Path of Exile Now in Open Beta
Path of Exile is now open for the public to play.
Grinding Gear Games's free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile has officially transitioned to its open beta stage, allowing the general public access to the world of Wraeclast.
For those wary of the free-to-play label, rest assured in knowing that Grinding Gear's monetary system works through "ethical microtransactions," meaning that paying into the game won't yield EXP bonuses or better weapons. Vanity items such as social pets (namely, the cute New Zealand-native kiwi) are the only things available for purchase.
Unlike Diablo and Torchlight, games of a similar vein, leveling in Path of Exile yields points to be spent in a gargantuan passive skill tree. Active skills can be picked up through gems that can be leveled and embedded into items.
To solve the problem of gold inflation that Diablo III has, Path of Exile has ditched the gold standard for a barter system featuring consumable currency items. Since players are constantly consuming these items, there's no risk of having "too many" currency items.
For action RPG fans looking for a new entry into the genre, Path of Exile, which also launched new Act III content with open beta, may just be what they're looking for.

Just thought id point that out.
You might be interested in Grim Dawn if you've heard of it.
To me, PoE is alright. It's dark and gritty, the spell combinations can be crazy at times but I just didn't like the passive skill tree. Instead of spending skill points, you dump them into a pinwheel of abilities with some that are "game changers". Not my cup of tea.
Better then D3, that is for sure.
The game rocks. Check it out if you like ARPGs.
If you like action RPGs at all you should at least give it a chance. Its free!
As for Grim Dawn, I Kickstarted the game and am eagerly awaiting the beta release. Indie developers are willing to take the risks that turn into great games.
No map as in the big overlay covering the screen? sure there is, just press tab, it switches from the mini map in the top right to the large overlay one. It does need to be more translucent though.
PoE has the upper hand because its team can see what worked and what failed with Diablo and TL2. If PoE can make players feel epic and can pull off PvP then it will be successful.
No idea why a full respec orb isn't available from their store yet. Kind of silly for GGG to not make money off an obvious need.
2nd... GGG have commented that providing an option to buy a full respec is almost pay-to-win, players could simply pay and switch builds to the current OP flavour of the month builds. More importantly, GGG also want players to be attached to their characters. Quests rewards give out about 20 respec points across the 3 levels and you can use the orbs as mentioned... but this means players can slowly evolve their characters, so that the changes form part of that character's history and journey.
i hate the level system with a passion...
the WORST final fantasy system implemented, is their cornerstone for their game... yea... not enthusiastic about that at all.
that said, they also have another final fantacy system that i like, the materia...
the porblem i have there is its kills, and not exp based for advancing it, im not far into the game yet, i dont think i even broke level 10, but if every gem you get starts at level 1, than you will be late in the game, and new gems will be absolutely useless.
i also despise this barter system, that forces you to keep currency in your inventory that you also use for trading, in a game that is all about loot whoreing...
again im not far enough in the game to give a real judgement of the game, but its what i see.
You forgot "in my opinion". I think the passive tree is fantastic.
PS. I'm guessing if you find a level 1 gem in later difficulties it will level up much more quickly than it would near the start of normal difficulty.
The game was made for "hardcore" players. Having an item like that is pay to win and caters to the "noobs". That's a big no no.
no, 10 is widely considered the worst of level system of all the ff games, and i exclude ff 13 from that because that game was a failure on so many levels it wasn't even funny, granted some could make an argument for 8 being the worst, 8 was annoying, 8 punished you for using magic, but 8 was still doable without a strategy guide.
now, the gems leveling faster. they are based on per kills, not exp, and i do find it a mistake to do that because 1 kill on normal is in no way equal to one kill on the highest difficulty.
they could put into the game a system where certain enemies were worth more kills than others, and difficulties give a base kill multiplyer, but even than i don't like the way that system works, again, another system that is a cornerstone of the game
i can see the later game getting VERY frustrateing due to the socket system, but again, ill keep that opinion to myself as i havent played that far to really know.
how is it pay to win, a hard core player knows the exact path they need to follow, while a noob doesn't.
after 20-30 hours, the noob realizes they screwed up making that 20-30 hours pointless because they have to restart, while the hardcore keeps on going without ever needing respec.
thats not a pay to win move.