Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 Return of the Ancients is about to be released, and many players, based on the trailers released by GGG, speculate that they will improve upon some gameplay elements from PoE 1 and incorporate them into PoE 2.
As a loyal player of Path of Exile series, I believe that many interesting gameplay elements from PoE 1 deserve to be included in PoE 2, increasing the game's replayability and freedom. Examples include Cluster Jewels, Bloodline Ascendancy, and Scarab.
Let me introduce these gameplay elements in detail:
Scarab
As players enter the endgame of Path of Exile 2, repeatedly farming various maps on Atlas becomes a core gameplay element. PoE 2 introduced a new mechanism called Precursor Tablets for this stage. Players can place Precursor Tablets into map devices, thereby adding additional gameplay to relevant nodes within Atlas.
However, these buffs are macro-level, area-of-effect controls with a high degree of randomness in their application - Precursor Tablets typically affect multiple maps within an area, rather than precisely targeting a single map.
In contrast, Scarabs in PoE 1 were much more refined. Before activating Atlas, players could embed several Scarabs into the map device. When the character passes through a portal, each Scarab would load a specific set of event, item, or monster action scripts within that map's area: directly increasing the number of safes generated, or allowing the same batch of safes to be opened repeatedly, etc.
This gameplay greatly increased the game's freedom. For example, if you want to quickly acquire Path of Exile 2 Currency, you can use Scarab to directly increase the number of safes or monsters, and then loot to your heart's content.
Many veteran PoE 1 players have stated in the community that even though Precursor Tablet is simpler to operate, Scarab's advantages in freedom and accuracy are still overwhelmingly obvious. Hopefully, GGG will optimize Precursor Tablet in the direction of Scarab in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 Return of the Ancients.
Bloodline Ascendancy
In PoE 2, after completing specific trials, players can advance their character's base class to an Ascendancy Class, such as a Warrior becoming a Titan or Warbringer. Each class advancement grants up to eight Ascendancy Skill Points, allowing players to design their own builds.
While this is good, veteran players may find it somewhat monotonous. However, PoE 1 had a separate system called Bloodline Ascendancy. It coexists with Ascendancy Class system and significantly increases the game's freedom and replayability.
First, Bloodline Ascendancy must be unlocked by defeating specific high-difficulty endgame bosses and touching a specific altar in the arena after their death. This provides many players with the motivation to challenge high-difficulty bosses.
Second, currently, there are more than ten bloodlines obtainable in PoE 1 through this method, but each character can only carry one bloodline at a time.
Furthermore, after activating a bloodline, the previously acquired Ascendancy Skill Points can be disassembled and allocated to Bloodline Ascendancy system, allowing players to freely distribute them.
Imagine how much more diverse PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0 gameplay becomes simply by researching which bloodline to use and how many Skill Points to allocate to each system. Players' career paths are no longer a fixed, irreversible straight line, but rather filled with a myriad of possibilities.
Cluster Jewels
In Path of Exile series, a crucial gameplay element is Passive Skill Tree. It allows you to freely define your character's permanent passive buffs, a vital component for completing various builds.
This is primarily achieved by unlocking various nodes on Passive Skill Tree. However, nodes on Passive Skill Tree follow a rule: you must unlock the previous node before you can continue unlocking the next.
Therefore, if you want to play a less mainstream build, you might need to waste a lot of Skill Points to unlock nodes you don't need. And if you need to respec Passive Tree points due to insufficient points, you'll need to spend a lot of Path of Exile 2 Quick Gold.
However, the introduction of Cluster Jewels completely rewrote this rule.
A Cluster Jewel is an expansion device in PoE 1. When a player inserts it into a dedicated slot on the outer ring of Passive Skill Tree, Cluster Jewel immediately expands into a completely new talent cluster containing several or even a dozen nodes.
Depending on size, Cluster Jewels come in three sizes: large, medium, and small. A large Cluster Jewel can extend up to twelve nodes, a medium Cluster Jewel provides four to five nodes, and a small Cluster Jewel is typically used to supplement two to three nodes.All these nodes can be unlocked freely by the player.
Furthermore, the talent area expanded by a large Cluster Jewel can generate additional jewel slots. This means that after inserting a large Cluster Jewel into an outer slot of the talent tree, the newly created jewel slot inside can accommodate a medium Cluster Jewel, and then a small Cluster Jewel.
Most importantly, the nodes expanded by Cluster Jewels may contain Notable Passive Skills. These talents possess extremely strong specialized enhancements, and most of their effects cannot be found in the standard talent tree. This provides players with crucial build resources.
However, since PoE 2 lacks Cluster Jewels, players have to endure the inflexible Passive Skill Tree. Some players are speculating that PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0 Return of the Ancients will rework Passive Skill Tree; if true, I hope GGG will consider adding Cluster Jewels.
These are some of PoE 1 gameplay elements I hope to see in PoE 2. Do you think they're interesting? I believe that if these gameplay elements are added to PoE 2, it can greatly increase players' interest in the game.