To start: this game is probably one of the best structured free to play games simply because the extent of the cash shop outside of cosmetic items is extra shared stash tabs (which you might need more tabs later on, but with a bit of organization it's usually not too bad). The way the skill system works allows for some nice builds, with a slotting and linking system not too different from Final Fantasy 7, like if you have a spell that shoots a fireball, you can put that gem in a socket in your armor and have it linked to a gem that makes it a spell totem and allows you to summon a totem that shoots fireballs. Keeping on with the Final Fantasy comparisons, the Passive tree is huge, with each class starting off in different areas of it, sort of similar to how Final Fantasy 10 was like and each point making a decent difference, and there is the choice of respeccing, but it's a bit tough to do (it partially requires a currency item for large respecs, you get respec points for some quests throughout the game but for anything more than 10 points it requires this currency item).

A very unique aspect about the game as well is that it has no gold or equivalent, rather there are "Currency Items" that all have different uses like a scroll that identifies items, an orb that creates a rare from a normal weapon, and even an extremely rare item that can clone an item. All of these types of items take the place of gold and it works fairly well for the most part except for when trying to first start player trading, as it's a bit hard to learn the rates of all the items if you're hard pressed to get a certain item/currency.

As for the gameplay, it feels good, especially with critical hits where if certain elements crit, they'll have a different effect, like if an Ice spell crits the enemies that get hit by it are frozen. There are also different leagues that change up how the game itself works, and even race leagues that are only open for usually an hour and earns you "Season Points" for collecting and getting alternate artwork uniques in game. It plays really well with certain builds getting ludicrously fast paced later on or if you want to take your time there are builds for that too, the game is very flexible when it comes to available builds but that has a problem for me: Desync. Since this game is online only it is always correcting itself to the server, and it's fairly common to end up getting warped to a different area that you were earlier because the server didn't think you were actually able to walk somewhere when you could (for example you got surrounded but were able to get out of it, sometimes the server will warp you back into it because it thought the tiny opening you walked out of was closed.) For the impact this has on builds is simple: some builds just aren't viable because of the danger of being placed into an area you didn't want to go, and not to mention some skills just plain desync more often than others because of being movement skills/spells.

In short: The game is pretty much perfect in my opinion except for desync, which is a very large issue that can really kill any enjoyment I'm having no matter where I'm at in the game if it happens in a fatal way.

Score: 4/5

*Edit* Thought I should update this since desync hasn't been an issue for a long time, the game is just about perfect now and would easily give it a 5/5.

Update 11/28/24 - Now that PoE2 is around the corner, even if PoE1 gets sunsetted with no more updates, it's still a great game, here's hoping PoE2 is even more improvement.

To start: this game is probably one of the best structured free to play games simply because the extent of the cash shop outside of cosmetic items is extra shared stash tabs (which you might need more tabs later on, but with a bit of organization it's usually not too bad). The way the skill system works allows for some nice builds, with a slotting and linking system not too different from Final Fantasy 7, like if you have a spell that shoots a fireball, you can put that gem in a socket in your armor and have it linked to a gem that makes it a spell totem and allows you to summon a totem that shoots fireballs. Keeping on with the Final Fantasy comparisons, the Passive tree is huge, with each class starting off in different areas of it, sort of similar to how Final Fantasy 10 was like and each point making a decent difference, and there is the choice of respeccing, but it's a bit tough to do (it partially requires a currency item for large respecs, you get respec points for some quests throughout the game but for anything more than 10 points it requires this currency item). A very unique aspect about the game as well is that it has no gold or equivalent, rather there are "Currency Items" that all have different uses like a scroll that identifies items, an orb that creates a rare from a normal weapon, and even an extremely rare item that can clone an item. All of these types of items take the place of gold and it works fairly well for the most part except for when trying to first start player trading, as it's a bit hard to learn the rates of all the items if you're hard pressed to get a certain item/currency. As for the gameplay, it feels good, especially with critical hits where if certain elements crit, they'll have a different effect, like if an Ice spell crits the enemies that get hit by it are frozen. There are also different leagues that change up how the game itself works, and even race leagues that are only open for usually an hour and earns you "Season Points" for collecting and getting alternate artwork uniques in game. It plays really well with certain builds getting ludicrously fast paced later on or if you want to take your time there are builds for that too, the game is very flexible when it comes to available builds but that has a problem for me: Desync. Since this game is online only it is always correcting itself to the server, and it's fairly common to end up getting warped to a different area that you were earlier because the server didn't think you were actually able to walk somewhere when you could (for example you got surrounded but were able to get out of it, sometimes the server will warp you back into it because it thought the tiny opening you walked out of was closed.) For the impact this has on builds is simple: some builds just aren't viable because of the danger of being placed into an area you didn't want to go, and not to mention some skills just plain desync more often than others because of being movement skills/spells. In short: The game is pretty much perfect in my opinion except for desync, which is a very large issue that can really kill any enjoyment I'm having no matter where I'm at in the game if it happens in a fatal way. Score: 4/5 *Edit* Thought I should update this since desync hasn't been an issue for a long time, the game is just about perfect now and would easily give it a 5/5. Update 11/28/24 - Now that PoE2 is around the corner, even if PoE1 gets sunsetted with no more updates, it's still a great game, here's hoping PoE2 is even more improvement.