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Path of Exile is quite late to the live-service party in 2022, but they're picking up the pace. Being one of the leading names in the ARPG community alongside Diablo, Grinding Gear Games always starts off the year with an expansion to set the mood.
While it was announced that the first expansion of 2022 will be delayed, it seems like players don’t have to wait that long to get their hands on the new skills, bosses, brutal combat, and thrill. And Path of Exile is slowly moving its storyline towards something more significant, ever so slightly.
The Path of Exile is nothing but trials and tribulations
Path of Exile currently follows a 3-month (approx.) content release calendar. Thus, Grinding Gear Games delivers four major updates every calendar year, the first being an expansion. These expansions generally feature a complete restructuring of the endgame.
These expansions also introduce new bosses, game mechanics, challenge leagues, skills, etc.
Thus it was quite a bummer when Grinding Gear Games announced that they would delay their 2022 expansion by two weeks. After weeks of staying radio silent, Grinding Gear Games released a short teaser on Twitter, heralding the upcoming battle.
Titled Siege of the Atlas, this expansion will continue on the Atlas of Worlds storyline representing the endgame of Path of Exile. Alongside the expansion, a new challenge league will also be launched, bringing new objectives and stuff to murder.
The live reveal stream date and time
The teaser doesn’t showcase much of the game. What it shows off is Grinding Gear Games designing another creepy eldritch being and Kamil Orman-Janowski’s incredible music composition. The teaser also announces the live reveal and release date of the expansion.
The live reveal will take place on Path of Exile’s official twitch page on January 27. The expansion will go live on February 11. The reveal stream and release will take place at 11 AM PST or 12:30 AM IST.
While not disclosed in the teaser, Grinding Gear Games gives one free cosmetic item in each announcement stream, so players should link their Twitch account to their Path of Exile account.
Siege of the Atlas will carry the Atlas storyline into the future
Path of Exile’s expansions since v2.4 has followed a storyline to progress its endgame. Update 2.4 brought the Atlas, a device from which players can access maps. These maps let players run instanced versions of areas with mobs and modifiers.
The Atlas allowed beings from other realities to invade Wraeclast and meet the exiles in combat.
This humble and singular storyline has now been transformed into a full-fledged system, with three expansions further following up on the story after Atlas of Worlds. An in-game character called The Envoy hinted at Siege of the Atlas when Echoes of the Atlas launched.
The Envoy told players that much darker entities were on their way, and now it seems like they're finally here.
Scourge Challenge League is leaving the game
Alas, as one arrives, someone else must depart. Earlier this week, Grinding Gear Games announced that the Scourge Challenge League would leave with the launch of Siege of the Atlas. A pretty successful league despite a lackluster mechanic, Scourge truly gave rise to very niche builds thanks to all the ridiculous corrupted items.
With the removal of Scourge mechanic, it’s pretty much guaranteed that corrupted items will go back to being very niche unless Grinding Gear Games keeps the scourge currencies somehow.
What to expect from the new league
A new league means a fresh economy, an unexplored landscape for builds and theory-crafting, and endless murder of enemies. While it sounds like music to veterans, newer players should keep their expectations reigned in until the patch notes and developer manifesto come out.
Path of Exile’s expansions tends towards being unpredictable based on how players can enjoy their game. Over the coming days, the hype for Siege of the Atlas will pick up. It remains to be seen if Grinding Gear Games can keep the train running until the launch.
