Good news GGG...

For all the negative feedback that GGG has to put up with on a daily basis I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth of good news from a PoE player perspective (we as humans all need positive feedback to make each day brighter).

First, I have been playing solo since last November when I received a GGG email with an invite and a CB key. I'm no Kripparian or other hardcore Twitch TV type player, just a middle age arpg fan that was seriously burned and turned off by D3 and started over again with TL2 and a lukewarm interest in playing an arpg. Then the email with the CB key arrived and I said to myself "sure, I'll give PoE a try."

At first I found PoE frustrating but only because of my ignorance and needing to learn the play style as it is much different than the faster pace of TL2 or even D3. So I stuck with PoE and over time got better and better and as I peeled back the layers of this game found that the complexity of the gem and skill system while at the beginning was a bit intimidating really is a better way to make an arpg. Not having gold was initially a "what the..." moment but now after 8 months of playing 100s of hours I am seeing the wisdom of not having the run of the mill arpg gold based economy.

I and my 2 best friends that I live with played D3 over last summer and by the end of August were done with it. I kept on with D3 until Sept. 21st and switched to TL2 and in October I convinced my friends to play so we had a 3 party TL2 team. That went very well but with end of year holidays and real life they stopped and I soloed to finish TL2 and played a few endgame maps but was devoting more time playing PoE as I never much cared for the "cartoony" look and feel of TL2. TL2 has great boss battles and all but not a lot of depth (storyline, what storyline?) for any real repeat play value imho.

In January 2013 I really got serious (for me at least) and played CB 4 to 6 hours for 5 days a week (yes, I know that's nothing to the no-life hardcore PoE players) and kept that pace through OB up until mid-April when I was slowed down by my HC characters dieing when I got up into the 50s. Anyway, I kept playing PoE in Standard league (no, it's not softcore or scrubcore you HC or else quit fanatics!). Over the OB months I'd talk up PoE to my 2 friends and all but they still remembered the bitter taste in their mouth from last year playing D3 and were so burned out from it that I couldn't get them to want to get involved time wise with a new arpg.

Fast forward to June and with most TV shows going into summer reruns my friends decided we needed a summer game to group play and I automatically suggested PoE. They agreed and since it was the Saturday that the 2 new leagues were out we started an Anarchy party of 3. Since we are all veterans of the D1, D2, Dungeon Siege, TQ and TQIT, TL2, plus (now regrettably) D3, they got up to speed quickly on the no gold orb based economy, the gem and socket mechanics, and to my surprise were never intimidated by the passive skill tree. Their reaction and comments at first were wow and amazing but never "omg, this is way too complex".

Now, keep in mind that the 3 of us (2 men, 1 woman) are 53, 52, and 52 years in age so we don't fit the profile of the teens or 20s typical arpg player. From our first forays into Wraeclast (and my first taste of party play to see how loot drops worked and all) I have to say that PoE plays very well. Since we own a small ISP in Fort Myers Florida we have excellent low ping times to the Dallas US servers so de-sync has not been a problem. Occasionally we can suffer from small de-sync but nothing that has caused any problems and no de-sync induced deaths. I definitely understand now that in group play we can full clear a map significantly faster than any solo player can thus we can acquire loot faster.

After our first play session my best friend complemented me on my choice of PoE as the summer game to play and also said "you have a winner here" referring to my previously talking up PoE as a great arpg and "you should try it" to entice them to start playing. I'm playing an elemental duelist ranger, my male friend is the marauder 2 handed sword wielding tank and my female friend is playing a fire elemental witch. We are having a great time playing 4 or 5 times a week and are up to Sarn and just got the 3 statues from the sewers. I haven't died once yet and tonight we head into Battlefront and on to the Gembling Queen. I'm sure they will love the Queen's dialogue as much as I do. The "not a cockroach" is pure fun to hear and my compliments to the person that wrote her dialogue and the voice actor.

I've probably rambled on too much but thought a little positive feedback to GGG would brighten up their day. Keep up the great work, as always keep reading and responding to our posts, and I can't wait to see what act 3x will bring in October.

signed,
a PoE fan

ps: I love my Kiwi pet!

edit: syntax

TLDR; Good game.

"

oBLACKIECHANo wrote:

TLDR; Good game.

Yes it is.

Thanks OP for the non QQ.

"

Arrowneous wrote:

I live in SneakyPaws head and speak his mind

Fixed

Great to see another thread praising GGG on their 'baby'.

Also great to see it continues to reach a large multitude of player types and that the 50-somethings can still keep up with the young-guns of today.

Ty to OP for a nice read :)

\(^.^)/ GG GGG \(^.^)b

couldn't agree more OP :)

Im very VERY glad you wrote this to GGG as they deserve it! I couldn't have wrote a better post my self, and i agree with every thing you stated. I feel its the best ActionRPG out there. Great balance for those casual players were items that drop or you craft are actually useful, but for those hard core seeking the best stats possible, that game is still there for them. WHICH is VERY important for the the life of a game, you have to have both sides to a game for it to be successful.

I have been playing PoE off and on since closed beta was announced, and im very excited to see were this game goes in the future. Keep up the good work GGG and please stick to your plans for this game and dont let the "People" ruin this game with their opinions and or demands.

~Loyal Fan 4life!

Great read

my first post/reply wtf!

this really made my day here in the forums :D a sweet taste of story instead of reading 'i quit' 'im done' 'blah blah' haha.

thanks for sharing your story man! keep it up!


BoW.