Path of Exile PLAYER COUNT

Path of Exile

Developed by Grinding Gear Games, Path of Exile is an action roleplaying game, with single and multiplayer features. Set in a dark fantasy world, Path of Exile casts its players in a variety of character classes in order to adventure and explore the wide, randomly generated instanced areas. Aside from Grinding Gear Games, Path of Exile is published by Tencent, Garena, and Kakao Games in China, Taiwan, and Korean markets, respectively. Initially released on October 2013, Path of Exile is available on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Sony Playstation 4, and macOS platforms. Path of Exile is also available on the Steam and Epic Game stores.

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The Players and Daily login numbers are estimations based on subscriber numbers and online sentiment.

Set in an unnamed dark fantasy world, players in Path of Exile begin on the shores of the continent of Wraeclast. The “exile” part of the title signifies the initial status of characters as being sent to the penal colony by the High Templar Dominus in the continent away from the nearby island of Oriath. The Exile (i.e. player) will then be involved in a web of intrigue and adventures, culminating in saving the world from the reawakened gods and The Beast.

Players can choose between seven character classes. Each class has an associated alignment to one of the three base attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence). Three of the base classes lean to a single attribute (Pure Classes), while there are four that are aligned to more than one core attribute (Hybrid Classes). The Pure Classes are the Marauder, the Ranger, and the Witch. Meanwhile, the Hybrid Classes include the Duelist, the Templar, Shadow, and the Scion. Aside from their affinity with the core attributes, the base character classes have different starting points on the Passive Skills tree. As characters gain levels and accomplish quests, they can open more nodes on the Passive Skill tree which improves their abilities and stats using skill points (and provided an adjacent node is already unlocked).

Later on, players can further improve to Ascendancy Classes. Every base class has 3 possible Ascendancy. For instance, the Marauder can potentially ascend to become a Berserker, a Juggernaut, or a Chieftain. Meanwhile, the Templar can become a Guardian, a Hierophant, or an Inquisitor. The only exception is the Scion which can improve to an Ascendant, which has the versatility of taking passive skills that usually belong to other Ascendancy Classes.

Equipment and gear in Path of Exile have stat boosts and improve passive and active abilities. These also have sockets for gems. Skill gems can be placed on these sockets, which gain experience as the character levels up while they are equipped. Interestingly, Path of Exile does not have an in-game currency. Instead, there are items that can be bartered, whose value is based on how they can improve armor, weapons, and other gear such as increasing their quality and rarity.

The plot and storyline in the game is distributed in Acts, with ten Acts and more to be added in the future. Each Act in Path of Exile adds new locations to the World Map, including the endgame Atlas of Worlds. Players can fulfill quests, accomplish tasks related to prophecies, and take optional missions from masters. At high enough levels, they can challenge the Labyrinth, explore the infinite depths of the Azurite Mine, or challenge the Pantheon of gods.

There are currently 16 expansions for Path of Exile, starting with Sacrifice of Vaal in 2014 to Scourge released in October 2021. The next expansion to be released some time in 2022 is actually going to be titled Path of Exile 2, effectively the sequel to the original. It will introduce improvements to the engine, new skills and Ascendancy classes and other features, while retaining all the previous expansion content.