I see that many have recommended Path of Exile. I agree that overall it's a good game, however, you should also know that:
-It's extremely repetitive. You'll basically have to run the same 4 chapters THRICE (once in every difficulty level) just to gain access to "maps". Maps are 'instances' or 'dungeons' that act as end game content. Sounds cool right? Yeah, except that they are basically carbon copies of the same zones you visited again and again while leveling; the main difference with normal areas is that they drop more items and are inhabited by high level monsters (more exp, better loot).
So, with the exception of a few super-rare unique maps, you'll find no real original content in PoE. Then again, massively recycled content is a recurring problem of every Diablo clone I've tried so far, so if you like the genre perhaps this won't be an issue for you. YMMV.
-There's no money in game. Instead, the economy is based on a weird barter system, in which players exchange items and orbs (enchanting/crafting material that are actually useful). Since good gear is so rare to come by, sooner or later you'll be pretty much forced to trade with other players, and that's where the problems begin.
The game doesn't have any kind of automated auction house, the devs don't want that; there's only a trade chat, which unfortunately is infested by the worst scum you'll ever encounter in PoE. No matter who you ask in there, chances are they'll try to scam the heck out of you. The only sensible thing you can do is rely on third-party websites dedicated to trading, where scammers are less common. Notice that by "relying" I really mean "monitor the site several times a day for who knows how many days".
The other problem is that you won't know exactly what's an item worth, as their values aren't written in stone. In fact, they aren't written ANYWHERE on the Internet (no, I'm not kidding, try to google "poe currency ratios" you'll never find anything conclusive). You could try asking in global chat, but they won't tell you, because they're understandably sick of hearing the same questions 4 times per minute. They'll be very happy to debate your parents' sexuality, though.
-Huge learning curve. The talent tree is... well, unique. It's extremely complex and versatile, and it's what allows every class to cover almost every possible role. The fact that GGG could keep it (reasonably) balanced is nothing short of amazing.To tell the truth, I thought it was confusing more than anything, but I can see why people like it. If you're dumb like me you can just follow a guide, that's not a problem.
The problem is, in PoE there's no way to respect at will. Yes, you do get a free talent reset every major balance patch, i.e. every 3 months or so. But in the meanwhile, if you mess up your talent tree, no, you can't correct that, go make another character and start over. That's the official developers' stance on this, go figure...
This is a huge blow to the versatility of the talent tree: it means you'll never be able to explore it freely. Making different builds (or variations of a build) by trial and error simply isn't possible, unless you're willing to invest another X shitton extra hours leveling a new character every time you mess up, OR theorycrafting with spreadsheets and talent calculators.
TLDR: good game with nice graphics/settings/characters, impressive combat and talent system, but ruined by the lack of fresh content, respec options, ingame auction house, and of course let's not forget the extremely toxic playerbase.
If you don't mind any of these points and love grinding, haggling and theorycrafting, then PoE is probably the perfect game for you.
Post edited January 11, 2016 by Avogadro6