The wheels of Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile 2 info machine are moving, and we are here for it! Earlier this week, I met with devs to preview the big development update livestream that aired today as well as ask a few questions to glean more tidbits about the games. First up: Path of Exile 2. (Who said Path of Exile would get top billing just because it came first?)
The star of the show for POE2 was the Ranger class. Game Director Jonathan Rogers showed off gameplay and many skills, from lightning lashes to poison plants, demonstrating the unique take the sequel has on this established class. Rogers also announced that beta will be delayed until later in the year, and the alpha will begin in June instead.
Alpha before beta
GGG was pretty gutsy to announce a beta date of June 7th, 2024, at last year’s ExileCon. Although the studio is known for its timely development, this seemed a bit precise for a project of the scope of POE2. And it looks like that date will be missed — for beta. Rogers explained that the delay is not due to the content not being done; rather it is because the content won’t be as polished as the devs would deem appropriate for a beta. So the content will be there, just not at the quality devs want. Instead, GGG’s plan is to pivot to offering an alpha in June so fans will still be able to get in and play as planned.
This June alpha will be akin to an early access, according to Rogers. He noted that players will hopefully understand that there will changes and balance passes during this test period, and then the beta itself will be delayed until later in 2024.
“Because the beta is going to cover almost all of the content of the game as well as in a state that we would consider as finished as possible, the beta is at least some kind of launch,” he says. The full launch is set for 2025, though we have no harder date than that.
Like Legolas, but for Wraeclast
As noted, the star of this development update livestream was the Ranger class. Wait, what? That class isn’t new! No, it isn’t. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve a deep-dive of its own. Admitting that recently GGG has only been showing off new classes, Rogers told me, “One thing I’ve been really excited about is to go back and apply all the new ideas and capabilities we have to our old classes too”. And the goal of Ranger was to make it match up with the high agility and speed of the dream of fast bow play: Tolkien’s Legolas.
To start, all basic arrows as well as arrow rain skills can be shot while the Ranger is moving, albeit with a movement penalty. On top of that, there are skills that allow the Ranger to vault around the battlefield, showing off impressive acrobatics. One is Frost Escape, which lets the Ranger leap backwards while shooting a freezing arrow on the ground that — not surprisingly — freezes mobs. Another is Electrocuting Rob. Just jump over an enemy and shoot the rod into them from behind. Once the rod is there, any lightning damage the mob takes will build up a special Electrocute gauge; when the gauge is full, the monster is totally suppressed and an easy kill. Rogers explained that if mobs die before players have a chance to electrocute them, they can use the support gem Neural Overload: If the skill it’s attached too puts the mob over 50% of the electrocution bar, it will instantly trigger.
For rain skills, there’s the standard Rain of Arrows. However, now it can also have Frenzy charges. Frenzy can extend the duration to unleash many more arrows. To charge up Frenzy, players can use Sniper’s Mark on an enemy, and when the snipe lands, the next Rain of Arrows will be extended.
A life of lightning and poison
Other Skills highlighted throughout the Ranger gameplay trailer are mainly broken into two main types: elemental electricity and poison. Lightning Rod and Stormcaller Arrow (which emphasize AoE and single-target, respectively) channel electricity, while Vine Arrow, Poison Bloom Arrow, Poison Gas Arrow, and Plague Bearer channel poison.
Lightning Rod shoots an arrow into the air that sticks into the ground, doing a small dose of AoE damage. However, the trick is that these rods also attract any arcs of lightning that are nearby causing them to explode again. Players can stack up a bunch of Lightning Rods in the ground to bounce lightning between them for a significant boost in damage.
Stormcaller Arrow sticks the arrow in the enemy instead of the ground. It’s function is to guild a massive lightning strike from the sky straight to the mob! If the mob is shocked, it will then take an additional 30% damage from all other sources.
Vine Arrow creates a small plant where the arrow lands on the ground, a plant that shoots out vines to ensnare and slow enemies as well as poison them. Rogers explained that although Rangers normally can only over stack one poison on a monster at a time, players can stack as much poison as they want on the plant! So shooting more poison onto the plant will transfer that to all the monsters caught in its clutches.
Poison Bloom Arrow creates exploding plant pustule all over the ground. Rogers demonstrated shooting Poinosburst arrows into those plants to make them more powerful, blowing up faster and causing more damage. Another way to make the plants grow better is the Poison Gas Arrow; using this nourishes the plants and also continuously poisons any mobs within it. (Note: The poison gas clouds can be detonated by any explosions, so some Explosion Arrows may be quite fun to keep with you.)
Plague Bearer, which uses spirit, creates a counter that increases each time a mob is poisoned. Players can create a huge explosion by detonating the counter, and the higher the counter, the more the damage.
The exceptions to the electricity and poison categories are Snipe and Barrage. Snipe is a shot that produces a critical strike as well as a small AoE. Barrage, on the other hand, is an empowering skill that enhances the next attack to fire three times. The latter is one of the few skills in POE2 that have a rare cooldown.
Rogers showed off more support gems and coupled them with various skill gems to demonstrate the might of the combinations. Catch all the details in the Ranger reveal trailer above.
Old is new again
Admittedly, Ranger is one of my favorite classes in Path of Exile. I knew I’d be playing this class once POE 2 came out. Now, however, after watching the skills in action, I am even more eager to get to play! She’s fast, she’s relentless, and she lights up the battlefield. I think I’ll even try out a poison build, something I haven’t delved into much. I am really looking forward to that June alpha and experiencing Wraeclast in a new way with a new story, on an old-but-new-again Ranger.
What if your world changed every three months? What would you do differently? Path of Exile does, and MOP’s MJ Guthrie explores and experiences each new incarnation in Wandering Wraeclast. Join us biweekly for a look into each new challenge league and world expansion — and see whether MJ can finally reach the end of one world before it ends!
