Path of Exile’s reputation as a complicated ARPG with multiple layers of systems to fiddle with remains solid even seven years after its launch. Show a new player that spiderweb of a passive skill screen, and listen for the reflexive gasp that always comes next. Delirium, the next expansion, adds at least 280 more nodes to that screen. Too many options? Well, here are more to ponder. It’s a guarantee that Path of Exile’s infamy will continue.
Path of Exile is getting Private Leagues, essentially private server shards, that can be used to make the game more difficult. Grinding Gear Games announced that starting next week, players can pay about $12 to start a basic Private League for ten days for ten members, with options to add member slots and extra time. Private Leagues allow players to keep random folks from interfering with their game sessions, (perfect for streamers and guilds) as well as add modifiers that increase the challenge. The difficulty mods include ways to increase monster damage, remove player resistances, disable stashes or vendors, as well as turning off all the sweet loot drops. Imagine the look on someone’s face when they stumble into your nightmare world.
Private Leagues will be coming to PC first. Path of Exile is already available on Xbox One, but a PlayStation 4 version was just announced. Path of Exile has no mobile version planned yet.
Path of Exile has been so gratifyingly playable for so long it’s easy to forget it’s not actually out yet. But then you read these notes for the official release, when Path of Exile drops the beta disclaimer and becomes a 1.0.
My favorite bullet point is a pair of new leagues. What other games might call modes are leagues in Path of Exile. You roll up a character specifically for that league, which has a self-contained balance and economy. The upcoming domination and nemesis leagues give the gameplay a new focus:
Domination: A variety of powerful Shrines now spawn throughout Wraeclast, surrounded by large groups of monsters that are influenced by their power. These monsters receive substantial bonuses or are protected by their shrine’s effects in some way. If you are able to tag the shrine, you receive these powers for a short time. It’s often very risky to run in and try to claim the shrine, but it is a gamble that can pay off. One of the new challenges is to tag each of the shrine types.
Nemesis: Nemesis is a Hardcore league (characters who die are converted to Standard characters). Rare monsters have one guaranteed mod from the Nemesis Pool, which makes the fight substantially harder. One of the challenges is to kill a rare with each of the Nemesis mods.
Among the other features are new enemies, new types of skill gems, guild support, new player vs player options (Path of Exile has player vs player?), and an unlockable Scion character class too complicated for anyone who hasn’t played through on normal difficulty.
Mark you calendars for 10am Pacific on Wednesday, October 23rd.
