Path of Exile

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In this news post we'd like to give you a small update regarding the timeline for our next expansion for Path of Exile.

We're currently planning to launch the 3.24 expansion in late March. This means that the ongoing Affliction challenge league will last longer than usual, so if you were planning on completing the Affliction challenges, you have plenty of time to do so. It's also worth mentioning that this time we're not planning to run end-of-league events.

The next expansion's release date as well as new information about Path of Exile 2 will be revealed during the update livestream around the middle of March. Stay tuned!

The Misery Gauntlet starts at 1pm on February 2nd (PST), or Feb 02, 2023 09:00 PM (GMT). The event will last for 10 days. A countdown is available here or on our event calendar.

If you'd like to take this opportunity to test yourself against some of the toughest encounters ever to be seen in Wraeclast and get a chance to win some prizes, check out this announcement for more information.

You can catch exciting moments from the event by checking out Zizaran’s Youtube Channel where Skryah and OMGitsJousis are teaming up to deliver some epic highlights! There will also be live casting on Zizaran’s Twitch Channel.

Good luck to all those participating!

Community streamer Zizaran is back with another 10-day Class Gauntlet Event which starts on February 2nd PST. Racers will level characters and kill challenging bosses and to earn points and compete to find out how each of the classes fare against some of Path of Exile's most difficult encounters. The event will take place in a Hardcore Solo Self-Found Affliction Event League provided by us with a range of dynamic damage and life mods! The prize pool is funded by the community and Zizaran's event partners.

Video: The Gauntlet is back! ...DEADLIER THAN EVER!!

Information, Start Time and How to Join

The following mods active for the event apply to monsters:

Area Level 1-67

• Monsters take 30% less Damage
• Monsters have 30% Increased Damage
• Monsters have 30% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
• Monsters fire 2 Additional Projectiles
• Monsters have 20% Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage
• Monsters penetrate 15% of Elemental Resistances

Area Level 68-72 (White Maps)

• Monsters take 30% less Damage
• Monsters have 30% Increased Damage
• Monsters fire 2 Additional Projectiles

Area Level 73-77 (Yellow Maps)

• Monsters take 40% less Damage
• Monsters have 30% Increased Damage
• Monsters have 60% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
• Monsters fire 2 Additional Projectiles

Area Level 78-84 (Red Maps)

• Monsters take 50% less Damage
• Monsters have 40% Increased Damage
• Monsters have 20% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
• Monsters fire 4 Additional Projectiles
• Monsters have 30% Increased Area of Effect
• Monsters have 20% Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage

Area Level 85-100 (Uber Bosses)

• Monsters take 40% Less Damage
• Monsters have 80% Increased Damage
• Monsters have 30% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
• Monsters fire 2 Additional Projectiles
• Monsters have 30% Increased Area of Effect
• Players are assaulted by Apparitions of Atziri, Queen of the Vaal
• Consume an additional portal on Entry

The Gauntlet will be held as an Event League on PC that is available to all players during the event by clicking "Join" in the bottom right corner of the character select screen.

Players will receive points once per character based on their level, specific boss kills and select Maven's Invitations. Don't forget, to get boss kill points you must submit your kills in the Path of Exile Community Racing Discord which you can join by clicking here.

Start time: Feb 02, 2023 09:00 PM (GMT). The event will last for 10 days. A countdown is available here.

Banned Skills

Similar to the last Gauntlet, this Gauntlet event will have “Banned Skill Gems”. These skills include the use of Arc of Surging, Penance Brand of Dissipation or any Detonate Dead gem (Including Vaal and Transfigured versions) in any way. The use of any of these skills on any character will forfeit your right to claim any part of the prize pool including bounties, flash bounties and the main prize pool. Do not equip the skill gems!

Players that do not wish to compete for the prize pool can play any skill they want. You will still be eligible for raffles.

Portal Limitation Rule

In order to receive Boss Kill Points you must only USE THREE OR LESS PORTALS in order to receive them. Entering a fourth portal will make your submission null. Uber bosses have this tech by default, the rest will be manually done.

Transfigured Gem Rule

In order to receive Boss Kill Points you must use a Transfigured Gem as your primary damage source WHILE completing Boss Kill Point objectives. You may use a regular gem at any other point in time in the game if you so wish.

Prize Pool

The prize pool is crowdfunded by Zizaran's event partners and community streamers! In addition, streamers and their communities will be able to create a bounty with the money they fundraise for the event. Bounties are a custom prize that can be awarded to players for achieving a specified goal in the event. This Gauntlet will also have Flash bounties, which are bounties that will pop up in the Racing Discord during the event! Keep an eye out on their social media for announcements regarding when their fundraisers are taking place and what they will be!

Zizaran's event partners will match donations to the prize pool (up to $25,000).

• The total prize pool minus bounties will be awarded as follows:

  • Rank 1 Overall: 12% Bonus

  • Rank 2 Overall: 4% Bonus

    Witches

    • Top Witch: 8%
    • Second Witch: 4%
    • Third Witch: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

    Shadows

    • Top Shadow: 8%
    • Second Shadow: 4%
    • Third Shadow: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

    Rangers

    • Top Ranger: 8%
    • Second Ranger: 4%
    • Third Ranger: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

    Duelists

    • Top Duelist: 8%
    • Second Duelist: 4%
    • Third Duelist: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

    Marauders

    • Top Marauder: 8%
    • Second Marauder: 4%
    • Third Marauder: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

    Templars

    • Top Templar: 8%
    • Second Templar: 4%
    • Third Templar: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

    Scions

    • Top Scion: 8%
    • Second Scion: 4%
    • Third Scion: Dreadspire Character Effect + Divine Stygian Portal Effect

Random Draw

Leveling your characters to certain thresholds will also make you eligible for the randomly-drawn prizes made up of both merchandise and microtransactions provided by Zizaran's event partners and Grinding Gear Games! The general prizes listed below will be randomly drawn from all appropriately leveled characters except for the Level 90+ Armour Pack prizes, which will be drawn per class. You can gain more than 1 ticket per account for the microtransaction/physical prizes, however you cannot win more than one prize per category below:

Where to Watch

You can catch exciting moments from the event by checking out Zizaran’s Youtube Channel where Skryah and OMGitsJousis are teaming up to deliver some epic highlights!

There will also be live casting on Zizaran’s Twitch Channel. More info on who will be casting to come!

Click here to learn more about joining the event, the rules in place, the point system, prizes, or to contribute to the event.

Special thanks to community members Faderon, MrMadakey, Ultimativ, Bigsil, Skryah, OMGItsJousis and Viyro for their contributions to this event.

Good luck to all those participating!

Last week, game directors Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts sat down with Ghazzy and DarthMicrotransaction to discuss Path of Exile 2 on the Tavern Talk podcast. If you missed seeing it live, check it out in the video below!

Video: Play Video PoE 2 & The Future of PoE 1 - Podcast with Mark & Jonathan ft. @DarthMicrotransaction

Jonathan also did an interview with Kripparrian recently, which you can check out here.

If you have questions about Path of Exile 2, head on over to the Path of Exile 2 Subreddit. Jonathan is keeping a close eye on it and has answered a lot of questions there already, so be sure to check it out!

Tomorrow, Game Director Jonathan Rogers will join Kripparrian live on stream to talk about Path of Exile 2!

The Interview will be on Kripparrian's Twitch Channel, and the show will start on the 27th of December at 2:30PM PST, or Dec 28, 2023 0:30 AM (GMT) in your local time.

Kripparrian will be asking some questions from Twitch Chat, so we hope you join in if you've got a burning question about Path of Exile 2!

Don't forget, Jonathan's quite active in the Path of Exile 2 Subreddit and he's answered a lot of questions there already. Be sure to check it out!

If you're interested in finding out more about Path of Exile 2 and what we've been cooking since the Mercenary reveal, make sure you tune in! See you there!

Our Senior Narrative Designer, Matt, has taken a moment to reflect on writing for Affliction League. Here are his thoughts.

Designing the narrative for Affliction League was an exciting task, in that it was an opportunity to finally delve into multiple mysteries from other leagues. Mechanically, we don't do 'sequel leagues,' so it's always been tough to revisit previous league lore. This time, however, the placement and concept of the dark forest was perfect for touching upon other things we've set up in the past.

The first and most obvious connection is to Harvest league's Lifeforce colors. The initial mechanical concept for the dark forest involved collecting three different types of unknown resources—probably some sort of dust—for three different NPCs. As soon as I heard that, I knew it had to be the three colors we've already established as having to do with plants, growth, and nature on Wraeclast. Luckily, that suggestion stuck, and the artists took it from there. We also included Sacred energy as the color of the wisps helping you, and everything else started to come together from there.

It was pretty clear to me who made the Wildwood, given that it's underground and is heavily forest-themed. The league gained the internal name 'Azmeri' very early on. We also considered an Ezomyte direction, and I know many people are excited to see more of them, but this one wasn't a good fit for that culture. We are definitely eager to find a way to explore the Ezomytes more at some point.

Knowing that this was an Azmeri-themed concept gave clear cues for who the three NPCs might be, and several of the uniques and ascendancy passives flowed from that characterization. Notably, I was excited to delve into Maji lore, given that we briefly mentioned them in other places, but never expanded it in ways players could see. In terms of flavor, we decided on a Celtic theme pretty early on, too. There's a mix of Irish and Scottish inspired language and concepts with consistent alterations, and a few other cultures as well. It was definitely a treat digging into styles of mythos that we don't normally work with.

The King in the Mists was a surprisingly well-formed concept right from the start. Normally, it takes some time to figure out who an antagonist is, and what he might be like. This time, though, much of the league's dark eerieness stemmed from his unique look. We also knew he would be doing rituals and creating creepy totems right from the start. The voice actor, Josh Cramond, absolutely went all out in the recording session, mimicking the King in the Mists' memorable animations and giving the most energetic performance I've ever seen. That was an absolute blast to behold.

Many of the monsters also shared visual aspects with Gruthkul, so there was definitely an intentional connection there. That gave me an opportunity to flesh out more of her story beyond the handful of glyphs that appear in Act 7. Players may have noticed she was far less malevolent than the other gods, and now we get to see a bit more of that tragedy and how it played out.

Ultimately, I'm very happy with how we've integrated the Viridian Wildwood into Wraeclast as we know it. I've had to be very careful in this writeup to not give spoilers, but if anything you see or hear in Affliction League inspires you to wonder, you can bet we thought about it. This content is the most explicitly connected to other leagues we've ever done, as far as I can tell, and it's really exciting to make the overall picture more cohesive. I'm hoping we get to do more like this in the future. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: MYSTERY BOX REDEMPTION MIGHT TAKE AROUND 20 MINUTES.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, Exiles! As is tradition, we're offering everyone a free Affliction Mystery Box!

To redeem your free Affliction Mystery Box all you need to do is to open the in-game shop! The Mystery Box will be automatically added to your account and you'll find it in your Microtransaction Stash. Please note that visiting the shop on the website does not trigger the free box - it must be accessed from inside the game client.

To receive a free Affliction Mystery Box, your account has to have been created prior to today. It's only possible to get one box per account. The offer is available for PC, PlayStation and Xbox!

If you already own all items from the Affliction Mystery Box, you will get two Midnight Pact Mystery Boxes instead.

The free mystery box will stop being available at Jan 08, 2024 10:59 PM (GMT) i.e. 3am on January 8th (PST). Check out the contents of the Affliction Mystery Box in the trailer below.

Video: What's in the Affliction Mystery Box?

In today's news post, we're going to share some concept art of the Azmeri Wanderers as well as the Affliction Challenge Rewards! Check them out below.

Primal Huntress

Warden of Eaves

Breaker of Oaths

Night Lotus Armour Set

In case you missed them, we recently put out some wallpapers of the Azmeri Wanderers. Check them out here!

This weekend we are running a Stash Tab Sale! You can view the full selection of discounted tabs here. The Stash Tab sale ends at Dec 19, 2023 0:00 AM (GMT) (this is displayed in your local time).

If you're missing points for the sale, be sure to check out the new Core Supporter Packs here!

Thanks for your support!

A few weeks ago PC Gamer visited our studio to talk about Path of Exile 2 and showcased some of the footage during their PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted livestream. Check out the full version of the interview below!

By the way, Jonathan will be keeping an eye on the Path of Exile 2 subreddit to answer your questions. Feel free to create threads there!

Video: Path of Exile 2 Developer Interview

Something moves in the mists… And the Azmeri Wanderers need your help to hunt it down! In today's news post we have high resolution wallpapers you can use to show your support for our new friends inhabiting the Viridian Wildwood. Check them out!

We've put together versions of these wallpapers in 1920x1080, 2560x1040, and 3840x2160, all of which you can download here.