Flashy clothes not included in free-to-play Path of Exile

Posted by on January 30, 2013 in Games

before

That’s a witch in Path of Exile. As you can see, she’s pretty drably outfitted. I suppose the face mask looks suitably evil. But she’s way higher level than you’d expect based on the fact that she’s wearing colorless tatters and weilding a stick in her right hand and a dried vine wreath in her left hand. But that’s about to change.

After the jump, the makeover

after

Behold! If you look close, you can see a patch of purple on my witch’s new vestment. She’s level 20 and based on the fashion trends I’m seeing in the town hubs — this is an online only game where you share town hubs with a handful of other players — that’s as fancy as it gets. When I’m level 20 in Diablo 3, I look like the main villain in an 80s Conan movie. I have spikes and billowing robes and an amazing hat, all in vibrant colors or rich black or gleaming ivory. I am worthy of cosplaying. Path of Exile is, well, more downbeat, couture wise.

Maybe further down the line, the habiliments get more dramatic. Or maybe this is how developer Grinding Gear Games hopes to make this a viable free-to-play game. Right now I don’t feel the need to spend a nickel on Paths of Exile, which I downloaded for free and is every bit as meaty an action RPG as things that are $60. Path of Exile is currently in beta, and the developers are adamant that you won’t have to pay for any functionality. That’s certainly the case now. This is a game without so much as a real-money auction house. The micropayment shop sells glowing shapes that float ridiculously overhead, or a special weapon effect for weapons that aren’t even necessarily special. You can buy a dance animation for seven bucks. There’s a pet frog that does nothing for a couple of a bucks.

DC Universe Online has a whole collectible costume system where you unlock costume sets as you find loot. In Guild Wars 2, you can clone gear so that it looks like other gear you’ve found and thereby dress up however you like. I’ve previously documented my barbarian’s fashion travails in Diablo 3. The visuals are more or less part of the loot chase in those games. So maybe Paths of Exile intends to divorce aesthetics from the loot chase and instead make it part of the business model. Like skins in League of Legends.

Which, frankly, is a pretty smart move. Because I’m not sure how long I can let my witch run around looking like a serving wench who can’t even afford a vial of lavender dye.

  • CB

    I’m only about 9 levels in right now, but I really like how the aesthetics – as drab as they may be – add to the sense that I’m really playing as a castaway trying to survive on the scraps washed up on a beach.

    I’m really glad metal can float in PoE or my marauder would be running around naked.

  • Zuwadza

    I wish they would just let me buy the damn game.

  • Mercanis

    I’m surprised and pleased that you describe the gameplay as “meaty”, Mr. Chick. I guess I was mistaken when I wrote Path of Exile off as another shallow, free-to-play click-fest. (I signed up for the beta but didn’t even bother trying it.)

    I like this business model. I just hope that it also proves to be a smart model that nets the developers some profit. People play online games to invest in their avatars and then show them off to the world, right? If you can hook players with characters that are mighty in their stats, surely enough of those players will pay money to be mighty in their fashion.

    “There’s a pet frog that does nothing for a couple of a bucks.”
    Correction: I’m guessing that the pet frog makes for a fabulous fashion accessory!

  • amanda_chen

    Can you save up to buy some tits?

  • CB

    I’ve been interested in spending money to support the game, because so far I like it about as much as D3 or TL2, but the things they have available to purchase just don’t interest me. I hope they add some more options to their visual enhancement catalog.

  • Miramon

    I believe you’re onto something here. The next generation of MMOs will not merely unlock costume sets, but character model “enhancements”….

  • BLAM!

    After the first year of Steam sales it felt like an insult being asked to pay more than $5 or $10 for a game. Now with the free to play model pioneered by LoL it feels like a slap to the face to be asked to pay anything at all.

    This reminds me of DotA 2′s pay for clothes model, except DotA 2′s is a complete mess modeled after Team Fortress 2′s complete mess and I don’t see how they expect to make money off of it. Funding a game entirely through sales of not complete costume makeovers like LoL, but minor accessory changes that you can barely notice in-game? Accessories that you steadily acquire through regular play anyway?

  • McBlamn

    I think the game is about to go into open beta, but also you can buy access to the closed beta.

  • tomchick

    The game is currently in open beta. You can download and play it RIGHT NOW!

  • amanda_chen

    I’d be willing to pay for magical codpieces so I could craft a fully assembled cod.

  • Ruskov

    I know what you’re saying,but this time you get the whole game and it cost 0$.Playing closed bet for a year and they added the shop with 2 items in it 6-7 months ago ,then the rest last week when the game entered open beta(or soft release more accurate). The changes are none before and after shop.Game design in completely free from cash /microtransaction influence for F2P game,even from most 50$ AAA games nowadays.

    Also something to add for Hardcore league that Tom missed.When you die in hardcore your character is moved to default league(softcore) and you do not lose it.