Path of Exile 2 Release Date (And 10 Exciting Features You Should Know About)

Path of Exile 2 is on the Horizon, especially since Exilecon 2023 has been announced, and we expect PoE2's beta to be announced then. So here are a collection of all the information we have so far on this much-awaited update to the best ARPG in the market right now!

10 – When is the release?

PoE 2 Logo

All info we have pertaining to the release:

“I suspect we will see great progress over this year and much of it finished next year.” – Direct quote from Chris Wilson, GGG’s CEO and founder, on ShackCentral.

Speculation so far is that a Closed Beta will happen early to mid-2023, while the release of the game is guaranteed on 2024, but likely the first half.

Things are churning now that they’ve established the parameters and guidelines they want for their new acts and campaign, so production is set to move a lot quicker now.

9 – Complete integration of old micro-transaction

MTX System

While not a major headline, this is big news for everyone involved. Path of Exile is notorious for having great micro-transaction policies, and they’re taking it further with PoE2, without pulling a Blizzard, and screwing their players, by having all your previously bought MTXs work seamlessly with the new rigs and without extra cost.

This means that essentially they’re having to re-do all of their MTX, for ‘free’, to be able to transition from the old rigs to the new ones without deleting or making items unusable, which would drive players away or even potential lawsuits. Who knows.

8 – No more labyrinth

No more Lab!

Finally no more Eternal Labyrinth! With PoE2, it will be entirely removed and a new way to ascend will be introduced. We are still unclear on how, exactly, but the mind-numbingly tedious process of finding Trials, and then running Lab for each character will be a thing of the past!

7 – First shapeshifter gameplay

Werewolf Shifting

Something many players have asked before was the introduction of shapeshifters, from the glorious days of Diablo II druid builds, and for the first time, it’s happening in PoE!

Three forms have been confirmed and shown some gameplay already, the Werewolf, which is focused mostly on attack damage, from a direct skill gem. The bear shape, also from a skill gem, which is a tanky shape, and finally the Werecat, an ascendancy exclusive Shape, from the Beast Master, one of the 3 new Ranger ascendancies.

Everything seems to work seamlessly, and the shifters will deal damage based off gem level, instead of weapon damage, being then easier to scale and stay relevant even if you’re a spell caster (most likely).

There’s also this ascendancy node that has been shown from The Beast Master that grants 100% increased effect of shape forms, and also makes you retain the last buff you had on, so you could essentially have 2 shifter buffs simultaneously, like the Wolf and Cat buffs!

6 – New item models from the ground up

Glorious Plate Body Armor Comparison from old model to new one

Just like the characters, everything is getting completely redone. Most, if not all old items are essentially being remade, as well as new ones are being introduced.

And now, because of the new rigs, they can introduce certain physics elements to better present the item as close to reality as possible. So the Glorious Plate, the highest base armour in the game, now works like a mediaeval plate, with different layers, so it moves around naturally, without stretching like plastic, when the character runs.

Not only that, but several new weapon bases are being introduced, and many are still unknown. From spears to ballistae, they are all different in gameplay feel, and as such, they have unique traits that no other weapons have.

The concept has been now to create a certain identity for each base, so instead of just picking the best, you want what is interesting and unique.

5 – Character models’ rework

Comparison of old Marauder, Witch, and Ranger models with new ones

In Path of Exile 2, all character models will not only receive a rework, but they’re now entirely customizable, and with their new rigs, you’ll be able to transfer animations from one character to the other, without impacting performance or glitching, like the Templar often does in his old rig.

While the possibility exists, we are still unclear if GGG will make gender-locked characters again or not, as with the new rig, the skeletons, they can swap things easily.

They all remain with the same aesthetic, just better rendered and texturized, besides the technical rig underneath their looks.

4 – Complete revamp of the gem system

New Skill tab for all gems

One of the most difficult and interesting things from PoE2’s reveal was the introduction of this new system, where gems now will be entirely the source of sockets. Each skill gem will innately have a number of support sockets in them, so instead of depending on the equipment you drop, and then having to link or recolour them, now all you have to do to is use Jewellers orbs to roll more sockets from your active gems.

This also means that certain items that grant you unique skills, like Whispering Ice and Icestorm, will have a built-in skill gem that you also can re-roll with jewellers to get 5 supports.

As a whole, it’s been decided that the default maximum of active skill gems that you can have, all of which can be 6-links, is 9. Some items will have an extra slot, like Tabula Rasa, which has 3 active sockets, all white, while other body armours have always 2.

The colour of the sockets is dependent on the base item, red for strength, green for dex, blue for int, and hybrids with hybrid colours, just like you’d expect, and you’ll be able to change those with special new currency items, to off-colour equips.

3 – Meta Gems

New Meta Gem Proficiency

With only 9 active slots, auras and other utility skills would take up too much space from your limited pool of sockets, and as such, Meta Gems will be introduced to deal with that.

They work, essentially, as a reverse to Active skills. They’re support gems that have active slotted in them instead of the other way around. This way, you can have up to 5 different auras (or a combination of auras and supports) with a single slot, and as a benefit, you can activate all of them at once!

Other niche skills will also be turned into meta gems, like Cast When Damage Taken, which then allows you to slot anything you need or want inside this ‘support/meta’ gem.

2 – Full new campaign

PoE 2 Logo

One of the biggest things that will come from Path of Exile 2, will be a whole new campaign, with 7 acts. According to GGG devs, the campaign will also be different every time you do it, leading to a much longer life expectancy for the enjoyment of the core base game, before the endgame.

We are still unclear on certain details and how that will work, but Chris Wilson (GGG’s CEO) has said multiple times that the new campaign is much more fun and people will likely not get bored from repeating it over time. That remains to be seen, though personally, I love doing the campaign, to the chagrin of my friends.

Another cool thing is that, in theory, despite having only 7 acts, it will take the same amount of time to complete it as it does for the currency campaign, which has 10 acts.

You won’t be able to jump from one campaign to the other, with the same character, but both ‘pools’ of characters will ‘meet’ once they reach the endgame, making it flow much easier.

There’s a lot still to be discovered, but so far, with the small amount of gameplay shown, it looks extremely promising and different from before.

1 – 19 new ascendancies

Survivalist Ascendancy Tree

Path of Exile 2 will not only introduce a whole new campaign, with 7 acts, but also full new 19 ascendancies, based still on the primary 7 base characters.

Nothing will be deleted from the old game, and you can unlock these ascendancies after you played the PoE2 Campaign, so you can use them on your PoE1 characters, fully integrated.

The biggest impact this will have, at first, is that no one know will know what’s good anymore, and people will have to scramble around and experiment to find out what’s meta and what isn’t, and cool new interactions with skills and unique items.

Ranger is one of the few classes that were shown all of her new ascendancies, though not all notables. The Survivalist, which focuses primarily on adaptability in combat, the Beast Master, which has all sorts of unique new things, like shape-shifting and Pet Minions, and the Tactician, which revolves around using spears, mixing ranged and melee attacks, and empowering ballistae!

Other known ascendancies are the Defiler and the Arcanist, Witch classes, and the Reaver, a Marauder-based class focused on buffing allies mid-battle.

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