Path of Exile News

Over the weekend we launched Path of Exile: Necropolis and have been closely monitoring feedback ever since. In this news post, Mark overviews a number of changes and improvements to the Necropolis League we're currently working on.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the feedback and bingo cards.

To get straight to the point of the improvements to the league, here's what we're currently doing today in the studio. Our hope is to get each change out as soon as it is ready.

[h3]Area to Area or Map to Map gameplay:[/h3]

• We will be allowing you to itemise corpses as they drop, so you can choose to collect the corpse or itemise it for free. As a result itemising corpses in all contexts will now be free, as opposed to the 1 Chaos Orb it currently costs.
  
• Each of the downsides from area to area will now display the increase to the amount of Collectable Corpses and Allflame Embers they cause.
  
• We will be increasing the amount of Collectable Corpses and Allflame Embers dropping relative to difficult mods substantially.
  
• We will be increasing the amount of Allflame Embers dropping base.
  
• We will be adding new Allflame Ember packs that are more rewarding.
  
• We will be revising the rewards and pack sizes from existing Allflame Ember packs in Endgame to make them substantially more rewarding also.
  
• We will be making the Devoted Modifiers more rewarding, notably the ones that are granting Currency Items.
  
• We are lowering the danger of the more dangerous modifiers especially at Endgame.

[h3]Grave-Crafting:[/h3]

• You will now be able to select the Base Type of the item you want to craft.
  
• As such, we are removing some of the Crafts that allow you to influence Strength, Dexterity or Intelligence armour types, as they will no longer be necessary since you can just freely select the base type. Note that special base types will still need to be obtained through certain corpses, such as Atlas Base Types, and League Base types like Stygian Vise.
  
• We are increasing the chances of many of the rarer crafts like Fractured Modifiers and Mirrored outcomes significantly.
  
• We've removed the "Tiers" from the crafted modifiers. They'll now have the values of the existing highest tiers always.
  
• We have taken all the crafts that affect the Modifier Rating and compressed it into a single craft that affects all modifiers, instead of being type specific. This will not affect existing crafts you have, those will stop dropping and the new one will start dropping once it's deployed.
  
• The value of the craft that affects Modifier Rating is now always +100.
  
• You will be able to directly use Coffins on your List of corpses in your Morgue panel instead of trying to find them within the Morgue.
  
• Ctrl+F will go to the Search (Currently must be clicked).
  
• We will be sorting crafts by their type, instead of by level, making it much easier to find crafts that affect a specific type of modifier, like Fire Modifiers.
  
• The grave-crafts that reroll Sockets and Links have been significantly buffed.
  

There is a lot more happening in between the cracks but instead of me getting into all of that I am focusing my attention towards getting the fixes ready faster as that's what is more important! I will update more as we are making more changes.

This is just what we're immediately working on and will do more as soon as it's needed and we have resources available. The long weekend here unfortunately cost us the capability to respond to larger changes as fast as we'd like and a huge lesson going forward is to make sure we don't deploy expansions on public holiday weekends as we don't have the personnel available to make changes as fast as we want.

We've just released the Necropolis Mystery Box, a new mystery box without duplicate microtransactions! Each of the microtransactions in this mystery box has visual behaviour that interacts with your gameplay. Check out the contents of the box in the video below!

There are 22 microtransactions that you can find in the Necropolis Mystery Box. Each of these microtransactions has a varying number of thematic variations, and you'll never receive a duplicate copy of a variation that you have already opened. For example, if you open one variant of a microtransaction, you may later receive another variant, but you'll never get a duplicate! Check out the full details at pathofexile.com/mystery-box

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We have released a new version of Kirac's Vault Pass! This league's pass can be purchased with points and also has a free track available. Its premium track contains a new exclusive armour set and some mystery boxes.



[h2]Free Track[/h2]
The free track of Kirac's Vault rewards you with Kirac Missions, as well as items such as Scouting Reports, a Conqueror Map and an Inscribed Ultimatum for completing bonus objectives of maps in Path of Exile's endgame. You can complete it once in each Necropolis league you play, such as Necropolis or Hardcore Necropolis. The free track does not grant items in Ruthless modes or Private Leagues.

You'll earn your first reward upon completing your first map bonus objective. You'll earn additional rewards by completing sets of map bonus objectives while exploring your Atlas. If you complete the bonus objectives of all 115 maps, you'll have earned all available rewards!

[h2]Exclusive Microtransactions[/h2]
Purchase your premium pass and complete Atlas objectives to earn mystery boxes and the exclusive Ghostveil Armour Set. This armour set is purely cosmetic and does not affect your character's power or progression.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Frequently Asked Questions[/h3]

How do I purchase the Pass and track my progress through it?
On the Atlas screen, there's a new Kirac's Vault Pass icon at the top left. Clicking that will let you buy the pass, see the rewards and travel to Kirac's Vault.

How do I claim my rewards?
The Pass has a progress bar that tracks how many bonus objectives of maps on the atlas you have completed. Once you have unlocked a reward, you can click a button on the Pass screen to travel directly to Kirac's Vault, where a chamber containing that reward will unlock for you to claim.

Once claimed, items are dropped on the ground, while the cosmetics are stored in your microtransaction stash, alongside your existing microtransactions.

Is the Premium Pass still good value?
You're now able to buy it using 300 points, rather than $30 cash. Note that spending $30 on a supporter pack gets you 300 points, so for the same cost of the Kirac's Vault Pass, you're now able to receive an entire supporter pack as well as the Kirac's Vault Pass and its contents.

Do I get anything right away for buying the Pass?
Yes. The first reward is available to claim as soon as you purchase the Pass, providing you are able to access the Karui Shores (at the end of the campaign) in order to enter Kirac's Vault.

Is this pay-to-win in any way?
No. Access to Kirac's Vault and its cosmetic skins offer no gameplay advantage over other players. Items from the free track are available to all players regardless of what they've paid.

Do I need to have bought the Pass before I complete my Atlas? Is there a penalty for just waiting until near the end of the league and buying it then?
No. The Pass costs the same amount regardless of how many objectives you have already completed, and the relevant rewards will unlock instantly if you buy the Pass after completing objectives. There's no penalty for delaying your purchase until later in the league, though you'll need to purchase it before the league ends.

Can I pay more money to unlock rewards that I have not been able to unlock through gameplay?
You can't pay to unlock rewards. Everyone you see with one of the exclusive skins from Kirac's Vault will have completed the bonus objectives required to earn it.

Is the Pass available for Standard players?
No. At this stage it is only available to players in the current challenge league because many Standard players can instantly unlock their whole Atlas by completing a single map.

Will I have access to my exclusive skins in Standard or future leagues?
Yes. Any cosmetics earned during this league will be available account-wide and can be equipped to any character you make in any league.

Are the Pass or its cosmetic skins available after this league ends?
No. The Pass can only be purchased during this league and its cosmetic skins are exclusive to this Pass. They will not be available again. If you want to have them in your collection forever, you must purchase the Pass this league and complete the objectives for any skins that you want.

What happens if I'm playing in multiple Necropolis leagues? Which league does the Pass track progress from?
The pass tracks your highest Atlas progress from any Necropolis league you are playing in (including private leagues based on Necropolis).

Will the Kirac's Vault Pass be released on Console platforms?
Absolutely.

In the Necropolis League, you'll be able to earn pieces of the exclusive Mischievous Hawker Armour Set by completing 40 new challenges. At 4, 8, 12 and 16 challenges, you'll receive the Mischievous Hawker Boots, Gloves, Body Armour, and Helmet respectively.

Additional tiers of this armour set are unlocked as you complete more challenges in the Necropolis League. Completing challenges also grants you pieces of the Necropolis Totem Pole Hideout decoration!

In Ruthless, you will receive the full Mischievous Hawker Armour Set at 2 challenges, and each challenge completed after that will upgrade pieces of the set with the entire set fully upgraded once 8 challenges are completed.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the Necropolis expansion, we've introduced several new Skill, Support, and Transfigured Gems and made some changes to existing ones. As usual, we've prepared the gem data at level 20 with 20% quality for all new and changed gems to help you theorycraft your builds for the upcoming launch.

Check them out in the forum post on our website, which you can find by clicking here.