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Path of Exile 2 May Never Get The Diablo 4 Feature It Needs The Most

By Andrea Trama

Published Dec 19, 2024, 2:34 PM EST

Andrea is an editor at TheBestWarGames, where she has been writing professionally about video games for nearly five years. She became a gamer for life at 8, thanks to a copy of Pokemon Red and her Game Boy. Her passion for games was combined with work when she came across TheBestWarGames in 2021, so she started her career in video game writing.
Andrea loves games where she's tasked with thinking strategically. She has an obscene amount of hours in Path of Exile (almost 8,000 on Steam), over 2,000 hours in Destiny 2, probably around 10,000 hours in Pokemon games, which she always completes the Pokedex of and tries to fill the shiny Pokedex too, 100% completion in multiple RPGs of various kinds, like Borderlands 2 and 3, Oblivion (and Oblivion Remastered), she plays MMOs religiously (especially World of Warcraft), and she has a vast experience in playing and building decks for Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon TCG Pocket, and Disney Lorcana.
Andrea has extensive professional experience as a translator and ghostwriter. She has a BA in Psychology from 2015, a Master's Degree in Communication & Translation from 2016, and a Master's Degree in Copywriting & Advertising from 2019.
One of Andrea's favorite articles for TheBestWarGames is about Pokemon Violet probably outselling Pokemon Scarlet, which is what happened. One of the articles she's most proud of is about The Last of Us 2's Ellie and the game's perpetual cycle of revenge.

Summary

Path of Exile 2 attracts 500,000 daily players on Steam. Its slower gameplay shifts the focus to survivability.
Diablo 4's free respec item, Scroll of Amnesia, could benefit Path of Exile 2 players.
Despite GGG's reluctance, implementing a similar full-respec item could be advantageous.

With just two weeks into early access since its launch, Path of Exile 2 amassed a huge number of players, averaging around 500,000 daily on Steam alone. Grinding Gear Games' new action RPG was highly anticipated after the success of its predecessor, with fans expecting new mechanics and gameplay additions to keep Path of Exile 2 fresh. The game delivered on this premise by becoming a much slower title where dodge rolls and survivability are more important than clearing the entire screen in seconds. While the reception has been overall positive, despite some fans lamenting excessive difficulty, Path of Exile 2 could have used one feature from Diablo 4 - but GGG seems against it.

Comparisons between Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2 started coming soon after the latter was announced, as it was poised to be the next big ARPG on the market. Though the titles ended up being quite different, they do share some DNA. Classic ARPG features like skills and corresponding augments as well as passive trees to customize characters are present in both games, and both allow players to respec their points in order to change their builds. However, Path of Exile 2 is unlikely to get its own version of Diablo 4's Scroll of Amnesia.

Why Path of Exile 2 Shouldn't Sleep on Diablo 4's Scroll of Amnesia

Diablo 4's Scroll of Amnesia can be a rather helpful item to obtain, as it respecs all the skill points players have on a given character for free, meaning they don't have to spend gold on it. The reason this can be very important is that a full respec can cost a fortune in the endgame, as the cost increases exponentially with a character's level. This same logic applies to Path of Exile 2's gold, which forgoes the Orb of Regret from the previous game as the currency for respecs.

Diablo 4's Scroll of Amnesia can be obtained from Journey Caches when progressing the Season Journey. No other method exists at the moment.

However, Path of Exile 2's recent nerfs and skill changes bricked some builds, and players need a lot of gold to change them if they don't want to make a new character. Even those who would rather have a full respec to try a new build instead of starting from scratch would greatly benefit from an item like Diablo 4's Scroll of Amnesia, which in the case of Path of Exile 2 could be a Scroll of Regret or even the original Orb of Regret, only this time it would refund all skill points instead of just one.

Why Path of Exile 2 May Never Get a Free Full Respec Item

Doryani in PoE 2's early access launch trailer — Path of Exile 2 Doryani boss

The problem is that GGG seems inclined not to make full respecs in Path of Exile 2 a common occurrence, hence the prohibitive cost late in the game and the absence of a Scroll of Amnesia equivalent. While this is not a change of heart compared to the original game, which followed a similar principle and arguably had even higher costs for full respecs, it can be a detrimental decision. Path of Exile 2 can feel much longer in terms of its campaign, meaning that rerolling a different character is not always the best option. Likewise, full respecs are extremely costly.

Path of Exile 2 'Stealing' Diablo 4's Scroll of Amnesia Would Kill Two Birds With One Stone

As such, an alternative that would make things smoother from this perspective is an item like the Scroll of Amnesia, as it would kill two birds with one stone. Furthermore, it could still be made very rare, which would make it a valuable chase item for players to trade or simply keep if they plan on respeccing their characters. It remains to be seen whether Path of Exile 2's nerfs and difficulty end up pushing GGG toward making such an item available, but it could be a good thing across the board and still keep full respecs a rare occurrence if the item is given low odds to drop.

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Path of Exile II Tag Page Cover Art

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Action RPG

Hack and Slash

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Systems

PlayStation-1

Xbox-1

PC-1

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 100%

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Released: December 6, 2024
ESRB: Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Nudity, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Language, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
Developer(s): Grinding Gear Games
Publisher(s): Grinding Gear Games

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Path of Exile 2 Cover

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Path of Exile 2 Cover

The Player Facing An Optional Boss

The Player Standing By Una's Lute Box

Mighty Silverfist map boss in Path of Exile 2

The Player Getting The Book Of Specialisation From Una

Sorceress with Act 3 gear in PoE 2

Atlas portals in PoE 2

The Link To Chat Option In The Menu

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Path of Exile 2 takes place in the land of Wraeclast, a dark continent populated by unique cultures, ancient secrets, and monstrous dangers. A sinister threat, long thought destroyed, has begun creeping back on the edge of civilisation, driving people mad and sickening the land with Corruption.

Path of Exile 2 features a brand new campaign with six acts, 100 distinct environments, 600 monsters and 100 bosses.

Path of Exile 2 features twelve character classes, 240 Skill Gems, hundreds of equipment base types, a six-act campaign, more than a hundred unique boss fights, a deep endgame system and so much more.

Play with your friends without losing any progress with couch co-op, cross-play and cross-progression.

Engine: Proprietary Engine
Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Franchise: Path of Exile
Early Access Release: December 6, 2024
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
Genre(s): Action RPG, Hack and Slash, MMORPG

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