Path of Exile
Tavern Talk with Jonathan and Mark about Path of Exile 2
The Interview will be on DarthMicrotransaction’s Twitch Channel, and the show will start on January 3rd at 12:30PM PST. Don’t worry if you’re unable to join us live as Ghazzy will upload the interview to his Youtube Channel.
We’ll be taking questions from Twitch chat so make sure you join in to have your questions answered!
If you missed the interview last week with Kripparrian you can check it out here.
Jonathan is still keeping a close eye on the Path of Exile 2 Subreddit and has answered a lot of questions there already so be sure to check it out!
Path of Exile: Affliction Talent Competition
For this year's talent competition, we will not be accepting written/text based submissions such as poems or short stories. We will also not be accepting AI generated art, including fixing up and editing AI generated art.
Prizes
Top Three Winners
- Path of Exile Art Book
- Signed Atlas Passive Tree Art Print
- Your choice of two Path of Exile T-shirts
- A random Path of Exile Pin
- Chaos Orb Socks
- Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list below)
- Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
- Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)
4-5th Place
- Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt
- A random Path of Exile Pin
- Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list below)
- Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
- Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)
6-10th Place
- A random Path of Exile Pin
- Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
- Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)
11-20th Place
- Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
Runners-Up
- Your choice of a Helmet Effect (a Helmet Effect from the list below)
Microtransaction Prize Pool
List of Armour Sets
- Arcane Armour Pack
- Automaton Armour Pack
- Black Armour Pack
- Bleached Demon King Armour Pack
- Blood Guard Armour Set
- Carnage Armour Pack
- Coldsnap Armour Pack
- Coliseum Armour Pack
- Corsair Armour Set
- Darkprism Armour Pack
- Deicide Armour Pack
- Demon Parasite Armour Set
- Desert Armour Pack
- Dragon Armour Pack
- Elite Armour Pack
- Executioner Armour Pack
- Extinction Armour Set
- Faith Guard Armour Set
- Fallen Angel Armour Pack
- Fire Armour Pack
- Gargoyle Armour Set
- Ghostflame Armour Pack
- Gloom Armour Pack
- Gore Armour Pack
- Gorgon Armour Pack
- Gothic Armour Pack
- Gryffon Armour Pack
- Harpyon Armour Pack
- Heartseeker Armour Pack
- Huntsman Armour Set
- Ice Armour Pack
- Innocence Armour Pack
- Ivory Chaos Armour Pack
- Lightning Armour Pack
- Lunaris Armour Pack
- Mageguard Armour Set
- Malachai Armour Pack
- Merchant Armour Pack
- Miracle Armour Set
- Mystic Armour Set
- Necrotic Armour Pack
- Obsidian Seraph Pack
- Project Armour Pack
- Pure Light Armour Pack
- Purple Crystal Armour Pack
- Purple Pyre Knight Armour Pack
- Pyre Knight Armour Pack
- Radiant Armour Pack
- Raven Armour Pack
- Ringmaster Armour Set
- Scientist Armour Pack
- Seawitch Armour Pack
- Sin Armour Pack
- Sphinx Armour Pack
- Steam-powered Armour Pack
- Stormcaller Armour Pack
- Ultimate Chaos Armour Pack
- Vampiric Armour Pack
- Verdant Armour Pack
- Viper Armour Set
- Warlock Armour Pack
- Wasteland Armour Set
- Wasteland Warrior Armour Pack
- White Armour Pack
- Wrangler Armour Set
List of Portal Effects
- Arcane Portal
- Arcane Voidgate Portal Effect
- Arctic Crystal Portal Effect
- Arctic Portal Effect
- Automaton Portal
- Balefire Portal Effect
- Black Portal Effect
- Corsair Portal
- Daresso Portal Effect
- Darkprism Portal Effect
- Demon King Portal Effect
- Divine Arcane Portal
- Divine Demon King Portal
- Divine Stygian Portal Effect
- Dreadspire Portal Effect
- Fire Portal Effect
- Frost Viking Portal Effect
- Ghostflame Stygian Portal Effect
- Golden Angel Portal
- Gore Portal Effect
- Havenwood Portal
- Huntsman Portal
- Infernal Demon King Portal
- Infernal Stygian Portal Effect
- Innocence Portal
- Kaom Portal Effect
- Kraken Portal Effect
- Legion Portal Effect
- Madcap Portal
- Malachai Portal Effect
- Maraketh Portal
- Miracle Portal
- Myrmidon Portal Effect
- Mystic Portal
- Necrotic Demon King Portal
- Project Portal Effect
- Pure Light Portal Effect
- Ringmaster Portal Effect
- Scientist Portal Effect
- Seraph Portal Effect
- Spectre Portal Effect
- Steam-powered Portal Effect
- Stormcaller Stygian Portal Effect
- Sulphite Portal
- Temple Portal Effect
- Vampiric Portal
- Wasteland Portal
- Wild Portal
List of Helmet Effects
- Abyss Eyes
- Antlers
- Apocalypse Helmet Attachment
- Aquila Crest Helmet Attachment
- Arcane Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
- Arcane Halo
- Arcane Mark of the Phoenix
- Arcane Visage
- Arctic Crown
- Arctic Skull
- Assassin Halo Helmet Attachment
- Assassin Seer Helmet Attachment
- Aureate Halo
- Automaton Halo
- Bent Horns
- Black Headband
- Black Pirate Bandana
- Bleached Skull Helmet
- Blood Guard Helmet Attachment
- Brilliant Crown
- Brilliant Feathers
- Chaos Orb Helmet
- Coliseum Helmet Attachment
- Corrupted Skull
- Cow Skull
- Curved Horns
- Darkprism Helmet Attachment
- Demon King Horns
- Despair Helmet Attachment
- Divine Ice Crown
- Divine Sign
- Divine Skull
- Dragon Mask
- Eye Patch
- Faith Guard Helmet Attachment
- Fiery Eyes
- Fiery Visage
- Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
- Frost Viking Alternate Helmet
- Frost Viking Helmet Attachment
- Ghostflame Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
- Ghostflame Skull
- Glowing Red Eyes
- Gore Skull
- Gorgon Snakes Helmet Attachment
- Guardian Mask
- Harmonious Helmet Attachment
- Harmonious Hood
- Holy Eyes
- Ice Crown
- Ice Horns
- Incursion Hood
- Infernal Skull
- Innocence Laurel Helmet Attachment
- Iron Brand
- Iron Maiden
- Lightning Eyes
- Lightning Skull
- Mark of the Phoenix
- Medusa Snakes
- Misery Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
- Misery Helmet Attachment
- Nightfall Helmet Attachment
- Oriath Helmet Attachment
- Plague Doctor Helmet
- Purple Divine Sign
- Purple Eyes
- Purple Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
- Purple Skull Helmet
- Purple Smoking Hood
- Rapture Helmet Attachment
- Red Headband
- Red Pirate Bandana
- Rose Skull
- Serrated Mohawk
- Sin and Innocence Helmet Attachment
- Sin Talon Helmet Attachment
- Skull Hood
- Smoking Hood
- Spirit Charm
- Steam-powered Skull
- Suffering Helmet Attachment
- Sunrise Helmet Attachment
- Swan Crest Helmet Attachment
- Thorned Skull
- Twilight Helmet Attachment
- Twisted Bone Horns
- Twisted Horns
- Undead Outcast Helmet
- Vaal Orb Helmet
- Wasteland Horns
How to Enter
Just post your submission to this thread to be entered into the competition. It's ideal if your content is easy to consume. A general guide for this is that your submission should take no longer than three minutes to listen to or view. It's permitted to post content that is longer than three minutes but in some cases it may put your submission at a disadvantage if it's significantly difficult to engage with your content.
The winning submissions will be selected based the following criteria:
- How skillfully your talent has been executed.
- How true it remains to the Affliction theme of Path of Exile.
- How compelling or entertaining the submission is.
Conditions
- The competition will run from the time of this post until Wednesday the 31st of January at 5pm NZT (January 30th at 8pm PST). Submissions made after this time will not be counted. We'll post the winners sometime in the following days.
- Any work that is submitted must be your own and must be created after the launch of this competition.
- AI generated art will not be accepted. We reserve the right to disqualify your entry if we believe that it is AI generated.
- Multiple submissions are welcome.
- If you want to create a montage or mash-up of other artists' work or videos, this is permitted as long as it follows all legal guidelines of fair use standards.
Best of luck to everyone who is participating in the competition!
Happy New Year! A 2023 Retrospective
- We launched three expansions: Crucible, The Trial of the Ancestors and Affliction
- We broke last year's concurrent player record of 270,260 with 321,180 players!
- We teased the Sorceress in Path of Exile 2 at Summer Game Fest, then the Monk at the PC Gaming Show shortly after that.
- We held ExileCon 2023, where players from around the world came to New Zealand to celebrate all things Path of Exile.
- We announced that Path of Exile 2 will be a separate game from Path of Exile 1, each with their own cycles.
- We flew to Germany to attend Gamescom, then to Seattle for PAX West to show off the Druid in Path of Exile 2.
- We revealed the Mercenary and announced WASD movement for Path of Exile 2.
- We revamped Breach and Abyss, overhauling how they work and changing almost every Breach and Abyss Unique Item.
- We introduced an auto-battler style game mechanic in Trial of the Ancestors.
- We introduced Tattoos and Omens into the game.
- We added the Forbidden Sanctum into the core game!
- We changed the Chaos Orb stack size from 10 to 20.
- We introduced some QoL to trades, such as holding Alt to see the total currency added to the trade window, and being able to split currency stacks while in a trade.
- We temporarily brought back the Lake of Kalandra and Recombinators in our Blast from the Past event.
- Ebin Ebon Evan Eben learned how to pronounce "attributes".
- Tane vanished from the Atlas. I wonder, is Tane still sane?
- We finally brought back Ultimatum!
- We've continued to finetune the balance of the Ruthless game mode.
- We held our very first Ruthless Solo Self-Found Boss Kill Event, with playlifee claiming first place and designing the Replica Dragonfang's Flight Unique Amulet as a result.
- We held another Boss Kill Event after that, with none other than Ben claiming first prize.
- We overhauled the Saboteur, Pathfinder, Chieftain and Guardian Ascendancies, giving them new tools to build around.
- We added both the Voidborne Reliquary Key and Valdo's Puzzle Box to the game, letting supporters leave their mark in Path of Exile.
- We updated Path of Exile's distance units to work with the Metric system.
- We introduced three new alternate Ascendancies in Affliction.
- We overhauled Skill Gems, giving a heaping ton of them one or more Transfigured versions, enabling more builds and ways to play.
- With the removal of Alternate Gems, we overhauled Heist and buffed all the Heist Base items, like the Simplex Amulet.
- We (kinda) buffed Cleave's radius to +0.1 metres to per 3 Rage.
- We posted news 371 times, with a first time temporary news break before ExileCon 2023.
- We posted approximately 3401 lines of Patch Notes, across 85 patches and hotfixes. We also posted approximately 1898 lines of Patch Notes on Console.
- And finally, we sold 185,132 Weta Pets!
A big thank you to everyone for playing Path of Exile and for your support. Here's to another year!
Weekend Wings and Back Attachment Sale
Need some inspiration for your next look? Check out the screenshot below which features the Pandemonium Wings that are included in this sale, paired with the Pandemonium Armour Set, Pandemonium Hood and DeepWater Weapon.
In case you need points for this sale, we’d recommend checking out our new Core Supporter Packs!
Thank you so much for your support!
Hideout Showcase
Here’s a list of the hideouts featured in the video (.hideout files are available for download)
Crimson Basilica by Max34
Wildwood Trail by Revan_Bane
Lump of Coal by Susihukka5
Knight’s Rest by Synopsis
Crimson Cathedral by Kwinnox
Kripparrian Interviews Jonathan about Path of Exile 2
The Interview will be on Kripparrian's Twitch Channel, Kripparrian will be asking some questions from Twitch Chat, so we hope you join in if you've got a burning question about Path of Exile 2!
Don't forget, Jonathan's quite active in the Path of Exile 2 Subreddit and he's answered a lot of questions there already. Be sure to check it out!
If you're interested in finding out more about Path of Exile 2 and what we've been cooking since the Mercenary reveal, make sure you tune in! See you there!
Development Stories - Creating Affliction Lore
Designing the narrative for Affliction League was an exciting task, in that it was an opportunity to finally delve into multiple mysteries from other leagues. Mechanically, we don't do 'sequel leagues,' so it's always been tough to revisit previous league lore. This time, however, the placement and concept of the dark forest was perfect for touching upon other things we've set up in the past.
The first and most obvious connection is to Harvest league's Lifeforce colors. The initial mechanical concept for the dark forest involved collecting three different types of unknown resources—probably some sort of dust—for three different NPCs. As soon as I heard that, I knew it had to be the three colors we've already established as having to do with plants, growth, and nature on Wraeclast. Luckily, that suggestion stuck, and the artists took it from there. We also included Sacred energy as the color of the wisps helping you, and everything else started to come together from there.
It was pretty clear to me who made the Wildwood, given that it's underground and is heavily forest-themed. The league gained the internal name 'Azmeri' very early on. We also considered an Ezomyte direction, and I know many people are excited to see more of them, but this one wasn't a good fit for that culture. We are definitely eager to find a way to explore the Ezomytes more at some point.
Knowing that this was an Azmeri-themed concept gave clear cues for who the three NPCs might be, and several of the uniques and ascendancy passives flowed from that characterization. Notably, I was excited to delve into Maji lore, given that we briefly mentioned them in other places, but never expanded it in ways players could see. In terms of flavor, we decided on a Celtic theme pretty early on, too. There's a mix of Irish and Scottish inspired language and concepts with consistent alterations, and a few other cultures as well. It was definitely a treat digging into styles of mythos that we don't normally work with.
The King in the Mists was a surprisingly well-formed concept right from the start. Normally, it takes some time to figure out who an antagonist is, and what he might be like. This time, though, much of the league's dark eerieness stemmed from his unique look. We also knew he would be doing rituals and creating creepy totems right from the start. The voice actor, Josh Cramond, absolutely went all out in the recording session, mimicking the King in the Mists' memorable animations and giving the most energetic performance I've ever seen. That was an absolute blast to behold.
Many of the monsters also shared visual aspects with Gruthkul, so there was definitely an intentional connection there. That gave me an opportunity to flesh out more of her story beyond the handful of glyphs that appear in Act 7. Players may have noticed she was far less malevolent than the other gods, and now we get to see a bit more of that tragedy and how it played out.
Ultimately, I'm very happy with how we've integrated the Viridian Wildwood into Wraeclast as we know it. I've had to be very careful in this writeup to not give spoilers, but if anything you see or hear in Affliction League inspires you to wonder, you can bet we thought about it. This content is the most explicitly connected to other leagues we've ever done, as far as I can tell, and it's really exciting to make the overall picture more cohesive. I'm hoping we get to do more like this in the future. Stay tuned!
Happy Holidays! Get a Free Affliction Mystery Box!
To redeem your free Affliction Mystery Box all you need to do is to open the in-game shop! The Mystery Box will be automatically added to your account and you'll find it in your Microtransaction Stash. Please note that visiting the shop on the website does not trigger the free box - it must be accessed from inside the game client.
To receive a free Affliction Mystery Box, your account has to have been created prior to today. It's only possible to get one box per account. The offer is available for PC, PlayStation and Xbox!
If you already own all items from the Affliction Mystery Box, you will get two Midnight Pact Mystery Boxes instead.
The free mystery box will stop being available at 3am on January 8th (PST). Check out the contents of the Affliction Mystery Box in the trailer below.
We hope you're having a great holiday!
Weekend Skill Effects Sale
If you're after a new twist on an old favourite, check out Celestial Raise Zombie Skin combined with the Raise Zombie of Falling Transfigured Gem! Match his look with the Celestial Helmet, Staff, and Weapon Effect, and the Celestial Necrolord Body Armour, Boots, Gloves, and Cloak.
Thanks for your support!
Community Showcase
Headhunter by RouzVega via Twitter(X)/Reddit
Rakiata of the Tasalio Tribe by BenGhoul via Reddit
The Western Forest by WidoXx via Reddit
King in the Mists by SparkoN21 via Reddit
