News Tag: Path Of Exile 1

Last week was the long-awaited ExileCon 2023. While many of us were eager to hear all of the new details on Path of Exile 2 and the new Challenge League, GGG started the show off with a shocking announcement: 

Path of Exile 2 would no longer be an expansion to Path of Exile 1, and would now be a standalone game. Both games will receive updates and staggered challenge leagues, so players can play one or both games going forwards. 

This is a huge change, and the community has had very mixed reactions to it. Here, I want to talk a bit about why I think this is happening, what this means for POE going forwards, some concerns, and how I feel about it. 

GGG didn’t spend a lot of time explaining the reasons behind the change. Only that it became clear to them that POE 2 needed to be a separate game as they continued development. 

However, to me, the reasons seem very clear. Since the original announcement of POE 2, there’s been unease and discontent in the POE community. There was a feeling, partially due to developer statements, that POE 2 was going to have to slow the game down somewhat when it launched. That the insane screen-clearing speed of the modern Path of Exile was just too much to be the baseline of this new game, and that GGG would have to slow things down. 

There was also the feeling that GGG would need to slow things down gradually in POE 1 as we got closer and closer to the launch of POE 2, in order to ease players into it. 

Players who have been playing POE 1 for the last few years, or god forbid, visited the subreddit, will know the extreme outrage that happened when GGG did, in fact, try to slow the game down. Patches 3.15 and 3.19 were received extremely negatively by the community. 

To the point, GGG had to effectively roll back many of the changes they had made, publicly go in front of the community to explain where things had gone wrong, and even permanently withdraw from engaging with the community on the subreddit, in order to protect themselves from the extreme, disproportionate toxicity. 

It’s clear that part of why Path of Exile is so beloved is because of the extreme, absurd map-clearing speed you can achieve. And that large portions of the community will absolutely hate any attempts to curtail that. 

But that isn’t the sort of game the devs want to make. And, if we’re being honest, perhaps isn’t the sort of game the general gaming public wants to play, either. After all, one of the major goals of POE 2 is to bring in new players who previously didn’t enjoy POE. 

When looked at through that lens, the original plan to make POE 2 into an expansion for PoE is really the root cause of these problems. If GGG went with their original plan of having POE 2 effectively replace POE 1, they would run the risk of alienating their entire current player base of POE 1 players. But if they instead compromised on their vision for POE 2, they’d run the risk of having the game not be different enough to bring in new players, and stifle their ability to create an experience that was wildly different from PoE 1. 

Having them be two separate games solves these problems. They can keep the fast gameplay of POE 1, while also providing a slower, different, and more combat-focused experience in POE 2. So, what does this mean going forwards? 

It means we’re going to have two different flavors of Path of Exile. We’ll be getting twice as many challenge leagues per year as both POE 1 and POE 2 will be receiving their own, different, challenge leagues, and players will be able to play whichever seems more appealing to them or both.

This also means that they can have POE 2 diverge in some pretty wild ways from POE 1. They’ve already previewed that many currency items have been overhauled, and some have been removed, presumably with the goal of making currency more useful for actually crafting your own POE Items. Not to mention all the crazy new weapon-swap features, which will completely change how players create builds! 

However, there are a number of major concerns that remain mostly unaddressed. The biggest one is what the impact of split development resources will have on POE 1. Will it still continue to get major development support? Will the challenge leagues end up being small and lackluster? Will POE 1 development end suddenly after a few years? I think that as far as challenge leagues go, I’m not really concerned. 

There was a comment during ExileCon stating that for the last few years, the development team of POE 1 has been mostly just 8 people. If that’s true, it shows that they can still create some incredible leagues on a shoestring budget. And I’d expect support for POE 1 to continue indefinitely as long as there remains even a small, dedicated community. 

The bigger concern, I think, is the issues in POE 1 that we’ve been hearing POE 2 would fix for years now. Melee builds, large swathes of useless underpowered skills, balance issues with ascendancies and archetypes…... Will they just end up remaining bad forever now? Will we ever see major balance changes again? Or, will POE 1 just keep chugging along, with players feeling more and more pigeonholed into specific archetypes and skills? 

I think this is something GGG needs to directly address. It’s not just enough to know that they intend to continue updating and creating challenge leagues for POE 1. We need to hear that they’re committed to having it be its own game with its own distinct playstyle, and not just a glorified POE 1 classic server. 

Also Read: Path Of Exile 1 And Path Of Exile 2 Are Two Different Games! - Differences Between POE 1 & POE 2

However, my biggest concern is the economic impacts of splitting the player base across two games. POE relies on having players to trade with, and the trade system requires players to be online currently in order to trade. If you’ve ever tried to play a regular challenge league after something like a Flashback league has started, you know it can be nearly impossible to do any trades. Everyone has switched over to playing the new Flashback league, and the league feels basically over, whether or not you personally want to keep playing. 

Chris pitched the idea that POE 1 leagues may launch something like 4 weeks before a new POE 2 league, giving them about the lifespan of a Flashback event. 

If you want to be a dedicated POE 1 player, you may find that you can only realistically play the game within these short 4 week windows. Similarly, playing POE 2 late in the league after the POE 1 league has already launched may have similar issues. 

I think if GGG is going to go down this path, they need to seriously consider changing their stance on offline trading in POE. There needs to be some way of still getting the items you need, even when the majority of players have switched to playing the other game. Otherwise, both games will end up suffering. 

I know GGG is dead-set against anything with instant buyout, but if they implemented something that let you buy offline items and then you received them some amount of time later (even days later, perhaps), it would really fix this issue and allow players to buy previously listed items even after that player has moved onto the other game’s challenge league. And maybe even give these players a reason to switch back, once they’re bored with the new league, to a pile of POE Currency they can use to dive back in! 

Having said all of that, despite these concerns, I would say that I am feeling very positive about this decision. I think that had they continued down the path of having POE 2 be an expansion, it would have been disastrous. Either the game would have been too slow, or not different enough. Now, not only do we get to keep playing the game we know and love, but we get to play two different takes on Path of Exile. 

I’ve said before that I find the idea of Ruthless extremely exciting. I’ve been playing POE since Closed Beta, and I will play and enjoy other ARPGs that are a fair bit slower than POE. As much as I love the insane clear speed you can reach in POE, I also feel like I’d enjoy a much slower experience, with a bigger emphasis on combat and moment-to-moment gameplay. And I feel that POE 2 is going to be exactly that. And I get to have both! And I get to have twice as many challenge leagues per year! 

To me, this just means more Path of Exile, and I absolutely love it. I hope GGG can nail this and have two different versions of POE that appeal to both of these playstyles. I’m really excited to see what they have cooking for POE 2, and explore a game that’s going to be both new and familiar! 

Incrementally, I’m seeing tribalism mount between Path of Exile 1 versus Path of Exile 2 communities. Even though they’re the same game, plenty of fellow Exiles view Path of Exile 2 as something that’s going to demolish what many folks love about present-day Path of Exile.

I read posts and hear people claim that Path of Exile 2 will be a completely different game when compared to Path of Exile 1. Players say Grinding Gear Games will take the zoom away. They’ll decrease our power levels entirely. They’ll destroy the size of packs and the immense rate at which we can juice our endgame content. There are many negative statements similar to these.

Please understand, that’s not what’s going to happen with Path of Exile 2. Here, I want to use metaphors to help you better understand these two games. First, I’d like to compare Path of Exile 1’s endgame to a juicy apple. If I had to rate it, I’d give it a seven out of ten. As for Path of Exile 2, I like to compare it to an unripe and not juicy banana. Because Path of Exile 2 is in the development stage. Of course, it will eventually mature.

People on Reddit, the official POE forums, and anywhere else POE has discussed are comparing the Omega Juiced, Path of Exile 1 endgame (our delicious apple) to the trailers and teasers released of Path of Exile 2’s early game, probably between Acts 1 and Act 4 (our unripened banana). You cannot compare the two in the slightest.

Here’s the deal. If you’d like a better comparison, compare Path of Exile 1’s first through fourth acts to the videos they’ve released. That should be more in line with expectations. But even then, there is another layer.

The footage released by the developers is carefully curated to showcase the new shinies arriving in Path of Exile 2 as with most Path of Exile trailers. The POE 2 teasers are aimed at enrapturing as many new players as possible into the game while showcasing what they’re improving and adding in this mega expansion to present-day Exiles.

They want everyone to see that as good if not better than Diablo 4 graphics. They need people to see the amazing animations. They are trying to showcase the new weapons and skills. They’re focusing on the incredible new bosses and the awe-inspiring environments. Why?

Because that’s where Path of Exile needs the largest improvement. Other than that, the expansion is adding an absolute ton of content to the game: a new campaign, 19 new ascendancies, new weapons, new skills, new bosses, and tons of other jam-packed content we’re not even aware of yet. These things alone already require us to prepare a large amount of POE Currency in advance. Core Path of Exile is here to stay with minor alterations and tweaks, a reality that’s always been here living alongside us.

Early on, we might become a bit slower as Chris Wilson said at ExileCon 2019.

Also Read: New Skills Will Hit Path Of Exile 2 - Definite Info & Some Speculation

However, the iconic play styles and unparalleled challenging Pinnacle content is here to stay. Path of Exile is a niche game in a niche market. It’s not meant to appeal to an absolutely massive audience, like Diablo 4. Instead, it aims to gather those who are truly interested in a gaming experience like no other. Those who enjoy Path of Exile will enjoy it for a long time and keep coming back for more league after league. Those who bounce, it’s likely it just wasn’t meant to be.

This ARPG caters to a very specific audience. And while Path of Exile 2 might be trying to add a bunch of new players to the ranks of us totally sane Exiles, it won’t do so at the cost of what makes Path of Exile unique. If it does, I will eat my words and tremble before the totally unhinged Exiles who said I’d be wrong.

However, I’d reckon I’m on the right track, given the history of POE and GGG. Briefly, we can compare the most recent trailer from Grinding Gear Games that of Path of Exile 3.21’s Crucible League with some actual Crucible gameplay.

They’re quite different. The visual fidelity of the trailer focuses on highlighting the mechanic and the monsters. What’s new? What I’m actually doing in the game? It’s a live gameplay. There has always been a difference since Path of Exile’s inception. Poe 2 will be no different.

We’re going to find out sooner rather than later if the Path of Exile 1 vs Path of Exile 2 divide shall grow or shatter completely. ExileCon 2023 begins on July 28th at 6 o’clock PM (eastern time). On this day, GGG will also announce when POE 3.22 will be officially released. Regarding the release time of POE 3.22, GGG has already responded. They gave an estimated date of August 18 (PDT). But this time is not the exact time. So, let us wait for the arrival of ExileCon 2023 together.

One of the tremendous chunks of content Path of Exile 2 will usher in is a cutting edge 7-act campaign stated to be slightly shorter than and a massive improvement over the current POE 1 campaign. 

This additional path to teach and hook new players in POE while leading all Exiles to its fast endgame will enable players to access the set of 19 new ascendancy classes, a host of new gems and start their tale of dark dicey redemption on a remote azomite island off the shores of Wraeclast.

POE 2’s campaign is being built from the ground up as an infinitely repeatable experience for veterans and newbies alike. But how? 

We learned most of this information during the initial reveal of POE 2 in November 2019 at ExcileCon and a nice slice more during the POE 2 Act 2 showcase in April 2021. Since then, nothing, though more will come at ExileCon 2023 at the end of July. 

We’re building up to it if you are new to Path of Exile or would like a quick recap of the Path of Exile 1 campaign versus what we know about the upcoming Path of Exile 2 campaign. This is the place for you.

The POE 1 Campaign Isn’t Disappearing 

The Path of Exile 1 campaign is not going anywhere. It’s not disappearing. It’s not being locked away. 

Instead, both Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2’s campaigns will be available concurrently and should lead to the same endgame. Presently, this endgame would involve fragments of the Shaper and Elder, buzzed encounters with the Conquerors of the Atlas and Sirus, the Maven’s playful mind, memory and gambit Games, the Siege of the Atlas by the Eater of Worlds and Searing Exarch and everything else accessible by the current Atlas passive skill tree and map system like Synthesis, Betrayal, Bestiary and Incursion.

When POE 2 releases, the next endgame edition or revamp will probably be mere months around the corner. Surely, the atlas shall experience some form of catastrophe then caused by the cleansing fire, the Tangle, Chaos itself, or let’s hope not more gods. Whatever that disaster will be, it’s not too long off.

The Path Of POE 2’s Campaign Length 

POE 2 campaign will be shorter than POE 1’s 10-act campaign. Confirmed by GGG at ExcileCon 2019, they know the current campaign is a bit too long and are actively addressing it with Path of Exile 2. 

The goal with this is to quicken the road to POE’s endgame while also improving the pace of the campaign for players new and old. It will still be linear in the sense of progressing from Act 1 to 2 to 3 and so on. 

But with its tightening, Grinding Gear Game seeks to spell bind new players in the POE experience and recapture past and present players with a highly variable high quality new campaign. Plus, any qualms you might have with other titles aren’t part of POE. Cinematics are near non-existent. All conversations can be skipped and there’s no backtracking. You’re always moving to the next battle and story step.

Of course, this means folks who desire the optimal trail to endgame will probably always run the POE 2 campaign even though this is GGG’s overall goal. Those who arrive post Path of Exile 2 or are interested in a severe dose of nostalgia can always swap back to the POE 1 campaign, wash up near Lioneye’s Watch, overcome the trials of Dominus and final act boss Kitava in Oriath.

You’ll Need To Play POE 2’s Campaign For New Ascendancies

The 19 new ascendancy classes introduced in Path of Exile 2 will only be available by running through the new 7-act campaign at least initially. 

The Lord’s Labyrinth will not be how characters ascend. Instead, a brand new system like the Lab or the Forbidden Sanctum will arrive. As it currently stands, once an account completes the new campaign at least once, all future characters can ascend to POE 2 ascendancies even if they choose to play through the first campaign. 

This is also true for the POE 1 ascendancies. Once an account completes the POE 1 campaign at least once as many existing accounts will have already done by the time POE 2 releases, that account will be able to ascend into any POE 1 ascendancy even if they play the second campaign to reach endgame. 

How this will work with the Trials of Ascendancy and Offerings to the Goddess in the Atlas and Maps is currently unknown.

Why This POE Campaign Is So Replayable? 

Campaign promises extreme replayability and randomization in every aspect, from map and monster design to quest and item drops. No two playthroughs should be too similar.

GGG will achieve this through two facets: consistent forward movement and unpredictable but memorable area randomization. Unlike campaigns and other unnamed ARPG titles, you are always moving forward in Path of Exiles campaigns. Yes, you may get a quest and reward, such as POE Currency, from an NPC in town. But you need not return get a new quest, then run back to an area, then return, then get a new quest, then run back and add infant item. It’s shockingly simple but absent from Diablo 4 that recently released.

Plus, both areas and the world itself will always be different in the campaign, whether it’s the placement of the area itself, something new in POE 2’s campaign. And the actual layout of a map to the contents in the area from league mechanics, monster packs, and exciting random loot and campaign in Path of Exile will remain bizarre and randomly generated, but understandable and predictable to Veterans of the game. Many players may disagree.

But with a campaign like this or even in Path of Exile 1, there’s no need for an Adventure Mode. In a game like Diablo 4, it’s 100% needed.

Way Better Bosses In POE 2 

From Path of Exile 1 to Path of Exile 2, Grinding Gear Games has learned a ton about boss design. In POE 2’s campaign, every area will have at least a mini boss fight with every battle boasting, meaningful combat, and aesthetically pleasing effects. 

Additionally, it’s likely many of these awesome bosses will become fights in POE’s endgame once POE 2 hits, as many area bosses and mini bosses are presently map bosses. If not, the majority of these map bosses are not compelling fights, it is a good chunk. If changed or updated to POE 2 bosses, this will immediately change. 

The Grittier Story In POE 2 

Finally, we know the story of Path of Exile 2’s campaign will be wildly different from the tale of Exile in the first campaign.

In POE 1, our Exiles Adventure begins as we wash up on the shores of Wraeclast and Exile of Oriath, we trudge across the land and eventually defeat our oppressor Dominus before downing the original master Thaumaturge and slaying Gods like Tukohama, Solaris, Lunaris and Kitava. It’s quite the soaring of power level narratively.

Opposite POE 1 and POE 2, we start the campaign as criminals sentenced to hang at the neck until dead. Luckily, the rope breaks, our character escapes and leaps into a whitewater river and washes up on its shoreline. 

The story from there shall remain shrouded in mystery. But Grinding Gear Games would like to lower the narrative power level and keep the story relatively grounded. There will be more hack and slash and low fantasy for the campaign and less God slaying. 

The Fight Against Adventure Mode In POE 

Numerous Exiles seek an adventure mode of some sort to level past the campaign without needing to do the campaign essentially. 

This would be a system that allowed characters to path from level 1 to around level 65 without touching a single campaign quest along the way. There have been a myriad of suggestions for this:

Allow characters to endlessly Delve, let them go to the Rogue Harbor and Heist to endgame, rid of the barrier between the tutorial and endgame entirely and give characters a way to do maps beginning at level 1. Bring back an endless ledge and let us annihilate hordes of goat men for hours until we hit a reasonable endgame level.

I disagree on all fronts, and I am on the side of the developers with this one. Adventure Mode is unnecessary with a campaign like Path of Exile’s. Adventure mode or something like it is obsolete and there’s no way it’s coming with POE 2 or beyond. Adventure Mode is necessary if the campaign is a tremendous slog bogged down with unskippable dialogue, constant back and forth between NPCs with arduous fetch and protect quests when it lacks overall constant action and improvement and it boasts no real choosable rewards.

Additionally, muddying the content at endgame versus the content necessary when a character first starts lessens the sense of progression players feel. Moving from Act 1 to 2 and so on and so forth all the way to Maps, especially at the start of a league, is a great feeling that won’t be captured with something like Endless Delve or mapping from first level. 

Path of Exile even with its first campaign and from what we’ve seen with its second campaign achieves highly in each of these spheres, Diablo 3 and now Diablo 4 do not and therefore need something akin to an Adventure Mode.

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Mere moments ago, we received the first glimpse of Path of Exile 2 since April 2021. Using as few words as possible, it was pristine.

What We Just Saw About POE 2?

The graphics looked wondrous from the jungle environments of the marauder’s homeland and moonlit lighting to elemental skill effects and bleeding monster design. The animations were fluid, unnaturally so even.

The way the monsters reacted to spell blasts from the Witch was unnerving and amazing to see. The witch’s new voice, the showcased new skills, the potential of a dodge roll in POE, the bloody hauntingly awesome music and the best reveal of a logo I’ve ever seen......

Everything meshed together to form a perfect sneak peek at Path of Exile 2 before the huge rundown of the Path of Exile expansion at ExileCon 2023.

What POE 2 Really Is?

Yes, you heard me correctly.

Path of Exile showcased that the Summer Game Fest likely introduced it to a host of new players, especially with many catching on to the buzz around Diablo 4 in recent weeks. If that’s you, let me catch you up on what Path of Exile 2 is to any Path of Exile player present or in the future.

Path of Exile is an action role-playing game. You kill monsters, finally level up and keep progressing your character across multiple systems, one of which is a massive Skill Tree.

To begin, you run through a campaign in Path of Exile 1. That campaign has 10 Acts and acts as a tutorial. Once you reach the end, you hit the endgame, which in truth is just the start of Path of Exile. The endgame of POE is a behemoth. There’s no tiring of it and no lack of content. The developers of POE, Grinding Gear Games have been expanding on it since POE’s official launch in October 2013.

With the release of a game so large, it could have been a true sequel, a completely different title and all of that could have been washed away. But they decided against it. Instead, even though Path of Exile 2 is being branded as a sequel to Path of Exile 1, it is an enormous expansion to the game. It’s overhauling the graphics, bringing them to a 2023 standard, updating the skill system to make it better for players new and old and adding a new 7-act campaign that can be played alongside the existing connect campaign.

Both campaigns should meet at the same endgame. But the Path of Exile 2 campaign is going to be the modern sleek type of design showcased in the incredible trailer. Plus, all the POE Items, characters, and other things collected in Path of Exile 1 will of course be present in Path of Exile 2. They are the same game. The path that developers are taking saves all the hard work they put into POE 1 and hopefully brings in as many new players as a sequel should with Path of Exile 2.

Also Read: Why GGG Is Silent On Path Of Exile 2?

Why You Should Jump In Path of Exile?

Path of Exile is more complicated than Diablo 4 most definitely. But it has a passionate community of helpful Exiles and incredible development team behind it and more than enough content to sink your teeth into for the next decade.

With the release of Path of Exile 2, this truth will only strengthen. Join me on the road to Path of Exile 2. I’m so excited about ExileCon and what lies beyond. And I hope you are, too.

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