Path of Exile 2's game director mentioned that new classes will not be the focus of major patches moving forward. Read on to learn the reason behind their decision and more about their thoughts about the current state of the game.
Path of Exile 2 New Characters Might Not Be Introduced Every Patch
You Can Expect More Ascendancies Instead
During a Q&A session with Path of Exile 2 Game Director Jonathan Rogers, he mentioned that players should not expect new classes in the upcoming patches due to the unpredictability of its development.
When asked about the expectation of a new class for every upcoming patch, he said that the team has learned that classes should not be the focus of a patch, despite wanting to add a new class for every patch. Rogers stated, I would like it if every release would have a class, but I would say that we actually learned something during the production of this cycle, which is that it was a mistake to have a class as a wedge for the development of your expansion.
He mentions that the reason was the tradeoff between having a fixed date with an unguaranteed amount of content for a patch cycle and vice versa. The result of focusing on the Huntress being in the next patch was that the release date had to be moved constantly.
Rogers explained, We have to have the Huntress in the next patch, so therefore, the date had to float, and that meant that this expansion ended up taking a lot longer than what we had hoped.
He adds that he would like it more if the date was fixed rather than what had happened, meaning they can’t make any promises on when the new classes will be released. While I’m very keen to have a class in the next expansion, I’m not going to promise that because that would mean we can’t fix the date anymore,
he added.
Due to what they have experienced in developing Dawn of the Hunt, Rogers explained that the release of classes should not be expected with the patches moving forward. This is because of the unpredictability of how classes are developed and that he expects their players to want to see developments and updates sooner rather than later.
Players really do want to see forward progress, and they don’t want to be waiting six to nine months before they see a big update,
Rogers stated. So I think it’s important that we’re constantly giving them stuff in a reasonably timely manner, so for that reason, the classes are less predictable.
However, all is not lost. Rogers guarantees that additional Ascendancies will be released in every upcoming patch. He also added that he is keen to add even more classes even after Early Access ends. As I said, Ascendancies, we can definitely do; maybe even after release, we continue to add even more classes as I’m certainly keen to add more,
Rogers stated.
Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt Brings More Changes to Endgame
Promising the End to Be A Lot Harder
Alongside the Huntress, the upcoming patch will come with 100+ new skills, support gems, unique gear focused on the midgame and endgame, and more. However, all of these changes are geared towards the fact that Grinding Gear Games (GGG) promises that bosses will be a lot harder. He mentioned that they have to lengthen the amount of time before a character’s power level reaches the point of trivializing the endgame but also reassured that players should be able to reach that height.
There are certainly some things that are going to have to be nerfed because they’re completely trivializing certain mechanics,
Rogers explained. People are getting [to] the point of complete outrageousness a little bit too early,
he added. I think that you need to be able to get to the point of outrageousness at some point, but you don’t want it to be that you get to that point before you even finish your initial climb.
Rogers even added that he was disappointed by how players quickly got through the Pinnacle Bosses. He described his ideal scenario with fighting a Pinnacle Boss, saying that it should be a very difficult fight and that the first player in that league to ever do so should have a hard time fighting it. But the reality was that the boss was defeated within fourteen seconds due to that character’s extremely powerful build.
He hopes that the new overhauled progression and the balance changes will result in a different outcome with how players experience fighting Pinnacle Bosses for the first time. The first time you fight a Pinnacle Boss, it’s going to be a hard fight and crazy. But as you fight the boss more times and you get more items and you get to optimize your build and stuff, you can get to the point where you kill the boss in fourteen seconds. It’s just that it’s not your first experience,
Rogers explained.
Rogers added, Things have kind of gotten a little bit off the rails, in terms of the ability to get power too easily there, and that’s kind of the main thing.
Rogers concluded that the balance changes were solely focused on making the climb to becoming almighty slower, saying, You should always be able to feel powerful and certainly should have that fantasy there, just not right off the bat. So that’s where a lot of our balance changes are focused.
Path of Exile 2 Game Director is Happy With Its Ruthless
Difficulty
Things Aren’t Easier, You Just Got Better
The difficulty of Path of Exile 2’s campaign was a point of contention among players. Some were saying it was too easy, and others were saying it was too difficult. Rogers stated that he was satisfied with the difficulty of the campaign, and he thinks that the opinions of the players will change over time. His team discovered that a lot of the complaints came from players who played through the previous game but had yet to play the current game, which led to them comparing their experiences with both games.
Rogers thinks that they won’t be getting more complaints about the difficulty this time around, saying, I don’t think we’re gonna get nearly as many complaints about it this time, and that’s because once you know how to play, you’re going to find the experience a lot easier.
He does explain if it comes to pass that it isn’t the case, then they would have more information about what needs to change but is optimistic that it won’t be the same this time around.
People are often surprised. A lot of the times what happens is that the second time people play through the game, they will talk about how they (GGG) must have changed the balance, but the actual reality is that they just got better at the game,
Rogers surmised.
