14 DAY TRIAL // Grinding Gear Games is starting the closed beta test of Path of Exile’s upcoming expansion, titled The Awakening, this month.
The action role-playing game gained notoriety for its numerous innovations and unique features, the most notable of which being the sprawling and mind-boggling skill tree and the fact that you gain abilities by socketing gems, and not through a class system, the way this is usually handled.
The free-to-play game has also been praised for its ethical microtransaction system, having no impact on the actual gameplay, but instead only providing cosmetic effects to those who support the development team, ranging from new skill animations to auras and fancy hats.
The developers promised to keep updating the game with a new expansion every year, and after 2014’s Forsaken Masters expansion, adding player housing and a ton of other content to the game, the team is now working on the next installment in the saga of the exiled heroes.
The closed beta testing phase is slated for launch around a week from now, according to the countdown clock on the game’s website.
A lot of exciting additions
The upcoming free expansion will introduce a sizeable chunk of content to Path of Exile, in the form of a new story and a new act for players to complete, as well as new items and skills, and an even greater passive skill tree.
The developers have revealed that exiles will be able to make use of thirteen new skill gems, introducing a ton of brand new abilities and allowing players to customize their builds ever further.
A total of 70 Unique items will be added in the expansion, including the entirely new Maraketh equipment set, but the expansions’ biggest feature is the introduction of Gems, which will be slotted directly in the huge passive skill tree.
The jewels will behave differently, depending on their type, enabling players to activate passives in a certain radius without the need to connect them one by one, or turning one type of stat into another, among many other things.