Path of Exile 2 launched to much fanfare as fans of the first — and players hungry for another Diablo-style experience — flocked to the game. But players quickly discovered that it did not hold your hand. If you die, you’re kicked from the game and lose some experience, plus any loot you haven’t picked up yet. The RPG’s latest patch will address a few pain points, but the developers say “the whole death actually mattering thing is important.”
Director Jonathan Rogers says the game is high risk, high reward. He gave an interview with streamers Darth Microtransaction and GhazzyTV to discuss the patch. Give it a watch, if you’d like — but be aware the video is four hours long.
The developers acknowledge the style of gameplay isn’t for everyone, especially players that dislike sinking a lot of time into something only for it not to count. That’s part of the appeal, Rogers claims. “… we try out all of this pinnacle stuff, make sure it’s something where you have true economic value you have to preserve. It takes time to get there and that matters.”
In other words, Path of Exile 2 wants to make players willing to fight for the rewards, even if they present a challenge. If you die, you lose your chance to explore the map — and that isn’t going to change, as the team says it would open too much opportunity for bad actors to abuse the in-game economy.
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The loss of XP upon death isn’t punishment, according to the devs. If you are constantly dying to enemies, you might be in an area that’s too powerful for you to handle and the penalty could push you to grind your strength on enemies more appropriate to your level. Of course, you could see it as a skill issue, and the developer is telling you to get good.
The team does acknowledge that there are still improvements to be made in the endgame. The current iteration has too many penalties for failure, and that does take away from the overall player experience. Another member of the team said they will continue to tweak the balance and work to bring the endgame to a point that satisfies players and makes the effort feel worthwhile.