Path of Exile 2 was first announced nearly three years ago. Grinding Gear Games labeled it as a new campaign rather than an entirely new game, though it will feature many improvements such as a full engine overhaul.
Path of Exile 2 is a new seven-act storyline that is available alongside the original Path of Exile 1 campaign. Both the old and new storyline lead to the same shared Atlas endgame. Path of Exile 2 retains all expansion content that has been created over the last six years and introduces a new skill system, ascendancy classes, engine improvements, and more. Since the death of Kitava, society has been slowly rebuilding. Ambitious men rise to fill the void and their thirst for power is once again corrupting Wraeclast. Path of Exile 2’s characters are a new set of Exiles who fall into the same class archetypes as those in the original game. As such, they can pick from a set of 19 new Ascendancy Classes that differ from the old ones that are still available in the Path of Exile 1 campaign. Path of Exile 2 introduces the next generation of Path of Exile’s iconic skill system. Support Gems are now socketed directly into Skill Gems, removing many of the frustrations present in the old system while maintaining all the previous depth. It’s now possible to six-link every skill your character uses. The entire progression of armour and weapons has been redone from start to finish, alongside entirely new character models and animations. All of your old microtransactions are still compatible.
Meanwhile, the developers are still updating the current game. The new expansion is titled Lake of Kalandra and will launch on August 19th for PC and Mac and on August 24th for PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Fans can expect a new Challenge League, new content in the Atlas endgame, four new gems, 14 new unique items, 100+ buffed existing uniques, revamps to Harvest, Beyond and Archnemesis, a variety of balance changes, and much more, as detailed here.
