Path of Exile: Ascendancy

 PC
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 1 Critic Review

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. CGMagazine
    Mar 25, 2016
    95
    Considering that it’s both free and quite probably the best ARPG that we’ll ever see, I can think of no valid excuse not to give it a whirl. To be honest, every time I get lost for a weekend in refining a new build, only to die and start again, I wonder why I bother playing anything else. There’s always been something for everyone in Path of Exile; now there’s even more.

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User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 20
  3. Negative: 3 out of 20
  1. NaturalBornChao
    Mar 8, 2016
    0
    The WORST expansion to ever happen in a video game in the history of gaming. Content gated behind the most annoying Labyrinth ever createdThe WORST expansion to ever happen in a video game in the history of gaming. Content gated behind the most annoying Labyrinth ever created that does not match the game at all, or it's always online status. Frustrating and dissapointing for a player with thousands of hours played. You ruined your game GGG...… Full Review »
  2. Eskaton
    Mar 7, 2016
    9
    For me this is the best aRPG out there. Extremely deep character customization, great loot and it is constantly updating with meaningfulFor me this is the best aRPG out there. Extremely deep character customization, great loot and it is constantly updating with meaningful content. Compare this with Diablo 3 where they basically just shove out a few new armour sets and call it a new season. Not to mention this has the best free to play model I've ever seen.… Full Review »
  3. NotSoObvious
    Apr 7, 2017
    0
    The Labyrinth mini-game is a horribly implemented dungeon with traps and features that fit well in platforming games with precise controllerThe Labyrinth mini-game is a horribly implemented dungeon with traps and features that fit well in platforming games with precise controller accurate movement (like the legend of zelda: A link to the past or even mario and frogger)... running and jumping over pits and hitting switches and avoiding sawblades - most of which ignore 90% of your character's stats and gear. If you happen to disconnect (all too frequently near the end of the nightmare) or you die at any point, you have to start the whole mini-game over again. And yet, the game's class-defining "Ascendancy Points" are locked within only this mini-game to force everyone to play this content. I guess they were afraid people might not play it if they weren't bribed. (I know I would never touch it if not for those points... and I still avoid it WITH those points behind it.)

    This one expansion has put an early end to many of my theory-crafted builds. I'd rather not play the game at all, than know that my character is incomplete without those accursed Ascendancy Points. It's not just a matter of ignoring those points. The game is being more and more balanced around players having them as a normal thing. In fact, the devs have to balance the game around these points, or they become "overpowered" by default.

    They need to provide a method of attaining Ascendancy Classes without forcing a mini-game on players. It needs to be a similarly difficult ARPG challenge that does not ignore character build choices and gear employing gameplay that is not focused on trap avoidance, but rather, killing monsters.

    These seem to have been the design goals:
    * They wanted to create a "hardcore" (meaning one-life) challenge for both hardcore and standard players. (Standard players don't want the hardcore experience, or they'd play hardcore leagues. Thanks, but no thanks. It will always be a sour experience in this regard.)

    * They wanted to create a challenge that couldn't be circumvented by logging out to save your life and continue to progress, or using town portals to refill flasks and return to boss battles, or in standard, dying to the boss repeatedly and just respawning and slowly zerging him to death like some main campaign bosses. (The frustrations of restarting on disconnects could be alleviated by placing waypoints after each Izaro battle, saving his life at the end of each phase. If one disconnects, they have to navigate the labyrinth back to the phase they left off at, and face him from the start of that encounter each time, with the same starting life each time, no whittling, no refilling flasks, until the phase is complete and that progress is then saved into the following waypoint. Tada! Endless numbers of forum threads resolved!)

    * They wanted to create a challenge that couldn't be over-leveled, so it's challenging even at level 100 with perfect gear. They wanted a challenge that you had to plan your way through, instead of just rushing through killing everything... and yet, they also wanted the same content to be the focus of daily races for the fastest completion times, and one of the best means of dealing with the traps is to rush past them before they do much damage to you. (Sorry to break this to ya, but ARPG players who spend their entire time collecting loot and leveling up to create the unique aspects of their powerful builds ... want to use their builds and loot... not see all that progress and planning ignored. This was a poor design foundation. Also the racing thing runs counter-intuitively to the premise.)

    ---

    In the end, they wanted to create a challenge by making a mini-game that has its own gameplay and rules that ignore the main game, and yet, is the only source for a reward used in the main game. This was an utter failure of design.

    As soon as this content becomes completely optional, just for the profit of items in the treasure room, and you can acquire Ascendancy Classes apart from this mini-game, it will instantly become a fun mini-game on the side that people can choose to build for, according to its rules, and profit from doing that well, while the rest of the players who wish to have nothing to do with the mini-game can happily go along playing the game they loved before the Labyrinth ever existed.

    It is highly unlikely that the devs will change this, since they spent so much time and expense creating it, and they don't want to admit its flaws. (probably a pet project of a founder). Until it's changed, I play less and less, and sometimes don't even bother anymore.    … Full Review »
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