For those out of context, in roughly 6 hours from now
Path of Exile, an action RPG that
Does Things Right™, is about to be expanded with a huge new act, a ton of smaller-scale content additions, a plethora of fixes and balance adjustments, and of course the new ladder season (the patch notes
span over 12500 words).
Having played the closed beta for the expansion, I can vouch that it completely changes a lot of the game mechanics, most importantly netcode that lead to frequent and annoying, sometimes deadly, desyncs. The expansion uses deterministic lockstep if your latency is sufficiently low, which turns fights based on probability and preemption into those based skill and reaction, which makes a lot of things viable that were previously shunned. The new final boss wouldn't have been possible to beat on Hardcore mode without this improvement.
I will be playing the Tempest (temporary Hardcore) league at launch; I believe Kriole, rogueyoshi, and some other people from these forums will join in as well.
For those completely unfamiliar with the game, Path of Exile is an ARPG from 2013, initially conceived as a spiritual successor to Diablo 2 back when Diablo 3 was still in the works. The core focus of the game is build diversity, custom endgame (craftable map system), and exploration of gear/skill/passive tree synergies, of which there are nearly infinite amounts. It's created and maintained by an independent New Zealand studio Grinding Gear Games. The game is entirely free to play, does not force you into supporting it in any way, and is supported by ethical microtransactions that don't influence gameplay nor provide any significant advantages. Much like Diablo 3, PoE requires constant server connection since the server doesn't trust client with anything important in order to prevent cheating. This seems appropriate as the game has ladders, regular speedrun-like racing events, and other progression-based competitions with prizes (physical goods and in-game cosmetics/items). It's also really well-designed, with later areas appearing truly grotesque and unnerving (
rated R™, and for a reason). Lastly, the developers have been open, active, and eager to communicate with the community, and the community pays back by creating third-party convenience tools and buying expensive supporter packs. Some of the iconic packs have included an ability to design new items and immortalize oneself in the game in different means.
