Grinding Gear Games (GGG) was a very small company back when Path of Exile was first conceived, and the studio has grown immensely over the years, mirroring the game's own path in the industry and the ARPG genre. Path of Exile has been out for almost eight years now, and it has undergone a lot of phases and transformations that made it one of the most successful and long-standing games within its genre, surpassing even colossal games like Diablo 3. In 2019, GGG held the Exilecon, an event dedicated to Path of Exile and its future. Here, the 4.0 expansion for the base game was announced, only for the hype to be completely redirected to another big announcement: Path of Exile 2.
The sequel to Path of Exile should not really be labeled as such, as it will be the same game, but players will have the option of choosing which campaign to run, and that choice also comes with a plethora of differences between the base game and Path of Exile 2. The playable characters in Path of Exile 2 will be new ones, all with their own Ascendancy classes, and the game will be filled with new Acts and all sorts of customization options. The game was set to release sometime in 2022, but due to the pandemic and lack of environmental artists at GGG, Chris Wilson recently stated during the latest Baeclast episode that the release date is realistically going to be 2024, or slightly before that.
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A delay of two years is nothing to scoff at, and if GGG made this decision, it is most likely not a light-hearted one, but rather something that came as the natural step in a difficult and contorted path that was made even rougher by real-life hardships. GGG has also been dealing with many players being unhappy with the newest releases as of late, ranging from the last few Leagues and their mechanics to the balance changes made alongside them, like all the nerfs handed out in Expedition. This has again raised the question of why GGG doesn't simply slow down production on new Leagues, releasing one every four months instead so that each new expansion is properly tested and done.
This still doesn't seem to be GGG's intention, standing by what Chris Wilson said during the aforementioned Baeclast episode, but it is also true that the developer stood by his word on Path of Exile 2 fixing its predecessor's mistakes. This could indeed mean that the two-year delay is not necessarily a bad thing, as Path of Exile 2 might come out as a much more polished title than it would otherwise be at the moment. Still, the new release window also poses several issues that the company will have to face.
For starters, releasing Path of Exile 2 in 2024 and having a public beta in 2023 could mean that Diablo 4 might release earlier than its competitor, which could hurt the retention and interest of players in Path of Exile. Speaking of which, the big 4.0 expansion for Path of Exile also seems to be far off, as during the Baeclast episode there were mentions of 3.16 and 3.17, meaning the next big thing for GGG's ARPG might be happening in mid-to-late 2022. As such, keeping veteran players' love for the game alive is not going to be easy, and then there is the tough task of getting new players on board with a few Leagues releasing every three months.
While it's good that GGG will take its time to properly finish Path of Exile 2 before releasing it, there are many changes that Path of Exile should undergo in the meantime so that it can remain relevant for the next few years.
Path of Exile 2 is set to release around 2024.
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