Just when it seemed that we’ve seen all the gaming news we could get from 2019, Grinding Gear Games decided to pull a fast one on us. During ExileCon which was held in New Zealand, they officially announced the coming of Path of Exile 2. This was quite a shocker since no one expected to see the next-generation action RPG within this year at best! In fact, the developers even described PoE 2 as a game that can go toe-to-toe with its competitor game, Diablo IV. Despite Blizzard’s larger budget for their prized franchise, it looks as if Grinding Gear Games is brimming with confidence, claiming that “any kind of company that has a lot of money can easily make nice graphics”.
So, just what can we expect from Path of Exile 2? Is there anything that the GGG can bring new to the table that hasn’t been done already? Will PoE currency and PoE orbs be as important as they are now? Find out as we tackle these questions and so much more!
1. Beta Testing will Start In Late 2020
Although there’s no definite release date as of yet, the folks over at Grinding Gear Games teased that the game may be released just as PS5 and Xbox Scarlet are available hits the market. So we can expect that Path of Exile 2 will be available to play once these two consoles are officially up for grabs. Since Path of Exile 2 was showcased in the ExileCon, it was available to play for the attendees of the convention, although you can only play the early stages of the game since it’s still unfinished. We can expect the first beta for PoE 2 to begin in late 2020, but as of now, there’s no way of playing it.
2. Path of Exile 2 Isn’t a Full Sequel
Path of Exile 2 isn’t made to become a brand new game. This was emphasized by Chris Wilson, the co-founder of Grinding Gear Games. It was because the base game already has so much content and improvements over the years, a usual sequel just wouldn’t cut it. Instead, Path of Exile 2 will be implementing a brand new skill system, more ascendancy classes to choose from, and graphic improvements. If you’ve been playing the original Path of Exile for years, don’t worry, as all of your cosmetics in that game will be carried over as well. This is the same for the items and character builds that you’ve accumulated as well.
3. It’s Going to Be Free
Path of Exile 2 may be one of the biggest updates that the community has ever seen—and it’s for free. This isn’t surprising since Path of Exile itself is free to play, but it just goes to show that there are still companies out there that are truly passionate about what they’re doing. Grinding Gear Games isn’t fazed by this project. With a few years already until their belt as the developers who always listens to the feedback of their community, announcing that all of the content will be free is nothing short of generous. Path of Exile 2 will boast seven new act campaigns for players to experience and will take place 20 years after the death of Kitava, the Insatiable.
4. Actually Great Graphics
Let’s be honest, Path of Exile didn’t exactly look phenomenal. It was good, but it wasn’t great. Luckily, Path of Exile 2 will have a fresh coat of paint as it’ll feature new lighting models along with physically-based rendering to make the world look realistic. Thanks to these new models and animations, the characters’ colours will become more vibrant as well.
In a Nutshell
Thanks to better graphics and a new skill system to tinker with, Path of Exile 2 shows a lot of promise and looks like a major improvement over an already great ARPG. Best of all, everyone has the means to access the game since it’ll be free for everyone to try. What do you think about this highly-anticipated “update”? Will there be any changes in how you can farm PoE currency like PoE orbs? Leave a comment down below and share your thoughts with us!
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