During a lengthy developer update livestream, Grinding Gear Games announced some Path of Exile 2 news. To start with, the studio based in New Zealand announced a delay in the beta test that was previously slated for June. While the content is in place, the team disclosed the need for more time to properly polish Path of Exile 2. As such, the beta test will now take place at some point in late 2024. However, it’s not just bad news, as an Alpha test will still be conducted in June.
GGG then showcased a new playable class from the game, the Ranger, and its many customization options. The studio said this would be the game’s most agile class. With the new ability to move while shooting and various quick movement skills, the Ranger can bounce around the battlefield while keeping foes at a distance with a barrage of arrows.
Overall, Path of Exile 2 will include a six-act campaign with a hundred different environments, 600 monsters, and 100 bosses. At the end of the campaign, players will encounter a full-fledged endgame system with more than a hundred maps, each with a different boss to fight and modifiers that enable revamped versions of previous Leagues.
Players will be able to choose between twelve character classes, two for every combination of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. They may mix skills from many classes to create an entirely unique character build. Each of the character classes comes with its own three Ascendancy specialization, resulting in a total of 36 Ascendancy Classes.
Grinding Gear Games also added 240 Skill Gems that grant devastating active skills and 200 Support Gems that modify their behavior.
The developers also unveiled about the next Path of Exile expansion, titled Necropolis League and slated to launch on March 29. Players will encounter Undertaker Arimor, a man collecting the scattered spirits of the Eternal Empire for a mysterious purpose. These spirits have begun to haunt the monsters of Wraeclast, unleashing their ancient fury and sorrow onto the world.
The Undertaker enlists players to rid Wraeclast of this menace and provides them with the Lantern of Arimor, a family heirloom that can illuminate the wrathful spirits haunting monsters throughout Wraeclast.
The lantern can be used when entering any new area. When peering through it, you can examine the Spirits haunting that area. The Lantern also allows you to manipulate them, letting you configure which monsters are affected by which mods. When peering through the Lantern, you can also see extra details about the packs of monsters in the area. Rhoas here are considered Common, whereas the Water Elementals are more scarce. If you want things to be easier, you can put the more difficult Spirits on the Elementals, which you’ll encounter less often. The developers said they tried to make sure that by engaging with the Lantern, players can intelligently control the difficulty in the Necropolis league.
Path of Exile update 3.24 also brings a series of endgame improvements. The Keystones that used to give access to the Uber Pinnacle bosses from the Atlas Tree have been replaced with a new set of fragments. These will be found in the five new Tier 17 Maps, which not only give you access to the Uber Pinnacle content but also test your characters in new ways. They feature a new set of bosses, uber monsters, and a new tier of modifiers that can roll on the maps.
Moreover, patch 3.24 allows Path of Exile players to have multiple copies of the Atlas Tree that can be swapped between maps at their leisure. They can unlock up to two extra trees (for a total of three) by progressing through the endgame and completing core content.
