< Sept 18: This is an old post that seemed relevant to me again. Enjoy. >
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Tag Archives: rockpapershotgun
Path of Exile announces sixth class, the Shadow
A combination of Intelligence and Dexterity, the Shadow is the sixth and final class for Path of Exile, the ingenious action role playing game I’ve been happily beta testing and supporting with my dollars. You may remember me offering two closed beta keys? I still have one, if you want to join the fun.
RockPaperShotgun has the exclusive reveal, so go there for all the first impressions. Shall I reveal the big secret they won’t tell you? Essentially the Shadow is a more customizable version of the Assassin from Diablo II’s expansion, Lord of Destruction. Assuming you decide to focus on the most natural setup, you’ll be creating advanced traps, slashing with claw weapons, and dabbling in all the various trickery of magic and speed, not brute power.
It’s worth saying that Path of Exile is extremely non-linear in its character progression, and that the trap system is built to compliment that ocean of choice. According to the developers, almost any skill in the game can be “trapified”, so you can convert your boring old fireball spell to an incendiary mine, for example, right after they walk through the trap which curses their elemental resistance. If you’re clever (and you should be if you play the Shadow) you will surely enjoy the possibilities.
Finally, this Friday there will be a Public Weekend, where you can jump in and try stuff out. It’s all for testing purposes, so do them a favor and give them feedback on how the Shadow plays, eh? The game will be free to play when it’s released, and it is very good.
Blizzard is now soulless: confirmed
Listen. I’ll admit when I’m wrong. Why, I can remember a day when I was positive that StarCraft 2 would be a legendary example of great game design, and even tried to follow the online Korean tournament scene, GomTV’s “GSL”, you may remember. I wrote an article about the design principles I believed were behind the choices for the three races’ units and features, then watched as Blizzard fumbled patching and balance until it was clear: they’re clueless.
Well the days have gotten darker for ActivisionBlizzard, as they’ve revealed their greedy little plans to control and monetize everything. Surely this is Activision’s part in milking Blizzard dry, but that doesn’t pardon anything. What’s the big sin? There’s actually 3, as reported by PC Gamer, and summed up by RockPaperShotgun…