ExileCon Wrapup, New Guides & Expansion!

ExileCon 2023 revealed tons of new information including a Closed Beta Date for Path of Exile 2! Grinding Gear Games also announced their 3.22 Expansion and League Trial of the Ancestors! Here are some of our thoughts;

Aer0 goes on to explain this is because Grinding Gear Games uses these presentations to give players a "feel" for the skill, something that's simply not possible when the character has 600% movement speed and turns the screen into a mess of blood, pixels and loot with a single click. To properly showcase the skills, animations, and environments, you need to slow the pace of play down. But maybe GGG went a bit too far in making things look cinematic, and gave players an inaccurate picture of what Path of Exile 2 gameplay looks like. Over the coming weeks Aer0's going to be brainstorming new builds. With Vengeant Cascade as a support gem, 2 reworked Ascendancies, and new Unique items he's got his work cut out for him!

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Grimro recently got hands-on experience with the Path of Exile 2 Demo at ExileCon 2023! He spent a lot of time trying the Monk (Act 1), Huntress (Act 2), Sorceress (Act 3), and Warrior (Act 4) showcased in the demos. When it comes to gameplay, Huntress was the most similar to the Path of Exile 1 experience. You focus on a couple skills and spam them to decimate your enemies. On the other hand, the Sorceress had a lot of cooldowns which Grimro describes as similar to a Diablo 4 build.

The Warrior and Monk builds were melee which put them in a tough spot. As a result of the way Path of Exile 2 handles status effects like Stun, it was easy to be overwhelmed and stunlocked to death in the gameplay demo. However, it's important to keep in mind that Grinding Gear Games stressed the difficulty in the demos was increased to an extreme level!

But if you know Grimro at all you'll be expecting a full spreadsheet with an in-depth analysis of the Path of Exile 2 demo builds, and best farming strategy for each. Unfortunately 45 minutes of a demo with a premade build where the Skill Tree was both locked and invisible, made writing a full guide impossible. But Grimro did notice the characters stats were significantly below what most players are likely to have leveling through the campaign through normal gameplay.

Even in a campaign with more gear scarcity, players are likely to have significantly better gear as they can use the Gold dropped by monsters to improve their items as they progress. There were also rumors that enemies had 60% more Health and Damage, on top of 15% movement speed, putting them on par with the Gauntlet. While this certainly led to an excitingly brutal experience, it also means there's a good chance the game will look and feel totally different when players get their hands on PoE 2 June 7, 2024 when the Closed Beta begins. Over the coming weeks, Grimro will be looking into the best ways to farm Trial of the Ancestors.

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Over on Youtube I shared my thoughts and excitement for both Path of Exile 2, and Trial of the Ancestors. Grinding Gear Games has a long history of under-promising and over-delivering, but I had no expectation of them making Path of Exile 2 a completely separate game!

I know a lot of players have concerns about Path of Exile 2 cannibalizing the Path of Exile 1 playerbase. Personally, I'm not worried, at least not yet. Because a lot of my gaming background isn't ARPGs like Diablo I & II, it's a mix of singleplayer games, and MMOs like World of Warcraft or Runescape. Back in 2007 Jagex made a huge shift which included many unpopular changes like the removal of free trade, changes to the Wilderness, and the Evolution of Combat update.

This nearly destroyed Runescape because it took the game in a direction different from what the hardcore fans wanted. The Evolution of Combat was Jagex's attempt to modernize Runescape as part of the move from Runescape 2 (released in 2001) to Runescape 3 (which came out in 2013). In response to this, Jagex polled the players and released Oldschool Runescape, a version of Runescape as it was in 2007. Since 2013 both Runescape 3 and Oldschool Runescape have experienced parallel development.

Many of the most loyal longtime players prefer Oldschool Runescape, but much like the Path of Exile passive tree, many new players take one look at the Behemoth that is Oldschool's content and immediately nope out! So new fans of the game often got their start in Runescape 3 which does a remarkably good job of teaching new players and making the experience approachable.

It's my hope that Path of Exile 1 and 2 function much the same way. If you want the Path of Exile experience as it is now, complete with all its strengths and flaws then you'll still be able to play Path of Exile 1. The game will continue to get new leagues, improvements, and regular updates. But maybe you bounced off of Path of Exile before, or perhaps you're coming from other ARPGs and want a more approachable experience? Then Path of Exile 2 looks to be much easier for new players to jump into while still maintaining the difficulty and depth of the Path of Exile sandbox. I especially like how much more immersive the Path of Exile 2 campaign looks to be.

To add icing to the cake, Grinding Gear Games confirmed that wherever possible, MTX will be fully transferable between the games, so everything you have now works in PoE2, and PoE2 supporter packs you purchase should be available in PoE1 as well. I see Path of Exile 1 and 2 as an opportunity to make 2 games for 2 similar, but slightly different audiences. Some people will play both; while others will stick to their favorite so hopefully everyone wins at the end of the day! I look forward to covering Path of Exile 3.22 and hope to find time for Baldur's Gate 3, Armored Core VI and Indie Games in between!

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Tytykiller went to compete in the ExileCon Race, and wore his Tabulast on stage. He didn't end up winning, but said the race was good. When asked for comment he said to mention that 3rd place is working on a large guide for PoE1. Always one to take things in stride and with good humor, Tytykiller's always a winner in our book! When he's not speeding through Path of Exile, you can often find him chilling on World of Warcraft and Oldschool Runescape.

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Hungry for more content? Keep an eye peeled for our upcoming podcast hosted by Wudijo, featuring Crouching_Tuna, Palsteron, and mbXtreme!

The ExileCon 2023 Keynote opened with huge news for Path of Exile 2! Unlike what we heard at ExileCon 2019, Path of Exile 2 is a new game completely separate from Path of Exile 1. We also have a date for the Path of Exile 2 Closed Beta, June 7th 2024!

There were a series of developer talks featured at ExileCon covering a wide variety of topics focused on Path of Exile 2 including the Rendering Engine, Sound Design & Music, Character Skills, Item Design and Mechanics, plus Bosses and Monsters.

The Path of Exile 2 put a big spotlight on weapon swaps! Skills are tied to a specific Weapon Set and your character automatically swaps to the relevant weapon when you use a Skill. To find out more, look out for our upcoming "Everything we Know so far about Path of Exile 2" post!

Fighting bosses in Path of Exile 2 is going to be similar to fighting Delve bosses in Path of Exile 1. If you die during the fight, the instance restarts and the boss fully heals. Portaling out can be done, though unlike everywhere else in Path of Exile 2, during a boss fight your portal has a cast time. Therefore, proper timing is required if you want to pop back to town and refill Flask charges (Flasks themselves have also seen significant rebalancing). Finally, the game stores your character state when you log out, so if you try to use a logout macro to avoid a slam all you do is delay the inevitable death. If you happen to DC on accident however this could come in handy, letting you get right back into the action.

GGG Also promised to bring most iconic Path of Exile 1 Uniques into Path of Exile 2, and preserve their modifiers whenever possible. Headhunter and Shavronne's Wrappings were confirmed to be in Path of Exile 2, but you can expect many of your other favorites to be there too!

One of the goals with Path of Exile 2's sound design is to clear up the sound space. Between sound effects, ambiance, and music, right now there are times when Path of Exile's gameplay sounds downright messy. But the game wouldn't be complete without music and that's where Kamil comes in.

Kamil Orman-Janowski took the stage to speak about the Music in Path of Exile 2. He talked about how music sets the mood and tone for an area. This is used to make the player feel like an area is warm and inviting, or hostile and desolate. Kamil spoke about his choices for different areas in Path of Exile 2 and some of the instruments or musical styles he used. After watching this talk you're definitely going to feel guilty the next time you mute Path of Exile.

On top of the Developer Talks, Grinding Gear Games put on a series of Q&A type panels with developers, content creators, and industry figures.

To close out ExileCon 2023, Tytykiller, Havoc616, ImExile, and Tie23he took the stage for the ExileCon race. The early game was filled with a wealth of Shrines leading to record breaking splits in the early acts, and as the race continued it was incredibly close. In the end, Tie23he took victory, but ImExile was only seconds behind him! Tytykiller took 3rd, and won himself a chunk of the prize money, with Havoc616 struggling after a death to Innocence and coming in 4th. But these are just some highlights, to read more check out our ExileCon Race post.

The Maxroll Team has been hard at work providing new guides! Whether it's builds, crafting, or farming we've got a little bit of something for everyone. So if ExileCon inspired you to come back to Path of Exile before 3.22 you'll have something new to try.

Over the past months we've been working hard to update many of our existing guides along with adding new ones to keep up with the ever evolving META. If you want to know more, be sure to browse our recent releases!

Here are our new and updated build guides hot off the presses and ready for the "patchnoteswhen" moment where they all have to be updated!

If you're following along with one of our build guides you might be curious on how to craft one of the featured items. To that aim we're continuing to fill out our crafting guides and provide details on how to recreate our recommended items in a reliable and cost efficient manner. So whether you're following a new guide or just looking to learn how to craft, check out our Crafting section!

Path of Exile's 3.22 Expansion introduces a new League inspired by auto-battlers such as Dota Auto-Chess and Teamfight Tactics. Enter the Trial of the Ancestors to compete against legendary Karui tribes, and win prizes from Hinekora herself!

Trial of the Ancestors rewards various currencies, exclusive Unique items, and two new types of items! Omens, which are once-use charms that trigger an effect like creating a portal when you die, and Passive Skill Tattoos. These Tattoos adorn your very soul, transforming Attribute nodes into other bonuses like Adds 1 to 7 Lightning Damage or 2% Increased Movement Speed. With Attributes being transformed into other useful effects, the Timeless Keystone Supreme Ostentation may see more use than ever before.

There are 16 new Atlas Passive Keystones coming in Trial of the Ancestors league, the effects teased so far focus on changing how players interact with various league mechanics, like turning Blight into more of a tower defense, or turning Expedition into one single big boom!

Alongside the Uniques players are gaining access to 14 new Support gems. The most interesting of which being Returning Projectile Support, which allows all Projectiles to return. That's right, Vengeant Cascade was so popular that GGG turned it into a Support Gem!

The Roguelike mode introduced in 3.20 is returning. Step into the Forbidden Sanctum once more, now with greater layout diversity, reworked boons & afflictions, and your Armor, Evasion, and Energy Shield now all protect your resolve in different ways. Or you can sell your fully itemized Sanctum to another player (even if you've already run some of the floors). To complete a Sanctum you need to defeat the "secret boss" Lycia, Herald of the Scourge and if you're lucky you'll be rewarded with a Unique Relic. Sanctified Relics and Lycia's Invocation aren't returning at this time.

Two of Path of Exile's ascendancies got a rework. The Chieftain was reworked to focus on Defense, Slams, Strikes, and ignoring enemy Fire Resistance. Between P0hx and CaptainLance, someone's definitely going to figure out how to make RF Chief work. On the other hand the Guardian looks purpose built to support Group play. The reworked Guardian offers several new Minions that look similar to Herald of Purity and Summon Holy Relic.

For more details check out our Path of Exile 3.22 Trial of the Ancestors Post here!

Moving into Path of Exile 3.22 we'll be bringing out new and updated builds with a huge focus on League Starters. If you're interested in Path of Exile 2 then stay tuned for our upcoming "Everything we Know About Path of Exile 2" post complete with juicy details from Grimro!

If you haven't already, head over to our Discord and select the Path of Exile role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development. Stay Sane Exile. In the meantime, stay tuned for more information and remember: Stay sane, Exile!