Grinding Gear Games really likes to have a rhythm to the approach they take to expansions, leading to a somewhat predictable pattern. And with Echoes of the Atlas, they added a ton of new layers to the game. The massive rework of skills and Ascendancies shook the meta-game. Echoes of the Atlas took the storyline in a new direction with the Maven. There were other elements like the Atlas Passives which further turned things on their heads. So all that means that Path of Exile 3.13 was a massive expansion. So now, with Path of Exile 3.14 on the horizon, the developer has announced a new timeline that teases some things to be aware of. Here’s what we know about the Path of Exile 3.14 timeline.
By GGG’s own admission Path of Exile 3.13 was much more robust compared to a normal expansion. Which translates to them wanting to take a breather. With the impending launch of Path of Exile 2 sometime in the distant future, it’s likely that much more iteration of the new Echoes of the Atlas mechanics is a ways off. So that means the company is likely to stick to its current pattern for a while now. They usually take about 14 weeks or so to develop a new expansion and drop in the new features to POE.
What does GGG like to do?
The tenor of each league and new patch is often somewhat informed by the rhythm they like to keep for development. Harvest League was a more crafting-focused league, with major potential for min-maxing. That was just back in 3.11, so it could be due for a comeback. Delirium and 3.10 added a mechanic very similar to Ritual, in that map effects and a shower of loot was the goal. POE 3.12 and Heist was a mini-game league with tons of depth and some interesting potential for trading and making currency. POE 3.13 was this league with tons more depth and story.
And if you go back and look at the previous league mechanics, Grinding Gear Games has a clear design philosophy for their core leagues. Each patch can be broken down into a few types and it seems like we can guess what League is coming. I wouldn’t count on some big mini-game expansion like Heist in the next patch, if that tells you anything.
So what does that say about the Path of Exile 3.14 timeline and what the actual expansion will include? Not much really. GGG does say the new patch will be smaller in focus, but players can still expect “fresh challenge league, balance changes, new items and more.” Does that mean we’re in for another hyper-focused crafting league? Maybe. It would make sense as we haven’t had a big push for something like that since Harvest. Although the playerbase didn’t react too positively to Harvest at the time, and GGG had to iterate on the idea before adding it back to the game as a more refined and easier-to-access system.
We won’t know until the expansion is announced later this year, which will happen once again via the POE Twitch channel.
You can read the full Path of Exile 3.14 update on the official POE site.
