After act 3?

So I've been playing for around 5 or so days now, tried hard mode (the level above default) and done a fair bit of leveling.

Currently on Act 3 at the moment with a friend and we're levels 30 and 33, we're pretty close to completing this final act which is great and all, however what are we supposed to do once we've completed it?

I mean, fair enough we could try it all again with harder monsters etc, but then what? Again even harder?

What happens if we die once we've completed the acts in default difficulty and move onto the harder difficulty? Will we need to restart a fresh?


Suppose we do get to the end dungeon, what's the point of farming and grinding for really good gear? What benefit will we see from it all.

I understand this game is in BETA and you have an "Indie Team" working on it, however there doesn't seem to be a lot in terms of end content. I appreciate there's alot more to it than that, however there doesn't seem to be much point of it all.

We really enjoy the game, the fights are interesting, it's great to play but I think myself and my other friends who are playing all agree that it would become boring very quick if we just have to keep re-doing it all only harder?

I know you'll probably be working to get more acts out, but there really needs to be something big added, or else it's going to turn out like diablo 3 with it's rubbish auction house feature.

There really doesn't seem to be an end goal or point, not to sound angry or anything, but if someone could explain the goal of this then I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks

let me ask you this.

If there was really an end goal, and somehow you achieved it. I bet you going to ask, what's next??

sometimes no true goals is good. and always have been for ARPG type of games. it's all about the gear and loots babe, oh and obviously, too have some fun hacking and slashing. :)

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wizarrrd wrote:

what are we supposed to do once we've completed it?

After completing Acts 1-3 on Normal, there are then Cruel and Merciless difficulties. These allow you to continue to level your character (up to the 80s area).

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wizarrrd wrote:

Again even harder?

Yes, precisely. This has been the model of loot-based ARPGs since the dawn of time.

There are also end game maps that drop at higher levels, which are pretty rare atm.

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wizarrrd wrote:

Will we need to restart a fresh?

No. When you die in Cruel or Merciless, you suffer minus exp. This mechanic can reduce you down to having near-0 progress for your current level, but you can't delevel.

Unless you're playing hardcore. If you play hardcore and die, your character gets kicked to the default league. You can either carry on playing in default, or you will have to start a new character in hardcore.

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wizarrrd wrote:

Suppose we do get to the end dungeon, what's the point of farming and grinding for really good gear? What benefit will we see from it all.

The benefit you get from better gear is defined on the gear as stats. There are many stats in the game that have a diverse array of effects on your character. Stats make you more powerful.

Better gear also makes your character look bitching.

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wizarrrd wrote:

I understand this game is in BETA and you have an "Indie Team" working on it, however there doesn't seem to be a lot in terms of end content. I appreciate there's alot more to it than that, however there doesn't seem to be much point of it all.

The team is not indie. They, to my knowledge, have no involvement in the racing of crap cars. They are also not, to my knowledge, from India. To make sure I've covered all possible bases here... I do not believe anyone in the team is familiar with Vishnu.

Regarding the "pointlessness" of the game: Path of Exile is as pointless as any other game out there. Why do you get better gear in World of Warcraft? Why do you get better gear in Diablo 3? Or even single player games like Skyrim? To be more powerful, and look better. Eventually you run out of "new" content in all of those games and end up having to cycle old content over and over again until more "new" content is added. Path of Exile is no different; new content will be added, but you'll have to wait for it. Until then, enjoy becoming intimately familiar with the current crop of content.

If you are complaining about that set up, your complaint is less to do with Path of Exile, and more to do with online RPGs in general.

"

I know you'll probably be working to get more acts out, but there really needs to be something big added, or else it's going to turn out like diablo 3 with it's rubbish auction house feature.

Diablo 2 sustained a significant population of gamers using the same format for many years. Diablo 3's failure is less to do with the content layout, and more to do with the game being utterly rubbish in all other regards, apart from the combat system (which looked pretty).

Also, I'm finding it hard to see how you got from "not enough content" to "crappy auction house" as a matter of cause and effect. Therefore, I think you may be confused, or just a troll.

"

There really doesn't seem to be an end goal or point, not to sound angry or anything, but if someone could explain the goal of this then I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks

The goal is to be more powerful, to have the best gear, to run the best build, to clear the game on each difficulty level, to get to level 100. Until you can say you've achieved those goals, you do not need any more goals. Simply ignoring the goals also does not afford you the right to demand more goals.

Took my post pretty much the wrong way as expected.

Reading through other posts, I captured a glimpse of "Indie" and indeed was correct as stated by a Bronze Supporter shown here:

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/36150/highlight/

and I quote "POE is made by an indie team, so there's a lot more content for them to add."

Whether you took the term "Indie" yet to be confirmed, I don't see what Indie car racing has to do with all of this?

I have read through the forums quite thoroughly, I fully understand that once you complete a certain difficulty you can go on to progress through a harder difficulty and that the whole point is to grind for better items and to look "Bitching" but at the end of the day, why not go to play other games what offer more and have more content?

I fully understand that this game is only in BETA and still has years of work yet to be invested in it and I apologise if I'm being naive in saying this, but at present, there seems to be no point in getting to the top level with the best gear as there is nothing to use it on.

The PVP element has so far been some what shoddy to say the least and I understand as stated earlier the game is in BETA, but surely there should be something added which you can use this "bitching" gear on rather than stand around looking pretty bragging about what you've achieved.

Millions play WoW because it has so much to offer, same goes for Diablo 2 and tons of other titles. They may have been round for a hell of alot longer, however certain things have distinguished them from many other games and made them stand out.

My question is, what does POE have that many other titles do not? A overly sized skill tree isn't going to draw in the millions if that's what you're thinking.

Chances are that they are indeed working on adding in tons more new features, but it needs to be worth while for the hours we're going to spend on gearing up. I can't see why you'd need to gear up to the teeth if there's nothing to use it on.

I believe looking at PVP would be the way forward although it is already implemented, it could certainly play alot bigger role. Maybe add the possibility of adding PVP to servers where people could kill one another while questing to get rewards or achievements for it etc.

The possibilities are endless, so if you believe the game is fine as it is, then you must live in a very small world my friend.

Maybe ARPGs is not your cup of tea, OP. People spend hundreds of hours on games like this where you repeatedly beat the "same content". Thing is, this content is presented in such a way that it feels new every time you play.

Welcome to the paradigm of the genre.

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wizarrrd wrote:

Took my post pretty much the wrong way as expected.

Reading through other posts, I captured a glimpse of "Indie" and indeed was correct as stated by a Bronze Supporter shown here:

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/36150/highlight/

and I quote "POE is made by an indie team, so there's a lot more content for them to add."

Yes, I know what indie means. I apologise for telling a joke that you didn't get.

"

wizarrrd wrote:

why not go to play other games what offer more and have more content?

Good question. Answer: there is no reason not to do that. If you feel that you have got the experience you want out of PoE for the time being, and wish to wait for new content to appear, then it is perfectly reasonable for you to go off and play another game until GGG have added new content.

I do that all the time. I haven't played Skyrim in at least 3 months, but come Tuesday I will be playing it extensively as new content will be available to me. The same is true of Torchlight 2; when they add the new expansion content, I will go back to it.

It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do with games.

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there seems to be no point in getting to the top level with the best gear as there is nothing to use it on.

The same is true of lots of other games. Once you have the best gear from the last raid dungeon in a raid tier in WoW, what precisely do you use that gear on??? I had that problem all the time. I did what we previously spoke about in the last point: I went away and did other things until there was more content for me to use the gear I had earned on.

"

The PVP element has so far been some what shoddy to say the least and I understand as stated earlier the game is in BETA, but surely there should be something added which you can use this "bitching" gear on rather than stand around looking pretty bragging about what you've achieved.

I happen to enjoy the PvP, personally. But anyway, see my last point; it is not a "problem" unique to PoE. I do not think it's a problem at all personally.

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Millions play WoW because it has so much to offer, same goes for Diablo 2 and tons of other titles. They may have been round for a hell of alot longer, however certain things have distinguished them from many other games and made them stand out.

Aha. Diablo 2 consisted of endless boss runs at "end game" to get better gear so that you could do the endless boss runs faster so that you could get better gear to do the endless boss runs faster. Path of Exile is precisely the same. It wasn't until later on that Blizzard added "end game" encounters, and they only added 2. Path of Exile is the same, only GGG are committed to adding in a wealth of items, skills, new passive talents, new acts, new dungeon maps, and other such goodies, as the game ages.

The first of these "expansions" is due shortly, and will complete Act 3 and add in a load of new stuff for you to get.

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My question is, what does POE have that many other titles do not? A overly sized skill tree isn't going to draw in the millions if that's what you're thinking.

You're presuming that GGG needs or wants to draw in millions. Clearly the game has been pitched at a particular segment of the gaming market; that precludes any desire GGG have to "draw in millions".

As I said, there's nothing unreasonable about your opinion (apart from perhaps demanding such content expansion so shortly after a major release milestone), and there's nothing wrong with you going off and doing other things whilst you wait for GGG to add in the content you want to see.

That said, however: it's not a universal opinion. What you are asking here in effect is why PoE isn't the game you want it to be. Only you can answer that question.

Building a general "complaint" around such subjectivity is, in my opinion, a little ridiculous. You asked what's stopping you from going and playing other games: Nothing. If that's what you want to do, go and do it. I won't be doing that. I've still got the rest of Cruel and Merciless to go. When I get bored of PoEs current content, I'll go and do something else. When they add new content, I'll come back. It's all a matter of opinion.

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Hellfell wrote:

Maybe ARPGs is not your cup of tea, OP. People spend hundreds of hours on games like this where you repeatedly beat the "same content". Thing is, this content is presented in such a way that it feels new every time you play.

this. +1

Indicating that they wouldn't want to draw in millions would be pretty ridiculous, there are several reasons for why games are created, one of which is to draw in numbers and in turn make a profit, another is to create a game which combines the ideas of someone/group of individuals who believe they have what it takes to make the "perfect game" or ideal game based on their previous experiences and what they believe makes a good game and of course many more.

There was a lot more to Diablo 2 than simply grinding dungeons, obviously your opinion on what makes a good game varies greatly to what others think. The points I have stressed are not only backed up by myself and a few friends, but of a community consisting of over 100 members who are actively playing, all of whom are working on different difficulty tiers within the game. I run a gaming community and introduced this game to everyone during our weekly meeting. Many are enjoying it and many are looking forward to playing it, the game play its self is really good, but as I say it lacks something.

Surely if such a vast group of players agree that the game is missing something, then surely we can't be the only ones who share this opinion. Fair enough, you feel the game is fine at the moment and are happy to play other games while you wait for new content to be released, however we as a group believe the game has something special which could draw in millions however it needs to be altered or changed or updated however you want to phrase it so that there is something on offer to those of us who feel we are well geared enough to take part in something which requires the best of our abilities, skills and items in order to do well, be it end game items or not.

Whether you feel this is all covered with end game dungeons or not, the point still stands that there is still a portion of players who feel something is missing which could potentially make the game a huge hit.

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wizarrrd wrote:

Indicating that they wouldn't want to draw in millions would be pretty ridiculous, there are several reasons for why games are created, one of which is to draw in numbers and in turn make a profit, another is to create a game which combines the ideas of someone/group of individuals who believe they have what it takes to make the "perfect game" or ideal game based on their previous experiences and what they believe makes a good game and of course many more.

I didn't say they don't want to draw in millions. I was suggesting that there were others reasons for them to make the game beyond "mass market" success :) All you've done is gone on to expand on that, so you're not really disagreeing with me at all ;D

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wizarrrd wrote:

There was a lot more to Diablo 2 than simply grinding dungeons, obviously your opinion on what makes a good game varies greatly to what others think. The points I have stressed are not only backed up by myself and a few friends, but of a community consisting of over 100 members who are actively playing, all of whom are working on different difficulty tiers within the game. I run a gaming community and introduced this game to everyone during our weekly meeting. Many are enjoying it and many are looking forward to playing it, the game play its self is really good, but as I say it lacks something.

Really? Please specify those ways. You could partake in meaningless PvP in Diablo 2 (which you can do in PoE, although admittedly not to the same extent), and.... what else? Oh right, you could farm endless dungeons for mats for your cube, or you could farm endless dungeons for pstat rares, or you could farm endless dungeons for gold (who even did that?), or you could just farm endless dungeons. Or you could idle in BNet.

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wizarrrd wrote:

Surely if such a vast group of players agree that the game is missing something, then surely we can't be the only ones who share this opinion.

Where is this "vast" group? Keep in mind that the game is being played by 70,000+ users concurrently, which translates to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of account sign ups. Also bear in mind that "vast" gaming communities are invariably quite small in reality. Unless you're rocking thousands of people who are all saying the same thing as you (in which case, where are they?)... then "vast" is hardly an appropriate term :)

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wizarrrd wrote:

Fair enough, you feel the game is fine at the moment and are happy to play other games while you wait for new content to be released, however we as a group believe the game has something special which could draw in millions however it needs to be altered or changed or updated however you want to phrase it so that there is something on offer to those of us who feel we are well geared enough to take part in something which requires the best of our abilities, skills and items in order to do well, be it end game items or not.

Whether you feel this is all covered with end game dungeons or not, the point still stands that there is still a portion of players who feel something is missing which could potentially make the game a huge hit.

It's already drawn in millions.

The point you - and your "vast" group - seem to be missing almost entirely is that the game WILL be updated with new content in the near and distant future. There is a content plan set out for PoE; use Google to find out about it.

As I said, you've come here and gone "I've finished my own personal goals for the game, so I want new content RIGHT NOW." The reality is that there are YET MORE things for you to be doing in the game. Clear cruel, clear merciless, roll hardcore, level a different class, hunt for pstat rares, item hunt in general, level. There are a wealth of things for you to be doing, and the devs content roadmap is based on the fact that there are all those things you could be doing.

If, however, you don't want to be doing those things... go and do something else. No one has a problem with you not wanting to do the things the game has set out for you to do. What I - and my "vast" group - has a problem with is you coming here and going, "I'VE DONE THE SHIT I WANT TO DO (but not all of the stuff I could do). NOW YOU NEED TO GIVE ME MOAR OR I SHALL LEAVE FOR OTHER GAMES." That's pathetic.

Path of Exile is - at best - an episodic online ARPG. It is not a persistent MMORPG. It doesn't feature raiding, it doesn't feature tiered set progression. It's never going to have most of the things you would find in an MMO - which is what it sounds like you're after - so my advice to you is: go and find an actual MMO that offers these things. And even if it does, by your own admission you haven't even reached "end game" yet... so what are you expecting? Level 40 raids???? ;s