A Fortnight of Gaming - Path of Exile, Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2

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Diablo 3

^{The final image of this season's necromancer}

I've not felt that much drive to play since completing the Champion challenges, and at this point think that I'm likely done with this season's play. I've certainly enjoyed the necromancer, and will undoubtedly play another in the future. Part of the drop off has been due to my friends also playing less, which gives me less encouragement to play, as the grind part is the most boring and far better enjoyed with friends.

With the end of my active play coming, I have 6 weapons/shields, 5 armour, and 3 jewellery items still missing from Kanai's Cube. And 3 achievements left to get as a Necromancer, though one of them just requires me to finish the other 2.

Torchlight 2

One of my oldest and best friends has gotten herself slightly addicted to playing this, so we have put many hours into playing in the last fortnight. So far we have played through the entire main story, and are levelling through the map room so we can skip over NG+ (New Game +) and go straight to NG++ without having to play through the story section again.

We are also working through a Hardcore run together as well, and we've finished off the first act so far.

I'm enjoying the game, and the time with my friend. I thought I was done with playing it, but seems that with new friends, and some time between plays, that there is still quite a bit of enjoyment in this one for me.

Path of Exile

^{Starting washed up on a beach with a couple of items nearby. It might get better from here...}

It's been quite a while since I last played, and a lot has changed. For a start, I've not had any de-sync issues, though I have had one crash. I've completed the first act, which is something I'd only ever managed a once or twice before.

There are many things to like about Path of Exile (PoE), among them is the massive skill tree, with freedom to travel in whatever path you want from your class start point.

^{So many options it is rather overwhelming and/or time consuming if you want to get it right}

^{A close up of the Templar starting point}

The last season I played was a race season, with events happening 3 or more times a week. Short games with specific character creation rules and locations. It was a lot of fun, and rewards for completing them were useful. This season is more like some of the others I'd played before, without specific events, but with a theme. This season is called 'Harbinger', with some unique enemies that are defeated through killing their minions. It is nice when you find them, but they aren't regular enough to be anything more than a minor distraction from the normal flow of things. The seasonal rewards seem to require completing 12 challenges to gain one of the seasonal microtransactions, which you could buy with money. There is also around 50 of these from what it seems. There is also quite a long list of achievements (well over 100) in the game, which is good for me as I enjoy hunting achievements.

^{Challenges and Achievements. As you can see from the scrollbars, there are lots of these to complete}

In the various areas there are occasionally dungeon challenges or special lock boxes that require defeating their guardians for better rewards than some of the other chests around. They are also part to at least one of the challenges or achievements.

^{Much like the Cursed Chests in Diablo 3, these dungeon challenges spawn monsters to defeat inside a time limit}

New additions though seem to be far more interesting to me than the actual season theme, with labyrinths to find and solve, and Guardians to complete tasks for and level them up. I'm not sure of the rewards for levelling them up, asides from a couple of achievements for getting them to certain points. I suspect that each level opens up different rewards, as well as tougher challenges. The labyrinths seem to be part of specific dungeons or areas, and so far I've only found the first one. There are monsters in them, but it was more about evading the traps to get to the boss monster than any of the other sections of dungeon. I like having something a bit less hack and slash included in the game.

Still one of the best parts of PoE is the gem system, where they level up as you have them equipped. These are you source of your spells and abilities, and finding the right ones are part of the choices made in building characters. The fact that they aren't permanently bound to items and can be moved about as needed. They come in a variety of colours and types with lots of spells and abilities.

^{The left column is all economy items. The sockets are where gems go}

One of the other things is the economy. Not gold, but components for various orbs and scrolls. It's quite a complex system which I'm still not certain how to get the best value out of, but it's certainly different from just selling stuff you don't want for gold that you can buy more stuff with.