta. It has changed a lot over this time, but always for the better. My Action RPG desire was soured a bit by Diablo III, and I wanted something deeper. Torchlight II is a great game, but I still wanted more. That's where Path of Exile (POE) comes in. From the small, independent developer in New Zealand, Grinding Gear Games (GGG), this game exceeds expectations in the depth of gameplay department. The skill system is incredibly detailed, allowing for character classes to use any skill, so long as their stats support it. Want to make the tanky, heavy handed Maurader into a quick, bow wielding power house? Completely possible, there's absolutely no invisible wall restrictions to the sort of character you can make.

The passive skill tree is something that pretty much demands its own paragraph. It is immense. The point of the tree that you start at is dependent on the character you choose, but again, this does not limit you in any way. I've seen complex builds that go around the entire tree almost to grab specific nodes to make a truly unique build based on unique items and skill combinations. It's daunting, you will fail many times, but the depth is completely rewarding. The number of times I have reached end game maps with a character and promptly made a new one with an entirely different build is almost embarrassing.

Next, let's look at the graphics and sound. The music is top notch and the soundtrack has a place on several of my playlists. The audio effects are par for the course for an ARPG, with each sound for combat adjusting pitch dynamicly to avoid the sounds seemingly too samey. That said, after the immense hours I have put into this game with the release, open beta, and closed beta put together, I mute the sound as I do in any ARPG I play for a decent length of time. The voice acting is quality, though nothing that stands out, aside from my opinion that the voice acting is better than Diablo III's.

The graphics, in my opinion, are wonderful. From ornately detailed palaces, to mucky swamps and lush forests, POE presents a vivid environment that's not hard on the eyes. Armor and weapons look great, and the microtransaction effects (which I will talk about later) are a fun addition. The animation is quality, though the ability to be stunned, inability to cancel actions, and the spell casting time can make it feel less fluid than other ARPGs. That said, I prefer the more tactical nature of the combat system at the expense of combat fluidity.

I've propped this game up a lot, right? Well, worry not, I can set aside my fanboyism momentarily. The first problem I want to tackle is the ongoing problem of desync. It's a very popular topic in POE's community since desynch can cause a character to die in the most absurd fashion. Desynch is a problem where the client and the server essentially disagree on the character's location. This can cause problems like seeing an enemy right next to you, but you can't hit it. Or worse, not seeing an enemy next to you, getting the ever loving snot beat out of your precious character, and the suddenly the client resynchs and you are stuck in the middle of a beatdown. GGG is working on the problem and is very vocal with the community about their progress with the game, including desynch. Desynch is not an easy problem to fix and it could take a good while before a full fix is possible. GGG have kept a command unlocked, /oos, with the intention of helping players solve synching issues as the command forces the client to resynch. If you intend on playing a Hardcore character, I implore you to look into setting up /oos as a one key macro. Doing this and hitting it when you think you might be out of sync can save your character many times.

Another "problem" isn't a game defect by any means, but more the nature of an ARPG. Diablo III was an ARPG that said "sure, you can change your skills any time, no penalty". That holds somewhat true for POE, so long as your stats can support the skill. The penalty would be having to level the new gem, or if your stats for the gem are too low, having to change some choices on the skill tree. This is where the difficulty comes into play. The skill tree is semi-permanent per character. There are a few quests in the game that grant Passive Skill Refund points that allow you to unselect points and allocate them elsewhere on the tree. This is usefull, but there aren't enough to reallocate a full spec. I personally don't have a problem with this since I plan my characters ahead. This can absolutely be daunting for new players that haven't taken the time to check out YouTube videos on the game, of which I suggest searching ZiggyD's videos as he has series on how to start playing POE as well as advanced info.

So all is lost when making a bad build that won't survive the end game maps? Not entirely. The itemization is wonderful and it's possible to craft "corrective" gear, though I wouldn't suggest that for a build. The same items used for crafting are the game's currency. There is no gold currency to speak of! None! Instead, there are items like the Alchemy Orb. A rare drop that can turn a white item into a rare item. Want to give that white item some increased stats before "alch'ing it"? Put some armor shards or blacksmith whetstones (for armor and weapons respectively) on it to increase the quality. Transmutation orbs to convert a white item to a blue, standard magical item, and a Alteration orb to "reroll" that item. End game crafting is done by taking a high level white item, taking the quality up to 20% (if desired), using transmutation orbs to convert it to magical, using alterations to roll good stats, then using other, more rare orbs, to convert the magic item to a rare item, and even more currency to alter the rare stats and number of sockets the item has. Six sockets on the chest piece? Too bad they aren't linked, it could potentially take an immense number of Fusing orbs to link them all together. The benefit to the system is real currency worth. The currency's value is dictated by its use, and that means bypassing all that "gold sink" nonsense.

I could go on about the game's map feature, uniques that are indeed unique, or the brilliant race seasons, but this review is long enough. In short, if you like ARPGs, try this game. Do it. Microtransactions are *not* and will *never* be upgrades. They are a combination of strictly cosmetic items and other features like more stash tabs, guild options, and the elite $1000 transaction that will allow you to work with GGG to make a unique item based on your ideas. The last feature has been a brilliant function for both adding amazing unique items to the game and funding one of my favorite games.