Path of Exile is getting it’s 3.7 patch and Legion expansion in just a few days. And with the introduction of what many POE players consider to be an iteration on Breach league, there’s a bunch of new mechanics and changes headed to this already great ARPG.
One of the bigger changes which affects the deep and complex crafting meta-game is Incubators. These special modifiers can drop from the Monolith encounters that are core to Legion, so these rare items will be both highly sought after and very fun to experiment with.
Here’s the basics of what we know about them so far:
- Incubators come in various types, and will cause a special condition to occur once a set number of “credits” has been accrued.
- “Credits” are gained anytime EXP is generated from a monster kill, and are shared across parties.
- Both Incubators and gear with an applied Incubator will be tradeable.
- Types of items dropped vary wildly, with a particular focus on Currency items, although other things are possible.
- Incubated Divination cards ignore the area you’re in at the time of the drop, giving players a completely random chance at acquiring any type of card.
- Incubator items will not stack. GGG intends to make these items very rare.
So what does all of this mean for Path of Exile? We know that things like Unique weapons, Harbinger items, Divination Cards and random Currency can be dropped, and will apparently ignore level restrictions by area, so the outcome can be either very rewarding or underwhelming. The rarity of the Incubators themselves will likely be the biggest determining factor in their price, as well as driving any knock-on effects of inflation that increased Currency or Div Cards will incur.
It’s possible that GGG will increase the variety of Incubators beyond what we’ve already seen. If they start including things like 6-links or other insanely powerful drops that could be interesting. Although I can’t see an upside to those kinds of things unless they’re extremely rare, as giving out too many 6-links or other powerful drops will drastically cause a downturn in Currency prices if they were to flood the market. Maybe there will be a handful of Incubators that drop insanely rare or powerful items to encourage farming and the chase. If they did that SlipperyJim8 would certainly have at least one new video idea.
It’s hard to know exactly what these incubations can result in, as we’ll have to wait for the actual patch to release to find out. But once Path of Exile: Legion is out and can be datamined for the results, we’ll be sure to include that information in our Path of Exile: Legion guide. And yes, we’ll have a full beginner’s guide to Path of Exile: Legion out with the new patch.
If you want more details about the upcoming Path of Exile 3.7 patch and Legion, go take a look at our other coverage. Path of Exile: Legion launches on June 7th. By the way, the console versions are due for PS4 and Xbox One on June 10th.