Action RPG fans have been able to sink their teeth into Grinding Gear Game’s Path of Exile for many years now, but the game’s actual scope has just blown up massively. At the annual ExileCon conference we received 4 major announcements: Path of Exile will receive an expansion, a new challenge league, a mobile port and a full sequel.
Metamorph League
The latest league added to Path of Exile will introduce us to a fellow named Tane. This is a loot-based spin on the familiar Nemesis boss system, where you build your own encounters:
In each area you play in the Metamorph League, Tane will collect samples from selected monsters you have killed. Summon Tane to combine your choice of samples to create a formidable Metamorphic foe to defeat. Each sample contributes abilities to this boss, who wildly morphs from form to form during the encounter. With careful selection of samples, you control which abilities the boss has and what rewards it yields.
New Expansion: Conquerors of the Atlas
The Metamorph League is part of the larger Conquerors of the Atlas expansion, which follows up the previous expansion with an overhaul of Bow weaponry and ranged skills. Oh, and more loot if you had not guessed.
You definitely have a phone
This announcement is no small challenge to the upcoming Diablo Immortal. Path of Exile Mobile’s description is well aware of its context:
We’re working on an experimental version of Path of Exile for mobile devices. Path of Exile’s Atlas Map system is actually perfect for bite-sized action gameplay. This is a complete Path of Exile game experience with no pay-to-win elements and is being developed in-house at Grinding Gear Games.
Path of Exile 2
Path of Exile is getting a full sequel campaign. GGG does not intend to replace the existing game and made three of its announcements to support the contrary, but considers Path of Exile 2 a blank slate:
Over the years there have been many changes that we would have loved to make to Path of Exile but couldn’t, because they would break existing characters. Path of Exile 2 is an opportunity to make all of these changes in one large update.
While the developer promises to unify the endgame with a common Atlas system, the story is moved forward significantly for players:
Path of Exile 2 is a new seven-act storyline that is available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign. Both the old and new storyline lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Path of Exile 2 retains all expansion content that has been created over the last six years and introduces a new skill system, ascendancy classes, engine improvements and more.
Since the death of Kitava, society has been slowly rebuilding. Ambitious men rise to fill the void and their thirst for power is once again corrupting Wraeclast.
The sequel will introduce a new set of Exiles to play with and a revamped set of Ascendancy classes available to each character. Other notable changes are entirely redone equipment progression, models and animations alongside a Support Gem system to let you put gems on your gems.
When can you get your hands on it? Not terribly soon:
We don’t have a release date for Path of Exile 2 yet, but we’re unlikely to start a Beta until at least very late 2020. In the meantime, we are continuing to release Path of Exile expansions on our regular three-month cycle. This content will be available in both the Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2 campaigns.
Do you have any changes you’d definitely like to see in the sequel? Reasons to dislike the mobile port? Let us know in the comments. Full details are available on the ExileCon announcement landing page.
