On April 8th, Grinding Gear Games will hold a livestream revealingPath of Exile: Ultimatumand more details about the hyped, long-anticipatedPath of Exile 2. The 3.14 expansion will be showcased via live gameplay, a full trailer, discussion of its mechanics, potential special encounters, and all else it might entail.New footage ofPath of Exile 2is likely to spice things up during the stream, though, as never before seen details haven’t emerged since late 2019.
Path of Exile: Ultimatumwas teased on March 24th, and it seems to beanother Breach-like Leaguethat will fit into the game nicely as adjustments are made and changes unfold with the upcoming patch. The expansion is going to be Vaal-themed and it’s likely to follow in the footsteps of its kin LeagueIncursion, so time travel might be involved. Some players spotted a character in the teaser trailer that looks a lot like Doryani, a thaumaturgist whose experiments seem to have caused some major breakthrough inPath of Exile’s lore, or major disruption.
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As for the game’s sequel, it’s unclear whether new gameplay will be shown or further details are finally going to be disclosed. Considering it is going to be almost exactly one year and a half since it was initially revealed it’s not unlikely that GGG will have some ace up their sleeve for April 8th’s streaming session.
Path of Exile: Ultimatum - Teaser Breakdown
Considering how the Exiles were able to travel two thousand years into the past thanks to the help of Alva Valai, one of the masters alongside other iconic characters from other Leagues,Ultimatumcould feature time travel once again. Another option is that corruption may have spread throughoutthe lands of Wraeclast and Oriath, making the obelisk-like statues appearing in the video hold an area where players have to deal with them and the repercussions. In fact, the obelisks seem to encircle an area in red and black smoke. This could either mean that Exiles are going to be trapped inside until all enemies are slain or, alternatively, the obelisks could each come with different modifiers that apply to the enclosed area they are in.
As mentioned above, Doryani could be the focus for thisPath of ExileLeague, expanding the lore surrounding his mysterious experiments and telling players more about the Vaal civilization. The statues appear to have some different characteristics, which could mean there are going to be several diverse encounters, much like there were inPath of Exile: RitualandPath of Exile: Heist. Furthermore, these artefacts of the past are seen emerging from the ground in the teaser trailer. This could be relevant information, as players might trigger the encounters simply by stepping into the round-shaped red mist. The mist seems to engulf all enemies within the radius of the obelisks, probably a visual heritage of the area modifiers bestowed upon them.
The teaser trailer also shows the inside of a structure that looks like a shrine or temple of sorts. The ambience seems ominously suggesting a boss encounter, likely facing Doryani himself. Again, this League seems to share similarities with the other, most recent Vaal-themed expansion -Incursion. As a matter of fact, the temporal incursions took place in small rooms deep within the Temple of Atzoatl, an ever-changing dungeon that players could shape by traveling to the past. The shrine fromUltimatumcould also be a tomb - Doryani’s tomb, specifically. The trailer ends, at last, with the logo forPath of Exile 2slowly fading in.
Path of Exile 2 - What to Expect
Recently, thePath of Exilecommunity was especially upset about the way GGG is going to handle the so-called “Harvest-crafting” in the originalPath of Exile. Essentially,Harvestwas a past Leaguethat dealt with one of the issues gamers have been complaining about for ages—namely, how players could craft items—sparking a lot of discussion when the nerf announcement came in.
This is relevant becausePath of Exile 2should, by all means, have deterministic crafting methods if it is to be successful in its niche. Of course, crafting doesn’t need to become too easy, making strong, game-breaking items too accessible for the general audience. Rather,Path of Exile 2should retain the complexity its predecessor has, while also building on its foundations and further expand on the possibilities expert crafters want to have.
The promised new footage ofPath of Exile 2will give fans the chance to witness how its development is going, while also teasing what may come further down the line. Among the changes that were already announced, there arenineteen brand-new Ascendancy classesfor the base set of Exiles that will be available to select from when having a fresh start. Another big change is coming in the form of the game’s engine being completely reworked and improved, allowing for better graphic quality and - likely - game performance stability.
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Finally, GGG also announced it will radically alter the way sockets currently work. As of now, they are item-dependent and color-specific. WithPath of Exile2, this will change, and sockets will become Skill-Gem-specific, giving players much more space to experiment with build variety.
The livestream announcement is plausibly going to reveal spicy new features, adding to the information gathered thus far about the upcoming new game. Among the things that most assuredly won’t make it into the stream arepotential changes to the currentPath of Exiletrading system, guild system, PvP system, and party play. These are all issues that the originalPath of Exilehas, and the community has been consistently vocal about them over the years, thus making them promising adjustments for its sequel. GGG definitely need to address these problems when launching their next endeavor but an announcement on the subject remains speculation at this point.
Ultimately, fans can and should expect to see exclusive footage regarding new boss fights, both past and present areas explored, and some major gameplay changes among the clips that will be shown on April 8th. Seeing how the trend for the prequel has always been to focus reveals around outstanding boss encounters andsome of the brand-newPath of Exile 2mechanicsintroduced, the upcoming livestream is not likely to break the habit.
Conclusions on What to Expect from PoE: Ultimatum and PoE 2
Path of Exile: Ultimatumsounds like a seemingly fun, not overly-complicated League that will focus on rewarding massive fights and likely an end-boss fight where all the juicy loot of the expansion is going to come from. Following in the wake of one of the announcements from late last year, it seems likely thatUltimatumwill be smaller in scope if compared to other Leagues—likeHeist, for example—in order to prevent feature-creep that could worsen players' experience.
As forPath of Exile 2, gamers can expect a more polished productthat will likely be built upon for years, ever-improving and ever-growing. All the features the game could display are merely speculation on what has been revealed or confirmed up to now, and expectations can only build from there. That is why it is likely that the game will try and correct its predecessor’s flaws in creative ways, and that’s why GGG will probably try and stay more true to its own vision for the game.
Multiple times it has stated it wantedPoEto initially be a grittier game, and multiple times it has stated how it wants the game to be slower in pace rather than a grinding fiesta where players clear maps in a matter of seconds. This is not confirmed to be the case, yet it’s easy to see how Grinding Gear Games could try and seize the opportunity to make it happen inPath of Exile 2.
Path Of Exileis available to play on iOS, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
