While resting and trying to recover from this respiratory infection, Grinding Gear Games was kind enough to supply me with ample entertainment in the form of full Live Stream coverage of ExileCon 2023. But since I was still feeling beat up, and was also working bit by bit on my reactions to the Titan datasheets, I didn't record my general reactions to anything. So I'm definitely filing this one under "Not So Live Blog." But there's still no way I'm not covering the announcements from this weekend. You can still watch the VOD on the Path of Exile Twitch channel, and I'm sure they'll be posting everything to YouTube too.
PATH OF EXILE II
GGG wasted no time in getting to the main topic and attraction of the show. After hearing so little about PoE2 since it was revealed at the first ExileCon in 2019, and with the teasers that have been drip fed through the Summer gaming news hype cycle, Exiles like myself had waited long enough to see development on the game. And GGG did not disappoint! Not only did the PoE2 presentation go into the game in incredible detail, but there were many genuine surprises. I won't burry the lead here, and start with the big announcement about PoE2's development.
Path of Exile II Will Be A Standalone Game
The original reveal of PoE2 was as a content update, Version 4.0, to Path of Exile. But as much as I love GGG, they've always had a little bit of a problem with project creep. And it looks like PoE2 has deviated enough from the original game that it can no longer work as an update or expansion to the base game.
I'm also sure there was nothing that happened in gaming news since PoE2 started development that might have pushed them to make a more fully featured game.
Either way, I feel this is almost entirely a change for the better.
I love Path of Exile, but the game has recently been suffering under the weight of all the different features and systems that have been added since the game first entered Beta over 10 years ago. While GGG has pruned content now and then, all the various forms of creep that being a Live Service game has forced upon the title have resulted in a game that is not only far off GGG's original vision, but must be an absolute beast to make content for. With so many interlocking systems, making even small changes to the game can set off a cascade of issues.
And when they try to make large changes to the game . . .
But now GGG has a clean slate to work with. Not only can they try to bring Path of Exile back to their original vision, but they're no longer beholden to every system and piece of content they've created. Since the game still uses the same engine, they can still bring in anything they think fits the game they're building, but they no longer have the obligations a content update requires. This also means that they're free to experiment without having to worry about what will happen to the base game.
Now this does come with a few questions, and they were quick to answer them.
Path of Exile II is Not Replacing Path of Exile
Original PoE isn't going anywhere. GGG isn't going to force players to migrate from a game they love to a new game. Path of Exile will continue to be available and receive updates for the foreseeable future. Grinding Gear games has grown and separated into multiple teams with a team dedicated to Path of Exile and a team dedicated to PoE2. Chris Wilson is still the Director of Path of Exile, while Johnathon Rogers has moved over to Direct PoE2 alongside Mark Roberts. Path of Exile will also still be receiving regular content updates and Challenge Leagues.
Updates to PoE and PoE2 Will Be Staggered
Obviously, GGG doesn't want these two games to compete with each other. So each game will receive their content updates and Challenge Leagues at separate times.
League participation tends to fall off pretty steeply around a month or so after League start. So each game will be timed to have its new League begin roughly halfway through the other's. So Path of Exile will release a Challenge League, then around 6 weeks later, PoE2 will release one, and so on.
Obviously this is something to both be excited and worried about. Providing GGG can keep both teams going supported and going strong, that's basically twice as much Path of Exile. However, if income doesn't support the ongoing development of both games, one or both might suffer. The result might be smaller, less impactful content updates doled out every 6 weeks instead of every 3 months. While some might prefer this, there's also a real possibility of burnout for players too. If players are constantly consuming new content that doesn't have the same cycle of hype and impact as the quarterly releases, they might lose interest.
And, of course, there's also the issue of what happens if one game becomes vastly more profitable than the other. Gamers only have so much money to spend on products. If profits from supporter packs for PoE2 start to vastly outpace the original, it will push GGG towards sunsetting that game. Conversely, it's entirely possible that gamers don't like the direction of PoE2, and just stick to the first game. I'll be curious to see how GGG responds in either circumstance.
And speaking of purchases . . .
PoE and PoE2 Will Share A Client and Store
Despite what ever else might be going on in the gaming world, GGG hasn't changed. While their cosmetics are more expensive than many other games, they're still one and done purchases that always exist on your account. Every microtransaction you've purchased for Path of Exile will be available in PoE2. Character slots, stash tabs, and cosmetics will be available in both games immediately on launch.
Now there is a limit to this. Some skills in PoE2 won't exist in the original. So if you buy a cosmetic that changes the way your Werebear form looks, that cosmetic won't be available in Path of Exile. But any new cosmetic that affects a skill that's shared between them will be supported for both. All the character cosmetics, pets, hideout decorations, and so on will all work in both games.
So with all the macro details out of the way, let's dive into the nitty gritty!
PoE2 Will Have 12 Classes In Total
While PoE has always supported, and will continue to support, playing off class, each class in Path of Exile does have its own identity. As PoE2 developed, GGG apparently decided that many of the new character archetypes they wanted to include didn't fit those identities well. So they've added one new class for each starting point on the Passive Skill Tree.
For Strength we have the Warrior, Str/Int the Druid, Int the Sorceress, Int/Dex the Monk, Dex the Huntress, and Dex/Str the Mercenary. Each new class will come with their own Ascendancies to further help build into specific archetypes. GGG still hasn't revealed all the different archetypes they have planned, but the Monk and Druid obviously have clear identities. The Huntress build they showcased was a spear fighter, reminiscent of Diablo 2's Amazon. She definitely looks like she plays far differently from anything we've seen in PoE before. The Sorceress and Warrior were less defined, resembling an Elementalist and Slam Juggernaut respectively. Hopefully these new classes will allow for new, more fitting archetypes for the Witch and Marauder.
But you might have noticed a problem with the math there. 6 new classes added to 7 existing classes does not equal 12. Yes, unfortunately the one class GGG never seemed to get right, that's never had any kind of strong identity, will not be returning for PoE2. The Scion will be left behind with the memories of her Oriath. Multiclassing will instead be represented by improved ability to traverse the Passive Skill Tree.
Let's poor one out for everyone's favorite Spectral Throw mule.
Skills and Weapons Will Have Stronger Identities
In the original Path of Exile, there was always a bit of a hard limit to the number of strong skills you could have. Apart from Support mods on Uniques, you could have up to two 6-Linked skills. And doing so almost always came at the cost of having the option to gain the defensive properties of a shield or the attack speed of dual wielding. This meant that any attack skill needed to be pretty multipurpose. Players flock to skills that can be easily used to both clear enemies and melt bosses. Even for builds that use two 6-Links, those skills need to have a great deal of synergy together to make the investment worth while.
But as was revealed when PoE2 was announced, you will now be able to 6-Link every skill you have. While players immediately jumped to the logical conclusion that you could now obviously have a dedicated boss killer and a dedicated pack clearer, GGG has gone further. With all the skills players will have available, GGG can design a tool box for us to play with. Instead of just one clear skill you use on every pack, here's one that's great for slower moving packs you can easily kite. Here's one for more aggressive packs that will charge you right away. Here's a skill that makes a great panic button for when you're surrounded.
Fighting a boss? Here's a skill to debuff the boss in some way that will give you an advantage. Here's a skill that allows you to do steady, reliable damage while engaging with boss mechanics. And here's a skill that does massive damage to take advantage of long attack animations or getting a CC off.
And these skill identities will be determined by the skills themselves, not cooldowns. That big damage skill? There's no cooldown stopping you from using it, but the windup before it unleashes its damage leaves you vulnerable. That pack clearer? Nothing's stopping you from spamming it except for the cast time. That panic button? No stupidly long cooldown that means you're screwed if you get surrounded again. Instead it quickly CCs a pack without doing a lot of damage to let you get clear and change your tactics.
Additionally, GGG has taken a long hard look at weapons too. In the original game, many skills were limited to certain weapons, but that was basically it. While there were often ideal weapons to use with specific skills, those weapons were determined by a base mod and not the weapon itself. You used claws with Spectral Throw for the high attack speed and life gain on hit, Maces with Boneshatter for the better stun, and so on.
But now many skills are going to be directly tied to weapons. This not only helps clearly define what each weapon is for in PoE2, but it allows them to further define the identity of both skill and weapon. Maces and their skills are slow moving but hit hard and bowl through enemies. Spears carry a lot of forward speed and are great for picking out specific targets. A staff flows with the character's movements, dealing damage as it spins in their skilled hands.
All of this is also coming with further improvements to melee. Melee attacks now have built in movement with them, allowing for better target tracking and mobility. You maintain control during this movement too, allowing you to redirect your motion to change targets, dodge attacks, or dance through enemies.
And all of this movement and animation can be canceled by PoE2's newest feature.
Do A Barrel Roll!
Path of Exile has finally entered the modern age with a dedicated dodge mechanic. Bound to Space Bar by default, your character can roll at any time. This roll is not a fool proof dodge, and area affect abilities and big attacks will still hit you. But any attack or projectile that makes a hit calculation will automatically miss during the initial animation. Like many games, the roll comes with a brief burst of movement, then slows as the character recovers. The end result is that rolling can get you out of an attack area fast, but it won't give you any overall speed boost.
As I hinted above, the roll command interrupts all casting and attack animations. If you start a big wind up, then discover the boss isn't as vulnerable as you thought, you can easily cancel out of it with a single button. Are you spinning to win with your Marauder and see a big projectile coming your way? Just press space and you'll roll under it.
Note, this is still Path of Exile. That slow recovery means that you'll be vulnerable for a moment after the initial roll. And while the roll has built in pathfinding, it doesn't have any kind of phasing to get around larger obstacles or move through mobs (though some large enemies have blind spots you can roll through). The ability is meant to help you avoid big attacks and change position quickly. Careful planning, strategy, and skill are still how you win the day.
Weapon Swapping Has Been Completely Revamped
In Path of Exile, your off weapons are usually used to level gems. It's a rare build that actually makes use of actually swapping weapons. The Passive Skill system and modifier bonuses mean that having two different weapons for two different Skills just doesn't provide enough return on investment. Even when you might want to have one weapon for clearing and one weapon for bossing, it's often easier to just swap one or two Support Gems.
But with each character being able to have so many active Skills, it gives the developers a chance to try and make weapon swapping meaningful again. After all, if you can have both a 6-Link cold spell and a 6-Link lightning spell, wouldn't it be nice if you could have a staff for each spell? Since you no longer have to invest Fusings into the weapons themselves, that's one barrier down.
But what about the Passive Skill Tree?
In Path of Exile 2, Passive Skill Points awarded from books will be kept in their own pool. You can then assign these Skill Points in different ways for each of your weapon slots. When you swap weapons, the skill points will automatically change between each configuration. In the presentation, they showed 10 Passive Skills changing between a Cold cluster and a Lightning cluster on swap.
While that would potentially be enough to make swapping viable, they've also made swapping your weapons easier too. Just as using a Werebear Skill will automatically change you into a Werebear, you can assign your Skills to work with only one weapon or the other. So when you cast your lightning spells, your character will automatically switch to their lightning weapon and vice versa. More general purpose skills can be assigned to both weapons and won't cause your character to swap. There's a slight animation added, meaning it still pays to plan ahead and have the right weapon ready. But the gameplay overall looks pretty smooth.
Deterministic Skill Systems
When Path of Exile first entered open beta, GGG wanted having a properly crafted 6-Link to be a major accomplishment. But as players got better and better at the game, and the secrets of the crafting system became known, the mystique of the 6-Link faded. Getting a 6-Link is no longer an end goal, but simply another step in developing the power of your build. You can find guides all around the internet to help ease your through this process and make sure you have exactly the sockets you need to get the most out of your Skills.
But that doesn't stop the original systems from often being frustrating to deal with. Anytime you run out of Chromes or Fusings trying to get the setup you need on that awesome armour piece you just got, there's a grinding and gnashing of teeth. Now at least we don't have to worry about crafting our slots on our armour and weapons. But what about the gems themselves? If we're going to have around 9 skills we can 6-Link, does that mean 9 times the frustration? Will we be hoarding tens of thousands of Fusings to get all our gems where we want them, let alone all those Chromes?
To answer this, GGG has completely rebuilt the gem crafting system from the ground up, starting with the Skill Gems themselves. Instead of each individual Skill Gem dropping, you will now get Uncut Gems. Once you've picked up one of these, simply right click and a menu will pop up to let you choose the Skill Gem you want. These gems are affected by the zone you're in too. So the level of skill you can create from a given gem, the level that skill starts at, and possibly other attributes, will be affected by dropping from a higher level area.
Once you have your chosen Skill Gem, it will start with two sockets for Support Gems. To get another socket, you'll need to find the first tier Jeweler's Orb. Using this guarantees you a third socket. You will continue to find rarer and higher tier Jeweler's Orbs as you play, unlocking additional sockets, until you finally find or trade for the rare highest tier Jeweler's Orb. This will unlock your fifth socket and complete your 6-Link. The differing rarities of these items will mean all your Skills will improve organically at roughly the same rate.
Once you have a socket for a Support Gem, you'll be able to use Chromes to deterministically craft what color the socket will be. They didn't show off how this works or give us much in the way of details, but you won't be spamming Chromes trying to get the colors you want anymore.
We also didn't get much in the way of details for how you will obtain your Support Gems, and they were shown dropping from enemies as normal. We don't yet know if we'll have vendors we can go to for them, or if they'll be chase and trade items. But we do know a few things.
Skill Overhauls
Some of the changes to Support Gems and buffs were revealed at the various presentations. Let's finish up with Support Gems first.
In addition to any other cost, Support Gems now add their ability requirements to the supported Skill. This means it will be a little harder to play off class without investment, further pushing the individuality of each class while still allowing for exploration. Otherwise it still looks like most Support Gems work as they did previously, with the exception of gems that activate on triggers or that change the Skill type.
Trigger Gems are now part of the category of Meta Gems that were revealed in 2019. In addition to functioning alongside other Support Gems with the socketed Skill gem, you can still have multiple Skill Gems socketed in them. As before, these Skills will activate in sequence as the Trigger occurs. So if you have a Frost Nova followed by a Spark, the Frost Nova will activate the first time the Trigger occurs, then the Spark the second, then the Frost Nova the third and so on.
However, Triggers are no longer chance based. Instead, you build up a meter each time the Trigger occurs. The longer the cast time of the queued Skill, the larger the meter you'll need to build. When the meter is full, the Skill automatically activates and the meter resets. And just like everything in Path of Exile, you'll be able to build around this to get your Triggered skills off more frequently.
Totems have also been announced as Meta Gems. But now, your Totems can support multiple Skills. Just as with Trigger gems, your Totem will cycle through each of the Skill socketed to it in sequence. This has the potential to vastly open up Totem builds.
By contrast, Traps and Mines are now weapons you equip. When you have a Trap or Mine equipped in your main hand, they will automatically change how compatible Skills function. The two mechanics have also been mostly unified, effecting Skills in similar ways with only their trigger being different. Passive Skills and equipment will now affect both equally.
Meta Gems and other buffs will now also be part of a new Reservation system. Reserving Mana and Life is gone, you now have a separate stat called Spirit. You begin with 100 Spirit, which is just enough to reserve a single buff or Aura. But, as you'd expect, you can increase your Spirit through Passives and gear. Of particular note, Scepters have now become the dedicated equipment for improving your Spirit. You can also find rewards that permanently increase Spirit.
Spirit is used for buffs, Auras, Triggered Skills, and permanent Minions. Temporary Minions such as Summon Raging Spirit and Summon Skeletons do not use your Spirit, and permanent minion caps are gone. The size of your army is now determined by your ability to cast your Summoning Skills and your Spirit.
All That Glitters
This isn't your grandfather's Wraeclast. With The Beast slumbering and the old gods dead, various factions have begun to make their move to reclaim the lost treasures of The Cursed Continent. Gone are the days of struggling to survive alongside other Exiles. Now you have to try and find your place among these rival factions, and they have brought one of the most potent trappings of civilization with them.
Enemies in Path of Exile will now drop gold. Just like any RPG, this gold can be used to buy and sell items at the various vendors and merchants throughout the game. So far, gold is taking up space in the inventory and even stacks to 5,000 ala classic Diablo. This means you won't be able to pick up every piece of gold you find, though you do still grab it automatically when you walk over a pile.
GGG spoke a little to their philosophies and intentions here. First, the introduction of gold is part of the ongoing narrative, so it fits there. Second, this provides a generic reward that players can enjoy and use at vendors without needing to worry about stacking up Scrolls and the like in their stash. On this second note, GGG spoke on how their famous currency system railroaded them into littering the ground with items, most of which became quickly useless. They believe the inclusion of gold will allow them to make other drops more meaningful.
Initially, you'll be using this gold at new and improved vendors to fix gear issues. But in the end game, the primary gold sink will be a gambling system similar to Diablo 2. GGG does not intend for gold to become the base currency between players, and still expects that players will likely trade for more meaningful items like they currently do. Trading with gold was likened to trading with Scrolls of Wisdom.
Changes to Currency Items
As they have stated multiple times, GGG wants the primary means of finding items to be killing monsters. While crafting is an integral part of the game, GGG envisions a system where you farm monsters until you find a good item. You then use the classic PoE currency items to try and turn that good item into a great item.
Honestly, of all the things I wanted GGG to address more, it was proper plans to make drops actually feel rewarding and make picking up rares worth our time.
Either way, the one thing GGG doesn't want us doing is spamming crafting mats on our items in search of a good result. To help address this, they've changed the way key crafting items work in the game.
Orbs of Transmutation now always enchant a common item with only a single property. To get another property, you then use an Orb of Augmentation as normal. If you want a rare item, you can then use a Regal Orb to add a third property, or you can still start from a common item and use an Orb of Alchemy.
Don't like what you got? Too bad! Orbs of Alteration are gone! Orbs of Scouring are gone! You'll want to make that first property on the Transmute count, as well as each additional property each step of the way.
But you can still re-roll with a Chaos Orb, right? Nope! Chaos have been changed. Now, rather than re-roll the entire item, Chaos randomly change a single property. This means a Chaos can potentially make a good item great, but it won't redo a bad item.
They didn't talk about the other crafting systems in the game, though they did say they want systems like them to still exist. But they really want spamming to be dead.
They did touch on the crafting bench, though. At least for the moment, Path of Exile 2 does not have one. You'll need to use vendors to fix gaps in defenses.
This will almost certainly be the most controversial change that was announced. On the whole, players want more deterministic crafting systems. Even if they have to work for them, players want to feel like they're making progress towards that dream item.
And no! Farming Divines to trade for it doesn't count!
But spamming currency also isn't very fun, in my opinion. I don't enjoy burning through my Essence stash trying to get those three or four decent mods to go with that Life roll.
Hopefully they'll have more to say about crafting in the future.
Rushing May Be Dead
After playing through Path of Exile's campaign a few times, you eventually reach a feeling of "been there, done that." One of the most requested systems from the community has been a way to skip the Campaign. Even if GGG won't let us start at Mapping, players have begged for alternate means of leveling their characters such as the occasional "Endless" events that are hosted near the end of a League or before the holidays. But through it all, GGG has insisted that clearing the campaign is intended, and will always be intended as a part of each new League.
Now one excuse for this may be gone in the base game. During development of PoE2, GGG constantly said the new campaign would be better and will provide not only that alternate means of leveling, but an overall more engaging experience. Now that PoE2's campaign won't be running alongside the original, they won't be able to go to that to defend against players who want more leveling variety.
But until they change things, Exiles have gotten very good at clearing through that original campaign. Even if you're not a racer, you'll eventually learn countless tricks for speeding up your progress. But while those tricks will still work in original PoE, they look like they're gone in PoE2. First we'll start with some big reveals.
The Quicksilver Flask is gone. In fact, Utility Flasks as a whole have been overhauled, and are now more focused on removing status effects or providing extremely short buffs to a player. If you want to move faster, you'll need to get Movement Speed on your gear.
Similarly, Movement Skills have been revised, if they're making it into PoE2 at all. We only saw one classic Movement Skill, Leap Slam, in the various gameplay demonstrations. The skill is now truly an attack skill that targets enemies, with a windup and recovery period to boot. It looks like it's far too slow now to work for fixing movement, though it might still give you the ability to move over obstacles and up and down cliffs.
But even without Movement Skills and Quicksilver Flasks, you still usually move past most packs in PoE only targeting big ones or Magic and Rares.
Well that looks like it's dead too. Monsters in PoE2 are over all smarter, more persistent, and have better pathfinding. As you move past mobs, they begin to gather up into larger and larger threats to you. In the gameplay presentations, it wasn't long before the streamers selected to demo the game were overwhelmed. While there may still be enemies you can and want to avoid, the new gameplay really seems to encourage dealing with threatening packs as you encounter them and not trying to just bypass them.
All and all it looks like you'll need to engage with more of the campaign than you have to currently.
Boss Revamps
And speaking of engaging with the campaign, GGG wants boss fights to be much more fun and engaging as well. It genuinely looks like they've put a ton of effort into each of PoE2s boss fights. Each boss shown was unique and interesting with its own unique mechanics and systems.
Honestly, they all looked really sick!
Bossing is going to be one of the big areas where the new skill system shines, as taking advantage of various openings and setting up combos will be critical to success. And like most modern ARPGs, you'll need to learn each boss and their mechanics to succeed.
To help with this, Crowd Control on bosses has been completely overhauled. Instead of being a binary state that many bosses are just immune to, your CC now builds up on a boss as you fight, similar to stagger systems in other games. Once you've built up enough CC, the boss will be effected and become vulnerable to your attacks and combos. Once a boss has been CC'd, the difficulty of the next one temporarily increases, slowly decreasing back to normal as the fight goes on. These CC effects can be built around with Passive Skills and Gear to make them more powerful as normal.
And this is really good, because you can't cheese bosses anymore, dying and coming back to chip at their life until you win through attrition. Just as in most current ARPGs, dying or fleeing resets the boss fight. The only exception is Town Portals, but these have been changed as well.
Dropping a Town Portal during the campaign works as normal. The portal will open instantly and you can go back to town for whatever you need. But during boss encounters they work much differently. The first thing is that any Town Portal opened before a boss fight is closed when that boss enters the arena. The second is that during boss fights, Town Portal has a casting time. It's not very long, but it's just long enough you'll need to find a moment of safety during the fight to use it.
And depending on how you're doing, you might need to use it. Flasks have been changed as well. In addition to Utility Flasks only working reactively, your Life and Mana flasks seem to refill slower too. In fact, normal monsters don't refill your Life and Mana flasks at all. Only Magic, Rare, and Unique monsters give you Flask Charges now. Gone are the days of using adds to refill our Flasks! Instead, Boss adds are now a real threat and challenge we'll have to manage. So if your flasks run out, you'll need to find an opportunity to TP out and then go to a well and refill them.
These new, harder fights come with new rewards too. Bosses have higher rarity gear as you'd expect, with a boosted rarity the first time you kill one. Increased Rarity bonuses have also been changed to have more beneficial effects on the gear that drops. Additionally, bosses often have special items they drop the first time you kill them. Each zone will have its own Area Boss separate from the Campaign Bosses. Killing these bosses will get you an item that will permanently improves your character in some way, providing a potent bonus to exploring and finding every boss in the game.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I am the hype!
Overall, Path of Exile II looks absolutely sick! It looks like combat is going to be much more engaging, gearing will be much more enjoyable, and bosses are going to be a ton of fun! And, as a fan of theory crafting, the potential for new builds is nearly overwhelming! I can't wait to get my hands on it!
There were a few more changes I didn't get to, such as reworks to charges, caster weapons, and improvements to quest and campaign progression. There was this whole thing about how NPCs will react to your playstyle, potentially treating you as the stereotypical murder hobo, depending on how quickly you move through the game, that was really amusing. But I think I've gushed for long enough.
My largest concerns are for the health of the two games as they run in parallel to each other and for fixes to loot systems. I desperately want to return to a world where finding a Rare or Unique off a boss is satisfying again. Here's hoping they can get us there.
Still, GGG has given themselves plenty of time to get it right! RIP to all the predictions that this was going to drop before Christmas.
The Beta for Path of Exile II is scheduled to begin on June 7th, 2024.
I guess that's plenty of time to put more games to bed before PoE steals my soul again.
