While players are just starting Path of Exile 2, MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier was already able to try out the action RPG through preview access. You can find out here what makes Path of Exile 2 better and why it is worth it, especially for newcomers and returning players.
Path of Exile 2 is the successor to one of the most successful Free2Play games of the last 10 years. The action RPG offers many improvements that welcome newcomers while continuing to challenge professionals.
I tested the action RPG for about two weeks, looking at how the new title felt for players who weren’t yet pros. I played Path of Exile 1 in the closed beta over 10 years ago and have spent a total of more than 300 hours there. I kept looking at it at regular intervals.
You can see the game’s cinematic intro here:
Path of Exile 2: The cinematic intro of Diablo’s biggest competitor
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User friendly for professionals and beginners
Anyone who has never played Path of Exile 2 and its predecessor will hardly be able to tell the games apart at first glance, but that is clearly intentional. With the second part of PoE, the developers deliberately want to continue what has worked well so far.
The innovations, on the other hand, should make two sides happy:
The fans of the first game who have thousands of hours of play time and new players who are fresh into the game, with experience from competing games or with no experience at all.
Gold is becoming less complex
Gold is a big new addition to the game. While in Path of Exile you still trade with a complex system of different currencies, in Path of Exile 2 there is a gold system for trading with NPCs.
This is convenient for beginners because they don’t have to learn how the currencies work at the beginning of the game. The gold is used for various functions. All of them are more comfortable than similar systems from its predecessor.
The easy trading with NPCs and also the random dealer, who can bless you with the luck of rare items early in the game, are great innovations to quickly find your way into the game, even without explanation.
Skill tree remains complex, but reskilling becomes easier
Path of Exile’s massive passive skill tree continues to slay every new player in the second part. There are countless skills to choose from. But a crucial change affects beginners and professionals at the same time.
In PoE 2 it is much easier to reskill. If you want to change your character, you just need to walk to the respective NPC and the skill points can be redistributed for some gold.
In a preliminary conversation with game director Jonathan Roggers, he explained that the developers didn’t like the system from its predecessor. It should be convenient to change your skills at the beginning, not later at the end of the game. This has now been put into practice.
Here you can see some impressions of the game:
But the active abilities have also been changed. In Path of Exile 2 you constantly receive new ability stones as drops from monsters. You can simply select a skill by right-clicking on it. If you get a higher skill stone, you can upgrade your skill or unlock a new one at that level.
Little by little, more skills from all classes will be available to you, which you can combine as you wish. The system also works this way with the supporting skills. Here you only get the skills later that make your character really strong, while at the beginning you are a little more rudimentary.
Thanks to these changes, I made three major changes to my character in the early game without having to start over. In the previous version this would have been absolutely necessary. Especially if there are no guides and builds available at the beginning that you can follow for a long time, this innovation will probably save the character of many players.
Bottles, charms and resistances are greatly simplified
In Path of Exile 2 there is resistance to various elements again. These are an essential part of the game to prevent opponents from dealing way too much damage.
While in the predecessor it was difficult for me as a beginner to always get the necessary resistance values without trading with other players, the developers simplify this system at the beginning of the game.
Items in Path of Exile 2 can provide slots for runes. There were plenty of runes in our test and each of them had its own values, including resistances. By upgrading items with runes, it is much easier to get the necessary values for the next boss.
Another innovation are the so-called charms. These new pieces of equipment are worn on your belt and automatically activate in the right situation. They replace part of the utility bottles in that they can automatically free you from a type of movement-limiting effect or give you resistance. For example, the charm that helps against cold damage provides a temporary bonus to resistance to cold.
The bottles in Path of Exile 2 have been greatly simplified: Instead of five, there are only two bottles, which improves the flow of the game and makes beginners less overwhelmed. The bottle piano is over.
The developers have decided to only offer two surfaces: the life bottle and the mana bottle. Both bottles do what their name suggests and, as usual, can also provide better effects if the item is more rare.
During the test, I never had to rack my brains to come up with any resistances for the next boss fight. A quick exchange of the charm and the character is customized. There was never any panic about squeezing the right bottle.
Powerful character despite a tougher game
Path of Exile 2 is generally a bit slower and harder than its predecessor. Even at the beginning of the game, opponents can be a challenge and the developers announced before the release: The goal is to make the fights more exciting (via www.sportskeeda.com).
The new dodging is probably the point that changes the game the most.
The evasion role is essential for all fights in the game and is an expression of the fact that it is no longer about defeating as many opponents as possible in the shortest possible time, but rather about winning in more difficult fights.
Boss fights take longer overall, and are more about attacking at the right moment and knowing when to dodge an ability. The fact that you sometimes need a second or third attempt for a boss seems intentional.
The character becomes noticeably stronger
For all that makes Path of Exile 2 easier for beginners, your character’s progression is something that professionals will enjoy too. With every new item, new milestone on the passive skill tree and every skill the character feels stronger.
This slowly decreases over the levels without real bosses until you are blessed with an upgrade again after killing the next strong enemy.
Changes have also been made in terms of progress. The trials, which provide important upgrades for the character, serve as an example. While they were quite boring in the predecessor, they have received a facelift in PoE 2 and now offer more variety and challenge, while the actual character progression behind them remains almost identical.
There are no real compromises when it comes to loot either. Because you now get gold, opponents drop fewer of the items, especially at the beginning of the game, which you use to upgrade the items themselves and which were used as currency in the previous game.
The progression systems in the game are gradually unlocked and so all players learn how to upgrade their character simply by playing.
Path of Exile 2 starts at exactly the right point
The game is easier for beginners and just as complex for professionals as its predecessor. As a player, you spend less time in menus and more time fighting difficult enemies or learning boss mechanics.
The convenient new functions don’t take anything away from the actual game that made its predecessor good. On the contrary: Path of Exile 2’s progression is simply more enjoyable without being less complex.
PoE 2 plays differently than its predecessor. The game puts more emphasis on cool fights and interesting challenges, while removing points that bothered players in its predecessor.
For newcomers, returning players or even players of competitive games like Diablo 4, getting started with Path of Exile 2 will be much easier. Professionals, on the other hand, will also be able to focus more on the actual game thanks to the new comfort.
PoE2 has mastered the balancing act between easier entry for new players and better fights for professionals, offering both sides more comfort without making any compromises. Path of Exile 2 has just started. You can find all information about the server status and the queues in our live ticker: Path of Exile 2: Live ticker for early access – all information about the server status and queues