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Path of Exile unholsters the banhammer for cheaters
The team behind Path of Exile has been pretty forgiving up to this point. Players have been a bit more commonly warned that there will be penalties if they're cheating. But that's over now. The latest race season has finished, and players who were found to have cheated have been given a grand total of no rewards even if they were technically eligible. Nearly 4,000 players will log in to find a warning to disable any cheats they have running before they get banned. From this point forward, any incidents with cheating software will result in a ban, end of discussion. This is true even if the player in question argues that the cheat was being used for quality-of-life purposes; those issues will be addressed in the future and don't justify cheating. Players are reminded that they are allowed to run tools that don't require the client to be running and single-action hotkeys without a problem, so don't worry about being punished just for having Fraps in the background. Just... don't cheat.
Path of Exile holding PvP invitational this weekend
To conclude Path of Exile's first PvP season, Grinding Gear is holding the game's first invitational tournament this weekend. The PvP invitational will take place over two days, with the European tournament on Saturday, January 17th, and the North American tournament on Sunday, January 18th. Sixteen players will compete in each invitational to win various prizes from Razer and Karma Koin. Following the invitational, Path of Exile will begin (pardon the pun) gearing up for PvP season two, which is slated to begin in "early February." The studio said that the second season will contain improvements as suggested by the community. [Source: Grinding Gear Games press release]
Path of Exile Update 1.3 goes live with PvP revamp
Big things are afoot at Path of Exile. The OARPG released the much-anticipated Update 1.3 on Saturday, and with it, heralded the beginning of tournament season one. The update contains challenge leagues, a new forsaken master, a comprehensive PvP revamp, and tons of additional skills. Due to a slew of changes to passive skills, every character in the game has also been treated to a free optional passive respec. Since Update 1.3 is such a PvP-heavy patch, the devs have posted a PvP Manifesto that explains their purpose and reasons behind balance and damage scaling.
Path of Exile Update 1.3 will start tournament season one
A massive update for Path of Exile is a little over a week away, and when it arrives, it will bring joy, goodwill, and a walloping as the first season of tournaments commences. There will be a lot of choices to consider when partaking in the tournament activities, too. Path of Exile will boast both European and American seasons with both standard and hardcore events. There will be free-for-all matches, blitz events, capture the flag, and weekend Swiss matchmaking rounds. Winners will have a shot at gaining alternate alt pieces for their characters. Update 1.3 has a lot of other goodies for fans, including new Torment and Bloodlines challenge leagues. If you want to get an advance look at the Torment league, check out the video after the break!
Path of Exile plans a massive PvP update for patch 1.3
Path of Exile focuses each of its major updates around a certain element of play, and the next patch is no exception. For the 1.3 update, the development team is focusing on massively expanding and improving PvP. The patch will contain new challenge leagues (one of which is shown off in a video just past the cut), new items, and a passive skill tree improvement, but that's small time compared to the huge changes coming for PvP fans. Tournaments and PvP seasons are both being introduced, with the first season containing an alternate art item as a prize. There's also a new PvP master being added to the game, allowing you to clear your daily quests via PvP. Last but most certainly not least, players will have the option of creating PvP-only characters that start out at level 28, although they'll still have to hunt down their equipment on other characters. It's a big update, and it's currently scheduled to hit the live servers for the game on December 12th.
Path of Exile now accepting Karma Koins
Do you need an alternate way to make purchases in Path of Exile? Yesterday, Grinding Gear Games declared to the world at large that it would also be accepting Karma Koins as payment. These are basically point cards that you can pick up from a variety of retailers for $10 to $50 each. As an incentive for players to try out the Karma Koin system, Path of Exile will give out a Voidgate Portal effect for everyone who uses a card. Karma Koin claims to donate 1% of sales to charities, including one that brings drinking water to families in Cambodia. [Thanks to Ville Uusitalo for the tip!]
Path of Exile video reveals the shocking truth behind Update 1.2.4
This week Path of Exile will get a substantial content upgrade to version 1.2.4, and we've got a preview video to share with you that covers its highlights. One of the big additions with 1.2.4 is an electrifying Lightning Tendrils, along with new store options and the Herald of Thunder. The patch will be dropping on Wednesday, at which time the team will also post the Race Season Nine schedule. You can watch the video after the jump!
Path of Exile shows off a prototype Grandmaster battle
The Hall of Grandmasters in Path of Exile, the home of characters that have ascended beyond the mortal realm, will be a place for players to go and admire the best of the best. And by "admire" I of course mean "kill." A new video has been released by the developers showing an early prototype match between a Grandmaster and a player character, with the former having a combat style best described as "what players do, taken to 11." Of course, this is just an early prototype, as the finished version is supposed to feature players fighting against several of these foes at once, complete with jets of flame roasting characters from every conceivable angle. You can check out the video just past the break; there's still no release date for this feature, but the developers are happy with how it's been turning out.
Path of Exile boasts 7 million registrations, 154k peak concurrency
New Zealand studio Grinding Gear Games has announced today that Path of Exile's Taiwanese release and second expansion have pushed to the game to seven million total registered players. The studio claims that Forsaken Masters, August's expansion, has been "extremely well-received" and led to a peak of 154,000 concurrent players. A new patch for the F2P OARPG will deploy early next week; it is expected to include new cosmetic pets, tweaks to missions and skills, and new maps designed by supporters.
Path of Exile preps new flame effect and Taiwan patches
Have you long wanted to summon demonic flame from your fingertips in Path of Exile? You'll get your chance in the game's 1.2.2 patch; it's being added as a new microtransaction spell effect. The developers are also rolling the game's latest mini-expansion, Forsaken Masters, out to the Taiwanese servers as well, launching it before the game's first mini-expansion. It's a more beginner-friendly update, so it makes more sense to launch it first. This all comes courtesy of the game's recent mini-news roundup, covering several small but relevant points of interest. Other updates include discussions being held on the game's next race event, which will probably be significantly different from prior events as the team wishes to clearly distinguish between races meant for hardcore or more casual players. Master/Grandmaster supporter art packs have also begun the process of shipping, with several more prepared for the mail now. Check out the full post for a few more details, or just check out that demonic flame effect in a video past the cut.
Path of Exile unveils more of the Hall of the Grandmasters
Is your character in Path of Exile the greatest of all time? Do throngs of people spontaneously assemble around her to sing Eye of the Tiger when she's just walking down the hall to the kitchen? More specifically, did you purchase the Grandmaster Founder Pack for the game? Then you can be immortalized in the Hall of the Grandmasters, a unique map canonizing player characters whilst pitting everyone against these champions. The development team has recently posted screenshots of the map still under development in addition to some planning details. Players will be able to challenge specific hallways within the Hall of the Grandmasters, which pit players against several random grandmasters who must be beaten to continue onward. This allows the developers to continue expanding as more grandmasters are added in the future. Check out the full thread for more details and preview shots of the map under development. The team has also posted two new skill effect microtransactions; the videos showing them in action are below.
Path of Exile launches Forsaken Masters
If you've been following Path of Exile news at all, you know that Forsaken Masters is set to shake up a fair amount of the game with its addition of masters, hideouts, crafting changes, new challenge leagues, and so forth. But did you realize that you can start exploring all of that right now? It's live! Well, maybe you can't explore it right now, you might be at work. But once you get home. The biggest addition is the eponymous masters, who will show up randomly throughout the game world in search of players willing to aid their personal missions. Earning their trust will unlock access to their hideouts, crafting facilities, and special item rewards. Players can also take part in the new challenge leagues or just enjoy reduced mana costs across the board; they're all in place now, providing new entertainment to veterans and new players alike. [Source: Grinding Gear Games press release]
Massively Exclusive: Previewing Path of Exile's Tora, Master of the Hunt
The newest expansion to Path of Exile is all about the eponymous Masters -- their goals, their attitudes, and what they can teach the player. Tora is fairly straightforward in all of the above. She is all about the hunt, taking out the monsters that surround Wraeclast, and in her own words, she wants to root out the corruption that has taken root in her world now, before it does any further harm to the natural balance. I had a chance to speak with producer Chris Wilson about Tora and the expansion as a whole the other day, and he happily shared details both about Tora herself and one of the new challenge leagues that will be going live with the expansion on August 20th. Hop on past the break to see Tora's video introduction and to learn more about what players can expect from the huntress, the challenge league, and the expansion in general.
Meet Haku, one of Path of Exile's new Forsaken Masters
The titular feature of the upcoming Forsaken Masters update for Path of Exile comes in the form of seven notable NPCs who have special tasks -- and rewards -- for the players. Each master is willing to train players and bestow upon them special hideout decorations, hideout tilesets, and crafting options. Yesterday the team unveiled the third Forsaken Master, Haku the Armormaster. Haku is an armormaster who wants you to do a bit of ghostbusting while recovering an ancient spirit that's near and dear to his heart. We've got a quick video featuring the Master and his insane missions after the break!
Path of Exile developers explain the systems behind Forsaken Masters
If you're a fan of Path of Exile, you've probably already digested the preview information about the game's next major update, Forsaken Masters. The latest post by the developers is meant not to introduce the concepts but to explain how the various systems of the update are supposed to work. In short, the idea is to create content that rewards both constant players and occasional logins, with the former obviously getting the lion's share of the bonuses. For example, the various Masters whom players will be courting feature reputation tracks that can be increased in two different ways. Players can get a single daily mission from Masters in towns, but Masters can also show up randomly in endgame maps. The daily mission provides the most reputation, but players who play a lot of the endgame will pick up lots of repeatable endgame missions that add up to a substantial boost. Check out the full post to see how the hideouts and crafting systems will work and what players can expect when the update goes live this month.
Path of Exile announces Forsaken Masters, its second major update
You aren't the best around in Path of Exile. To be the best, you need someone even better to teach you. You need a master. Maybe even a lost master, which is the premise of the game's second major update, Forsaken Masters. This update will give players seven different eponymous masters to train under, each of whom will make different requests of players and offer different lessons as players improve their reputation. That's not all the update will offer when it goes live, though. Players will be able to craft their own customized hideouts upon reaching enough reputation with a given Master, allowing them to craft their own little town. There are also new items, revamped passive skills, rebalances of existing content, and new challenge leagues to enjoy. Players will be able to start taking on these new adventures when the update drops on August 20th. Then you can start really being the best around. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Path of Exile Supporter Packs are about to disappear
If you love Path of Exile but haven't converted that support into monetary form yet... well, that's fine, the game is free-to-play. But you're running out of time to take advantage of the Supporter Packs that were introduced as part of the game's launch. The packs will be officially discontinued very shortly, so if you haven't grabbed one yet, now's the time to do so. The official announcement notes that you will be able to arrange a payment plan and/or upgrade your pack, but you need to set that in motion before the packs are gone for good, not after. So if you've been loving the game and want to buy a little power boost... do it now. You're running out of time.
Path of Exile comic books hint at upcoming expansion
We all know that you haven't made it as a video game unless you're immortalized in a comic book. Path of Exile has joined that very select club as it announced today that it will be the focus of an official comic book mini-series. The four upcoming Path of Exile graphic novels will be based on the lore of the game and penned by Dynamite Entertainment. The comics are slated for some time this summer and will be 22 pages apiece, with a compilation release in early 2015. So other than the cool factor, why should players care? Well, not only will the comics feature a lead-in to the game's unannounced expansion, but each issue will have codes for in-game goodies such as cosmetics.
Perfect World's Arc expanding to include Path of Exile and APB
Perfect World is making a strong play to establish Arc as a vital digital platform for gamers. The company announced today that Arc will be expanding to include several titles outside of the PWE brotherhood, including Path of Exile and APB: Reloaded. The announcement of Arc's embrace of third-party developers comes with the platform's transition to "fully live" status. PWE CEO Alan Chen hopes that this will make Arc a one-stop gaming experience: "Our goal is to make Arc the premiere destination for the best free-to-play online games for both our players and partners, and to achieve this by growing the platform with new games, a constant stream of content, and features specifically designed for the PC gaming audience."
Path of Exile's Sacrifice of the Vaal expansion lands today
Get your mouse-clicking fingers ready because today developer Grinding Gear Games releases Sacrifice of the Vaal, a mini-expansion for online roguelike Path of Exile, the first of the game's promised triannual updates. Expect a showdown with the Queen of the Vaal, new skill gems, new Vaal-themed areas, a free-for-all PvP mode, and new leagues that dare players to undertake specific challenges before the timer runs out. GGG reminds players that the first 50 folks to defeat the Queen in each of the new challenge leagues will receive an exclusive Vaal effect, so go get your murderin' gear on. We've tucked the expansion's official trailer after the break in case you missed it.
