On April 8th, Grinding Gear Games will hold a livestream revealing Path of Exile: Ultimatum and more details about the hyped, long-anticipated Path of Exile 2. The 3.14 expansion will be showcased via live gameplay, a full trailer, discussion of its mechanics, potential special encounters, and all else it might entail. New footage of Path of Exile 2 is likely to spice things up during the stream, though, as never before seen details haven't emerged since late 2019.

Path of Exile: Ultimatum was teased on March 24th, and it seems to be another Breach-like League that will fit into the game nicely as adjustments are made and changes unfold with the upcoming patch. The expansion is going to be Vaal-themed and it's likely to follow in the footsteps of its kin League Incursion, so time travel might be involved. Some players spotted a character in the teaser trailer that looks a lot like Doryani, a thaumaturgist whose experiments seem to have caused some major breakthrough in Path of Exile's lore, or major disruption.

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As for the game's sequel, it's unclear whether new gameplay will be shown or further details are finally going to be disclosed. Considering it is going to be almost exactly one year and a half since it was initially revealed it's not unlikely that GGG will have some ace up their sleeve for April 8th's streaming session.

Path of Exile: Ultimatum - Teaser Breakdown

Considering how the Exiles were able to travel two thousand years into the past thanks to the help of Alva Valai, one of the masters alongside other iconic characters from other Leagues, Ultimatum could feature time travel once again. Another option is that corruption may have spread throughout the lands of Wraeclast and Oriath, making the obelisk-like statues appearing in the video hold an area where players have to deal with them and the repercussions. In fact, the obelisks seem to encircle an area in red and black smoke. This could either mean that Exiles are going to be trapped inside until all enemies are slain or, alternatively, the obelisks could each come with different modifiers that apply to the enclosed area they are in.

As mentioned above, Doryani could be the focus for this Path of Exile League, expanding the lore surrounding his mysterious experiments and telling players more about the Vaal civilization. The statues appear to have some different characteristics, which could mean there are going to be several diverse encounters, much like there were in Path of Exile: Ritual and Path of Exile: Heist. Furthermore, these artefacts of the past are seen emerging from the ground in the teaser trailer. This could be relevant information, as players might trigger the encounters simply by stepping into the round-shaped red mist. The mist seems to engulf all enemies within the radius of the obelisks, probably a visual heritage of the area modifiers bestowed upon them.

The teaser trailer also shows the inside of a structure that looks like a shrine or temple of sorts. The ambience seems ominously suggesting a boss encounter, likely facing Doryani himself. Again, this League seems to share similarities with the other, most recent Vaal-themed expansion - Incursion. As a matter of fact, the temporal incursions took place in small rooms deep within the Temple of Atzoatl, an ever-changing dungeon that players could shape by traveling to the past. The shrine from Ultimatum could also be a tomb - Doryani's tomb, specifically. The trailer ends, at last, with the logo for Path of Exile 2 slowly fading in.

Path of Exile 2 - What to Expect

Path Of Exile 2 Featured Image

Recently, the Path of Exile community was especially upset about the way GGG is going to handle the so-called "Harvest-crafting" in the original Path of Exile. Essentially, Harvest was a past League that dealt with one of the issues gamers have been complaining about for ages—namely, how players could craft items—sparking a lot of discussion when the nerf announcement came in.

This is relevant because Path of Exile 2 should, by all means, have deterministic crafting methods if it is to be successful in its niche. Of course, crafting doesn't need to become too easy, making strong, game-breaking items too accessible for the general audience. Rather, Path of Exile 2 should retain the complexity its predecessor has, while also building on its foundations and further expand on the possibilities expert crafters want to have.

The promised new footage of Path of Exile 2 will give fans the chance to witness how its development is going, while also teasing what may come further down the line. Among the changes that were already announced, there are nineteen brand-new Ascendancy classes for the base set of Exiles that will be available to select from when having a fresh start. Another big change is coming in the form of the game's engine being completely reworked and improved, allowing for better graphic quality and - likely - game performance stability.

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Finally, GGG also announced it will radically alter the way sockets currently work. As of now, they are item-dependent and color-specific. With Path of Exile 2, this will change, and sockets will become Skill-Gem-specific, giving players much more space to experiment with build variety.

The livestream announcement is plausibly going to reveal spicy new features, adding to the information gathered thus far about the upcoming new game. Among the things that most assuredly won't make it into the stream are potential changes to the current Path of Exile trading system, guild system, PvP system, and party play. These are all issues that the original Path of Exile has, and the community has been consistently vocal about them over the years, thus making them promising adjustments for its sequel. GGG definitely need to address these problems when launching their next endeavor but an announcement on the subject remains speculation at this point.

Ultimately, fans can and should expect to see exclusive footage regarding new boss fights, both past and present areas explored, and some major gameplay changes among the clips that will be shown on April 8th. Seeing how the trend for the prequel has always been to focus reveals around outstanding boss encounters and some of the brand-new Path of Exile 2 mechanics introduced, the upcoming livestream is not likely to break the habit.

Conclusions on What to Expect from PoE: Ultimatum and PoE 2

Path Of Exile 2 Promo Trailer Screenshot Logo

Path of Exile: Ultimatum sounds like a seemingly fun, not overly-complicated League that will focus on rewarding massive fights and likely an end-boss fight where all the juicy loot of the expansion is going to come from. Following in the wake of one of the announcements from late last year, it seems likely that Ultimatum will be smaller in scope if compared to other Leagues—like Heist, for example—in order to prevent feature-creep that could worsen players' experience.

As for Path of Exile 2, gamers can expect a more polished product that will likely be built upon for years, ever-improving and ever-growing. All the features the game could display are merely speculation on what has been revealed or confirmed up to now, and expectations can only build from there. That is why it is likely that the game will try and correct its predecessor's flaws in creative ways, and that's why GGG will probably try and stay more true to its own vision for the game.

Multiple times it has stated it wanted PoE to initially be a grittier game, and multiple times it has stated how it wants the game to be slower in pace rather than a grinding fiesta where players clear maps in a matter of seconds. This is not confirmed to be the case, yet it's easy to see how Grinding Gear Games could try and seize the opportunity to make it happen in Path of Exile 2.

Path Of Exile is available to play on iOS, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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