Having uniques/affixes dropping almost universally from specific sources instead of everything dropping from everywhere (like GD). And sure, there could be overlap, like being able to farm bosses X,Y, and Z to get some legendary.
And, yes, to some small extent we see this with MI Rares, Epics, and Legendaries, but the vast majority of everything is just thrown into a melting pot of a random loot system.
Hmm, yeah that makes sense. Thanks
Like: Hangman Jarvis, he’s a swood guy
Dislike: The complete lack of Secret Passage Toxeus the Murderer. It’s a crime this character is not in the game yet since he’s the best written character in fiction.
I haven’t played D3 so the only comment I can make about why I favor Grim Dawn is that it’s not a Blizzard product (which means I’ll actually consider playing it).
Path of Exile, on the other hand, I’ve played a bit. Things I prefer in GD vs PoE:
(in case it’s not clear, I’m not a fan of GGG at this point, lol. I wish them all the success they can manage, but they’ll certainly have to attain it without my help)
We got Loxmere though, Toxeus’s little brother.
I am probably the only one who is missing the reference here
Can he put up a reflecting aura that makes you kill yourself? I thought not. Loxmere is a pleb compared to Toxeus the Murderer.
No reference, just a dumb joke. Toxeus the Murderer is an huge asshole enemy (see above for why) that appears in the secret area of the developers in Titan Quest. Imagine Fabius but even faster and with a reflecting aura. Funny thing is that he’s a powered up version of the regular Toxeus the Murderer regular hero from the main game.
I don’t remember him having reflect. Guess he did. I assume I usually died prior to reflecting myself. 
The big thing with Toxeus was that all of his attacks did a minimum of 15% of your HP (if not outright killing you), and that he had insane stunlock potential and energy burn.
Hmm, an undead enemy that doesn’t suck ass?
Color me impressed and judging by your comment I presume the expansion doesn’t provide you with such challenge either
Pretty sure he has the reflecting aura of the Rogue mastery. I know this because i take reflecting damage the second i attack him with that aura and he hasn’t even began attacking yet. I oneshotted myself several times with Rogue Lethal Strike and he was just finishing attacking before i used that skill.
Not in the same level of assholery, but there’s definitely challenging enemies in the expansion. Can’t spoil them of course.
What i like in gd:
The class combinations (this is what makes the game great again, and in my eyes better than the competitors)
The setting (the victorian style is great)
The gameflow
What i like in poe:
The coherent skill descriptions. The best written descriptions combined with keywords. Plain awesome.
Ten acts instead of three playthroughs
Movement skills
What i like in d3:
Got rid of the act system 
Where GD beats the rest:
Character building is both complex and accessible. Not every build is top tier but every build (maybe 99% of builds) is at least viable enough to beat ultimate.
OFFLINE PLAY.
Hand crafted maps. Random maps should be relegated to end game mapping systems. The rest of the game having random maps means having boring maps.
Mods. Not there just yet, but in such a short amount of time since the tools came out, there are already really great mods like Cornucopia, Nydiamar, Grim Quest etc.
Leveling is fun. Maybe the most fun part of the game. Certainly more fun than any other arpg.
The world and lore are pretty darn great (more lore notes is one the most exciting things in the xpac for me).
The emphasis on making new characters. Leveling is fast. You get gear for more characters. Make more characters. I have 10 level 85 characters and 6 characters at level 80-84. Still looking forward to making more.
Where GD falls short of the rest:
Polish. While I kind of hate looking at D3, it is undeniably one shiny turd. Animations are smooth, frate rate is good, effects are flashy. GD is a little clunky.
Somewhat uninteresting end game. PoE’s end game mapping is pretty sweet.
Pros:
1-Legendary items: A lot of legendaries that makes you chose betweens a lot of builds without being forced (with a certain limit) to pick that and that and if you do not, you are really really outclassed (like diablo 3). Furthermore, the design of those items is very very good.
2- Dual class combination: You have the oportunity to choose 2 classes to makes one wich is very good because you can alternate between two big main path of buils, specially with the incoming expension with the attribute reset (omg). By doin so, you can switch betweens a tank or a mage for example, very good option.
3- Unique Story line: I feel like the story line is more unique versus Diablo or Path for example. There’s a lot of side lore and hide lore and stuff. Good thing.
4- The graphics (visually) are very very good. Legit, modern games do not compete with this visual, even if it’s an old engine it stills very good.
Average elements:
1- The crucible, it’s a good dlc and a good idea, but the rewards that it gives is too much. You can basicly put your character at max level with max items and max devotions points very fast. Wich destroy a bit the pros that are up. There’s a lot of people that don’t agree with me for this but actually it is what it is. They told me that if the crucible gives this effect it’s your job to not play it and to let people that want to farm it farm it actually and it will be their problems. But, the crucible is part of the real game and you have to put it in the pack. You cannot exclude an item that is part of the game like that. It ruined the game for me. But I know that it was not the idea.
2- End game content. There’s a good amouth of end game contents but the problem is that you can easely pass throught it. Because of the number one here.
Cons:
1- Leveling is too fast. You can reach the peak of the levels too easely without playing a lot. In the main campain and specially with the crucible (and yes, another time the crucible)
2-Hacking tools and stuff. Sadly the game saves and files is open to anyone, so it lets people do a lot of things that break the game. Bassicly the main goal of an hack and slash is to compete with other people in terms of power and items and levels. But no, you can’t with this. And yes there will be people that is like, dude, play the game for yourself, ignore those cheaters. You can for a while, but not for long. You need competition at some point or at least comparison. Grim dawn is not a solo game, it’s a multiplayer game.
3- Low budget game. I know that the team is very engaged in the game. But the game still a low budget. It used an old engine, so it is laggy on a lot of pcs when theres a lot of ennemies. Cinematics are really well made for what they have, but it still bad in terms of visual. But yes, I know why and it is totally fine. But it still what it is.
I’ve moved the SP vs MP debate to its own thread…
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56373
Let’s let this one get back on track.
To back track this thread a few pages, to clarify, Rogue mastery doesn’t have a reflection aura. Dream does. And that’s not where Tox gets his reflection from, but rather he has a passive (yes, passive, you cannot dispel it) that reflects 100% dmg 33% of the time. In addition he has all the hardest hitting skills of dream and rogue, Distortion wave, distort reality, lethal strike, envenom weapon, etc.
As for SP Tox being harder than the normal Toxeus… hard to say. They both have the stupid reflection, only difference is non-SP toxeus has other skills instead of a ton of dream passives and couple dream skills. Toxeus could shield charge you from off screen, apply a stun+5 second disruption, and chain that into a PBAOE with multiple projectiles which he can shotgun you with…
Not to mention, except your first visit, you KNOW SP toxeus is there. The other toxeus will rarely show up in a crypt or some tomb in act 1 or 2 (not sure if he can show up in 3), but when he does he will charge several rooms over to kill you, and if you aren’t prepared, he will mop the floor with you and you won’t even have time to react. Has happened to me a few times where he pretty much just one shots you.
So basically a juiced up Iron Maiden (minus the killer aura)?
I have no clue why i said it was Rogue when it’s Dream that has those three auras.
And it’s a passive skill? That’s even more evil. Thankfully he doesn’t have much hp.
Game is great, no doubt about it. It gave me that munchkin high that I was able to get from Diablo 2: LoD no matter how many years later I launched it. It’s almost irrational, but you just love that feeling of getting a new level and unlocking new skill when you start playing it, or new shiny item that is around the corner. After finishing the game for the first time and decking out your first character you start another Grim Dawn game, which is different but equally fun. You start finding new builds that suit your needs (at this point is taking old ones and tweaking them but still) and completing them. Thanks to the amount of masteries and loot system there are dozens of builds to explore.
Now, what’s bad:
Plus:
That the focus is on single-player
That there are no (mandatory) closed servers
The class system
Build diversity
The realistic graphics (as opposed to D3s awful comic graphics)
Con:
old engine limitations