Summary
- Path of Exile 2's success in early access shows solid foundations for the game's future.
- 2025 may bring a new League, additional weapons/classes, and potential new Acts for Path of Exile 2.
- Expect improvements to in-game mechanics, console support, balance patches, and endgame adjustments for PoE 2.
Though the game was released in early access just a little over one month ago, Path of Exile 2 has been a smashing success for Grinding Gear Games, and it has proven that it was well worth the wait. The action RPG is not perfect, and it's far from finished, but the foundations it established are looking solid for now, especially with a lot more content on the horizon. GGG hasn't released an early access roadmap just yet, and it's unclear whether it will, but there are already several clear areas of improvement for Path of Exile 2 as well as key missing pieces of the puzzle that will eventually see the light of day.
Why Two Path of Exile 2 Strategies Are Dominating The Meta
Path of Exile 2 introduces plenty of ways for players to build their characters, but two specific strategies are reigning supreme in the endgame.
Path of Exile 2's First League
It seems likely that 2025 will see the release of the game's first League, which would still take place in early access, but reset everything for everyone who wants to participate. This would also introduce new gimmicks or loot in Path of Exile 2 to make the experience fresh, and if it happens in 2025, it's likely to show up around Q3, possibly earlier if it's ready, or at least sometime in Q4 to celebrate one year since the early access release.
Leagues are temporary "seasons," a model that PoE 1 adopted. These typically last a few months and introduce new things for players to try, but they are a blank slate for currency, items, etc.
Additional Path of Exile 2 Weapons and Classes
While this may not be in the cards for 2025, Path of Exile 2's classes and Ascendancies will likely be released gradually over time rather than all the remaining six classes and respective Ascendancies launching all at once when the game comes out of early access. Nothing has been confirmed about this just yet, but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that one more base class, alongside its signature weapon and two ascendancies, is released at some point during 2025.
New Acts For PoE 2's Campaign
Much like a new class with its Ascendancy and associated weapon, a complete Act for Path of Exile 2's Campaign is not out of the realm of possibilities, but it seems unlikely for 2025. Path of Exile's Act 4 came out years after the title was first released, and while GGG is much larger now, a new Act is still a lot of work.
A new Act would mean that PoE 2's Cruel difficulty is pushed to just a repeat of Act 1 and 2, skipping Act 3, which makes this possibility even more unlikely. It's plausible that GGG will release all three missing Acts at once in the future, though.
Improvements to Underperforming PoE 2 Mechanics
Life and Armour are arguably in a rougher place than the other defensive mechanics in the game, such as Evasion, Energy Shield, Block, and Mana. Players can stack Mana to great effect with keystones like Eldritch Battery, Mind Over Matter, and Chaos Inoculation in Path of Exile 2, as they can all combine to make for a powerful layer of defense that is further boosted by tools like Grim Feast. Stacking Life is not as easy or effective due to the lack of Life-related nodes on the passive tree, and Armour doesn't reliably protect from damage. Since these are key parts of the game, they will likely be tweaked over 2025.
Support for Path of Exile 2 Console Players
More console support seems inevitable for the game, like dedicated loot filters (possibly built into the game) and maybe even easier trading mechanics in Path of Exile 2 that don't require using the trade chat or other platforms, like a PC or mobile device, to perform searches on the official trade website and send in-game messages to other players. These would be important milestones, but they're not guaranteed to be out in 2025.
Changes and Balance Patches for PoE 2 Builds and Endgame
Like previous Path of Exile 2 patches nerfed OP skills, more balance updates are likely to hit the game over the year. These could include buffs to underperforming classes, skills, and Unique Items as well as nerfs to overtuned mechanics and interactions. The same applies to Path of Exile 2's endgame, which could use some tweaks to certain Waystone and monster affixes and quality-of-life improvements.
Path of Exile II
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 100%
- Released
- December 6, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Nudity, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Language, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
- Developer(s)
- Grinding Gear Games
- Publisher(s)
- Grinding Gear Games
WHERE TO PLAY
Path of Exile 2 takes place in the land of Wraeclast, a dark continent populated by unique cultures, ancient secrets, and monstrous dangers. A sinister threat, long thought destroyed, has begun creeping back on the edge of civilisation, driving people mad and sickening the land with Corruption.
Path of Exile 2 features a brand new campaign with six acts, 100 distinct environments, 600 monsters and 100 bosses.
Path of Exile 2 features twelve character classes, 240 Skill Gems, hundreds of equipment base types, a six-act campaign, more than a hundred unique boss fights, a deep endgame system and so much more.
Play with your friends without losing any progress with couch co-op, cross-play and cross-progression.
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Path of Exile
- Early Access Release
- December 6, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash, MMORPG
