Here is a account of elements of PoE that accumulate humans advancing aback to the game. This is based on a few years of afterward this sub and, of course, my own experience. Yeah, I apperceive I've larboard out some things; feel chargeless to add your own.
I can never explain to humans why I play PoE, what keeps me logging in. Assumption the abbreviate acknowledgment is, all of it.
(edited, aboriginal post, anchored the formatting...)
Collecting Saw a Reddit column not continued ago of a beneficiary affairs a attenuate Beta alt-art account for 250 mirrors; even showed a account of him cutting the account in Oriath. He had waited a continued time to snag this account and had to appearance it off; congratz!
Crafting Alts-Augs-Regals-Scouring or Alchs-Chaos spamming your way to a acceptable account consistently feels great.
Serious crafting The next akin up is fine-tuning an account on the Masters' benches, with maybe an Exalt bang or Vaal Orb befuddled in.
God-roll crafting And afresh there's the expensive, time-intensive art of God-rolling a Mirror-worthy item. Saw a column a brace years aback of a guy who had formed a 6-T1 baton that was one point shy of perfect. The baton did 400+ phys and was mistaken by added than one clairvoyant for a dagger.
HCSSF No trades to accession your accessory or gems and burning acknowledgment if you beat your abilities or defense. Haven't approved this yet myself, but it sounds like a abundant challenge.
Item-based builds Yield an account and achieve a body about it. Facebreaker or Voltaxic Rift accept had their day, what about a dual-wield Lifesprig full-phys build?
Skill-based builds Frost Blades, Blade Vortex, and Sunder are popular, but there are so abounding others. Try a Leap Bang build. Or loading up eight Golems, a few Spectres, some zombies, a Dom Blow army, afresh bottomward a Vaal Skeletons and throwing about 50 minions at the boss.
Delve abysm An accession to mapping with a lot of appeal. Kudos to all the Burrow runners accusation the banned on this new feature.
Maps Boodle farming, avaricious Shaper/Elder crafting bases, commutual the Atlas. Trading It's fun to acquisition a smoker accord in poe.trade and save your anarchy for accession day.
Loot agriculture This has consistently been fun, but Burrow took it to accession level. That crawler is a freaking pinata, but black delving is even added fun.
Speed-run to akin 100 I adulation to watch the letters as the racers alpha out anniversary League. By the time my burn alcove 20, the baton has already anesthetized 50. Don't accept the attitude for racing, but I'll watch from the sidelines.
Taking akin 19 to the max I created a new char, didn't pay absorption on my akin until I noticed I wasn't leveling up. I had collapsed abaft breadth akin to the point that I got no XP at burn akin 19. So I absitively to see how far I could advance it. Ended up accomplishing a all-knowing Piety annihilate in Act 3 afore I started leveling again. Consistently wondered how far a committed Exile could advance a akin 19 char.
Hideout decorations This is mostly for Standard players. I've done trades in Standard and credible some jaw-dropping ho bling. How do humans architecture and adeptness such works of art?
Character bling I'm not in actuality into MTX for my chars, but you abandoned accept to footfall into any boondocks to see lots of humans who bulk up on the glam.
Item bling I accept a bit of account bling, annihilation fancy. Stop by Oriath and analysis out the swords, shields, helmets and added accessory that accept been MTXed to the max.
Game artwork Whether it's terrain, monsters, adeptness effects, or annihilation else, PoE is a admirable bold to see. Thanks to all the artists involved.
Game music In a lot of games, I'm just blessed if the music doesn't suck. PoE's music usually hits the affection and accent perfectly. Nice job!
NPC alternation How abounding NPC expressions accept become allotment of the lore? Still sane, Exile?
Backstory I'm not a big backstory fan but if you wish it, it's there and it helps appearance the bold and items.
Streaming and YouTube videos The vids accept been such a huge advice for me as a player. Thanks to Mathil, ZiggyD, Engineering Eternity, and the many, abounding others who advice the beginners over the boxy spots.
Designing your body There are lots of builds on the web, but designing your own about your play appearance or a admired account can be abundant fun. Axis bargain accessory into an endgame body is a abundant challenge.
Farming for accessory Aqueduct for Tabula Rasa, the bank for Oni-Giroshi, assorted maps for div cards; it can be a lot of fun seeing that account bead afterwards all your work.
Your aboriginal mirror bead Incursion league, SC, Act 6, the Coast; alone from a debris mob kill. If you haven't credible your aboriginal Mirror yet, it's a freaking rush!
Start of Alliance Adulation alpha of league, even if the alliance turns out to be a dud. Cat-and-mouse in the chain (there are 25,381 players in foreground of you), hitting the beach, and Go! Go! Go!
Clear acceleration Some of the clear-speed builds are insane. How do humans dream these up, afresh accept the time/currency to body them?
Min-max (skill tree, gem slots, gear) I've laid animate at night, aggravating to bulk out how to get 50 added activity or accession 0.1 advance acceleration on my adeptness tree. Is that bad?
Fan contributions (lootfilters, PoB, artwork, div cards, items) Breadth would this bold be afterwards ZiggyD, Neversink, Openarl, and the amaranthine added admirers and their contributions? From bold accoutrement to div cards to altered designs, PoE owes a lot to the fans.
Discovery If the aboriginal Prophecies came out, anyone was able to 6L a wand. Yeah, it was a bug and it was fixed, but that accept to accept been nuts. Afresh there was the guy who credible the 60 altered rings bell-ringer recipe. And "discovering" on your own something that is already accurate doesn't achieve your analysis any beneath satisfying.
Boss fights (Atziri, Uber Izaro, Shaper, Elder) Do all the prep, angle at the doorway, afresh airing into a firestorm. Consistently exciting.
Achievements and challenges Not my cup of tea, mind, but a big draw to a lot of players.
Reddit (item showcase, acknowledgment to GGG, allowance others, PSA) This sub is just amazing. Lots of accessible posts and encouragement, lots of adulation for the game. I never annoy of seeing "my aboriginal mirror" or "item showcase" posts; abundant stuff.
Guilds Not a guildie myself, but I did alpha a absolute baby brotherhood to advice my buddies out. It's a ample allotment of the bold for a lot of people.
Partying Uber Izaro carries, XP grind, or just accompany accepting calm on gaming night, partying adds a lot to the game.
Character names Sometimes, I'll abeyance in boondocks to ambit the appearance names. Aggregate from contemporary to funny to ewwwh.
Supporter packs and swag (T-shirts, map) I apperceive I'm into this "free to play" bold for over $1K US. I adulation my shirts and my Atlas map and all the added swag. If can I get an Exalted orb for my desktop?
GGG aggregation Jeez, breadth to start? From the devs who cipher the intricate gameplay to the abutment agents who accord with all the questions and problems to the artists, musicians, articulation actors, writers... I mean, the account is endless. And you are all great.
Chris Wilson I waited years, Chris. Through Adventure, Zork, Doom, Kings Quest, Starcraft, Diablo. Waited until you assuredly created Path of Exile. You did something in actuality beautiful. Thanks for everything.
Bex Ha! Of course, I adored the Bex for last. Yield our energy, Bex!