Summary
- Path of Exile 2 has a large playerbase on Steam, but its endgame is slower and less rewarding compared to the original.
- Dying in PoE 2 is quite punishing, erasing all progress, loot, and affixes, making the game potentially frustrating at times.
- To improve, the game should make the process of juicing maps faster, retain league mechanics after death, and lessen punishment.
Path of Exile 2 has been out in early access for almost two months, and so far it has already amassed a huge playerbase that made the game skyrocket to one of the most played on Steam. There are many differences between Path of Exile 2 and its predecessor, and despite the former being a sequel, it doesn't fully follow in PoE 1's footsteps regarding its approach to the endgame grind. For starters, the original game is much faster overall and has a different process of "juicing" up Maps and the Atlas to make the most of a farming session. Path of Exile 2 does something similar, but it has a big flaw it should address.
There are various mechanics the two games have in common. For example, Path of Exile 2 features Breach content and the corresponding pinnacle fights, which were some of the most popular additions to the first game. Still, Path of Exile 2 is a slower and more methodical game in terms of its campaign boss fights, and that partly transfers over its approach to the endgame, for better or worse. Currently, when players die, the game will close all portals to a Waystone and erase all its progress and loot as well as remove all affixes from it on the Atlas, which is arguably excessively punishing.
Two Path of Exile 2 Ascendancies Are in a Catch-22 Situation
Path of Exile 2 has twelve Ascendancy classes at the moment, and while they will all likely be changed over time, two may need it the most.
Path of Exile 2's Endgame Has a Player Time Investment vs. Reward Ratio Problem
One of the core conceits of many games is that players should want to return to it and play more of it when possible. Path of Exile 2's endgame can become quite frustrating on some occasions, to the point that one may lose interest in playing. This is because juicing maps is a much slower and less rewarding process in PoE 2 than it is in its predecessor, so losing all that progress alongside loot, experience, and the Waystone itself when dying is tenfold more punishing even in Softcore.
In Path of Exile 1, players only lose experience and one portal to their Map whenever they die, assuming this is not a Hardcore character. Instead, the sequel makes players lose experience, access to the Waystone they died in as well as all loot still on the floor, and also all the progress on the Atlas to juice that specific map. This is because players need to clear Path of Exile 2's Towers to then use Tablets to improve maps in the area - but there's a catch.
Why Path of Exile 2 Should Rebalance How Punishing The Endgame Is
In fact, the optimized way to do this would be to clear any and all maps that players don't want the Tablets to add affixes and mechanics to, which can be quite slow and tedious work. As such, dying in a map only to lose all progress as well as experience and loot can be infuriating, or at the very least, too punitive. Punishing players is something that is part of the game's identity, in a way, as the recent 0.1.1 patch made Path of Exile 2 bosses like the Arbiter of Ash slightly less punitive by allowing one to try the fight six times before losing access to it.
What follows is that, if GGG wants to keep the one-portal rule for the endgame, it should at least make the process of juicing maps on the Atlas much faster and more accessible, like in PoE 1. Not doing this means that farming Path of Exile 2's Waystones would inherently remain less rewarding overall as well as potentially frustrating, which is not something that would benefit the game in the long run. Instead, allowing players to at least keep all League mechanics and affixes on a map even if they die in it would at least mitigate the severity of the punishment while still maintaining it as part of the game's identity.
Path of Exile II
- Released
- December 6, 2024
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.
- 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
- 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
