It’s no use. They don’t want to change this yet, though it might happen later.

This week, Path of Exile is removing a system that has defined the game for over a decade, which will make the action RPG significantly more accessible to new players. The developers at Grinding Gear Games told PC Gamer that they’ll be questioning every element considered sacred in the future. However, it seems that some things will remain off-limits—at least for now. For new and returning players, PoE’s long campaign poses a major hurdle. In every new league or season, you have to complete ten acts before reaching the endgame. It’s like a twenty-hour tutorial. Experienced players can finish it in five or six hours, but most people need at least twice that amount of time.

For years, players have asked GGG in vain to shorten the campaign or provide the option to skip it after reaching level 1 with their first character. The same questions arise every time a new Path of Exile 2 league starts, where completing the campaign remains mandatory. No one wants to do what feels like homework just to get to the fun part. But no matter how widespread this criticism is, GGG isn’t budging on this issue. In a PCGamesN interview about the possibility of skipping the campaign, game designer Christopher “Octavian” Laferriere and game director Mark Roberts said this won’t happen anytime soon.

Laferriere said he would give such a proposal serious consideration but added that it might be worth thinking it over again, though he personally finds it highly inappropriate. According to Roberts, skipping the campaign makes us care much less about our character. He knows from personal experience what that’s like since, as a developer, he uses tools designed for this purpose. In his view, skipping the campaign ruins the gaming experience because it’s the journey that leads to it that provides true satisfaction. Instead of giving people the option to skip the campaign, Roberts wants to ensure that new leagues refresh it so that it remains relevant. Otherwise, he said, Path of Exile would quickly lose quality if people were to say, “Oh, the campaign doesn’t matter anymore.” He believes this would be a very bad direction to take.

There was a time when changing the multicolored sockets on gear would have been considered sacrilege. These sockets limit the abilities we can equip in the early stages of the game. But quite a few developers agreed that they might not add anything meaningful to the experience, so they decided to remove them. There are plenty of confusing aspects to PoE for new players. We’re not convinced that the campaign will be next, especially considering how stubbornly they’ve clung to it over the past few years.

Source: PCGamer, PCGamesN