Playtime is Over : The Atlas Gets a Makeover and the New Mechanics Will Melt Your Brain
We could feel it coming for a few weeks, and Grinding Gear Games just dropped all the info. The patch notes for version 0.5.0, named Return of the Ancients, just landed, and believe me, there is plenty to read. We are looking at such massive content that you will need to stock up on gallons of coffee and probably dedicate your whole evening to it. The development team decided to shake up the endgame with new storylines, a runic crafting system that looks like a real brain teaser (in a good way), and bosses that will make us sweat. Let's break it all down together.
The Fortress and the Atlas Tree on Steroids
A completely redesigned endgame
The story takes us to a Wraeclast completely ruined by a cataclysm. Guided by Doryani (yes, him again), you will have to cross abandoned maps to break the seals of an ancient Fortress. Basically, you will get a brand new playground with old machines to reactivate and big bad guys to send back into the abyss. Everything we love.
But the real big news of this update is the overhaul of the Atlas Passive Tree. It means the Atlas is now much more forgiving. You will be able to combine mechanics in unprecedented ways. Where we were sometimes forced to follow a set path, the game now offers us multiple choices on the "nodes" to tailor our farming exactly how we want.
To help us navigate through this, GGG introduces the Atlas Masters. You will be able to go on missions with three very distinct NPCs : Jado for artifacts and crafting, Hilda to hunt deadly monsters, and Doryani to purify the corruption. Every successful mission will unlock specializations for your maps. This is an excellent idea to break the monotony of intensive farming.
The New Ascendancies are Here
The Martial Artist and the Spirit Walker
We move on to serious business with the arrival of two new Ascendancy classes that will shake up the meta. First, the Monk gets the Martial Artist. After years of training, the guy became a master of illusions. He uses runes socketed right into his body to summon illusory bells and turn his hands into true lethal weapons. The feeling of the impacts promises to be insane.
On the other side, the Huntress welcomes the Spirit Walker. She is tied to the wildlands and can call upon the spirits of the Stag, the Owl or the Bear to gain specific abilities. She can straight up subdue large beasts or summon a spectral companion to punch things for her.
🕹️ Massive gear boost : On top of these classes, GGG is adding over 20 new support gems and around thirty new unique items to let us Theorycraft like absolute madmen.
Runes of Aldur, New Bosses and Magical QoL
The new League, Runes of Aldur, will have us digging deep. Farrow, a researcher, found ancient markings. By finding Ezomyte Relics on the map, we will be able to inscribe runic symbols on them to craft items. Of course, the more we play with magic, the angrier the surrounding monsters get. You will also be able to experiment with Verisium, a new metal, to unlock Runic Warding.
Life-saving ergonomics : Where following a build used to be absolute hell on earth, GGG just dropped the feature of the century. The built-in Build Planner ! Content creators will be able to make `.build` files. You download the file, drop it into the game, and boom : the interface shows you exactly which talents to pick, which gems to equip. It is just incredible, we are really going to save time.
💾 Memory of Wraeclast : Remember when we had to juggle a few browser tabs and unstable third-party sites just to check the price of a rare item on the market. The new in-game price checker with a simple shortcut (Shift-Alt Click) will save us a monstrous amount of time.
👉 And for the masochists who want to read the entire official patch notes, it is right here !
The Legacy and Future of Path of Exile
We really cannot wait to see the new version with a controller in hand. Grinding Gear Games proves once again that they know how to listen to their community by offering deep changes, while making the game much more digestible with smart built-in tools. Between the 30 new maps, the five major new bosses and the genesis tree to craft, we are in for hundreds of hours. Prepare your left clicks, the mouse is going to take a beating again !
And you, which new feature hypes you the most in this gargantuan patch ? Do not hesitate to talk about it in the comments, right below !
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