[POLL] Rate Path of Exile's acts (Poll on Page1)

Act 1: 6/10. Nothing special, but a good solid start to the game. The pirate/siren stories give it a charming feel that I like.

Act 2: 5/10. This act feels like filler, but plays very well. I love the open spaces and the gameplay, but the story feels like it was pushed in to make the story longer.

Act 3: 7/10. The story here really starts to develop around Piety. It is the first time you have any real interaction with her (When she kills whats-his-name). The pace of the storyline picks up here. This is probably my least favorite act for gameplay, with all the tight spaces and poor ability to see enemies, but the story make up for it.

Act 4: 6/10. Predictable story, but well told. I like the integration with the two dreams, it was probably my favorite part of the entire game. They are both stories that you've been lead up to from Act 1 and it feels good to go through them and hear the story develop. Gameplay in this act is so-so, but isn't as crowded as Act 3. The visuals in a lot of Act 4 are terrible. The belly of the beast section where you're walking through a GI tract is pretty off-putting. The gameplay in Korm's area feels like it will never end, although the story is good.


Changes:

If I could change the game I would open up Act 3 a bit so you have some room to fight. I would make some changes to Act 4 as well, primarily with the graphics. Korms area could be shortened a bit, and the entire graphics of the "Belly of the Beast" section would be changed to look less like a GI tract and more 'otherworldly'. Perhaps give it a cosmic feel with blacks and purples and sparkling gem-star graphics so it isn't so disgusting but still feels out of sync with space and time.

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Slayertip1 wrote:

8, 7, 9, 2

Ditto

Edit: some snow, do not make it an alien type game, get some snow!
Aliens vs predator too similar to malachai areas :-/

Latest word is that they've gotten work done already on future acts. That usually means that the themes have already been set. Asking for "snow" isn't going to get anywhere at this point. They're locked in.

Act 1: 5 Nothing special, but fast and streamlined.

Act 2: 1 It takes far too long and is a drag to get through, I hate everything about act 2 except the vaal oversoul fight.

Act 3: 7 A little on the long side, but it makes up for it in art direction, boss design, and nostalgia.

Act 4: 9 Streamlined, bosses everywhere, the most diverse tile sets, the creepiest art design, higher quality graphics. Only knocking a point off because there is always room for improvement.

Mapping is and will always be my favorite part of the game.

EDIT: So much hate for the most streamlined and content dense act? Just because your build can't take on Malachai or what?

This poll is just too simple.

I dont know how to vote.

E.g. imho the art / design of Act 4 is really AMAZING (well except the Kaom levels are lacking a bit imho)
But I really hate act 4 for its annoying monsters and boss fights.
those Fury Hounds or Rakango are super annoying, almost as badly designed as devourers...
The unique Rakango is just crazy... and Malachai fight - especially the second form - is just a screen cluttered with effects. Total overkill even if you are doing it solo


Act 3 has very nice art / design too, but especially marketplace, hedge mace and imperial garden lvls are just boring and/or unrewarding in terms of XP/ clearspeed (is there anybody who doesnt just run through or skips it completely???)


Act 2 improved a lot when they did remove some unnecessary levels and act 1 is very good, but both dont offer something exiting like lunaris lvl 2, sceptre of god, mines, arena/pitsthe harvest

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azraelb wrote:

This poll is just too simple.

I dont know how to vote.

E.g. imho the art / design of Act 4 is really AMAZING (well except the Kaom levels are lacking a bit imho)
But I really hate act 4 for its annoying monsters and boss fights.
those Fury Hounds or Rakango are super annoying, almost as badly designed as devourers...
The unique Rakango is just crazy... and Malachai fight - especially the second form - is just a screen cluttered with effects. Total overkill even if you are doing it solo


Act 3 has very nice art / design too, but especially marketplace, hedge mace and imperial garden lvls are just boring and/or unrewarding in terms of XP/ clearspeed (is there anybody who doesnt just run through or skips it completely???)
Oh and I still hate it for implementing devourers!!!!



Act 2 improved a lot when they did remove some unnecessary levels and act 1 is very good, but both dont offer something exiting like lunaris lvl 2, sceptre of god, mines, arena/pitsthe harvest

Tbh people just vote for the easiest, I can't get out of act 1 fast enough, it's so boring by now, which is fine because it's almost 5 years old. But downvoting an act because one boss is hard, really, I thought the average PoE player was mature. I got punished for believing this.

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leto2626 wrote:

Tbh people just vote for the easiest, I can't get out of act 1 fast enough, it's so boring by now, which is fine because it's almost 5 years old. But downvoting an act because one boss is hard, really, I thought the average PoE player was mature. I got punished for believing this.

please refrain from making such assumptions based on nothing

I can steamroll A4 but i find it boring as fuck, i dream of a way to get a1 and 2 areas at the same alvl

and about the use of "hard"... there are few things in POE that are hard, but most of the time people say its hard because GGG creates the illusion of "hard" by making monsters one shotting you. Hard would mean that you have to figure the possible strategies in order to vainquish your opponent, but in POE there is only one strategy, kiting... Lord i got one shot by Atziri yesterday, 1 single storm call took me 8k2 hp + 80 lightning resist+fortify

Act 1: 8
Act 1 is probably my favorite overall of the currently available set. For me, Act 1 flows smoothly both story-wise and gameplay-wise. I like the desperate feel of some of the early Act 1 quests, where this hardscrabble encampment basted to the side of a cliff somewhere is staving off disaster barely one sword stroke at a time. I always enjoy running through Act 1.

I believe it could be improved with the addition of a few more of those hardscrabble, we-need-this-or-we-won't-last-the-night survival side jobs, as Act 1 does feel a little thin sometimes, but overall the act holds up well.

Act 2: 5
Act 2 feels weird to me. There's not any real sense that you're doing anything for, or with, the forest tribe. You have this indigenous people who're somehow immune to the Beast's corruption...and they spend all their time spitting at you. You never get into why they're there, how they've managed to hold out against Dominus, or anything else. You go in, you get your bandit reward, you clear a few random side jobs, and you move on. All the while cursing your balls off at all the GODDAMN MONKEYS that scatter like leaves in a hurricane every time you pop even one of them. I've taken to ignoring the damn things completely and just killing them incidentally as I go, and that is not the sort of thing you want players doing with your enemies.

That and if Greust spits on me one more ****ing time...

Anyways. Act 2 feels mostly like a super-bloated intermission between Acts 1 and 3. You could cut Act 2 entirely and not really lose anything story-wise or gameplay-wise. It could probably benefit from having a greater identity of its own, rather than "that thing between the part where Piety screws with you and the part where Piety screws with you harder."

Act 3: 8
Act 3 is good work. While the zone design can be off-putting (I HATE the Slums...), the overall flow of events is good. Unlike Act 2 (“Okay. Do this side…done. Do the other side…done. Vaal pyramid…done. Okay, moving on.), the sense of progression through the act is solid. Enemy design works well without feeling unfair or infuriating, side jobs and stuff-to-do feels mostly adequate, and the payoff for the act is good. I don’t think it flows quite as nicely as Act 1, but you can spend time here without wanting to die. Always good.

I’m not sure what can really be done to tighten up Act 3 overall. I feel like maybe just an overall tune-up, maybe some fixes to the Slums being such an infuriating zone, maybe making the second Fairgraves quest feel more impactful, or stuff like that could work.

Act 4: 6
Act 4 is at once my favorite and my least favorite act. Daresso’s Dream is a 9.5, easily my favorite zone in all of Path of Exile. Having the boss narrate his history to you as you’re busy slashing through it is awesome. The Grand Arena, pitting you in open-stadium fights against corrupted gladiators and giant warbeasts and pits of flame-lions and all that good stuff, is awesome. Daresso himself is utterly infuriating, but in the way that makes you want to improve rather than throw your keyboard out a window. Going through Daresso’s Dream is a treat I always savor.

If only the rest of the act was that good…

Dried Lake is a worthwhile place to farm, and I appreciate the zone for being what it is – a big bowl of enemies with drops and a great place to grind levels while you’re gearing up for baby’s first maps. Kaom’s Dream, on the other hand, is a demoralizing slog that goes on for far too long and is filled with enemies that make you hate life. I hate Kaom’s Dream; always do it first so I can wash the bitter taste away with Daresso’s Dream, and frequently have to take Kaom’s Dream in chunks rather than blitzing the whole thing at once.

The Beast levels feel…kinda uninspired, really. Pulsating flesh-hell straight out of Lovecraft, solidly enough done but not really standout. Considering you’re inside a gigantic nasty horror-demon, it makes sense enough, but the Godless Four are rage factories. There is no good way to fight Maligaro, I still haven’t figured out how Shavronne manages to instagib me with no build-up or warning, and Malachai feels like a badly balanced Touhou boss. Any latency whatsoever in the Malachai fight means half a dozen extra deaths I usually feel like I should’ve been able to avoid. On the other hand, doing well in the Malachai fight is a hell of a rush, but that rush doesn’t really feel like it’s up to me.

Daresso’s Dream, by itself, almost saves Act 4. If it weren’t for Kaom’s Dream being such a thing, I think it would have. Fortunately for GGG, Kaom’s Dream anywhere else would’ve ruined that act, so I suppose it all balances out in the end.

Anyways. Hope that was useful. Kinda fun to get into the nitty-gritty of the game itself like this from time to time, instead of just complaining about gem balance and bad itemization all the time.

Act 1: 10
Act 2: 8
Act 3: 6
Act 4: 8