Path of Exile Accumulated 3.7 Million Player Accounts in 2013

[StewShearerOld]

Path of Exile Accumulated 3.7 Million Player Accounts in 2013

Lead developer Chris Wilson hopes to expand Path of Exile with new localizations in 2014.

In case you haven't heard of Path of Exile, you can pretty much sum it up as a free-to-play Diablo II with addictive gameplay, an insanely deep skill tree and production values that belie the fact that it was made by a small team of indie developers. If that sounds appealing to you, take comfort in the fact that you're far from alone. The game has garnered some considerable <a href=http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/path-of-exile>critical acclaim since its launch and has quickly been amassing a user base that many games in the free-to-play market would kill for.

That in mind, lead developer Chris Wilson recently spent some time boasting about all that the game has accomplished since it launched out of beta <a href=http://www.warcry.com/news/view/129006-Path-of-Exile-Launches-Receives-Massive-Update>this past October. Most notably, Wilson revealed that Exile entered 2014 with a whopping 3.7 million registered player accounts. These accounts aren't just being ignored either. Wilson reported that before the end of 2013 the game hit a peak of nearly 70,000 people playing simultaneously, a number he "[expects] to beat" as he and his team "localize the game to more countries" in 2014.

To help facilitate this planned growth, Grinding Gear Games has added new staff and already has a fresh patch <a href=https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/731957>planned for January 9th. Here's hoping that that will just be start of a busy and successful new year for a game that looks to be in possession of some honest-to-goodness potential for greatness.

Source: <a href=https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/733852>Path of Exile


Permalink

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

this reminds me I should play more path of exile.
new content sounds great, hopefully the can fix the desyncing problem at some point.
desyncing is tolerable(so far). It killed me to 2 or 3 times and it's came close to killing me quite a few times; with my shadow that I beat the game with in normal. despite that problems I still liked the game enough to spend money in it when I never had to due to it having a very fair f2p model.

 

[New Troll]

I usually avoid Free To Play games but kept hearing good things about this game. So as a huge Diablo 2 fan I finally decided to go ahead and give it a try. Pure awesomeness! Even my fiance and oldest son are loving this game. I highly recommend!

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

... hopefully the can fix the desyncing problem at some point.

I've not noticed desync problems as much lately. They were really bad about a month ago, but the past couple times I've played (during weeknights around 7-8CST) I've not had to /oos at all.

It has been a few weeks since I Played path of exile so it might be less of a problem now. I will find out if the desyncing is any worse or better tonight.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I wonder how many of those accounts were like mine where I played for a few hours and found I didn't enjoy the game at all...

 

[wulfy42]

PoE is a great game. I initially played it in Alpha back when they first let you get in by donating $10 or more. I stopped for a year or so, came back played some more in beta, then stopped again till it finally released recently. I also donated more money a few times, bought a bunch of extra stash tabs, and have now paid about as much for the game as I would for a new game over all.

I didn't HAVE to pay that much, I wanted too because it's a good game and they deserve it.

It might not be for everyone, but to me it's the only true spiritual successor to Diablo II LOD. I have enjoyed it WAY more then I did D3, Torchlight 2 or any of the other recent AARPG games (Sacred 2, Van Helsing, Realms of War etc).

Is it perfect? Not really...there are certainly things that could be done to make it more fun....but many of those things....are being done constantly. The game is constantly improving and having new stuff added to it. The main problem I have with the game to be honest is that there is no...ultimate goal, and I will often get sidetracked by other games because there is no......sense of pressure/time etc...associated with the game. I don't NEED to do something quickly etc.

Now I don't play Hardcore...and I don't participate in the races etc. I play on the normal servers...which is part of the reason I feel that way. If I played in the special leagues that last only so long, I would probably feel more incentive to play often. I kinda like having the game as a laid back...play it when I want too, type game though. It works for me, and I have already played well over 1000 hours of PoE because of that.

D2...for me, worked a bit more. Even when I would take a break for a year and wait for a new ladder reset etc, I still had a total blast when I came back, and felt so much joy at building up my pool of equipment, new characters etc. I don't feel that as much from PoE.....but then again I don't feel that from any other game either.

Until Wild Star comes out....I think PoE is going to be my most played game still.....and it's certainly worth giving a try if you havn't. Not everyone will love it, but for the price...it's an incredibly great game.

 

[WWmelb]

PoE is a great game. I initially played it in Alpha back when they first let you get in by donating $10 or more. I stopped for a year or so, came back played some more in beta, then stopped again till it finally released recently. I also donated more money a few times, bought a bunch of extra stash tabs, and have now paid about as much for the game as I would for a new game over all.

I didn't HAVE to pay that much, I wanted too because it's a good game and they deserve it.

It might not be for everyone, but to me it's the only true spiritual successor to Diablo II LOD. I have enjoyed it WAY more then I did D3, Torchlight 2 or any of the other recent AARPG games (Sacred 2, Van Helsing, Realms of War etc).

Is it perfect? Not really...there are certainly things that could be done to make it more fun....but many of those things....are being done constantly. The game is constantly improving and having new stuff added to it. The main problem I have with the game to be honest is that there is no...ultimate goal, and I will often get sidetracked by other games because there is no......sense of pressure/time etc...associated with the game. I don't NEED to do something quickly etc.

Now I don't play Hardcore...and I don't participate in the races etc. I play on the normal servers...which is part of the reason I feel that way. If I played in the special leagues that last only so long, I would probably feel more incentive to play often. I kinda like having the game as a laid back...play it when I want too, type game though. It works for me, and I have already played well over 1000 hours of PoE because of that.

D2...for me, worked a bit more. Even when I would take a break for a year and wait for a new ladder reset etc, I still had a total blast when I came back, and felt so much joy at building up my pool of equipment, new characters etc. I don't feel that as much from PoE.....but then again I don't feel that from any other game either.

Until Wild Star comes out....I think PoE is going to be my most played game still.....and it's certainly worth giving a try if you havn't. Not everyone will love it, but for the price...it's an incredibly great game.

I feel pretty much exactly the same. I haven't played for a few months, but while playing, i had a blast.

It is the only FTP game that i have ever thrown real money at, same as you, because i WANTED to. I wanted to give GGG some money for their hard work, and all up probably spent $150 (australian) on this game over my time playing the beta.

If my vid card wasn't dying and i wasn't broke, i'd be going back now, but alas it will have to wait a bit of time before i can sink my teeth back into it.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It's kind of mind-blowing that an indie group had a better launch with their free-to-play Diablo-like game than Blizzard had with Diablo 3, and that I've had far more fun playing PoE (I quit D3 around the middle of Act 2). I stopped playing for a bit, but I'll probably hop back in at some point. Grinding Gear Games did an exceptional job of boiling down the genre into its purest form.

 

[Ishal]

Love this game. Gamespot gave it an award (PC game of the year, I think?) and it is well deserved.

It's the best FTP model I've seen in a game to date. Also one of the games where I've gladly participated in micro transactions. It's got some issues, mainly the desync. Other than that I think they really nailed it with the feel and the gameplay. The race and ladder events are great for the community and the different leagues are keeping things interesting. I think they're going to be adding the fourth act in a few months, too. So far I'm not disappointed.

 

[Eric the Orange]

It might not be for everyone, but to me it's the only true spiritual successor to Diablo II LOD. I have enjoyed it WAY more then I did D3, Torchlight 2 or any of the other recent AARPG games (Sacred 2, Van Helsing, Realms of War etc).

How did you feel about Titan Quest? 'Cause they are coming out with a new game called Grim Dawn sometime this year if that interests you.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I've been playing for a few days. Level 16 Witch. Holy mother of levels, the skill tree in this game is gigantic. It's an incredibly fun game.

 

[wulfy42]

It might not be for everyone, but to me it's the only true spiritual successor to Diablo II LOD. I have enjoyed it WAY more then I did D3, Torchlight 2 or any of the other recent AARPG games (Sacred 2, Van Helsing, Realms of War etc).

How did you feel about Titan Quest? 'Cause they are coming out with a new game called Grim Dawn sometime this year if that interests you.

I enjoyed Titan Quest...but never finished the first one, let alone actually getting into the expansion. I have played through the early part of the game many times. I looked at grim dawn...and the character customization seems to be smaller then in Titan Quest (especially with the Add On), although I will certainly keep an eye on it in the future.

 

[unstabLized]

The game is really good, no doubt, but I feel like I either suck or the difficulty ramps up once you hit the last Act. I almost had to be carried by a friend who was playing with his 2nd character so he had Spectral Throw and good enough equipment to wipe mobs easily, while i had to keep kiting and slowing them down and trying to get hits, even though the area was at my level, and I had pretty good equipment (I play Ranger btw). I beat the first difficulty, only played the intro of the 2nd difficulty, and kind of got bored because I don't like playing these types of games alone.

 

[Grabehn]

Every now and then I want to try this gamee out, but every time I get that it just goes away inmediately. I was never a Diablo player, and after trying Torchlight, dropping out after two hours, and after literally falling asleep while playing Diablo 2 a while back, I just can't get myself to enojoy this genre. Which is sad cuz I keep hearing extremely positive opinions about the game.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I've clocked in around 200+ hours ever since the game released on live, but I quit it recently because of all the games that I have in my back catalog.

Will most definitely go back to it when there's games drought, which in my case now there won't be for quite some time. Congrats to GGG for such a big achievement.

 

[AuronFtw]

It might not be for everyone, but to me it's the only true spiritual successor to Diablo II LOD. I have enjoyed it WAY more then I did D3, Torchlight 2 or any of the other recent AARPG games (Sacred 2, Van Helsing, Realms of War etc).

How did you feel about Titan Quest? 'Cause they are coming out with a new game called Grim Dawn sometime this year if that interests you.

I'm not that guy, but I've played the same games and have mostly the same sentiment. TQ was definitely the most visually impressive of the bunch, but it had some serious class viability issues; some of them were just massive jokes, particularly a few of the caster trees.

Aside from that, it didn't feel very inspired. The loot and zones were reskinned to fit the era, some monsters were taken from the mythology of the time, but you still fought a lot of the typical monsters too (skeletons woo). It's been quite a few years since I played, and it was the first of the wave of big name diablo clones to hit the market, but I wasn't impressed at the time, but I was increasingly displeased with torchlight and (obviously) D3. So maybe I just remember TQ more fondly than the others because I only had d2 to compare it to, and wasn't really expecting anything to touch it so soon.

I can't say enough about the visuals though; even though the game is aging, it really attempted to go for a "realistic" past-era ARPG setting, and the graphics and aesthetics match it well. Torchlight and d3 both sprung for a WoW cartoony graphic look, and I don't think they fit the games at all. On top of, yknow, their masses of other issues, like sucking lots.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I've made probably 15 characters in this game. I play it occasionally. One character is around lv70 and it will likely be the only one that ever gets that high due to 2 things.

The game is a horribly repetitive grindfest at that point, and while that character works well its not the playstyle I prefer. The one I prefer is currently a nightmare to build properly, but there are plenty others that work well enough to give me something different to play with.

The whole league system is certainly novel, but ultimately the weakest part of the game to me. I have ZERO desire to make a stream of new toons just to race for levels over and over and over through the opening act of the game with a few variables tossed in. The rewards for doing so are not even worth mentioning, and the main selling point for people seems to be that they feature alternate item card art. But they have the same generic in game model and stats of items dropped in game already, so who cares?

I play domination, and while the shrines are interesting I hope the next league has something better. Standard has a nice permanence, but I can't even imagine what chat must look like with probably 20x more players and an economy so inflated from stagnation all these months.

The actual game, is top notch. The way it is currently set up apart from the gameplay itself is not.

One of MY biggest gripes is how perfunctory the official forum is. There is a lack of communication there from GGG, and the main source of info that people ON the forums have seems to be Reddit and Twitter.

I don't get the point of even having an official site if the only thing posted there are patch notes, which are in game anyways. Its just a hub for trolls mostly, and so I have yet to post there. I use the wiki on a different site entirely.

I like that PVP is a nonfactor, I hope they don't waste time on the hopeless quest of balancing all the incredibly broken builds people run with. Also, that the game is perfectly able to be soloed. I have no intention of squading up at all but the global chat is still fun for me.

I also don't trade at all, so yes I'm playing it wrong. But at least I'm PLAYING it and not spamming *global* trying to sell garbage drops like 60% or players seem to.

But in the end what will kill this game, if anything it the crippling desynch. I can't understand WHY anyone plays hardcore league in this game when you WILL get absolutely raped by monsters in a room you haven't entered yet before you even know you're fucked.

I know, they have an alt+f4 macro they spam every 2 min religiously, but seriously those people have issues to keep on with that crap.

One improvement they can easily implement, and gets asked for all the time, is a mute button for the Scion. Seriously, I've heard it 7 times already so hush ._.

 

[wulfy42]

Lol @ Koldelka

Actually the general chat spam isn't too bad on standard. It's the trade channel you have to keep off if you don't want to get spammed to death.

I usually get bored with a character by around level 70-75 myself, then I make a new one hehe. I play on standard and until recently I played on nearly the lowest graphics settings. That seemed (not sure why) to help with dysnc alot as It was never an issue for me. I just upgraded to an 8core 16ram system with a 1 gig ram graphics card...and now I play on the highest settigs....but am getting more dysnc.

Could just be a computer difference...might be more work for higher graphics, no clue...but I played for years on my other computer without TOO much problem from dysnc (I rarely died from it at least). I would get it sometimes form leap slam, but I avoided most of the heavy Dysnc skills besides that.

I NEVER traded till about 6 months ago...I was really missing out as trading sure makes the game more fun. I don't trade while fighting/playing, but I do stop every so often and see if anyone is selling anything I want. I also traded for jewlers etc to roll my searing touch (still only have a 5 link..but it's got all the right color sockets at least). Much faster then just getting everything yourself.

I do agree that there are many things that can be improved on...and I do often get distracted by other games. I must admit, that happened even with the holy grail of AARPG's for me, Diablo 2. I would usually only play a few months at a time, then take a year break (usually till the next ladder reset or patch release etc). Still kept me entertained for years.

PoE has been great, but....even with the constant new additions I don't think it'll reach the level of D2 as far as entertaining me. I come back, but I don't start from scratch like I did with D2. I usually don't play for months at a time before stopping either (sometimes as little as a week, usually no more then a month). It's a great game. Incredible for the price, and GGG has done a great job. Better in my opinion then any other AARPG since D2...but there is room for improvement.