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| Path of Exile Make Me Remember World Of Warcraft |
I have to admit that jump into Path of Exile in 2021 took me several days of preparation. However, that was not my very first time with the free-to-play action-Role-Playing Game, it had already been a couple of years since my last visit. Path of Exile is bewildering enough to wrap your head around as a new gamer, however, even as a veteran there is a lot to learn due to quarterly events named challenge leagues. All of these keep the game brimming with brand new content and loot to discover, but also include some new mechanics for gamers to assimilate into their own grinding.
In order to offer you a little context on just how daunting Path of Exile is to a new gamer, the passive skill tree boasts over 1,300 nodes to pick from every time you level up. Every item is loaded with stats and attributes for you to check, and a lot of have buffs associated with some skills on that baffling passive skill tree. And the prospect of starting out in Path of Exile is aggressively complex.
However, as a brand new challenge expansion was about to begin (named "RITUAL" League), this seemed like the perfect opportunity to dive back in. This new expansion, much like Diablo 3 season, gives players an incentive to create brand-new characters and barrel through the game at breakneck speeds.
Therefore, I began reading about the new mechanics as well as events set to arrive in Path of Exile: Echoes of the Atlas, the expansion that accompanies the brand new Ritual challenge league. It was all set to kick off in mid-January, around Friday afternoon in my time zone. I had already studied the basic knowledge and then crammed them into my brain just like preparing myself for an exam, however, something still felt off: none of my friends were planning to return for the brand new Path of Exile league, and I knew I couldn’t do it on my own.
When I was searching for recommendations on beginner character builds I encountered a Path of Exile Discord server and then I made up my mind to join, commenting that I was looking for a group to tackle the new league with, cause it will be very difficult for me to farm Path of Exile Currency all alone in this tough expansion. Less than an hour later, I found myself with a Bleed Bow Gladiator build guide and then waiting in the lobby of the Turtle Tank server, a tiny community which is led by a Dauntless and PoE streamer.
And that Friday I remembered that I played for ten hours, taking the occasional bathroom break, staying hydrated, and of course, not skipping meals because you know, I am not 10 anymore. And I clearly remembered that was a quite intense day. Challenge leagues offer players the opportunity to begin with a fresh economy (of course, one and only economy in-game is still PoE Currency and give prizes for reaching the end, therefore, gamers rush through the campaign, generally speaking, which could take between 8 to 15 hours or more, mainly depending on your expertise. For those experienced players, this is just the start, an appetizer just before the endgame officially begins. Endgame, is, coincidentally the focus of the Echoes Of The Atlas expansion, which I was planning to cover for work, therefore, I had to get there as fast as possible.
To be exact, I do not remember much of that first day. The Turtle Tank members had been through these dozens of times already, and they were basically on autopilot while I mashed the left mouse button on the ground just trying to follow them, constantly checking the map so I would not lose time entering the wrong room or just stumbling into a wall. Fortunately, when all players are in a group they are able to teleport a teammate’s location at any moment, and that made the very first few hours a lot much easier.
I had already reached level 60 by the time I called it a night, moreover, my character already very close to the end of act seven of ten. I woke up the next day, had something to eat firstly, and then sat back at my PlayStation 4 ready to pick up where I left off yesterday. Due to time zone differences meant that none of the players who had helped me the night before were online, therefore, I tried my luck with public parties. I even jumped between a couple of parties during the very last few acts of Path of Exile's campaign, which only took a few more hours. I had already reached my goal of getting to Path of Exile: Echoes of the Atlas and I had planned to turn my attention to something else, however, the real issue is, that is not quite how things panned out.
Instead, I found myself logging in on a daily basis, first of all, always open my friend's list, then checking up on anyone that was online, and then send a message out to ask whether they wanted to team up or not. However, it reminded me of the summer of 2010 when I played World of Warcraft for the very first time. And everything was brand new to me, but people were always willing to help. Back then, I learned about a social component in MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) that still impresses me to this day, where a private message or a party invitation to a random player could lead to an online friendship that lasts for years, and also because of that, I made a lot of friends. What really surprises me the most is, Path of Exile’s community has made me feel the very same way.
By the time the weekend was coming to an end, I was relatively familiar with the endgame. And I was mostly grinding through maps all by myself, however, as soon as they proved to be a much bigger challenge than expected, then I went ahead and began a public party. In less than 15 minutes I had a full group waiting for me to choose a new destination to slay through. I should have stayed up all night once again, just as I used to back in my WoW old days, enjoying this company, even if we were just talking about Path of Exile. Even if we didn't know each other at all.
I have to admit from the deepest of my heart, Path of Exile is a daunting game. Most of the gamers I have spoken with agree on this very much, with some players saying they still forget how certain mechanics work after five or six years passed. Of course, the time commitment is also huge, without that initial push, my progress through the campaign would have been drastically different, as well as much slower. However, the community knows all of this. You even can say that they enjoy helping new players. They snap up questions in general chat and respond with detailed breakdowns, apart from that, there are plenty of public and private parties dedicated to helping new players find their way. And that is a collective effort that’s entirely driven by the community.
As you can see, being an adult means I just can not continue doing day-long sessions most days, however, now I am totally attached to Path of Exile and its community. It's a quite strange feeling, often tinged with nostalgia for WoW, a very different time in my life that’s not returning any time soon. However, I am glad to know that I could relive that sensation in a different game, on a different scale, whenever I want. Right now all I need to do is open my friends' list and then send a few messages.
As you can clearly see that there is still a way to go until the Path of Exile 2 launch date, however, Path of Exile's player count is continuing to rise. Of course, it's among our picks for the best free PlayStation 4 games, therefore, check it out of you are searching for your next Diablo-like experience.
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