Predictions for ExileCon/PoE2

So because I'm sick and bloody tired of seeing literally nothing but "waaah waah the patch is bad!" on the front page...let's try something else. What do you think we're gonna see in ExileCon the Second in a couple of days? I guarantee it's gonna be more than just "here's a rehash of all the stuff we already revealed two/four years ago", there's no way they don't have entirely brand new shit to show off. What do y'all think it'll be?

A few notions I've had:

1.) An entirely new cast of exiles.
back in 2019 and 2021, they mostly just used updated animation rigs for the exiles we already know. Marauder, Duelist, Ranger, etcetera. I think the new game's going to do away with these entirely and have whole new characters. The broad archetypes will remain - there'll be a Strength class, a Strength/Dex class,a Dex/Int class, so on and so forth, but the Aggorat trailer hinted strongly that we won't be seeing the same batch of losers in PoE2. We're gonna get entirely new archetypes, with wholly new characterizations and voicelines. They'll be broadly compatible with the old Ascendancies - the Duelist Ascendancies will work on the STR/DEX PoE2 character, to get that backwards compatibility they mentioned before - but we're gonna get an entirely new pack of reprobates to play with. The updated rigs will be used for the old characters so they're compliant with the new systems, but they were always going to be stand-ins for the real PoE2 crew.

2.) Skill Revamp 2.0
They've had four years to iterate on what they revealed in ExileCOn the First; I don't think the "skill gems have their own sockets now huzzah" bit is going to be the end of their fixes to the skill system. But given how their design was progressing in 2021 - remember, every spear in the game offers its own unique skills and the entire crossbow weapon class is built around the bow providing its core skill functionality - I'm expecting further changes to how skills will work in PoE2. Especially given...

3.) Skilltree 2.0
I'm remembering a comment in ExileCon The First that Chris made; "we're not ready to talk about the skill tree yet". I know PoE's gargantuan skill tree is one of its most iconic features (what're we up to by now, 1500+ nodes?), but people once said that PoE's socketing-gems-in-your-gear skill system was one of its most iconic features, too. I'm betting we're gonna see some major overhaul to how the skill tree works in PoE2. What form that overhaul will take, I cannot imagine, but I would not at all be surprised to see the skilltree take a radical new form in PoE2.

4.) New Endgame Entirely
Path 1 and Path 2 are going to have a single, unified endgame. Nobody ever actually said it was going to be the Poe 1 endgame. Maps are going to stay of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some big, fundamental shifts in how endgame works. Not just a new set of endgame bosses, like we rotated away from Shaper, then Shaper/Elder, then Elderslayers, and now Eldritch Monsters, but a real change to the shape of endgame itself. A new way to engage with 'The Endgame' in Path of Exile entirely. Again, what that will be I do not know, but I wouild not be surprised at all to see it.

ANything else anybody's expecting? Anyone have a clue to more specific things we might see? Anybody disagree with my own guesses (with interesting reasoning behind it and not just because you don't like me, heh)? Let's have some fun for a little while, ne?

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1453R wrote:

ANything else anybody's expecting?

An apology for what they did to standard and a decades worth of savings.

Sigh.

All right.

Care to explain that one? I don't recall any big blows to Standard league of late.

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1453R wrote:

the Aggorat trailer hinted strongly that we won't be seeing the same batch of losers in PoE2.

Yeah, that character model looked different. But remember the PoE 2 character selection screen teased at ExileCon 2019? That selection screen had the same classes as now. I think maybe out character will change appearance based on ascendancies or something in those lines.

I've given up on expectations. I've let myself be hyped too many times just to be heartbroken.

I am expecting a hot mess when it comes to balance, though. New ascendancies, probably a few new skills, a new progression curve and a new socket system where you can run around with many six-links? Yeah, they're not going to have all that balanced from the get-go, and we will have to help them with that.

But I'm also expecting a better progression curve through the new acts. Not 'easier', but better. I'm also expecting A LOT(!!!) of whining, because a lot will be different, and we all know how gamers react to 'different'.

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1453R wrote:

Sigh.

All right.

Care to explain that one? I don't recall any big blows to Standard league of late.

Probably the Exalt-to-Divine change.

It's hard to imagen players will rejoice over PoE 2 changes, when they can't let go of a currency change.

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1453R wrote:

Sigh.

All right.

Care to explain that one? I don't recall any big blows to Standard league of late.

I edited my post for clarity, I'd love to support GGG right now but i can't for that reason and a few other recent decisions that i don't want to get into here as they're being discussed plenty elsewhere.

On topic i predict a historic player surge then a steep falloff because the resources for player education basically don't exist and the ones that do such as the new wiki are full of toxic terms against standard players for some reason so i wouldn't have any faith in its wealth of curated information.

we're on track for a really gross outcome if GGG doesn't step up their game on learning resources and quelling this apparent hatred for anyone "not as good as you" mindset.. Had that for 10+ years with hardcore/standard and it never went anywhere. (Ruthless)

Edit: i'm excited for PoE2 and i do hope GGG does extremely well, I can also still be furious with them :P

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Phrazz wrote:

Yeah, that character model looked different. But remember the PoE 2 character selection screen teased at ExileCon 2019? That selection screen had the same classes as now. I think maybe out character will change appearance based on ascendancies or something in those lines.

I've given up on expectations. I've let myself be hyped too many times just to be heartbroken.

I am expecting a hot mess when it comes to balance, though. New ascendancies, probably a few new skills, a new progression curve and a new socket system where you can run around with many six-links? Yeah, they're not going to have all that balanced from the get-go, and we will have to help them with that.

But I'm also expecting a better progression curve through the new acts. Not 'easier', but better. I'm also expecting A LOT(!!!) of whining, because a lot will be different, and we all know how gamers react to 'different'.

I would not put it past Grinding Gear to've used the old exiles as a decoy/placeholder in that character select screen. We'll see the "Hanging" select screen, but I'm still willing to bet we'll get different characters in it. Makes a lot more sense to me than the character just morphing into a completely different person based on Ascendancy, on top of it being less work for Grinding Gear. Seven new characters is easier than nineteen, after all.

As for balance, it's absolutely gonna be the Wild West for a patch or three. I'm honestly deeply looking forward to it, the game's at its most exciting for me when nobody has a clue how anything works anymore and everybody's discovering it as they go along. Given the giant revamp I'm expecting for the skill tree - after all, even if they don't change its fundamental behavior they have to find room on it for dozens of new clusters to accomodate new weapon types and new base skill archetypes like shapeshifting - even the bedrock knowledge most people rely on to make Generically Good Builds is gonna be up in the air. Nobody's gonna have a good goddamn clue what they're doing and it's gonna be glorious.

And yeah, I'm super excited for a new base campaign. PoE1's campaign is definitely showing its age, and the new acts from Fall of Oriath were burdened by having to accomodate the ancient 1-3 as their foundation. Grinding Gear giving themselves as close to free reign as they can get without culling PoE1 entirely is gonna be good. I'm not gonna say I'll never run the old campaign again, nostalgia's always a thing, but I anticipate most of my time will definitely be in the new hotness.

As for the whining? Whatever. It's scientifically impossible for Grinding Gear to win in this cesspit. No matter what they do, no matter how awesome a new change is, people on this board never do anything but incessantly (and usually baselessly) kvetch and complain about it. Gets super frustrating to read sometimes, but honestly I doubt I'll have any time to spare for the forums here much longer. After all, Baldur's Gate 3 hits on the 3rd and then Armored Core 6 hits on the 25th. Not gonna lie, as much as I was totally hoping to play whatever 3.22 turned out to be? Path of Exile's gonna have to work real hard to break me out of Baldur's Gate, and I've been a total Armored Core fangirl since I was, like...twelve.

Doesn't mean I'm not excited to see what we get on Friday, but yeah. I've got backup plans if Grinding Gear manages to disappoint.

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1453R wrote:

As for the whining? Whatever. It's scientifically impossible for Grinding Gear to win in this cesspit.

I saved up for 10 years for an item with no signals this would happen, If you call asking them to apologize for that whining then i wish you the best luck on your darkest day exile.

Safe Travels.

Symphony, buddy? Your currency gripe has nothing to do with Path of Exile 2 or ExileCon The Second. Take it to another thread, please?

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1453R wrote:

Symphony, buddy? Your currency gripe has nothing to do with Path of Exile 2 or ExileCon The Second. Take it to another thread, please?

Matter of opinion, exile con is for everyone and not just about new stuff but also the state of things and a public forum where they do get sometimes asked candid questions.

Given the scope of the damage caused i don't find it unreasonable that they address it at exilecon or get asked about it.

Okay. Lemme make it plainer: I don't care about the currency problem and it's not what I started this thread to talk about. It doesn't belong here, whether or not you believe it belongs at ExileCon. Go start your own thread.