Last week, I got to take an early peek at Path of Exile‘s upcoming War For The Atlas growth, set to launch free for all on December eighth. As spectacular because it seems, it’s geared closely in the direction of the extra hardcore finish of the playerbase: those that have conquered the primary story and starvation for extra problem.
For the much less skilled or devoted amongst us, there’s a sizable chunk of latest content material on the way in which centered across the Abyss league, their newest game-changing seasonal occasion. Grinding Gear Games have simply introduced exactly what the new league is all about.
Building on the theme that Wraeclast is probably the most absurdly haunted continent in any fantasy setting, the Abyss league is all about coping with anonymous undead horrors from a time lengthy forgotten which can be solely now burrowing as much as the floor. What this implies is that you just’ll incessantly encounter large cracks within the floor – sure, the put up title is a pun. Getting near them will trigger the hole to open additional, letting a swarm of latest (or reskinned) Abyssal monsters out.
Killing them shortly sufficient and following the road of the crack will see it unfold additional throughout the map, main you into additional encounters. This repeats till the crack both seals itself, or leads you to a deep chasm, from which you’ll must cope with more and more harmful waves of monsters. Clear all of them out earlier than the (hidden) time restrict expires and the crack continues to unfold, finally main you in the direction of a closing, probably rewarding encounter.
Among the rewards you will get for finishing these chains of fight encounters are a brand new class of jewel, which will be slotted into both your passive talent tree’s impartial slots, or into particular abyssal tools, most of which might solely be gained from going deeper underground. Later within the sport, these chasms can open up additional nonetheless, turning into entrances to Abyss sub-dungeons filled with harmful enemies and capped off with a boss struggle towards a Lich. Kill the boney git and also you’ll have an opportunity of receiving one of many distinctive Abyss artifact gadgets.
If any of this sounds acquainted to veteran gamers, that’s as a result of the Abyss league is basically constructing on the muse set by the previous fan-favourite Breach league, whereby gamers rampaged via increasing extra-dimensional rifts. The longer they stored up the killing, the longer the rift stayed open and the more durable the monsters bought.
During our chat concerning the War For The Atlas growth, Path of Exile producer Chris Wilson talked a bit about how threat/reward techniques like this have grow to be particularly fashionable, and Abyss will construct on what they realized with Breach by forcing gamers right into a extra aggressive and reckless playstyle, navigating the map shortly and risking stumbling into extra unplanned encounters if they need the very best rewards. It’s like a slot machine that’s actively attempting to beat you to dying with each spin of the reels.
If nothing else, the Abyss league ought to provide you with one thing recent to do in your strategy to the expanded endgame. On that word, Grinding Gear launched footage of one of many new endgame bosses, seen above. Looks like a troublesome struggle with a nasty quicksand mechanic seemingly forcing fixed motion lest gamers be overwhelmed by scorpions and possibly even drown. It’s a complicated wanting struggle. Those delay by the relative simplicity of the early bosses can count on this type of factor as commonplace in a while within the sport.
You’ll must roll a brand new character to get into the Abyss league as soon as it launches on December eighth, however this’ll put you on a recent leaderboard, with a complete new set of achievements to chase, with a number of milestones rewarding you with everlasting beauty upgrades. Once the league ends (three+ months later, almost definitely), all characters might be transferred again to plain mode, together with the whole lot of their stashed loot.
