Have to say thanks to Marius for planting the seed in my head long ago in these forums to play it
Was going to wait until a full release, but thought i might as well jump into the open beta weekend, i am SO glad i did. Played co-op with the bf almost 12 hours, got kicked maybe 5 times due to server load/maintenance, but was usually able to go right back in. Ping from the Singapore servers so good, it's hardly noticeable.
The game plays like a full release already. It probably has LESS bugs than most PC full releases in it's Beta!
ARPGs have been my favorite co-op genre on PC for awhile. TQ, NWN2, Silverfall, Sacred, Dungeon Siege and Diablo3 - I've had fun with these games, but not like this. PoE is just so different, from the way the potions work, to the skill runes, the passive skill tree, the shop currency system - it just feels so fresh! The maps are beautiful, there are a ton of blue/yellow monsters, and most importantly - the loot drops are GREAT.
I gave decent money to Crate on Kickstarter for Grim Dawn, and the main thing that game will have over PoE so far is the offline play - but PoE is free!!! Not only free, but the micro-transactions will not affect gameplay in any way. Runic did a great thing making Torchlight 2 so cheap, cause there is definitely some competition in this genre now!
What Grinding Gear Games have done here is awesome, amazing and wonderful. Indy companies continue to show AAAs how it's done. Screenshots and videos do NOT do this game justice, if you are into this genre - you need to play this game













