Path Of Exile Beta Stress-Test Opens To The Public This Weekend

Lots of disgruntled Diablo III players, ARPG fans, ex-Blizzard fanboys and gamers generally looking for a fun, dynamic, free-to-play game will be pleased to know that Grinding Gear Games will be opening up Path of Exile to any and everyone this weekend, so be sure to grab a spot to (stress) test the game out starting this Friday (July 27th) and running up until July 29th.

The super-awesome news is that as of the publishing of this article the beta sign-ups have officially opened. Yes, that means you can skedaddle on over to the Path of Exile website and sign-up to try your hand at the game this weekend.

Now you're probably questioning what makes Path of Exile any different from the 1001 other free-to-play titles out there? Well, first off the game plays out pretty much identically to Diablo II and next up it has a skill tree to dwarf all skill trees in the existence of RPGs. I kid you not, the skill tree in Path of Exile is large and complex enough to make genealogists blush in both amazement and bewilderment and then probably faint from the massive size of the branching skills. The skill trees have skill trees in Path of Exile, that's just how big the whole thing is.

Grinding Gear has worked on making the skill tree slightly easier to navigate for casual gamers and newcomers, but I'm hoping the final iteration will still maintain the complexity and scope that made everyone say “WTF?” after catching a glimpse of it for the first time.

Gameplay-wise, Path of Exile is a standard hack-and-slash. You can assign certain skills and quick-functions to hotkeys. Skills can also be unleashed with the right mouse button and did I mention that the class-builds completely rock? Don't believe me? Check out this custom build here.

You know what the best part about that video is? You can replicate builds like that or better yet, come up with your very own starting this weekend.

With Path of Exile nearing release soon enough, Grim Dawn on the horizon, Van Helsing set to follow thereafter and Lineage Eternal arriving sometime near 2014, ARPG fans will have plenty to tide them over until Blizzard decides to make Diablo IV 2024.

You can sign up for Path of Exile's public stress-test right now by paying a visit to the game's Official Website.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.