Pitch: Ideas for Endgame and Continuous Play Mechanics in Path of Exile 2

A Dynamic Campaign Experience:

One possible change to the formula of Path of Exile 2 could be a dynamically scaling campaign storyline that adjusts content to match the player's level. This concept departs from the static design of Path of Exile 1, where players can farm easier content to overlevel and overpower campaign encounters (harcore). By scaling the campaign to the player’s level, every encounter would maintain its intended challenge, ensuring that players engage with mechanics and strategies as they progress.

The dynamic scaling approach offers several key benefits:

1. Increased Challenge: Players must remain engaged with the campaign content rather than relying on out-leveling it, promoting skillful play and careful decision-making.

2. Rewarding Completion: First-time completion of major campaign milestones and events becomes significantly more satisfying, as overcoming these challenges will require true mastery and preparation.

3. Controlled Gameplay Pacing: Developers can more effectively manage the difficulty curve and introduce mechanics in a way that promotes slower, more deliberate gameplay, aligning with Path of Exile 2's stated design goals.

Reintroducing Delve as Supplemental Progression

To fill the gap for players who hit a difficulty wall in the campaign, a revamped delve system could be reintroduced early in the progression. In Path of Exile 1, delve provided an alternative form of content that scaled endlessly and offered unique rewards. For Path of Exile 2, delve could serve as a supplemental progression mechanic accessible as early as Act 2. This would allow players to:

1. Farm for upgrades and currency in procedurally generated content while they strategize how to overcome difficult campaign challenges.

2. Experiment with builds in a lower-risk environment that still provides meaningful progression.

3. Engage with a system that rewards depth exploration and adaptation to varied encounter types.

Early Mapping Integration

Mapping has historically been an endgame mechanic in Path of Exile, but introducing it earlier—potentially as early as Act 3—could fundamentally reshape the mid-game experience. Early maps would serve as both a way to grind for gear upgrades and an opportunity to acclimate players to the mapping system before they reach the endgame. This approach would:

1. Smooth the transition from campaign to endgame by familiarizing players with map modifiers and strategies earlier in their journey.

2. Provide an additional, scalable content layer for players who want to deviate from the main storyline temporarily.

3. Incentivize exploration and experimentation with builds outside of the linear campaign structure.

Evolving the Ascendancy System

In Path of Exile 1, the ascendancy system is unlocked through the Trials of Ascendancy and the Labyrinth, which require players to engage with content separate from the campaign. For Path of Exile 2, the ascendancy system could be fully integrated into the scaled and more challenging campaign experience. Instead of isolated trials, players would face significant, campaign-based challenges to unlock their ascendancy points:

1. Class-Specific Trials: Tailored encounters or mini-bosses that challenge the strengths and weaknesses of each class. For example, a Marauder might face a trial that tests tanking and melee endurance, while a Witch might encounter puzzles or mechanics that require mastery of ranged spells.

2. Pinnacle Ascendancy Bosses: The final two ascendancy points could be gated behind a pinnacle-tier boss encounter toward the end of the campaign. This would make completing the ascendancy tree feel like a monumental achievement, in line with the player’s overall progression.

3. Trial of Chaos and Trial of Sekemas: These existing challenges could evolve into non-ascendancy-based modes, offering additional opportunities for players to test their builds and earn unique rewards.


A Rewarding and Replayable Experience

By integrating these changes, Path of Exile 2 would offer a more cohesive and rewarding gameplay loop. Players would:

1. Face a meaningful and challenging campaign where every step of progression feels earned.

2. Have access to supplemental content (delve and early maps) to grind for improvements without trivializing the core storyline.

3. Experience an ascendancy system that feels integral to their journey rather than a detached secondary mechanic.

4. Engage with a mid-game and endgame designed for continuous replayability, ensuring Path of Exile 2 maintains the series’ hallmark depth and longevity.

These ideas are designed to make Path of Exile 2 a more engaging, dynamic, and balanced experience while staying true to the franchise's identity. By implementing these changes, GGG could elevate the sequel’s early game and endgame design to unprecedented heights.


Pinnacle Delve and Mapping Content Tied to the Campaign

To create a seamless transition between the campaign and endgame, Path of Exile 2 could integrate pinnacle Delve and Mapping content into the conclusion of the storyline, tying all major endgame activities to the narrative. By doing so, players would experience a cohesive progression that connects the campaign’s resolution with the deeper challenges of endgame exploration. This would also introduce robust new systems such as Pinnacle Atlas and Delve skill trees to deepen player engagement and customization.

Thematic Integration of Delve and Mapping

The final campaign boss could act as the gateway to unlocking advanced Delve and Mapping systems, making these activities feel like a direct continuation of the story rather than isolated mechanics. After defeating the final boss, players might gain access to:

Pinnacle Delve Layers: These deeper levels of Delve would reflect the aftermath of the campaign’s climax, revealing hidden consequences or secrets tied to the story. These layers could feature new biomes, unique enemies, and high-stakes encounters that require advanced builds to conquer. Rewards would scale accordingly, offering rare crafting materials, exclusive items, and thematic upgrades.

Pinnacle Atlas Mapping: The campaign finale could also unlock a new section of the Atlas, featuring high-tier maps that are thematically tied to the final boss or major events of the campaign. These maps would present tougher modifiers and mechanics, challenging players to adapt their builds and strategies.

Introduction of Atlas and Delve Skill Trees

To enrich the endgame experience and provide meaningful long-term progression, players could unlock specialized skill trees for both Mapping and Delve upon completing the campaign. These trees would allow players to customize their approach to each system:

Atlas Skill Tree: Players could allocate points to tailor their Mapping experience, choosing bonuses such as increased rewards, improved map drop rates, or enhanced difficulty for greater loot. Special nodes might unlock unique map types or bosses tied to the campaign’s narrative.

Delve Skill Tree: Similarly, Delve could feature a skill tree that allows players to specialize in different aspects of the mechanic, such as increased sulphite gain, deeper Delve scaling, unique biome encounters, or crafting bonuses. Players could design their Delve progression to match their preferred playstyle, whether that’s resource farming, crafting, or exploring narrative-driven content.

Gradual Endgame Onboarding

To ensure accessibility, the advanced Mapping and Delve content could be introduced gradually:

Post-Campaign Delve: After completing the campaign, players could start with mid-tier Delve layers, gradually progressing to pinnacle depths as they acquire stronger gear and complete additional challenges.

Map Device Enhancements: The campaign’s final boss could drop an upgraded Map Device, allowing access to Pinnacle Atlas maps and modifiers. Early mapping systems introduced during Acts 3 and 4 would help players acclimate to the mechanics, ensuring they’re prepared for high-tier encounters.

Unified Narrative and Endgame Progression

Integrating pinnacle Mapping and Delve content into the campaign ensures a unified progression that ties all major systems together. This approach offers several benefits:

1. Narrative Consistency: Players feel their achievements in the campaign directly influence their ability to access and succeed in endgame content. Thematically linked Delve layers and Atlas maps make the transition feel seamless.

2. Player Agency: The skill trees for both Mapping and Delve provide significant customization, allowing players to adapt their endgame experience to their preferences and build strengths.

3. Endgame Depth: Advanced Mapping and Delve mechanics tied to the storyline create a richer, more immersive endgame experience, encouraging continuous exploration and engagement.

By tying pinnacle Delve and Atlas systems to the campaign and introducing skill trees for each, Path of Exile 2 could offer a deeply rewarding and interconnected progression model. This would enhance the game’s narrative cohesion, improve player investment, and create a more engaging and personalized endgame experience.

Evolving Early Mapping and Delve Experience in Path of Exile 2

An evolving early Mapping and Delve experience could provide players with a dynamic and engaging way to interact with endgame systems as they progress through the campaign. By introducing these systems early and tying their evolution to key campaign milestones, the game would offer a sense of discovery and progression while maintaining narrative cohesion. This approach would ensure that players are continually introduced to new mechanics, biomes, regions, and encounters, keeping their experience fresh and rewarding.

Act-Based Evolution of Mapping and Delve

Act 2: Introduction to Delve Mechanics

Narrative Context: Players uncover remnants of an ancient network of tunnels corrupted by dark energies. Niko or a similar character introduces the concept of sulphite and its use in powering a crawler for exploration.
Early Mechanics: Initially, Delve is limited to shallow depths with straightforward encounters and basic biomes (e.g., rocky caverns or abandoned mines). Players learn about sulphite collection, light management, and basic crafting rewards.

Rewards: Early Delve provides crafting materials, basic gear upgrades, and currency items, encouraging players to experiment with builds.

Act 3: Early Mapping Integration

Narrative Context: The player gains access to the first version of the Map Device through a quest tied to discovering fragments of a lost Atlas. These early maps connect to smaller, contained regions, offering players a taste of mapping mechanics.

Early Mapping Mechanics: The initial maps are simple, with limited modifiers and smaller layouts. Players are introduced to basic Atlas mechanics, such as map tiers and scaling difficulty.

Regions and Encounters: Maps feature biomes thematically tied to Act 3, such as overgrown ruins or haunted battlegrounds. Bosses and enemies reflect the campaign’s themes, offering a cohesive experience.

Act 4: Expanding Delve Depths and Map Regions

Narrative Context: As the campaign reaches its midpoint, players discover new sources of sulphite and unlock deeper levels of Delve, revealing more challenging biomes such as fungal caverns or icy tunnels.

New Mechanics: Players encounter additional mechanics such as fractured walls requiring dynamite, abyssal enemies that spawn mobs, and resource nodes for crafting and item upgrades.

Mapping Expansion: New map regions open, introducing map modifiers and mid-tier challenges. These regions could include scorched wastelands or corrupted temples, building on the narrative themes of Act 4.

Act 5: Evolving Encounters and Mechanics

Narrative Context: The storyline introduces catastrophic events that destabilize existing regions, leading to new map layouts and dynamic encounters.

Delve Evolution: Players gain access to volatile biomes such as lava fields or toxic swamps. The encounters become more complex, requiring better resource management and strategy.

Mapping Evolution: Players unlock map regions tied to the narrative’s escalating stakes, such as war-torn cities or reality-shifting landscapes. Map bosses become more intricate, introducing mechanics that foreshadow endgame challenges.

Act 6: Preparing for Endgame

Narrative Context: The campaign finale destabilizes the Atlas and Delve networks, revealing pinnacle regions and biomes tied to the endgame.

Pinnacle Mapping: Players unlock regions of the Atlas tied to the final campaign boss, featuring high-tier maps with complex modifiers. These maps foreshadow the themes and difficulty of endgame mapping.

Pinnacle Delve: The deepest layers of Delve become accessible, introducing unique biomes such as void-scarred tunnels or areas dominated by eldritch corruption. These layers contain exclusive crafting materials and lore that tie into the game’s overarching narrative.


Key Features of the Evolving Experience

1. Mechanic Scaling: Both Delve and Mapping start with simple mechanics and progressively add complexity. This ensures that players learn the systems naturally and feel prepared for more challenging content later.

2. Biome Diversity: Each new act introduces biomes and regions tied to the campaign’s events, creating a sense of progression and discovery. Players feel as though their actions in the story directly impact the world around them.

3. Dynamic Encounters: Encounters in both Delve and Mapping grow more intricate over time, requiring players to adapt their strategies. For example, early Delve might involve basic mob swarms, while later depths introduce time-limited objectives or puzzle-like mechanics.

4. Tied Progression: Unlocking new Delve depths and Atlas regions is directly tied to campaign progression. This encourages players to engage with both systems as part of their natural journey, rather than viewing them as separate from the main game.


Benefits of an Evolving System

By tying Delve and Mapping mechanics to the campaign’s progression, Path of Exile 2 can offer a more immersive and rewarding experience. Players will feel a stronger connection between the storyline and endgame systems, ensuring that both casual and hardcore players are consistently engaged. This dynamic approach keeps content fresh, introduces mechanics at a manageable pace, and reinforces the sense of discovery that defines the Path of Exile experience.

Interesting ideas! I wish GGG would read them and think about it.

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Dunno, I don't like delve. But your ideas are more creative than anything GGG has put out in the past months nonetheless. So semi+?

Ggg has spoke out in interviews against auto-scaming enemies.

Poe1 has never been a game with challenge.
Poe2 is only barely a gameplay challenge for 1-2 acts.

I think its safe to say that POE1/2 are games won in the passive tree and loot casino, and we shouldnt expect them to ever really have gameplay challenge. This is also true in Warframe and Diablo, where a moderate understanding of builds make massively overpowering content very easy.

Its a sad realization for me, because like the OP, i prefer games with challenge to mindless one button screen clearing... But the reality is that any game with XP and RNG loot is going to struggle to create gameplay challengew.

Any balancing the devs do is against some character power level, but XP and grinding and loot RNG means players can always exceed this power level, and this is usually the most efficient way to progress theough the game. Especially with hardcore or XP loss.

I vastly prefer the boss challenges in VRising (normal and brutal) because there is no way to over-gear them.. But this balance comes because there is no XP and no RNG loot. So there is literally no way to down them other than learn the fights. However, Vrising effectively has no endgame longevity.

As a player who prefers challenge and engagement to mindless grinding, the game i always come back to is League of Legends 5v5 summoner's rift, because there is no persistant RPG XP scaling (every match is fair) and human players provide endless true challenge.

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This idea is asking for a huge amount of dev effort to achieve goals that can be done by fixing the current endgame's balance, making low tier maps a gentler transition and adding more narrative content to it. I also question this focus on character level as the culprit of campaign difficulty fading away: gem levels and gear impact power level more than getting a few more skill points. This alternate content proposal may even make the player feel they're making negative progress if they get EXP that makes the campaign harder when they get unlucky with drops.

While I disagree with this specific solution, I do agree that the problems it seeks to tackle are high priority.

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Schverika#2698 wrote:

This idea is asking for a huge amount of dev effort to achieve goals that can be done by fixing the current endgame's balance, making low tier maps a gentler transition and adding more narrative content to it. I also question this focus on character level as the culprit of campaign difficulty fading away: gem levels and gear impact power level more than getting a few more skill points. This alternate content proposal may even make the player feel they're making negative progress if they get EXP that makes the campaign harder when they get unlucky with drops.

While I disagree with this specific solution, I do agree that the problems it seeks to tackle are high priority.

I disagree that their goals can be achieved with some small tweaks to the current game systems.

Part of what I propose is that the difficulty and feeling like the campaign is slipping away from them as they level without progressing their character power be embraced as 'the place where mechanical skill is supposed to be expressed' and that the way to boost character power be refocused to delve and mapping. With delve and mapping, you have more control over the difficulty and mechanics you want to farm for power. The intent is that you run low level maps/delves for currency and gear to boost your character power to meet the campaign difficulty.

By integrating the storyline into both delve and mapping the player will not feel like they are being forced out of the storyline, it introduces new players to the endgame loop earlier on and evolves the complexity as you reach campaign milestones.

I noted character level because in PoE2 the gem level is much more highly gated by character level than in PoE1. Gear with gem levels breaks this somewhat but that just means the balance should be around the median of +gem level gear available for that character level. In any case, the intent is to allow the campaign to scale naturally with median character power up to a higher level and make it a more integrated part of the endgame and pinnacle challenges.


While the delve part may take more dev time, the rest of it was designed with minimizing the dev time required to retool their current assets in mind.