14 DAY TRIAL // Who would've thought that fans of the action RPG genre would get two major announcements in less than a month? After Blizzard revealed Diablo IV, another important developer, Grinding Gear Games, announced it plans to launch a sequel to its critically-acclaimed Path of Exile game.
Path of Exile 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but the studio said a beta is likely to be available in late 2020. Until then, Grinding Gear Games will continue to launch Path of Exile expansions on a regular three-month cycle, which will be available in both the Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2 campaigns.
Speaking of campaigns, Path of Exile 2 will feature a new seven-act storyline that will be available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign. Both the old and new storylines lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Moreover, 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 many more.
For example, there will be 19 new ascendancy classes available in the Path of Exile 2, which differ from the old ones that are still available in the Path of Exile 1 campaign. Also, a new skill gem system will be implemented soon, which will let players create specific character builds easier than ever.
The most important change is the removal of the slot gems from any of the gear looted in the game. Support gems are now socketed directly into skill gems, removing many of the frustrations present in the old system while maintaining all the previous depth. Thanks to the new system, it will be possible to six-link every skill a character uses.
Another important aspect is the new equipment that will be included in the upcoming game. An entire progression of armor and weapons has been redone from start to finish, alongside entirely new character models and animations. Of course, all microtransactions made in the Path of Exile 1 will transfer to the new game.
Something that Grinding Gear Games hasn't touched yet is the massive skill tree, which will suffer many changes. However, the studio isn't ready to reveal what exactly has been changed yet but promised to offer more details about the passive skill tree and other core game systems next year.
It's also worth mentioning that some of the changes announced last week, like the new skill gem system, will be implemented in Path of Exile 1 before the sequel launches.