The key to understanding PoE may be that is it not made for the same players as Diablo 2

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"We're a small independent team of hardcore gamers based in New Zealand and have created Path of Exile as the game that we'd want to play ourselves."

The game certainly is heavy enough to support people who are now grown men, and still seek their sense of achievement in life through playing a game. Is that the simple key to understanding why the game is the way it is?

It is often mentioned, and i believe i have read it somewhere once as well, that the developers tried to recapture that feeling that they had while playing ARPG's as they were growing up.

With time people change, and by playing the games they did at that time they will no longer feel the same, which means, that if they truly want to capture that feeling, then they have to create something different.

In that sense, PoE does not appeal to the same people that the original ARPG's they played did. As a child, you do not have all day everyday to play computer. You go to school, you have limited control over your freedom as you live at home and so forth. With D1 & D2 there was time to experience that full feeling of the game even if your time was limited.

Therefore, PoE will not appeal to people that are were the devs were, it cannot give them the same experiences that the devs defined their tasted by while growing up.

Ironically, while the devs created it to be their game to no-life all day long, by finding something worthwhile to do other than just playing all day, to become professional game developers, they also removed themselves from their own target audience.

Do you think this is true?

Could it be a point to make that PoE makes money from peoples misery(lack of satisfaction in life, it is gaming which is escapism) and keeps people locked in it?

I have said before, PoE in its current state is bad for life, unless what you truly want the most is to play games 100% of your time. For example also because PoE is a game where you compete in wasting time more than having skill/knowledge, i believe it does not breed the healthiest environment like that.

My purpose is to speak what others will not, not to judge. I hope you see the difference, and i still love PoE.

Peace.

Quite interesting, i found about you here:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/750583/page/11
Not bad.

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Crackmonster wrote:

I have said before, PoE in its current state is bad for life, unless what you truly want the most is to play games 100% of your time.

I would say, PoE is bad for life if you play it hardcore(not the league).
But the game is by definition all about that part: hardcore. So we have a problem here.

You assume that the game was made to be played 6+ hours a day else it isn't enjoyable. That simply isn't the case. I play 1-2 hours a day maybe a couple days a week and I have a blast with it. Even when I only get to do one map on my lunch break it's still fun, so no this game is not for "no-lifers" only and can still be enjoyed very much by people with a career and a family.

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Cribstaxx wrote:

You assume that the game was made to be played 6+ hours a day else it isn't enjoyable. That simply isn't the case. I play 1-2 hours a day maybe a couple days a week and I have a blast with it. Even when I only get to do one map on my lunch break it's still fun, so no this game is not for "no-lifers" only and can still be enjoyed very much by people with a career and a family.

A fair point. Not everyone wants to experience games to their fullest.

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Crackmonster wrote:

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Cribstaxx wrote:

You assume that the game was made to be played 6+ hours a day else it isn't enjoyable. That simply isn't the case. I play 1-2 hours a day maybe a couple days a week and I have a blast with it. Even when I only get to do one map on my lunch break it's still fun, so no this game is not for "no-lifers" only and can still be enjoyed very much by people with a career and a family.

A fair point. Not everyone wants to experience games to their fullest.

I will experience the game to it's fullest, I just won't be doing in 12 hour chunks and complete it in a month, I will still be enjoying this game next year b/c I haven't blazed through everything I want to accomplish.

PoE is bad for your health if you spend your currency on gambling instead of hoarding it to trade for whatever you desire.

i would sit on 100more ex if it wasnt for fusing jewing crafting throwing exalts and alchemies around like candy using any of my looted and traded currency.

but im a sucker for "maybe this time it will bear some fruits" and i fail over and over again.
also had some luck with things though , to each his own i guess.

just know how to dose the playtime properly.
dont overplay.

May i ask how far you are?

The by far best hours are the first 1000k on a character, when you do do not require anything specials just small upgrades here and there.

The very best of the best, is while leveling your first characters, that is just flawless. It made me entirely lose track of time and forget everything else. Really recommend the first 1000k hours to any ARPG addict.

Not only the devs have changed, the players they're adressing have changed, the market for video games has changed, other games have set new standards or brought in other aspects some players might think of as "mandatory" nowadays (like a inventory autosort feature, i mean seriously now ...).

So yeah, i think you have a point, you can never truly catch the feeling of something that has gone by again. It'll be something new, and you better adapt accordingly. But frankly speaking, GGG did a pretty good job with that. And apparently there's still a target audience big enough to support that kind of gameplay they're aiming for.

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ahcos wrote:

Not only the devs have changed, the players they're adressing have changed, the market for video games has changed, other games have set new standards or brought in other aspects some players might think of as "mandatory" nowadays (like a inventory autosort feature, i mean seriously now ...).

So yeah, i think you have a point, you can never truly catch the feeling of something that has gone by again. It'll be something new, and you better adapt accordingly. But frankly speaking, GGG did a pretty good job with that. And apparently there's still a target audience big enough to support that kind of gameplay they're aiming for.

I thought of adding a section about gaming itself also changing but then i thought it was sufficient, as not to make a huge wall, to write that PoE is not to children/younger people of today what D2 was to those of its time.

The average console or computer game costs 40-60 dollars and gives the player around 15-25 hours of enjoyment.

If PoE gives you 1000 hours of "flawless" gameplay for absolutely nothing, I would say this game is nothing short of amazing.