Many, a few years ago, Diablo III’s Jay Wilson unexpectedly created a meme by explaining how difficult Inferno mode was. He principally said something along the lines of constructing the sport hard enough that the inner team couldn’t beat it, after which they doubled it. It might turn into a staple amongst Diablo III players for years afterward. Now, it applies to considered one of Diablo’s biggest competitors, Path of Exile, because the Mirage expansion arrives on March 6 at 11:00 AM Pacific (2:00 PM Eastern).
Together with an all-new League mechanic, Path of Exile: Mirage also brings quite a few updates to the endgame. A few of those changes include a reworked Atlas structure, a brand new Scion Ascendancy, Holy Skills, loads of quality-of-life and campaign progression improvements, and over 40 recent Exceptional Support Gems. Before we get into those, nonetheless, Mirage centers on imprisoned Djinn across Wraeclast. While adventuring, players will confront the Afarud, a desert-dwelling group of necromancers who’re conducting mysterious rituals to empty the Djinn of their energy. After defeating those enemies, the traditional Maraketh sorceress Varashta will appear, and uncover the Astral Realm through a Mirage, breaking the tether that’s trapping the captive Djinn.
That is where the fun begins. The Mirages are capable of replicate much of the content and enhancements players have applied to the map, essentially doubling up on enhanced encounters and rewards. To make it even higher, players get to decide on considered one of three Wishes before entering a Mirage. These are powerful modifiers that may change the Mirage experience. Some examples include Wish for Glyphs, which converts portal and wisdom scroll drops into other currencies, and Wish for Avarice, which replaces packs in an area with Gilded enemies that convert equipment into Gold. There’s also Wish for Godhood, which grants extreme power like invulnerability while within the Mirage.
Selecting the Wish isn’t only for the effect, though, as every one is tied to considered one of three powerful Djinn sigils: Sand, Fire, or Water. Depending on which sigil the player chooses, the monsters within the Mirage can have a small probability to drop considered one of the brand new currencies: Coin of Knowledge, Coin of Power, and Coin of Skill. These currencies might be used on a max-level skill gem to deprave it, giving it a random support gem effect that matches the coin’s color.
As for the Mirages, Grinding Gear Games describes them as “imperfect” copies of an area that a Djinn occupies. The Mirages copy almost anything, so long as it’s throughout the Djinn’s domain. Because of this, this imperfection means these endgame maps aren’t perfect replicas and might have unwanted side effects. For instance, factions of a Legion may appear in another way than in the unique copy, while a number of the strongboxes may change. Players may expect empowered mechanics with recent threats or rewards which were customized to every mechanic throughout the Mirage itself. In fact, there’s plenty of recent loot, including corrupted recent Unique items that players might want to use a Coin of Restoration on to rework back into their original forms.
Players can tackle all these recent threats with a brand new set of Holy Skills and Supports. These include skills like Holy Hammer, Holy Sweep, and Holy Strike, while recent supports include Nimbus Support, which creates rings of holy judgment that collapse during a Warcry, and Blessed Call Support, which empowers Warcries into holy consecration engines. Mirage also adds recent transfigured gems, including variants for individuals who previously had none. Players may expect balance adjustments to Bloodline Classes, together with expanded Templar passives.
Path of Exile: Mirage also adds the brand new Scion Ascendancy, the Reliquarian. A scholar from the Oriath Academy, the Reliquarian draws power from relics scattered through Wraeclast, allowing players to decide on the character’s Unique-based passive powers from three categories: Unique Armour, Unique Weapon, and Unique Jewellery. Each category has quite a few options, and its Unique powers will change with each expansion, meaning they won’t remain static.
Changes are also heading to the Atlas system and general endgame. For starters, maps will not be tied to specific areas, meaning players will now find generic tiered map items and might select the layout from the Atlas. This also means players will now begin at the middle of the Atlas, with each corner featuring considered one of the 4 Voidstone slots. As well as, Shaped Regions can manifest across the Atlas that modify multiple maps directly. Completing these Shaped Regions will remove the influence from the region while strengthening the remaining maps.
By way of the overhauled endgame experience, there’s an honest list which you could find in the whole patch notes. Nevertheless, some include Voidstones now granting global bonuses while socketed, the removal of Petal skills in Originator Maps, and Memory Tears now dropping as itemized Memory Threads that might be traded and stored.
With the launch of Mirage, the Keepers of the Flame system will go core, replacing the old Breach mechanic. Graft items shall be removed, but their powers will survive through Exceptional Supports equivalent to the Hiveborn Support or Foulgrasp Support. There are also several quality-of-life improvements, equivalent to the addition of favorite trades to the Currency Exchange and the flexibility to access your Stash while the UI is open. Players may look ahead to over 20 recent campaign landmarks and optional reward encounters.