We’ve matched up 2 of the largest action RPG titles available at the moment, the up and coming Path of Exile (PoE) from indie developers Grinding Gear Games and the latest instalment of the Diablo series, Diablo 3 (D3) from Blizzard Entertainment. Futile to mention that the latter is the heavy hitter among them, attracting an enormous amount of 15 million registered players according to the latest figures from February 2014, compared to 5 million Path of Exile players (although D3 was released quite exactly 2 years ago, while PoE is only around for a bit more than 7 months). One relies on a giant developing and publishing company, with an enormous fan base following the franchise since the very first Diablo title, while the other is from a small developing studio with a passion for the genre which has caused a big stir throughout the action RPG world.
Both games are continuously weighed up against each other and their differences and their similarities are steady topics of debate on fan websites and their individual forums. Yet, to give it right away they don’t have that much in common. Besides belonging to the same genre and featuring a comparable play style (isometric top-down button smashing action gameplay), we dare say, in all honesty, if it wasn’t for Path of Exile using the classic Diablo red health orb and blue mana orb GUI, there wouldn’t be half as many comparisons, since these games honestly aren’t all that akin... and here comes why.
Regarding its gameplay, Path of Exile is often considered the spiritual sequel to Diablo2, whereas Blizzard undeniably aimed at a more streamlined approach with D3, benefiting from their experience with World of Warcraft and other projects to make the game more accessible and attract a larger audience of players. And this is what most significantly distinguishes both MMOs, while PoE’s extensive customisation options can sometimes be a little bit hardcore, D3 appears more casual and easy to pick up.
Diablo 3 remains true to the classic class-based character selection, which pretty much defines the player’s role in the game, the type of combat experience they will encounter, the skills they are able to choose and the weapon types available to their character. It is a class-based game in every sense of the word, with 6 distinct classes to pick from. The player’s gaming experience with each class is characterised by an entirely different type of strategy; similar to World of Warcraft each play-through of the game with another class will feel different, this way resulting in certain replayability.
In Path of Exile, classes don’t have as much meaning and only determine the player’s starting skill as well as their starting attributes. All six primary classes rely on one or two of the three available attributes – intelligence, dexterity and strength - with the exception of the Scion class which is aligned to all three attributes but only unlocked once the game is completed in normal mode with one of the other classes.
On the surface, the class differentiation in PoE may seem weaker; however it is just the starting point for the far more complex Passive Skill Tree system. This huge spider web network is comprised of a plethora of passive skills that players can pick up to gain extra boosts and change how specific skills work (i.e. when putting a point in the blood magic node, their character will use their own health pool to perform actions and thus completely changing the way the character works).
Each time they increase in level, players gain one point to put into the tree, only allowed selecting a node that is linked to one they have previously activated. However, all classes share the same Passive Skill Tree and your chosen class only determines your starting point in the tree. This provides players with the option to start as one class and either choose the main skill nodes in that class’s area to stay true to the core of that class or to branch out and spread across the tree into multiple classes, creating hybrids and unique templates for their characters.
This is also true for skills; besides the starting skill, players are not restricted by their class but can attach (and freely remove) skill gems to their gear instead, this way enabling their character to use a specific skill. Gem sockets in gear items can moreover be connected to one another and support gems can be linked to active skills to change their way of functioning, e.g. turning a fireball shoot into multiple fireballs in a single attack or linking it with a gem that heals the player while dealing damage to the opponent, or in the case that multiple sockets can be linked even the option to do both! This skill acquisition not only separates Path of Exile from Diablo 3, but also is one reason for its great appeal.
Diablo 3 has adopted a more streamlined system that allows players to earn new skills when levelling up their class character. Nevertheless, they are able to further customise their skills with unique runes that considerably change the way a particular skill functions, which results its own level of customisation. At max level, however, every character will basically have the same access to all its powers as everyone else who has reached the level cap with the same class.
While there is certain similarity in regards to gameplay, it’s the core features of both games what actually separates them, probably allowing players to prefer one or the other or even to enjoy both without feeling too much repetition in playing 2 action RPG games.
Another major difference between PoE and D3 is the financial aspect. While the former is playable for absolutely free, the latter has to be purchased at a regular retail price, as it is common with Blizzard games. This is continued with expansions; while D3 players also have to pay for the recently launched Reaper of Souls expansion (launched 2 years after the initial core game release), Grinding Gear Games promise to make all "mini-expansions" (released every 4 months) available for free, instead making money with "cosmetic" micro-transactions in the game store.
Blizzard is certainly in a position that allows them to frankly ask their players for money, for those typically know what they get with a Blizzard product. In addition, there’s already an established fan base of the Diablo franchise, and due to the PC/console accessibility; it wouldn’t make sense to adopt a free-to-play model for the PC game and still make players pay for the console version. So it’s finally a decision about free-to-play vs. pay-to-play and Blizzard is obviously onto a good thing with Diablo 3 being the fastest selling PC game of all time and still retaining that title 2 years later.
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