Trevor Massman

Path of Exile is a great game for hardcore RPG players willing the invest incredible amounts of time and effort in to playing. For the other 98% of the gaming population, it is a complete waste of time. To be even marginally successful in Path of Exile you better be prepared to spend hundreds of hours undergoing tutorials, reading forums, and watching youtube videos on the subject. After that you MIGHT be prepared to start the grind, err I mean game..... The hundreds of hours learning the game don't seem so bad compared to the seemingly infinite amount of time you must spend grinding to get anywhere. Once a mind-numbing amount of ultra-repetitive grinding has been completed, you will find yourself reasonable high level, and pretty well stuck from getting any farther. This is thanks to some brilliant game play mechanics that the devs though up..... Rather than relying on interesting mechanics to make things interesting, the devs decided to simply throw in random 1 hit deaths that you can't do anything about. What's better, is that when you die, you lose a substantial amount of XP, making it that much harder to level. To recap- instant 1 hit deaths you can't do anything about + substantial penalties for dying- brilliant game-play right there. The only way you will have any success at higher levels is to procure top-notch gear. To do that, you have two options: grind for all eternity, or utilize the worst trade system ever put in a game (and still grind for all eternity anyways). Path of Exile has no exchange/ auction house, though there are some website that sort of fill this gap. The only in-game option to buy or sell gear is to trade directly with other people. The problem is that the trade economy is completely dominated by the top 1% of the player base, putting most gear out of reach, unless you are willing to spend ridiculous hours grinding to generate the currency necessary. To summarize- Path of Exile is great game for truly elite MMO/RPG players whom can invest substantial time (well north of 30 hours per week) in to it. Everyone else is going to find it a very rough ride.