Heh, path of exile is pretty old now, but that's definitely been the butt of the PhD joke many a time. You might be thinking of Last Epoch that released this year that is sometimes called PoE lite.
The thing that makes PoE so difficult to get into is how disjointed it is, it's obvious that it is built up from many seasons of unplanned expansions. You get layers and layers of inter connected systems introduced as you progress through the game. But you have no idea what will be coming layer without looking up outside resources, even though it can drastically affect the build choices you might make in the earlier systems. And the currency is an absolute mess, it's all barter with no gold, only different crafting materials that you get in exchange for selling items in specific sometimes quite complex patterns. Again with no in-game info on what combinations sell for what, you've gotta go look up a wiki or have an obsessive autist's memory.
So yeah, it gets complicated, but it's largely from a lack of user friendly implementation and only about half of it is to the benefit of viable build variety.
The best way to play Path of Exile is to look up character builds that let you ignore as many resource cost and other negative mechanics as possible so you can focus on the 500 APM it takes to not get killed in one hit by basic white monsters.
Heh, path of exile is pretty old now, but that's definitely been the butt of the PhD joke many a time. You might be thinking of Last Epoch that released this year that is sometimes called PoE lite.
The thing that makes PoE so difficult to get into is how disjointed it is, it's obvious that it is built up from many seasons of unplanned expansions. You get layers and layers of inter connected systems introduced as you progress through the game. But you have no idea what will be coming layer without looking up outside resources, even though it can drastically affect the build choices you might make in the earlier systems. And the currency is an absolute mess, it's all barter with no gold, only different crafting materials that you get in exchange for selling items in specific sometimes quite complex patterns. Again with no in-game info on what combinations sell for what, you've gotta go look up a wiki or have an obsessive autist's memory.
So yeah, it gets complicated, but it's largely from a lack of user friendly implementation and only about half of it is to the benefit of viable build variety.
The best way to play Path of Exile is to look up character builds that let you ignore as many resource cost and other negative mechanics as possible so you can focus on the 500 APM it takes to not get killed in one hit by basic white monsters.