Bex Confirms ExileCon is the Jumping-Off Point for Path of Exile 2's Marketing

"

Draegnarrr wrote:

Many of the systems will automatically update DarthSki and they will have made them to do so or they have to maintain two codebases and one that starts off legacy to begin with.

So things like the lighting effects, sound, environments etc should all function perfectly normal its just that they won't have been created with the same quality to begin with so I expect the original campaign to not show anywhere near as much improvement.

This to me is the real reason it isn't a new engine and just a major iterative improvement, if you wrote a new one It would take much more time and dedication than usual just to ensure all the old shit still worked on your new ostensibly better written one. Its possible but its the sort of road that leads to development hell and never ending problems frankly.

Honestly i'd be fascinated to talk to one of their developers about this its a very unique software evolution I can't think of a game example where they ostensibly release a sequel but try to drag previous architecture with it - Personally I'd have cut off PoE1 entirely and just made it actually PoE2.

That would be a great discussion point. I doubt they'll do it before release though, which might be for the better. After it is done, the process and outcome can also be discussed.

"

Draegnarrr wrote:

Many of the systems will automatically update DarthSki and they will have made them to do so or they have to maintain two codebases and one that starts off legacy to begin with.

So things like the lighting effects, sound, environments etc should all function perfectly normal its just that they won't have been created with the same quality to begin with so I expect the original campaign to not show anywhere near as much improvement.

This to me is the real reason it isn't a new engine and just a major iterative improvement, if you wrote a new one It would take much more time and dedication than usual just to ensure all the old shit still worked on your new ostensibly better written one. Its possible but its the sort of road that leads to development hell and never ending problems frankly.

Honestly i'd be fascinated to talk to one of their developers about this its a very unique software evolution I can't think of a game example where they ostensibly release a sequel but try to drag previous architecture with it - Personally I'd have cut off PoE1 entirely and just made it actually PoE2.

.

You see this is interesting because how I envisioned it was PoE2 development being ported into PoE1 architecture, where essentially you have a separate selection with two different experiences (like a legacy PoE if you were)

I don't expect PoE1 will have the updated dynamic environments, or the character models (and I believe they mentioned the 19 new ascendancies will NOT be part of the PoE1 campaign). You also have to keep in mind the console versions.

I don't claim to be an expert on coding, but I also am curious how this will work moving forward. The leagues will have to work in both PoE1 and PoE2, so I would think that keeping PoE1 along for the ride is a limiting factor on what they can do with PoE2 new capabilities? Or will it literally be a different experience until you reach the shared endgame? All good questions.

Strong hopium.

"

AintCare wrote:

"

DarthSki44 wrote:

Or will it literally be a different experience until you reach the shared endgame?

this whole concept of integrating two games together smells too much like the '5 brand new acts expansion'(TM). Its an ambitious statement, it is vague and only they know what they really mean by it. Why do I compare it to the 5 acts? well maybe its some play on words, hype stuff that doesn't really mean what is being implied.

Hopefully I'm wrong, time will tell.

6 acts.

"

DarthSki44 wrote:

I suppose its possible they go back to the older PoE1 content and enhance, but I doubt it. This is what I meant by the engine itself not being new, which presumably would include all the game, not just a sections of it, or specific models/assets.

Well, they did say that they would, so we'll see.

And the engine is of course as progressive as the game itself, Nub is right about that. I don't really think the hardest critics would call the engine we have today "the same" as we had in 2012. Well, some do when they claim that "PoE is running on a 10 years old engine", which is - of course - a stupid claim.

It's the same with the engine as the game itself; are they changing/adding/updating enough to make the game feel and play like a new game? If yes, then fuck everything else, it doesn't matter. It's water under the bridge.

That's the thing with in-house engines; they get updated, improved and modernized all the time, based on needs. New physics, new animations, new graphics force huge changes/updates/improvements to an engine. Sure, some developers change the name of the engine from "Creation Engine 1" to "2", but what has really changed? As far as I know, GGG have no public name for their in-house engine, so they threw that naming scheme over to the game itself.

"

DarthSki44 wrote:

so I would think that keeping PoE1 along for the ride is a limiting factor on what they can do with PoE2 new capabilities?

This is the make or break for me in whether I think they took the right approach or not (not that my opinion matters nor would I pretend otherwise lmao), ostensibly they shouldn't be that limited for it to be a good plan.

If it ends up curtailing their vision for content and expansions because of it being shackled to PoE1 then I think they missed a golden opportunity to just set themselves up even better in the future.

They will know what line they are taking there and hopefully for us players its a good one and they have shown me enough good shit over the years balance aside to convince me they know what they are doing.

All i'll add to that is they have had a very significant amount of time to work on this now and constantly shovelled us tie over leagues while they do so so for me the PoE2 experience has to be significant enough to justify that too. There is no doubt in my mind that they could have grown regular PoE more than it has by focusing their attentions more on leagues so its a big gamble.

"

Phrazz wrote:

It's the same with the engine as the game itself; are they changing/adding/updating enough to make the game feel and play like a new game? If yes, then fuck everything else, it doesn't matter. It's water under the bridge.

I mean context somewhat matters no? PoE in 2013 was very different than it is now. I suppose at any point you are saying it could have been considered "new"? Like 3.0 as an obvious example?

I guess there is some sort of delineation where making a case for it being "new" makes sense. Granted its a bit subjective where that applies, which is basically why we are here. Some think it's "new" and others think it's a marketing tactic at best. I guess we will know more as we get to see it in the coming months.

"

DarthSki44 wrote:

I mean context somewhat matters no? PoE in 2013 was very different than it is now. I suppose at any point you are saying it could have been considered "new"? Like 3.0 as an obvious example?

I guess there is some sort of delineation where making a case for it being "new" makes sense. Granted its a bit subjective where that applies, which is basically why we are here. Some think it's "new" and others think it's a marketing tactic at best. I guess we will know more as we get to see it in the coming months.

Context? Sure. A guy playing PoE in 2012 then took an 11 year break, would probably see both the game and the engine as "new", at least on certain levels. Players that have been following or playing the game all this time, have experienced all the changes drip by drip, and do of course have a very different view. I would probably say that the game we play today isn't "the same" as we played back then, nor is the engine. Is the difference between 2012 PoE and 2023 PoE really any less than D3 to D4? Or between 2012 PoE and post 4.0 PoE?

More context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwBmzi9zuqU

So does the game warrant a new name after all this time? Maybe. Do the changes coming in 4.0 alone warrant a new name? Who the hell knows.

"

Reid777 wrote:

First of all, there are no such things like "patch 4.0", "update 4.0" or "4.0 expansion". Those do not exists. There is Path of Exile 2 in the works. That's how developer/publisher decided to name their product.

What the devs do and say carry some weight, obviously, but as companies blur the lines between what is and isn't a sequel they no longer get to have 100% say in the matter. Prime example is Overwatch """2""" which in no way constitutes a sequel. Overwatch 1.25 at best. Ceding the language game to the devs as objective reality would be a disservice to the shitty actions they took both on their game and to the players. If a company's 'sequel' doesn't meet the basic requirements for a sequel they can take their press releases and shove them...in a dark place with no sunshine.

I don't think PoE2 is going to be that bad. Definitely a non-traditional sequel but we will see.

"

Sarno wrote:

"

鬼殺し wrote:

their own self-proclaimed sequel

I’ve been inspired by the Overwatch community.

It’s also Path of Exile. It’s clearly not a true sequel. It’s Path of Exile Two Too!

I missed this gem in the churn and I am very sorry for that. Poor OW players. They must be hating on DIV pretty hard right now. I actually bought it full price to play with an old HS friend and hated pretty much every minute of it (he's into Fork Knife and works roughly 10 billion hours a week so eh I get where he's at) so I am not totally ignorant to the situation. A premium product going f2p isn't unprecedented but doing it purely to skew full GAAS and then monetise a promised feature is all kindsa bullshit.

At least you know GGG won't do that. They don't have to. Their current model works juuuuuust fine. And I honestly believe Chris would burn Wraeclast to the ground before letting it have actual content gated by a pricetag. Gating quality of life for habitual users suffices. :)

---

Also LOLhard at Diabloski copping shit for the 4.0 usage when it was me who started and perpetuated it. Path of Exile 4.0 was deemed too big and too signifcant to be a mere version update, especially since GGG now officially consider league updates 'expansions'. So for that reason and no doubt to compete with the actual new game Diablo IV (for which GGG staff were almost certainly head-hunted), Path of Exile 4.0 became Path of Exile 2. It is not at all a semantic argument to question and disagree with the validity of that change. It is, in fact, a substantial discussion on the game's core identity and whether or not it has finally left Diablo's shadow. To accept this renaming based on those factors is to let GGG manipulate you with slippery language and subtly change how players perceive their game -- hardly the first time but definitely the most obvious. Proof of this is how often people are mistaking it for...well, a new game. Will my mtxes carry over? That one cracks me up. As if GGG could afford to not. Would they ask the same question if GGG had been honest and kept the original 4.0 designation in marketing? Fucking of course not. So this isn't semantic. It is meaningful and important.


Go on, tell me I don't know what I'm talking about with any of this. Dare ya.