When comparing The Elder Scrolls Online vs Path of Exile, the Slant community recommends Path of Exile for most people. In the question“What are the best RPG games on Steam?” Path of Exile is ranked 11th while The Elder Scrolls Online is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose Path of Exile is:
There's a staggering amount of builds and skills you can try out in Path of Exile. There are 7 classes, 19 subclasses, 194 active skill gems, 107 support gems, and over 1000 skill nodes on the expansive skill tree. As a result, there are hundreds of possible combinations, allowing you to spend hours theory-crafting just to create the perfect build. Even if you don't feel like planning out a build from scratch, you can just look up one of the many guides online and get straight into the action.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Built on twenty years of game lore
Elder Scrolls games have always placed the world's unabashedly bizarre mythology in the forefront, and ESO is no exception. Between quest storylines, hundreds of in-game books, passing NPC dialog, and the landscape itself, ESO presents a world that feels bigger than the player and can be incredibly immersive.
Pro Immersive first person play
While the game can be played in third person (which may work better in PvP), there is an option to play in first person view which keeps in tradition of the view found in other Elder Scroll titles. This gives this MMO the feeling of playing Skyrim or Oblivion, which should appeal to those who are fans or familiar. It is also a unique way to play an MMO, which could appeal to those tired of traditional third person view MMOs.
Pro High immersion as minimalist HUD brings focus to action and the world
Minimalist HUD-approach brings focus to action and the world for immersion rather than focus on hotkeys, cooldowns, and other immersion-breaking intrusions
Pro Good single player TES game
With an MMO-ish progression. Also, has great voice acting.
Pro Excellent controller support
Not only is controller support provided, but a combination of elements of the games design (minimal UI, enforced focus on favorite/preferred actions, and a clear vision to design console support in early on) means play with a controller is a great, comfortable experience.
Pro Unrestrictive class system
ESO's character system is based on skill lines; each class provides three. There are dozens of other skill lines, including all weapons and armor, which are open to all characters. Resource stats (Health, Stamina, Magicka) aren't tied to class either. This means any character can use any gear and be built to fill any role.
Pro High build variety keeps PvP interesting
Though "flavors of the month" will arise in any competitive game, ESO's versatile characters and MOBA-like limitation on simultaneous skill availability greatly reward creative builds and counter-building.
Pro Limited skill bar encourages build variety
There are only six skill slots (five regular and one "ultimate") available at any one time. A character can swap between two equipped weapon sets, making at most 12 total skills available in combat. With well over 100 skills to choose from, finding two characters with exactly the same build is the exception, not the rule.
Pro Hundreds of possible character builds
There's a staggering amount of builds and skills you can try out in Path of Exile. There are 7 classes, 19 subclasses, 194 active skill gems, 107 support gems, and over 1000 skill nodes on the expansive skill tree. As a result, there are hundreds of possible combinations, allowing you to spend hours theory-crafting just to create the perfect build. Even if you don't feel like planning out a build from scratch, you can just look up one of the many guides online and get straight into the action.
Pro Completely free without pay to win mechanics
You can just download and install the game without any purchases. On top of that, there are no pay-to-win mechanics and the only things locked behind paywalls are cosmetic effects, pets, and additional storage space. You can easily play the game for hundreds of hours without spending a dime.
Pro Regularly updated
Every 4 months or so, Path of Exile has major updates, adding new interesting mechanics, skills, items, and various other content. As a result, every time you come back to Path of Exile after taking a break, it feels like a new game.
Pro Great setting
Path of Exile is set in a dark fantasy world where everything is gradually becoming worse. At the foreground, you have the massive continent of Wraeclast that once was the home to a flourishing empire, but now is a place filled with the undead, evil spirits, ruins, and echoes of the past. To make matters worse, malicious entities from another dimension seek to corrupt the world and its inhabitants, giving birth to disfigured monstrosities that seek to end you. The end result is an immersive setting with dark motifs, body horror, loads of gore, and a very tense atmosphere, which is refreshing in an era dominated by family friendly content.
Pro Feels exhilarating to play
While the gameplay might feel a little slow and clunky in the beginning, it gradually picks up speed as you progress, allowing you to swiftly destroy large groups of monsters with any skills you choose. Whether you're shooting ice arrows with your bow, freezing and shattering every enemy on-screen, or if you're cleaving enemies with a massive axe, causing them to bleed and explode on death, it just feels incredibly satisfying.
Pro Greet Developer
Grinding Gear Games provide a lot of communication and community interaction
Cons
Con Anti-experimentation for new players
The game heavily punishes any experimentation for new players. Unless you have near perfect understanding of late game and the various viable build-options you are more or less unable to experiment your way into viable builds (and the options for correcting mistakes are limited at best). So, unless you are fine with having to scrap a bunch of characters for being sub-optimal, you are more or less forced into following player-made guides to learn the game rather than through engaging with the game itself. This may or may not be a problem for you.
Con Very high learning curve
There's quite a lot to learn when starting to play Path of Exile. There are the mechanics, the crafting system, and the skill gem system. However, the most intimidating factor is the massive skill tree with over 1000 skill nodes, 6 classes and 19 subclasses, allowing you to create hundreds of unique builds. Unfortunately, creating a functional build is really difficult, taking hours of theorycrafting, so it might be better to stick to guides as you're starting out, unless you're fine with possibly messing up.
Con Endgame can get really repetitive
It takes an exceptionally long time to get any wealth, useful items, or access to endgame bosses in this game. You endlessly farm the same maps, hoping you'll get lucky with a few good items, but that usually won't be the case, which can be really discouraging to keep playing. This is made worse by the fact that your character progression comes to a grinding halt near the upper 80s of character levels, requiring you to buy insanely expensive items to feel any progression at all. If you don't like grinding, you'll get quickly bored of Path of Exile.
Con Clunky trading system
The western PC version of Path of Exile currently requires using an external site to find deals or sifting through scam attempts in the trade chat. After you find an item you want to buy, you need to message the seller, and if they respond, enter the same area as them to make a direct trade. There is no auction house, no mail, no automated trading posts, and to sell stuff you have to buy a premium stash tab via a microtransaction.
Con One shot fest
This game has an extreme learning curve, meaning you'll invest 100 hours of just reading on the internet before understanding the basic game, plus the endgame is a one dimensional "spam all flasks and one shot everything or get one shot" style of gameplay.
Con Unrewarding
You fight 40 minutes with "uber uber boss" and he drops white items that can be found anywhere in barrels most of the time
whats worse, you have to "farm" "fragments" to start that boss battle, that will take a while too, if you decide to buy the fragments, you will drop nothing and you will lose a lot of currency.
Con Some aspects of the graphics look dated
While the graphics have received updates over time, a lot of the visuals still lack polish you'd see in most AAA games. Some textures are fairly low res, certain character models look weird when they have armor on, and the animations feel somewhat stiff and clunky. You probably won't notice this during active gameplay, but when you stop for a moment to look around it becomes painfully obvious.