There is still no d2 necromancer like class in any arpg game out there. Having a army of around 30 permanent summons following you was so fun and relaxing (some would even say boring, but I loved it).
I'm going to have to say this isn't true.
I've got an 82 Witch/Necromancer.
10 Permanent Zombies rocking Fortify/Poison/Multistrike.
4 Permanent Spectres with Dmg/Life.
1 Permanent Fire Golem for kicks.
Up to 15 Skeletons that are temporary...but I can drop a totem where I want to resummon them and they last like 45 seconds on their own.
All my minions explode at 20% life for damage, and then leave a poisonous cloud behind. All of them have Minion Life/Damage out the wazoo.
Add on to that a AoE Fire Damage buff for them, a corpse generating ability that leaves a poisonous cloud, a corpse exploding ability that gives all my minions Chaos damage, Resists, Energy Shield....
And then my actual primary attack ability which, because I have a decent unique for it, Firestorm with Flammability Curse on it.
And if I choose to use Vaal Summon Skeletons....We're talking upwards of 60 minions on screen. (Granted half of those are temporary.)
....And people say PoE doesn't have a Necromancer analog
. My Witch is easily as fun and enjoyable as my D2 Necromancer. I have so many beefy pets that I die 95% of the time before any of my minions.
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I really like PoE. I have plenty of issues with it too but they're outweighed by the positives. The challenge is both a like and a dislike. It feels gratifying to overcome challenges in PoE (especially if your build is just average as compared to completely broken.) Having a build come together that you own and you're constantly optimizing feels really gratifying. Beyond the build there's so many layers and additions to gameplay that, even when I'm not raking in upgrades at the end game I always feel like I've gotten something for my time. Currency, mainly, especially for those hard to upgrade items. But also a steady stream of Unique items I've still not plumbed the depths of, any one the potential basis for a whole new character.
The game does straddle the edge of frustrating at times, and you have to burn your hand repeatedly on the stove to learn what is too risky to attempt. Some people find that a big turn off. As mentioned, your first character will probably find themselves pretty outclassed in the end game, and while it's quicker to level a second one than the first, you still have to play the fucking game x3 over again. (Not to mention do the Labyrinth and beat Izaro 4 times to fully unlock your Ascendancy, something half of PoE players seem to hate.)
I'd argue all that time is sort of well spent though, since you have to put a lot of time in to PoE to a) learn b) progress c) experiment d) amass enough currency to do what you want and e) gear up.
I've played the game completely solo so far and played with 99% self found gear. People make a lot of noise about PoE being about trading but I've largely ignored it. Not trading has slowed me down considerably, sure, but I don't have to spend time on sorting drops for sellability, checking prices, haggling, flipping, blah blah blah, and I've still had a good time. About the only thing not trading does other than restrict you to self-found upgrades is preclude high end gear crafting and gear customization. I don't know if that bleeding edge of optimal gear is required for the absolute end game or not, but I'm not too worried about it.
As for trading, this weekend I finally made a stash tab public so I can sell off some of the duplicate uniques I've amassed. I can't bring myself to vendor them, even though I look at what they go for in the standard league and it's practically what you can get from a vendor most of the time...
Not grouping also makes the grind to 100 truly, truly agonizingly slow. Also something I'm ok with it, because I play at a snail's pace anyways.
All that said, the real question for if someone will like PoE is: whether lag and losing experience are two things they can deal with. The lag is less of a problem than it was in the past (POE is not a game that's friendly to so-so internet connections IMO). Dying however, especially due to said lag, can be a real demotivater in the end game if your build struggles, because it takes a lot of time played to continue leveling up by that point and dying even once a night consistently can set you back a long ways. For some people that's too much to handle, on top of PoE's um.....zeal for difficulty. (I'm talking a game whose mechanics can freely create monsters that are nearly impossible to kill beyond a certain point. (Love those fucking Summoner + Soul Eater + Regen Rares ><) If you want a mountain to climb for free though, PoE offers it. A mountain covered in blood and spikes and eye-wateringly expensive cosmetic microtransactions.
The style of PoE is a lot like Titan Quest. Angling for realism and grit over flash and being stylized. It can come across as a little drab sometimes, and due to cosmetics being the game's only real cash cow other than stash tabs, your character ends up looking as fugly as the rest of the game unless you're willing to shell out. The story....it frames the world alright but I've never really been in love with it. It holds together ok but around Act III it goes off the rails IMO. I liked the game more when it was about being a scrappy exile trying to serve on this crazy island full of cannibals....before it goes into apocalyptic/demonic matters of import. Still, the game's got a vibe and an atmosphere to match how brutal gameplay can be.
It's a game I can safely come back to year in, year out and pick up where I left off and spend only what I want to. Sort of like Warframe, it's a great F2P solo game where you get out of it what you put into it.
(Just dinged 87 on my Ascendant tonight too! That only took two solid weekends
)