Game News Path of Exile Open Beta Weekend

Tags: Grinding Gear Games; Path of Exile

We don't normally cover "online" RPGs, but this one looks interesting, so what the heck. Path of Exile, a promising "competitive online action RPG" in the vein of Diablo currently under development, has announced a Public Stress Test Weekend. Today and tomorrow, you can download the public beta of the game from the official Path of Exile website and try (and test) it out yourself.

Public Stress Test Weekend
The Path of Exile Beta servers will be open to the public for the weekend of March 30-April 1.

What’s the public stress test weekend for?
Primarily, testing to see how the Path of Exile servers run under heavy player load. Our Closed Beta is around the size we need for gameplay feedback, but we need to test to see if we can handle larger number of players in the lead-up to Open Beta.

What are the specific times that I can play?
We will make the servers public at 5pm on Friday (March 30), Pacific Daylight Time. This is 1pm Saturday (March 31) in New Zealand. The public weekend ends at 11:59pm on Sunday (April 1), Pacific Daylight Time. This is 7pm on Monday (April 2) in New Zealand.

I have never signed up for an account at pathofexile.com. Can I still play?
Definitely! An account is required to play but you can create one at any time, even while the event is running. These accounts can be upgraded to Closed Beta accounts after the event if a Beta key is added to them (and of course, they become full game accounts once we enter Open Beta).

What content is available during the weekend?
All of the current Closed Beta content. This includes two acts repeated over four difficulties (about 60 levels worth of content), the Maelstrom of Chaos, Default and Hardcore leagues, five character classes, approximately 55 active skills, 40 support gems and hundreds of types of items.​

Here is the procedure you should follow to take part in the open beta weekend. Register an account here, then download the game client here -- and start playing. Have fun.

To learn more about the game, visit the official website's many subsections or have a look at our own dedicated thread for the game in the General Gaming subforum.

 

Path of Exile plays as well as Diablo 3, which isn't saying much, but I guess D3 will be the standard for the genre. It feels a lot more like D2 than 3 does in terms of setting and art direction. I guess it's worth checking out if you're into ARPG/hack & slash w/e games.

 

It also has much more interesting (and complex) systems than D3. Definitely worth checking out.

 

I like Diablo games. It's like reaching a state of perfect thoughtlessness where any possible brain activity is confined solely to my index finger, Tibetan monks on fire don't feel this good! I just love hitting barrels and monsters and could hit them all day although the barrels are better as they don't hit back. Like most males in my late 30s I'm solely occupied with unearthing a weapon with a +20 cold bonus or the elusive elven greaves.

 

It has a lot of interesting, fairly original mechanics; however as a beta it's still lacking content, too short, and definitely too easy.

 

I don't find it too easy. I played most of the day yesterday, just reached act II, and was close to dying many times (hardcore). As for content, there's enough to be going for weeks. Four difficulties, etc. But yeah, if you want a complete experience of course you should wait for the public release.

 

Im an alpha tester of Path of Exile.
This is by far the best old school ARPG that is going to release this year.

Diablo 3 is banal shit boring popamole, once you watch the cinematics on youtube you will be done with.

Path of Exile delivers freedom, depth, complexity in building your character, choosing how to play it, offering a ridiculous range of viable playstyles that people will take months to figure out, filled with innovative fixes for old age problems that do not dumb down the game or restrict players freedom, but enriches the experience. Building your character the way you want and be as effective as someone following the generic steryotypes of classe. Their take on the economy and trading aspects of the game. Their take on regenerating resources with randomly generated flasks. The crafting and changing of items, from adding sockets to changing the type of sockets to adding extra bonuses, to changing bonuses values, to adding defense/damage to items and so on. It offers a whole lot of carrots in a wide and complex randomization system.

Free to play that is fun, without pay to win and time saving convenience bullshit.

 

but it lacks on innovation.

 

Edit: got reply in another thread