Path of Exile 2 Return of the Ancients is a colossal overhaul – developer Grinding Gear Games claims it’s the biggest single update for either the action RPG sequel or its predecessor, and I’m inclined to believe them. There are still missing elements that didn’t make the cut, however, and even the sheer size of the reveal couldn’t drown out the cries of “No swords?” Ahead of the showcase, I sat down (digitally) with Game Director Jonathan Rogers to discuss the remaining classes and weapons, how the new endgame Atlas map might evolve, and whether the focus on absent elements bothers him.
“It is what it is,” Rogers responds, “but honestly, I felt much worse about not having endgame updates in 0.4 than I do about not having swords in 0.5.” GGG had promised prior to its launch that the previous Path of Exile 2 update, Last of the Druids, would feature a full rework of the Atlas map, but it wasn’t ready in time. “Not having the endgame stuff in 0.4 was bad because I’m like, ‘this is the game in a state where I know it could be better.'” He’s much happier with what is there now for patch 0.5.
“Whereas not having swords, it’s just like, this is just another piece of content, right?” He expresses a similar feeling for the still-absent PoE 2 classes like the Duelist. “It’s not like we’ve got a shortage of classes, you know what I mean? So I don’t necessarily feel bad about that. As long as there’s nothing in the game that I feel is bad, I’m going to be a lot happier, and they’ll get that stuff eventually, it’s coming – just not quite yet, and that’s fine.”
“Deploying 0.4 sucked, where it was like, ‘Okay, I know the endgame is bad, I need to fix that,’ and yet I didn’t fix it. So that was a much harder swallow.” GGG has already stated its intent for 0.5 to be the last major patch prior to the 1.0 launch, which is set to arrive in late 2026 following the Exilecon event on the weekend of 7-8 November. Rogers told me last year that it was “likely” 1.0 won’t include all 12 classes, so I ask why there’s such a push to step out of early access.
“I want to get it this year – it’s not like it absolutely matters, but the thing I think I was saying at the time is basically, if we can get the endgame into a state where it’s good, that’s the last major challenge beyond getting the campaign done and stuff like that. So assuming that the players are happy with what the endgame we’re delivering here is, it really is the last thing we need to get right before we’re ready to say, ‘we can go to 1.0 now.'”
Rogers does note that the leap to 1.0 will require a lot more balancing, new uniques, and so on, along with the completion of the campaign’s final two acts. Once that’s in place, however, he says, “It’s all just kind of content at that point. There’s no fundamental thing that’s like, ‘the game is badly designed,’ that needs to be addressed before we can do it.” With the completion of the campaign in 1.0, the existing ‘interim acts’ will no longer exist, but you can expect all of their core elements to remain in the endgame in much the same way that they do now.
With so many new systems added, 0.5 might seem intimidating to newer players, especially those enticed by PoE 2’s comparative ‘simplicity’ next to the first game. However, introductions like the endgame quest mechanics and the ability to display build guides directly in-game should work to counteract that. Is Rogers worried that the sheer scale of Return of the Ancients might overwhelm the game’s newly earned audience? “In some ways yes, but in other ways no,” he answers.
“The thing that I think is going to make this a lot more approachable in general is the ‘questification’ of all of this content,” Rogers explains. “It’s going to feel like the endgame is a lot more campaign-like; obviously it’s non-linear, because there are all these different objectives you can do in any order, but if you just want to get through all of these pinnacles, we can let you know exactly what to do to get them. I think it’s a lot more approachable in that way.”
He also notes, “While there are a lot of mechanics here that you could engage with, I feel like each one individually, when you see it, is not so big of a deal.” He thinks the aspect that’s more likely to overwhelm people is figuring out how to go about crafting a best-in-slot item. “How many things would I need to be able to do? That certainly can get quite high. We are trying to restrict that a little bit, making each crafting system a bit more specific in what it does.”
“For example, the Breach Genesis tree – if you’re crafting jewelry, you want to be using it because it’s going to include a lot of stuff you can’t get anywhere else. Whereas if you’re doing Delerium, those items are the ones that you’re going to be using for crafting jewels.” For clarity here, I feel obliged to note the distinction between ‘jewelry’ in the sense of accessories like amulets and rings, and ‘jewels’ the socketable items.
“By restricting each league to crafting specific item slots, it limits the amount of stuff you need to engage with at one time,” Rogers concludes. He adds that a lot of these systems will be more suited to the advanced players who pour hundreds of hours into a single league. “But of course when we’re doing a live stream, we want to show people what’s new, we want people to see the cool things that we’ve got.”
What about the Atlas map getting increasingly busy as more league mechanics are introduced? “It’ll just get more crowded, which is good in my opinion,” Rogers comments. “There’s just more cool stuff.” He notes how Ritual ended up a bit further away from the start than some of the others. “I suspect that as we add more, it’s just going to be more like that.” He says GGG is considering rotating the positions of league zones, pushing more recent inclusions closer to the early endgame, but thinks it’s important that, no matter which direction you go from the start, it isn’t more than “four or five maps” before you run into a quest.
The last thing we discuss is the integrated build guides; possibly the biggest quality-of-life change ever, whether you’re a veteran buildcrafter who wants to easily follow your plan in game, or someone who’s just learning from the experts. Rogers says GGG “tried to build on all the functionality that we thought people might need in terms of notes and level ranges on the UI,” but expects that more features will be rolled in later down the line.
As for importing them, the current method is to manually copy the new ‘build file’ into your game data. Rogers tells me the plan is to also offer an option for build guide sites to implement a “one-click add button that will contact our website and add the build to your account, which will then just appear in your game client without having to screw around with downloading files.” That’ll also be important for anyone on a console. “I believe we’ll have it for 0.5, but we didn’t quite have it ready to show in the live stream,” he remarks.
Path of Exile 0.5 ‘Return of the Ancients launches on Friday May 29. Be sure to check out my full rundown of everything that’s new if you haven’t caught up, or need a more beat-by-beat refresher after how busy the showcase was.
