D3: Very little build diversity and endgame activity selection. Pretty much built around sets and the builds reflect that. Kinda fast but very repetitive
Grim Dawn: I didn’t play this a ton but it has a lot of depth in the campaign and lots of builds. I don’t know of much end game, though. It’s playing through the campaign at different difficulty levels as far as I can tell.
Last Epoch: Lots of build diversity and a lot of endgame activities for a pre-release game. Great loot filter and crafting. Not the fastest game but not the slowest.
PoE: The most complex, rich, and flexible of them all. I’ve got 1500+ hours in it and I still consider myself a noob. So many things to learn, so many things to do, so many builds. I still don’t play without a build guide because maximizing your potential is so deep. The blaster’s dream RPG. “Free” but you’ll want to buy some stash tabs if you play at all seriously.
D4: Better than at launch but still with some incredibly boneheaded design decisions.
I could be wrong about these but those are my impressions from the ones I played. Here is a hilariously sarcastic video about the differences between D4 and Last Epoch that explains some of the bad decisions in D4 and How LE fixed them.
You have to pay for stash tabs in PoE? I get that it’s a free game, but I miss the days when you could just pay money for a game and then have everything.
Actually, shout out to Vampire Survivors for a game that does additional content correctly.
You do. they’re the only “pay to win” aspect of the game. You need premium stash tabs to use the trade site functionality and managing a lot of the drops really requires stash tabs. However, you can get what you need for $20-30. I actually ended up buying supporter pants in a “Take my money!” kind of way because of how much time and enjoyment I’ve gotten out of the game. You can absolutely get in and play without stash tabs, but if you want to get serious about the game they’re pretty much required.
People who haven’t played the game don’t realize that paying for stash tabs isn’t the biggest deal. I remember thinking it was the end of the world when I started playing almost 10 years ago. But like you I’ve purchased supporter packs and many stash tabs just because of how much I’ve gotten out of the game. Sure it’s a complex game and you have to take the time to learn a lot of the mechanics. But at least it’s fun and has a variety of different content to keep you playing. Unlike Diablo 3 and 4 which get boring after a couple weeks.
Diablo 2 is the best game ever made imo and I will always hate Blizzard for what they did to the series. Path of Exile is a much better successor to Diablo 2 than Diablo 3 and 4 ever will be.
You could argue the price for the stash tabs is just the price for buying the game. And that is after you arive at the point where need them, which is a lot oft hours into the game. At which point you clearly like it so the devs deserve the money.
D3: Very little build diversity and endgame activity selection. Pretty much built around sets and the builds reflect that. Kinda fast but very repetitive
Grim Dawn: I didn’t play this a ton but it has a lot of depth in the campaign and lots of builds. I don’t know of much end game, though. It’s playing through the campaign at different difficulty levels as far as I can tell.
Last Epoch: Lots of build diversity and a lot of endgame activities for a pre-release game. Great loot filter and crafting. Not the fastest game but not the slowest.
PoE: The most complex, rich, and flexible of them all. I’ve got 1500+ hours in it and I still consider myself a noob. So many things to learn, so many things to do, so many builds. I still don’t play without a build guide because maximizing your potential is so deep. The blaster’s dream RPG. “Free” but you’ll want to buy some stash tabs if you play at all seriously.
D4: Better than at launch but still with some incredibly boneheaded design decisions.
I could be wrong about these but those are my impressions from the ones I played. Here is a hilariously sarcastic video about the differences between D4 and Last Epoch that explains some of the bad decisions in D4 and How LE fixed them.
You have to pay for stash tabs in PoE? I get that it’s a free game, but I miss the days when you could just pay money for a game and then have everything.
Actually, shout out to Vampire Survivors for a game that does additional content correctly.
You do. they’re the only “pay to win” aspect of the game. You need premium stash tabs to use the trade site functionality and managing a lot of the drops really requires stash tabs. However, you can get what you need for $20-30. I actually ended up buying supporter pants in a “Take my money!” kind of way because of how much time and enjoyment I’ve gotten out of the game. You can absolutely get in and play without stash tabs, but if you want to get serious about the game they’re pretty much required.
People who haven’t played the game don’t realize that paying for stash tabs isn’t the biggest deal. I remember thinking it was the end of the world when I started playing almost 10 years ago. But like you I’ve purchased supporter packs and many stash tabs just because of how much I’ve gotten out of the game. Sure it’s a complex game and you have to take the time to learn a lot of the mechanics. But at least it’s fun and has a variety of different content to keep you playing. Unlike Diablo 3 and 4 which get boring after a couple weeks.
Diablo 2 is the best game ever made imo and I will always hate Blizzard for what they did to the series. Path of Exile is a much better successor to Diablo 2 than Diablo 3 and 4 ever will be.
You could argue the price for the stash tabs is just the price for buying the game. And that is after you arive at the point where need them, which is a lot oft hours into the game. At which point you clearly like it so the devs deserve the money.
One oft the fairer models in my opinion.