How Path of Exile 2 Redefined the ARPG Genre

Before the video begins, let me tell you

about aoea.com.

Use the code EXPERT to get a 3% discount

on Path of Exile 2 currency and orbs on

aoea.com so you can level up faster.

A couple weeks ago I made a video about

why I hate Path of Exile 2, and that was

because in the first place, well, I didn't

really enjoy the game when I first tried

it.

I found it kind of boring, a bit dull,

just seemed like another Diablo 4 game,

but It's been 2 weeks and I'm still

playing the game.

I've now got 2 level 40+ characters and I

have to admit, I do quite enjoy playing

the game.

I do look forward to coming back from

work, turning on the game, grinding out

some levels, trying to kill some bosses,

trying to improve my gear somehow and I do

find the game quite enjoyable to be fair.

The main thing I like about this game is

that it always feels like there's

something to do.

You never feel like, hmm, what should I do

next?

You always got something to work on.

It might be ordering, organizing your

stash box so all the gems are in order so

you easily find stuff, or it could be

trying to find gear that can improve your

character, or trying to improve a weak

part of your gear that's just kind of

outdated, trying to find a new piece that

you can buff up with some of these orbs.

You've got all these different orbs that

improve gear in some way, and you've got

all these gems and stuff like skill gems,

support gems that you can use to unlock a

new skill or upgrade a new skill or find a

way to improve your gems.

So you've got 3 gems support gem sockets

instead of 2 on your skills so you can

improve it that way, or just fiddling with

these gems so that they are more optimized

for fighting a certain type of enemy that

you're struggling against.

There's always just something you can find

to do in the game to keep yourself busy,

and I quite like that as someone who does

like to keep busy.

There's a very satisfying feeling of being

stuck on a boss for hours and hours and

you just don't know how to beat it, and

you keep fiddling with your build and your

skills and your weapons and trying to

level up a bit more to gain an edge, and

then you finally beat it, and you're

getting so close to killing it, and you're

about to get one-shot, you don't have any

potions left, and you do the first final

last kill shot that defeats it.

And this feeling of adrenaline and

satisfaction really starts pumping in you,

and it feels great, to be honest.

I spent hours last night trying to defeat

this boss in this area.

It was like this stone Aztec golem thing

with a big hammer.

Took me ages to beat it, and when I beat

it, felt so good, and I was able to go to

sleep feeling pretty satisfied.

I do like playing around with different

builds and experimenting using different

shots with the Mercenary.

So my current build, um, I've got the

explosive shot.

So I'll show my build.

I've got this explosive shot, um, it fires

2 additional projectiles like this, so it

fires 3 grenades instead of just one, so

it's pretty cool.

And also, also I got Double Barrel so I

can shoot it twice before reloading like

that.

Sometimes you get lucky because of my

skills, I can shoot it 3 times or 4 times.

And then for the third one, I've got

Primal Armament.

Armament, it deals 25% more elemental

damage, so it's basically just 25% bonus

damage.

And I use that in combination with oil

grenade.

So that creates like a slick of oil, and

if I shoot it, it sets it on fire.

So that's pretty cool.

So my oil grenade has also 3 sockets

upgraded to 3, and I put 40% more area

effect and 120% more pin buildup and also

60% chance to poison.

So the oil grenade

not only pins the enemy and sets them on

fire.

It also poisons them.

So watch this.

Look at that.

Look how much damage it does just on its

own.

I've already done 50%, and it pins them in

place.

Look, and then I just blow them up to

finish them off, and then the fires do

damage over time to finish them off as

well.

So it's a pretty good build.

Also, yeah, you can do that too.

So they will get set on fire and blown up.

So against large groups of enemies, it's

pretty damn good.

Like, everything just dies

and gets pinned in place.

And then against bosses, like the elite

mobs, I got Frag Shot.

Frag Shot, I got 3 sockets too.

35% more physical damage.

Skill automatically reloads after heavy

stunning, and every 5th use support of

supported attacks causes 500% more stun.

So it's good for stunning and doing high

damage like this.

So it's quite fun.

And then the skill tree You never feel

bored because

you could try doing a different skill

tree.

So I've gone all the way down to the edge

to get these crossbow perks, and also this

fire perk increases fire damage.

This is actually kind of like into the

warrior skill set.

So if you have enough points, you can

actually go around into the warrior part

and maybe pick up some of his skills, but

most of them aren't going to be useful for

me.

So then there's also healing stuff,

defensive stuff.

I guess you could go into

the Ranger part.

Most of these talents are kind of boring

though, not really useful for my build.

Like increased melee damage, I don't think

that's going to help me.

So it's fun fiddling around with the skill

tree.

My main complaint would be that these

dungeon maps are massive and it doesn't

really tell you where you're supposed to

go.

And for some reason I can't enlarge this

map.

I've pressed every button on my keyboard

and I can't figure out how to enlarge the

minimap in the corner.

So you end up just running around the map

like a headless chicken for ages until you

find where you're supposed to go.

It'd be nice if it pointed you in the

right direction.

Yeah, these maps are just

way too big

and you just feel like you're lost in a

maze,

but at least you get lots of gold and loot

and XP killing everything.

Oh, look, a chest.

There's so many little dead ends as well

that trap you in.

It does feel like you're playing Pac-Man

sometimes.

This is like the 3D violent version of

Pac-Man.

Yeah, so I think it's a pretty good game,

and it's only about £23 for the early

access.

I got it for free because I made a video

about it on YouTube, and YouTube gave me

money.

So I basically didn't have to pay anything

for the game and I made profit, so

win-win.

Let's just kill these.

Look at them all getting blown up.

Also, I got this special crossbow so I can

shoot 2 grenades out at the same time

instead of just one.

Where is it?

Yeah, look, grenade skills fire an

additional projectile.

And I've also got some grenade perks, so

there's a 12 or 15% chance they explode

twice.

So I've got these grenades too.

Look, it exploded again, did you see?

Ooh, skill gem, I'll take that.

I do quite like this build.

It's just funny seeing everything blow up

in fire and flames.

I think I want to improve the reload speed

because the reload speed is what's holding

me back, I think.

So where's the reload speed?

I saw skills for reload speed.

Increased projectile damage.

Oh, I want to get these 2.

It's kind of far away.

I need to go up here, down there, up

there.

Increase accuracy,

increase movement speed if you've killed

recently.

That's pretty good.

You get 4,

3, 3, 6, 4.

14% increased movement speed after you've

killed.

Increased cooldown recovery rate.

I wouldn't mind getting the movement speed

stuff.

Increase armor and evasion.

Increase attributes.

Increase critical chance.

That's pretty good.

Where's reload speed?

Increase elemental damage could be quite

good.

Skill effect.