After the launch of S14, the online number of this dark game has broken a new high. Is it suitable for entering or returning to the pit? On January 16, the new season of Path of Exile was launched on the PC platform, and the console version was also launched the following week. For nearly ten years, I have been playing Path of Exile intermittently. Steam alone counted 500 hours. Every time a new season comes online, I will return to experience new content. There are still several old players like me in Game Informer.

Through the brand new season of exorcism ceremony and new content such as the sage, the developer Grinding Gear Games has brought the top ARPG final game experience, but some aspects of the game framework are still slightly rough. During the whole weekend after the launch of the season, I basically never left the keyboard and trained the Necromancer to level 85, but for me, this was just the beginning of the new season. That's right, level 85, I played that weekend... for a long time. Below I will quickly sort out the new content of the exorcism ritual, the alien world, and the Path of Exile itself.

Answer Your Prayers

With the launch of the exorcism season, players have more choices when facing the loot. Although there has always been an equipment trading function, I personally don't like it. I still prefer to use my own equipment. I will even turn on the Lone Wolf Mode (SSF), and completely close the trading and team functions to play stand-alone. Unfortunately, the Lone Wolf mode cannot provide equipment for friends through the guild warehouse, so I still have to play the standard mode in the end. Rather than collecting a bunch of Chaos Orbs and then directly redeeming them for powerful equipment, I still prefer to collect equipment along the way.

Through the exorcism ceremony, players can obtain a variety of powerful equipment and advanced currency, which gives players more autonomy and makes the construction of genres (BD) more convenient. Nowadays, you no longer need to silently pray to drop suitable items. Now you can choose what you want and get them through your own efforts in several maps.

Players can collect graces in various areas and exchange them for items. Fancy a powerful item but shy in the bag? It's ok! You can delay the item you want, keep it in the follow-up area, and buy it again when you see it at a lower price next time. And there is no limit on the number of times of delay, you can keep an item until the price is reasonable enough to buy it.

I got the endless clothes in the early stage by this method. This is a chest equipment with 6 holes and 6 companies, which can put all colors of gems, which greatly improves the early stage. Of course, it also has shortcomings. The white robe is a veritable whiteboard without any attributes, so it can be replaced with other equipment in the late game.

In short, the point is that every new area is full of interesting options. After choosing the equipment and currency to be exchanged, each location becomes more interesting. The ceremony provides players with a controllable growth path, and adds a touch of certainty to this random world in a clever and efficient way. Players can choose the fancy items in each area, and leave the too expensive things behind to reward the days of completely seeing their faces are gone. Props such as Exalted Orbs or high-grade oiled amulets may appear in the ritual shop, so it will still bring some surprises. It is commendable that risks and rewards are added while ensuring the overall randomness of the game.

Draw a Route

Alien World is the final stage system of Path of Exile, the system is built around the collection and modification of the map. You can find different map props and gradually complete the exploration to enrich your alien world. But it is much more than that simple. The maps in the game have the same rarity as other items, and players can consume items to change their effects. Got the blue magic map? Upgrade it to a rare yellow map and change its affix.

When using the scarab when opening the map, players can also add the scarab affix to the map to obtain various effects such as increased loot, increased drop rate, and greater battle. Want some excitement? The Val Orb can randomly modify all the effects of the map, but what can come out depends entirely on luck.

Modifying the map and increasing the rarity will give you the opportunity to transform the world of the map into a playground rich in loot. However, repeated attempts are the key to success. There are many kinds of random attributes that can be given to the map, from the number of monsters to the drop rate of items. In the following screenshots of the game, you can see a lot of affixes in the upper right corner, but if you really move it, you can make even more crazy maps.

The exploratory of the alien world has been greatly improved in the new season, thanks to the addition of the virtuous master. She will follow the players all the way during their travels in other worlds, and even enter boss battles, throwing fireballs, debuffs or doing other things at the players outside the screen, trying to kill the players (these effects and affixes take effect at the same time). In the end, the player will also get the opportunity to confront the virtuous master.

In addition, a new talent tree has been added in the new season, which can add additional effects to alien maps. But before facing the sage, players still need to explore hundreds of maps and hunt dangerous bosses in other worlds as always. Alien is the most in-depth and interesting endgame system in the current ARPG, and now there are new content to add to the icing on the cake, which makes people very happy.

Too Many Test Sites

The new season certainly brings interesting new mechanisms, but the barriers to getting started in Path of Exile are now very high, and it is difficult for novice players to quickly understand. There are hundreds of interrelated game mechanics in the game. After the player completes the previous game content and enters another world, it is easy to be overwhelmed by a large amount of information.

For many years, the backpack management of Path of Exile has always been a difficult problem. Even if a special warehouse page was added later, it still didn't help. Many of the content of the past season was directly added to the game itself after the end of the season, adding a lot of random encounters and content to the game. But on the other hand, the hundreds of currencies left over from the past not only occupy a large amount of space in backpacks and warehouses, but also make people feel confused by Monk Zhang Er.

There are so many kinds of currencies, it is difficult for novices to distinguish between the expensive and the inferior. How can they know the value of fragments or holy oil? In each journey, the backpack space is limited and there are too many things to pick up. The backpack space has become an important resource. Various other systems and mechanisms such as destiny cards and abyss gems are quite complicated, and there are only few hints in the game, and new players are struggling.

Of course, you can check information online or use filters and other tools in the game, but players have to master too much content such as aliens, BD, passive skills, sublimation skill trees, move linkage, etc., such requirements are too high. Now the content of Path of Exile is extremely rich and in-depth, and I hope these two points can be maintained. But the most important thing is to provide simple and efficient information, perhaps to simplify the hundreds of currencies. I hope Grinding Gear Games can integrate part of the system in Path of Exile 2 (or version 4.0), or provide more backpack space.

Finger Cramps

Another area that needs to be improved is that some systems in the past need to be cleaned up. It is true that the blue blood bottle and the functional potion are standard in ARPG games. However, in Path of Exile, my red and blue bottles are almost unstoppable. Playing Path of Exile for a few hours is a great test of the opponent's muscles. The frequency of operation makes even the stalkers in World of Warcraft shameless. Such repeated output to the number keys makes it difficult for nerves and hands to resist. I'm not saying that the potion was completely deleted, but the frequency of using the bottle is too high.

Path of Exile also has several trial mazes for unlocking sublimation points. Sublimation is similar to transfer, and it is a powerful system that can determine BD's thinking. However, now forcing players to explore complex mazes and avoid traps around corridors does not seem very tempting. Many years ago, when the maze was the final content of the game, it was reasonable to do so, but to this day, the trial of the maze has become a trivial task.

Speaking of trivial work, I also know that many skills and poe items are related to missions, but I feel that there is really no need to play the main line again every season. It takes a lot of time to play all the 10 chapters of the main line. I know that the production team likes the story on the continent of Valkrath, but after watching the main line five or six times, I really don’t want to deal with the tongs of the King of the Sea. , Let me go straight to the picture.

Never Stop

The content updates of Path of Exile sometimes don't suit my appetite. For example, I didn't have much fun in the two seasons of Gulin Manor and Indiana Jones. The exorcism ritual adds some controllability to the game, so that you still have the excitement when you get a new drop, but you don't have to look at luck. Alien is the best part of the game, and the addition of the sage is the icing on the cake, which also proves that Path of Exile will continue to iterate and expand the content of the final game, and the future can be expected. Although the game is a bit outdated in some aspects, as long as you take the time to understand the many mechanisms accumulated over the years, the new season is a good time to enter or return to the pit.