Last week Grinding Gear Games had expounded on, among other things, a new name and initial details for Path of Exile’s new hard mode option known as Ruthless. A follow-up dev blog provides even more information about Ruthless, outlining its mechanics and intention.
Described as “a mode about friction, tension and anticipation,” Ruthless works similarly to other modes like Hardcore or Solo Self-found, applying new constraints to the experience in order to give players a new challenge and differing sense of accomplishment if players so choose. “Ruthless is a mode that re-imagines traditional understanding of where Path of Exile’s endgame is. It redefines the entire game as the endgame. Even reaching higher campaign acts, let alone maps, is an achievement,” the post explains.
This mode will make item scarcity the norm in that players will be undergeared for content on purpose, which means that finding a good drop could become game-changing. In addition, item crafting will be limited, gems can’t be purchased from vendors, and a compounding XP penalty will be applied to characters that are level 68 and above.
GGG admits in the opening that Ruthless will not be for everyone and also stresses that its creation is not indicative of where the base game is headed nor is it depleting resources from the dev team to make other content. If all of the above sounds like fun to you, then there’s lots of information to absorb until the mode goes live with 3.20 in December.
