Path of Exile's December PvP Update

We'll be starting our first formal PvP season in December. Each season will feature a variety of different tournaments, ranging from shorter casual events with rapid matchmaking to larger-scale multi-hour tournaments with swiss pairings. We're also planning a type of free-for-all event inspired by the Sarn Arena.

The PvP seasons will last roughly a month each and will feature alternate art unique items as prizes. There are are also the PvP equivalent of Demigod uniques, awarded to the best competitors. The first season will focus around 1v1 level 28 dueling, but will include a few team and no-level-cap events. Later seasons will shift the focus to different types of events.

We've been putting a lot of effort into improving the tools for PvP balance. We want to make sure we can balance skills and damage scaling in a way that doesn't affect the core PvE game. In order to give players the tools to combat various popular builds in the PvP metagame, we are designing unique items that are both very useful for PvP characters but also have some niche uses in PvE (like Dream Fragments).

We typically tease out news on major updates during the month before they are released. However, for this PvP update, we want to have a more transparent process with the community. We'll be posting frequent news updates about progress, balance changes and other improvements to how PvP works. We also plan to involve the PvP community heavily in testing these tournaments on our alpha servers.

Last week, we flew out community member GreenDude to our office in New Zealand and spent three days learning everything we could about how people play PvP in Path of Exile. While we've played it a lot on our internal test servers, it was extremely valuable learning what rules the community prefers, what metagame has developed and what problems they have encountered that need improving. GreenDude has been involved in decisions about every part of PvP, ranging from tournament structure to metagame tools to damage scaling and balance of specific skills.

In addition to the new PvP features, 1.3.0 introduces new challenge leagues. The properties of these challenge leagues will be revealed closer to launch, but they are not PvP focused.

The December 1.3.0 update is at roughly the half-way mark between Forsaken Masters and the 1.4.0 Act Four expansion we'll be releasing early next year.
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Last edited by Chris on Oct 15, 2014, 8:44:28 PM
"
groelle wrote:
my personally biggest question - what league will these tournaments be held on?


The first season will be in Standard and Hardcore (because it's so early into the new challenge leagues). The second season will probably be in the new challenge leagues. It'll vary by season.

The current plan is that Standard players don't compete directly against Hardcore players in the same matches - they have different events in the schedule. Someone could play in both types if they had two sets of characters.
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Last edited by Chris on Oct 15, 2014, 5:36:34 PM
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HegemonyTV wrote:
The lack of High level platform of PvP really is disturbing.
I'm happy for Greendude, but really disappointed in not really considering high level dueling as a part of the pvp competitive engagement.


As mentioned in the original post, there will be some no-level-cap events and future seasons will focus on different types of events.

"
Will passive trees be reseted?


In 1.3.0, yes.
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"
Lordsidro wrote:
@Chris are you going to address the cost/accessibility of acquiring gear? Without that there's no chance at balance.

I was hoping Greendude would express my concerns to you guys about this. Hope it was stressed.


Greendude expressed concerns from a lot of players and we discussed them in a lot of detail.

There are certainly going to be accessibility changes for various types of PvP items. There are many ways to do this, such as creating new Unique items that have mods that are useful for PvP, or potentially adding some PvP mods to master crafting.

(However, because this is an Action RPG, there's always going to be a reason to grind more to get better items. If you want perfect PvP rares, you'll have to play a whole lot.)
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"
Caladaris wrote:
I will never ever understand why they won't improve the queue system at all.
Like this was the main critic for PvP in PoE 1 year ago and it still is today. And, having played recently a bit again, PvP queues look as dead as a year ago.


The queue feels "dead" currently because the current PvP players are a niche part of the community. With the changes we're making (and spotlight we're shining on it), more people will play. Official support, balance and prizes from the developers will keep it interesting and dynamic. This will mean the queues will be more populated and it'll be trivial to get PvP games.

And yes, we'll be trying to make quality of life improvements for the queue so that it's easier to use and more friendly.
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Last edited by Chris on Oct 15, 2014, 6:04:38 PM

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