Current Events > Which game is more enjoyable in the long run? Path of Exile or Diablo II?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm interested in playing one of these games, but have never tried either.

I'm not looking for accessibility. I'm looking for the most enjoyment. I mostly play singleplayer games -- especially adventure games and RPGs.

Don't say "just try PoE first because it's free." That still won't tell me if it's better than Diablo II or not. Price isn't the problem. Finding a game I can enjoy is the objective.

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Diablo 2. PoE is a fucking job if you wanna play it long term. Diablo you can just dick around it. Plus it has actual story that is easy to follow. Like PoE has a "story" but its more just pretext for why you are in the area. I beat the game not knowing wtf was going on even though I patiently read dialogue.

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Back_Stabbath posted...

Diablo 2. PoE is a fucking job if you wanna play it long term. Diablo you can just dick around it.

Kind of sounds consistent with what I've read on Reddit.

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D2. PoE feels more "modern", but goddamn it's a slog later on. I was always able to have fun in D2 until endgame with a bit of basic build research and a low budget. There are plenty of high level players that will just chuck great items because they have little value on the market and selling for gold is useless.

I'll cast my vote by saying that I started playing D2 when it first came out over 20 years ago, spent years playing mods like Median, and a week ago I bought it again so that I could install a new mod that allows scaling up to 45x mob density and try playing that way.

If you go with D2 you have the ability to also play some mods that people have spent years, or even decades, working on.

path of exile is an amazing game and i can't recommend it enough. but that doesn't mean it's for everyone, even fans of other lootgrinders. it definitely has a learning curve. you can absolutely jump in and play, and be "good" at the game. for a while. probably most of the story, though the last bit jumps in difficultly quite a bit. but the endgame after the story? you'll likely need to do some outside research, or a lot of trial and failure to find all the things you need to do to push to the hardest content.

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Depends how prone you are to liking really complex games without much(any) handholding. If that's your speed PoE is a helluva game.

If you want to murder monsters with some choices about how to gear and build your character Diablo 2 is still a top tier game all these years later.

If you like a nearly paralyzing amount of choice right out the gate, PoE can help you with that.

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Grim Dawn

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i'd say PoE since supposedly D2 is gonna be remastered and it would suck if you were burnt out on D2 classic before a new(er) experience came out.

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D2 just for the ability to play and screw around with any characters for a bit. Forget the game and rinse/repeat. Its the longest played game Ive had going. 20 years at this point.

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thronedfire2 posted...

Grim Dawn

This is also very good and 100% worth a play if you haven't already.

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I wouldn't know where to rank diablo 2 because I haven't played it in like 15 years, but I will say this...

In terms of difficulty, complexity and required character/build planning, PoE is pretty insane, Grim Dawn is manageable and Diablo 3 is pretty easy. In terms of fun, I've had a lot with all 3, but PoE can be a strain at times, especially in postgame, which is longer and more extensive than the main story at this point for sure. There is a meme that really good players spend more time planning builds and characters than actually playing the game and it's one of those "It's funny because it's true" things. Grim Dawn is significantly easier but still requires planning if you want to have a successful character. Diablo 3 is very forgiving and mostly based on grinding for equipment. You can respec skills whenever you want with no penalties. Based on what I remember of Diablo 2, it's probably between Grim Dawn and Diablo 3, but with more grinding than any of the 3 aforementioned games (the right gear in GD can last a long time and PoE has its own economy with all of the currency items, while D3 has the "smart drop" system and on higher difficulty levels will throw legendaries at you by the dozen, plus seasonal play gives you a free set every season just for reaching max level and hitting a few objectives that are generally not difficult to achieve). D2 on the other hand is more luck based for drops and is quite a time sink. I played it for several years and the most valuable items I ever found were a set amulet that I needed for my class and an Ist rune (which is only like the 10th rarest rune and I also needed that for crafting at the time)

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Diablo 2 is outdated.
Like incredibly fucking outdated.
It's like playing Mario Bros 1 for the NES vs Mario World

It definitely does not hold up. Even when it was out, it was mostly just 'because online' that it was popular. And people quickly fucking realized that GRush was the best way forward to just farm.

Play PoE/Diablo 3 if you 'must' have online/regular resets. Otherwise get Grim Dawn/Titan Quest/Torchlight 2 (with mods)
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poe is fun but it's too nerdy, diablo always hits that sweet spot between appealing to people that want to pick up and play something and people that want to make spreadsheets

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thronedfire2 posted...

Grim Dawn

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Grim Dawn. PoE is just too clunky. GD isnt super punishing. You can respec at any time. The only thing you cant respec is your class and sub class.