Ex-Marathon Dev Drops 3,437 Hours Into Path of Exile

Ever wonder what a game director does with their free time? For Joe Ziegler, the answer is apparently grinding Path of Exile for thousands of hours.

Ziegler, best known for leading Riot's Valorant and later Bungie's Marathon, has logged a staggering 3,437 hours in Grinding Gear Games' free-to-play ARPG. And the reason? The buildcrafting depth. "ARPGs to me are [about the] buildcrafting and the cleverness of putting things together," he told PC Gamer. "And I think Path of Exile is the most freeform version of that."

That freedom is exactly what keeps him coming back. "The level of experimentation you can get in that game is so wide in terms of thinking about how you can make builds," he said. Ziegler mixes it up with a variety of builds—he's fond of Totem builds, and when he's feeling lazy, he gravitates toward one-button Whirlwind setups. "That's the fun part of Path of Exile, to be honest, is that it's just such a Rube Goldberg machine of effects and things that you can make," he added, "and you're just trying to figure out how to deal the most damage and kill things the fastest."

Even with Path of Exile 2 in Early Access and earning glowing reviews, Ziegler can't move past the original. "I think I've changed my expectation around ARPGs because of Path of Exile," he said. "It's funny because I've played Path of Exile 2, and it's a little bit more limiting, and it totally makes sense because it's built around more of an action environment. But I definitely feel like Path of Exile 1 was more meant for me."

Of course, not everyone vibes with that level of complexity. Our own writer admits to being a lifelong Diablo nerd who keeps bouncing off Path of Exile—sometimes nostalgia for Diablo 2's simpler comforts wins out. But that's the beauty of ARPGs: there's a flavor for every player. Some want a Rube Goldberg machine of effects; others want to turn off their brain and listen to a podcast.

For Ziegler, though, the original Path of Exile remains the gold standard for freeform build experimentation. And with thousands of hours logged, it's hard to argue with the results.

What do you think—is Path of Exile the most freeform ARPG out there, or does another game take the crown? Will you be diving back in for more buildcrafting?