Path of Exile Content Update 1.3.0 Launched
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Grinding Gear Games has cranked out their much-anticipated Content Update 1.3.0 patch for Path of Exile, bringing a renovated player vs. player system, new Challenge Leagues, PvP seasons, and more to the free-to-play action RPG. The details to follow:
Path of Exile's Massive PvP-Centric Content Update is Now Live
Sponsored tournaments, PvP Master Leo Redmane, Torment and Bloodlines Challenge Leagues, PvP-only characters, and much more now available with Content Update 1.3.0
Auckland, New Zealand - December 12, 2014 - Grinding Gear Games, developer of the award-winning action RPG Path of Exile, today announced that its player-versus-player-centric Content Update 1.3.0 is now live as of 5:00 PM PST (2:00 PM New Zealand Time on December 13), as a free update to Path of Exile. Grinding Gear Games has launched its official Twitch channel concurrent with the launch of 1.3.0 at www.twitch.tv/pathofexile.
Content Update 1.3.0 brings forth various new enhancements to Path of Exile, with a heavy focus on improving and accentuating Path of Exile's PvP elements. These additions and improvements include the Torment and Bloodlines Challenge Leagues, a new PvP-focused Forsaken Master, competitive PvP tournaments with regular Seasons, PvP-only characters, new gems and Unique items, a massive update to the Passive Skill Tree, and much more.
In addition, two of Grinding Gear Games' major partners - Razer and KARMA KOIN: The Online Game Card - are official sponsors of PvP Season One, and will be providing thousands of dollars in prizes to the winners of competitive tournaments, including the finale Invitational at the end of the PvP season. Razer will be giving away dozens of its award-winning gaming peripherals, used by some of the world's top eSports players, and KARMA KOIN will be giving away online gaming currency.
Below is a brief synopsis of the many new features now available in Path of Exile as of Content Update 1.3.0:
New Challenge Leagues: Torment and Bloodlines
Content Update 1.3.0 marks the start of two new Challenge Leagues, providing players with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of Path of Exile. Torment and Bloodlines both have unique properties that set them apart from normal play:
· Torment: In Torment, the standard Challenge League, players are haunted by the spirits of tormented criminals that yield their ill-gotten gains when slain. Eager to protect their trove, spirits flee when encountered, imbuing nearby monsters with dangerous powers and improving their item drops. It's possible for spirits to possess rare and unique enemies, greatly increasing their threat and potential value to treasure-seeking exiles.
· Bloodlines: In Bloodlines, the hardcore Challenge League, each pack of magic monsters has a shared Bloodlines mod that greatly influences combat - sometimes while the pack is still alive, and sometimes after it has been killed. Where Nemesis involved rare monsters gaining an additional power, Bloodlines revolves around groups of monsters with synergistic powers. Various strategies are needed for approaching the different Bloodlines, as there are a wide variety of effects, such as constructing an Animated Guardian piece-by-piece or monsters becoming immortal while near their slain brethren.
Like the Challenge Leagues before them, these new leagues have eight highly difficult challenges to complete. The first challenge completed will reward the player with a Totem Pole decoration that can be displayed in their Hideout, which grows taller as more challenges are completed. The first 50 players to complete all of the challenges will receive an exclusive Torment/Bloodlines t-shirt.
Leo Redmane, Master of the Arena
Like the other masters, Leo offers a hideout (in the Gardens tileset) with his own decorations and PvP crafting options. His daily missions all involve playing PvP, with rewards for completing different objectives. Unlike other masters, Leo doesn't take up a slot in the player's hideout. Players can have him in addition to their regular set of masters.
Huge Player vs. Player Revamp
A major focus of this Content Update is to overhaul Path of Exile's PvP systems and introduce formal competitive events. As Grinding Gear Games has learned from its successful racing scene, having prizes and news coverage of competitive play is critical. In addition to introducing seasons of tournaments, a lot of PvP-specific rebalancing has been implemented. New UI improvements include an Events Screen that shows upcoming events (including PvP tournaments) in the game client.
PvP Tournaments
Grinding Gear Games is introducing several different types of PvP tournaments that are scheduled at specific times:
PvP Season One
- Free-for-all tournaments take place in the Sarn Arena. They're a massive brawl where players get one point per player kill. Upon death, players are sent to a new arena to continue the massacre.
- Blitz tournaments are a series of rapid-fire duels where players are quickly matched against a new opponent as soon as the last round finishes. The goal is to get as many victories as possible within the time limit.
- Swiss tournaments are highly competitive tournaments that match players with similar records against each other. They're run in regimented matches with seven fights to a match and provide the most competitive structure of the three tournaments on offer.
Competing in tournaments awards players with points that accumulate towards Alternate Art Unique Item prizes. PvP Tournaments are grouped into Seasons that consist of a month of themed events. Weekdays contain free-for-all and blitz events, while the weekends have larger tournaments with Swiss pairings and awesome prizes from Grinding Gear Games' sponsors (Razer and KARMA KOIN: The Online Game Card), which include a variety of hardware and online gaming currency. Top players are invited to a special event at the end of the season to battle for more prestige and prizes.
PvP-Only Characters
Dueling with level 28 characters is very popular within the Path of Exile community - so much so that it will run as the primary event type in Path of Exile's first PvP season. Because the fun of PvP is in creating builds, perfecting items, and destroying opponents, Path of Exile will include the option to create a blank level 28 character that is only able to play PvP matches. These PvP-only characters won't impact regular gameplay, but will allow players to shortcut the process of trying out level 28 PvP builds and creating characters for tournaments. Players will still need to acquire their equipment in the core PvE game.
Hundreds of Other Improvements
This update isn't entirely about the new Challenge Leagues and PvP. Grinding Gear Games has massively changed the Passive Skill Tree, added more gems and unique items, and have made a myriad of small improvements to Path of Exile across the board. Further information about these features as well as others brought forth by Path of Exile's Content Update 1.3.0 can be found on the Path of Exile website at www.pathofexile.com/1.3.0. Patch notes can be found at www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1120457.
About Path of Exile
Path of Exile is an online PC action role-playing game set in a dark fantasy world. Featuring ethical microtransactions, the game is free-to-play, but never pay-to-win. Playing as one of seven character classes, players find themselves banished for their past misdeeds to the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast. There, they encounter hundreds of species of opponents laden with loot and mysterious artifacts as they explore the abandoned continent. www.pathofexile.com.
Key features include:
· A dark and deep action RPG
· Unlimited character combinations with the game's gigantic skill tree
· Combine skill gems to create unique combat strategies
· Explore a dark and gritty world rendered from a fixed 3D perspective
· Download and play for free, but never pay-to-win
· Explore randomly generated levels for nearly infinite replayability
· Craft weapons, magic items and even end-game maps to become more powerful
· Cooperate or compete with thousands of other Exiles in a persistent online world
· Ascend online ladders in every game mode
· Battle in PvP tournaments for worldwide recognition
· Steam and Twitch integration
About Grinding Gear Games
Grinding Gear Games is an independent game studio founded in 2006 and based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its team members come from various countries and have a diversity of backgrounds ranging from artificial intelligence and software security to industrial design and professional tournament gaming. GGG recently released its flagship title, Path of Exile, and is committed to ongoing expansion and new content releases for the critically acclaimed game. You can find more information about Grinding Gear Games at www.grindinggear.com.
