Just in time for the release of Path of Exile 2, Vessel of Hatred was released. But now, stormy times are coming for Diablo 4. Because the competition never sleeps.
The endgame of Path of Exile 2 could signal the end of Diablo 4.
At least that’s what Path of Exile fans are thinking when they see the thick endgame plans from developer Grinding Gear Games (GGS). And maybe one or two Diablo players are also curious and are toying with the idea of switching camps.
And why not? After all, the past has shown that there is more than enough room for two major series in the sparsely populated genre of action role-playing games.
Whether Blizzard sees it that way is another matter, of course, keyword sales and profit margin. One thing is for sure: The early access release of Path of Exile 2 will pose a major problem for Diablo 4.
This is going to be huge!
On December 6, 2024, Path of Exile 2 is scheduled to launch, albeit only in the pay-to-play beta for backers (from 30 euros). And it is expected to attract a huge number of players.
In the Most Wanted Charts on Steam, the action role-playing game is currently ranked 9th, while its predecessor is played by almost 20,000 players simultaneously every day at peak times.
Four months ago, the eleven-year-old (!) Path of Exile even celebrated a new basic player record with the launch of the latest season: almost 230,000 people were playing the game at the same time. And that’s not even counting the people who come to the servers using GGG’s own launcher.
As you can see: Path of Exile 2 is going to be big and wants to pull out all the stops when it comes to the endgame. So exactly where Diablo 4 has long been weak.
Endgame above all else
The competition between PoE and Diablo has long been a duel between equals,with many hardcore players from the Diablo 2 era having already moved on to Path of Exile years ago. The developers’ endgame plans now take the needs of such people into account.
With an allegedly infinite number of variations of enemies and maps, random events, secrets, special crafting options, dozens of bosses and a wide variety of mechanics, activities and rewards, the endgame should remain varied and challenging in the long term
To guarantee this, the developers have shifted the focus from the campaign to the game from level 65 – Diablo 4 initially set the opposite focus, much to the disappointment of min-max players.
Path of Exile 2, on the other hand, starts with only half of the later story acts, so players have to play through the content of the beta a second time at a higher difficulty level. This is a clear signal in the direction of endgame professionals. Incidentally, this requirement is no longer necessary in the full version.
Will the coup succeed?
Currently, I can’t imagine how Diablo 4 could defend itself against the arsenal of heavy calibers that Path of Exile 2 is deploying at the endgame. Season 6 and Vessel of Hatred have refined the gameplay and loot to such an extent that even erstwhile critics are now finding plenty of praise for it. But major balancing errors and a lack of alternatives to the 200-level bosses still make the endgame stale at some point.
With Last Epoch, a big piece of the Diablo cake was cut at the beginning of 2024, with a player record of 264,000 people playing simultaneously on Steam, which is even higher than Path of Exile.
Diablo 4 seemed to fluctuate wildly for a while, but in the end Blizzard’s loot hunt stabilized again, partly because Last Epoch’s servers weren’t equipped to handle the large crowds. Will Path of Exile 2 look similar after the initial hype?
Or will the action role-playing game finally manage to inspire the broad masses of casual gamers, who have so far mostly stuck with Diablo because of its chic presentation and easy playability?Is Diablo 4 really facing a major loss of players?
Developer Grinding Gear Games wisely declines to comment. But the New Zealanders are well aware of the qualities of their game, which include an infinite variety of characters and huge talent trees: “This is Path of Exile. There’s always another tree.”
