Has the sheer complexity of Path of Exile 1 ever made you or a friend hesitant to dive in, leaving you thinking, “Nah, I’m good”? Or perhaps some players have put hundreds of hours into the game and still feel uncertain about its myriad systems? Fear not, brave Exiles! Path of Exile 2 steps onto the stage aiming to untangle those knots and offer a fresh start, while still honoring the deep-seated legacy of its predecessor. We’ll dive deeper into the differences between the two titans—how they play, how they evolve over time, and how players perceive them—hoping to clarify common questions regarding the Path of Exile 1 vs. Path of Exile 2 experience as of mid-2025.
To effectively navigate this comparison, a breakdown of the typical player experience with each game will be presented, often visualized through a curious graph of “enjoyment over time.”
Path of Exile 2: The Accessible Adventure
Imagine a graph where the vertical axis represents enjoyment and the horizontal axis represents time. Path of Exile 2 was intentionally designed to start higher on that enjoyment scale for most players. The sequel aims to appeal to a much wider audience with its new classes, embracing cross-platform play from the outset. Its early access version launch in December 2024 quickly attracted a huge influx of players – reports indicate over one million registered players in the first weekend alone. To achieve this broad appeal, the developers focused on making the initial stages of the game more accessible and immediately rewarding.
The enjoyment curve for Path of Exile 2 typically starts quite high. The current 6-act campaign is generally perceived as solid and engaging right from the beginning. GGG deliberately slowed down the campaign pacing compared to the first game, creating a narrative adventure where players truly earn their power. Despite occasional bumps, such as initial league challenges, the core campaign experience maintains this enjoyable curve. It offers good enjoyment with engaging boss fights that are fair and well-telegraphed, showcasing understandable new mechanics.
This progression often resembles a typical bell curve for player enjoyment. As players transition to PoE2’s endgame, enjoyment often sees an initial spike. There’s excitement upon discovering the mapping system and its vast potential. However, because the current game is still an early access version, its endgame content is comparatively limited. After exploring maps for some time, many players reach a point where the content feels largely explored, leading enjoyment to gradually taper off. This progression aligns with what might be considered a “consumable” action RPG journey: a strong campaign, an engaging but still-developing endgame, and a finite number of hours before one moves on. Within the current state of PoE 2, a player might feel they have engaged with a substantial portion of what’s available, eventually consuming what it offers before the next cycle of adding content.
Path of Exile 1: The Rewarding Struggle
For Path of Exile 1, the enjoyment graph often begins at a deficit. The original game’s renowned complexity can feel like a barrier, and early on, you might find your enjoyment dipping as you grapple with unfamiliar systems. However, this very “hardness to understand” eventually becomes its greatest strength. As you progress through the campaign, navigating its many world areas, and slowly piece together how everything works, enjoyment begins to rise, then skyrocket once it clicks.
For veteran PoE 1 players, this “skyrocket” moment is instantly recognizable. As Chris Wilson, a co-founder of GGG, famously stated: “If you make it to maps, Path of Exile owns your soul,” a sentiment many players find to be entirely accurate. Once you gain access to the endgame mapping system and discover the true depth of its itemization and buildcrafting, the game becomes extraordinarily compelling.
This isn’t to say the campaign of the first game is inherently bad; it’s often considered deeper and more replayable than campaigns in many other ARPGs, with its randomly generated zones. However, a first playthrough of the original path can be soul-crushing – it’s certainly not a “baby’s first action RPG.” You’ll encounter dozens of mechanics that practically demand outside learning. The good news is that if you’ve played PoE2, you won’t be starting from scratch; you’ll understand concepts like support gems and basic currency. Nevertheless, PoE 1’s sheer quantity of additional options, from its many ascendancy classes to its intricate systems, means you’ll still face a significant learning curve. The payoff for overcoming it is enormous: that unparalleled depth fuels long-term engagement in this vast world.
The Passive Skill Tree: Taming the Spaghetti Monster
Path of Exile’s passive skill tree is legendary for its sprawling, intimidating size. While both games feature enormous trees, there are crucial design differences.
- Path of Exile 2: The passive tree is redesigned for clarity. It introduces “attribute highways”—clear paths of nodes that grant Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence, helping guide players. The starting zones are also improved, significantly reducing the chance of inadvertently “ruining” a build. By allocating passive skill points wisely, you can optimize your character to deal impressive physical damage or specialize in other areas. Most importantly, PoE2 introduces Weapon Set Passive Points (dubbed “Flex points”). These are special passive skill points that apply only to a specific weapon set, allowing your character to have different passive allocations that activate automatically when you swap weapons.
- Path of Exile 1: The tree has evolved over a decade and is arguably more complex. It features advanced customization tools like Masteries, build-altering Timeless Jewels, and supplementary items like Tattoos. While these enable incredible depth and unique variations for the game’s many ascendancy classes, they also contribute to the initial learning deficit for new players on the original path.
Skill Gems: A New Sparkle in Your Abilities
The gem system in Path of Exile 2 undergoes a significant transformation, representing one of the most impactful changes for accessibility and experimentation.
- The New Socketing Paradigm: In PoE1, skill gems are socketed into gear, making your equipment the bottleneck. In PoE2, this is completely flipped: sockets are now on the gems themselves. Every active skill can have support gems socketed directly into it. This single change makes experimenting with new skills and supports completely free.
- Gem Acquisition and Rules: PoE2 introduces “Uncut Gems,” which can be transformed into any skill or support gem you choose, giving you direct control over your build‘s progression. It also enforces a new rule: you can only use one copy of each specific support gem per character, simplifying build decisions.
- Resource Management with Spirit and Metagems: To alleviate the mana strain common in PoE1, PoE2 introduces Spirit, a new resource pool separate from mana that is reserved for auras and persistent buffs. Triggered abilities are handled by a new Metagem system that uses Energy, a resource that builds up as conditions are met. These new mechanics make resource management far more intuitive for a player exploring this world.
| Aspect | Path of Exile 1 | Path of Exile 2 |
| Socketing | Gems socket into gear; requires matching colors and linked slots. | Sockets are on the gems themselves; independent of gear links. |
| Experimentation | Difficult and costly, as it may require changing gear. | Easy and free; swap skill setups and new skills at will. |
| Gem Acquisition | Purchased from vendors or found as loot. | “Uncut gems” can become any gem; promotes flexibility. |
| Mana Management | Auras reserve a large portion of mana, often requiring complex solutions. | New “Spirit” resource for auras frees up the mana pool. |
The Flask System: Simplified Survival
The “flask piano”—the need to constantly press multiple flask keys to maintain buffs—is a defining feature of PoE1. Path of Exile 2 dramatically reworks this system.
- In PoE2, you now have exactly two flasks: one Life flask and one Mana flask.
- All utility functions that flasks used to cover have been moved to the new Charm system. Charms are equippable supplementary items that automatically trigger to provide a specific defensive benefit when a condition is met. This is a massive quality-of-life win that allows you to focus on the fight itself.
Weapon Mechanics & New Weapons: Seamless Transitions
- Automatic Weapon Swapping: A fantastic feature in PoE2 allows skills to be assigned to specific weapon slots. The game will automatically and seamlessly swap your weapons when you use those new skills. Combined with the “Flex Points” on the passive tree, this opens up fluid, multi-weapon builds that were simply not practical in the first game.
- New Gear and Itemization: PoE2 introduces new weapon types like Spears and Crossbows. More importantly, items feature a tiered rarity display. An unidentified item might be labeled “T3,” indicating it’s more likely to roll higher-tier modifiers. This helps players spot potentially valuable loot much faster than in PoE1.
Endgame: Specialization vs. Current Scope
Both games feature an endgame built on mapping through randomly generated world areas, but their approach and scope differ greatly.
- Path of Exile 1 – A Buffet of Options: Over a decade, PoE1 has integrated a vast array of league mechanics into its core game. Its key feature is the Atlas Passive Skill Tree, which allows players to customize their endgame experience. You can specialize in the content you enjoy most (like the Harvest league) and even block content you dislike. This high degree of player agency, combined with incredibly deep crafting systems, creates an endlessly replayable sandbox where you “lay out your own tracks.” You can play this content in the temporary challenge league or the permanent standard league.
- Path of Exile 2 – A Curated Challenge: As of 2025, the current state of PoE2’s endgame is more guided and limited. Rather than a buffet, it’s a set menu where players are encouraged to engage with all available content, including all the new bosses. It currently lacks a robust Atlas Passive Tree to exclude content, which can lead to repetition. The game’s balance between its systems is still undergoing refinement in this beta version.
| Aspect | Path of Exile 1 | Path of Exile 2 |
| Player Agency | High – Specialize your Atlas Passive Tree to target specific content. | Moderate – Engage with all available endgame systems in a more guided way. |
| Content Depth | Vast and deep – Integrates years of league content and deep crafting systems. | Limited (currently) – Content is expanding with patches but not yet near PoE1’s scale. |
| Core Activity | Players “lay out their own tracks” by choosing their farming strategy. | Players “overcome the content” presented to them by the current game. |
Enemy Design & Quality of Life: Modern Polish vs. Enduring Charm
Path of Exile 2 was built with a modern sensibility, introducing many quality-of-life (QoL) features that create a smoother and fairer player experience.
- Fairer, Telegraphed Fights: Enemies in PoE2, especially bosses, have clearly telegraphed attacks. Combined with a new universal dodge roll, combat feels more action-oriented.
- Tuned Rare Monsters: Rare monsters are custom-designed, and the overall game balance feels more consistent, preventing the extreme difficulty spikes of the past.
- Movement & Control: PoE2 fully supports WASD movement in addition to traditional click-to-move. This feels great whether you play solo or in a party.
- Loot and Dialogue: An increased emphasis on finding genuinely useful item upgrades and the ability to skip cutscenes enhance the experience.
PoE 1, while lacking many of these modern QoL features, has an enduring, old-school brutal charm. Its raw, chaotic combat and the skill required to master its unforgiving systems are part of its core identity. Its game balance has been refined over many years.
The Grinding Gear Games Philosophy: Respecting All Exiles
GGG has taken a remarkable, player-friendly approach to the sequel. They have committed to keeping Path of Exile 1 and 2 as separate game experiences, recognizing the massive player base that loves PoE1 as it is. They plan to continue to offer expansions for both titles, with releases staggered so players can enjoy each game alongside the other. This shows a commitment to the entire world they have built.
Crucially, all microtransactions are shared between both games. As confirmed by the developers, anything you have ever purchased will be usable in both titles. You don’t have to pay again. This generosity is almost unprecedented and underscores GGG’s respect for their players’ time and investment, a philosophy they have held since the past.
Conclusion: A Choice of Journeys
- Path of Exile 2 offers a more accessible, story-driven entry point. It’s the adventure for those who bounced off PoE1’s complexity or who want a fresh experience with modern design. Even in its early access version, it’s a fantastic, modern ARPG. The full development of this world will be exciting to watch.
- Path of Exile 1 currently provides the full-course meal for a hardcore ARPG fan. For those who crave complexity and a virtually endless endgame, it is unsurpassed. To gain access to this depth requires dedication, but the reward is an incredibly rich sandbox. Following the original path is a journey in itself.
Ultimately, the choice depends on your desired experience. PoE2 holds immense potential. PoE1 is the genre-defining behemoth. Thankfully, you can enjoy one, the other, or both together in a party. Whichever path you take—the rewarding struggle of the first game or the accessible adventure of the sequel—Wraeclast awaits.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest difference between Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2?
The most fundamental difference lies in their core design philosophies, which dictates the entire player journey from start to finish. Path of Exile 1 is a “rewarding struggle.” It presents an incredibly steep, often punishing, learning curve with complex systems layered on top of each other from a decade of development. Its campaign can feel overwhelming, but for players who endure this trial by fire, it unlocks an endgame of unparalleled depth and freedom. Path of Exile 2, conversely, is an “accessible adventure.” It was created from the ground up to be a more welcoming entry point into the world of Wraeclast. Its campaign is a slower, more narrative-driven experience with modern quality-of-life features, intuitive systems, and fairer boss fights, ensuring players feel engaged and empowered from their very first steps. Ultimately, the difference is in the journey: PoE1 makes you earn your fun through a crucible of complexity, while PoE2 offers fun and understanding from the outset.
Is Path of Exile 2 easier to get into than Path of Exile 1?
Yes, Path of Exile 2 is unequivocally easier to get into, as this was a primary goal of its development. This accessibility is achieved through a multitude of deliberate design changes that address many of the pain points of the original game. Combat is slower and more tactical, with enemy attacks being clearly telegraphed, allowing you to learn and react rather than suffer sudden, unexplained deaths. Every character class has access to a universal dodge roll, providing a reliable defensive tool from level one. Core systems that were notoriously complex, like the skill gem socketing and flask management, have been completely reinvented to be more intuitive, removing massive layers of friction and cost that previously punished new players for experimenting.
Is Path of Exile 1 being replaced or shut down?
No, absolutely not. In a move that respects its dedicated community, Grinding Gear Games has made a firm and public commitment to support both Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2 as completely separate game experiences. PoE1 is not being shut down or replaced. The plan is to continue developing new content, including new leagues and major expansions, for both titles concurrently. The release schedules for this new content will likely be staggered, allowing players to finish a league in one game and then have a fresh league waiting for them in the other, ensuring the entire Path of Exile ecosystem remains active.
What will happen to my microtransactions (MTX) from Path of Exile 1?
Your entire collection of microtransactions is safe and will be fully available in both games. Grinding Gear Games has implemented a shared MTX system, meaning any cosmetic item—such as armor sets, weapon effects, pets, and portal effects—along with any utility purchases like premium stash tabs that you have ever bought in PoE1 will be accessible in your PoE2 account at no extra cost. This forward-compatible philosophy also applies to new purchases; anything you buy in PoE2 will also be available in PoE1. The only minor exception would be for items that are hyper-specific to content that only exists in one of the games.
How does the skill gem system work in Path of Exile 2?
The skill gem system has undergone a revolutionary overhaul to empower player choice and experimentation. The core change is that sockets are now on the skill gems themselves, rather than on your gear. In PoE1, your ability to link support gems to a skill was limited by the sockets on your armor and weapons. In PoE2, every active skill gem has its own built-in sockets, meaning you can fully support any skill you find, completely independent of your equipment. This removes the enormous friction and currency cost associated with trying new skills, as you no longer need to find, craft, or trade for gear with the perfect socket colors and links. You can simply swap skills in and out at will.
How has the flask system changed in PoE2?
The demanding “flask piano” mechanic from PoE1 has been completely removed in favor of a much simpler and more strategic system. In Path of Exile 2, you have exactly two flask slots: one for your Life flask and one for your Mana flask. All of the crucial defensive and utility functions that were previously handled by multiple utility flasks—such as removing bleed, freeze, curses, or providing temporary armor—have been moved to a new system called “Charms.” These are equippable items that automatically trigger their specific defensive effect when a condition is met, removing the need for constant, manual button mashing and allowing you to focus on the action.
Which game should I start with if I’m a new player?
For any player new to the franchise, Path of Exile 2 is the highly recommended starting point. Its design serves as a much better tutorial for the core concepts of the Path of Exile universe. The guided and more forgiving campaign, coupled with intuitive systems and modern quality-of-life features, will allow you to learn fundamental mechanics like linking support gems, planning a passive tree, and engaging with boss fights in a much less stressful environment. After completing the PoE2 campaign, you will be far better equipped with the foundational knowledge needed to tackle the immense complexity of Path of Exile 1, should you choose to explore it.
Is Path of Exile 2 free to play?
Yes, it will be. While the game is currently in an early access period that requires a purchase to enter, that payment is essentially a pre-order for in-game currency; you receive the full purchase value back in points to spend on cosmetics and stash tabs. When Path of Exile 2 has its official, full launch, it will follow the exact same ethical model as the first game: it will be 100% free to play, with its revenue generated from purely optional cosmetic microtransactions and quality-of-life utility items like stash tabs, with no pay-to-win elements.
How does the endgame compare between the two games?
As of 2025, there is a vast difference in the scope and nature of the endgame. Path of Exile 1, having benefited from over a decade of continuous development, offers an incredibly deep and sprawling endgame. Its centerpiece is the Atlas Passive Tree, which gives players immense agency to customize their experience, allowing them to specialize in and target the specific types of content they most enjoy. This is complemented by numerous, deeply layered crafting systems. Path of Exile 2’s endgame, by contrast, is currently more limited and guided. It presents a curated set of challenges and boss encounters to overcome, but it lacks the open-ended, sandbox-style freedom and sheer volume of content found in PoE1.
What’s different about the Passive Skill Tree in Path of Exile 2?
While the iconic, massive “spaghetti” tree remains, it has been redesigned in PoE2 for improved clarity and utility. It now features “attribute highways,” which are clear pathways of stat nodes that help players more easily acquire the Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence their build requires. The most significant and innovative change, however, is the introduction of “Flex Points.” These are special passive skill points that can be allocated to a specific weapon set. This allows your passive tree specialization to change dynamically and automatically when you swap weapons, making fluid, multi-weapon builds far more effective and viable than they ever were in PoE1.
Is the combat pace different in PoE2?
Yes, the difference is night and day and is central to the feel of each game. Path of Exile 1’s endgame is characterized by an extremely fast-paced, almost chaotic style of combat where powerful builds can clear entire screens of monsters in an instant. Path of Exile 2 makes a deliberate shift to a slower, more tactical, and methodical combat pace. This change in speed emphasizes player positioning, strategic use of skills, and actively dodging telegraphed enemy attacks, making encounters feel more like intense, skill-based duels rather than explosive slaughter.
Are there new classes and weapons in Path of Exile 2?
Yes. Path of Exile 2 is not just a new campaign; it introduces an entirely new cast of character classes that are distinct from the ascendancy classes of the original game, offering fresh archetypes and playstyles to explore. To complement these new classes, the game also features several new weapon types that were not present in PoE1, most notably versatile Spears (which can be used for both melee and thrown attacks) and powerful Crossbows (which can utilize different elemental bolts), each bringing their own unique mechanics to the combat system.
What are Charms?
Charms are a brand-new category of equippable items in Path of Exile 2 that serve as a complete replacement for the utility flasks of the first game. Instead of manually pressing a flask to cure poison or remove freeze, you equip a Charm that handles that specific job for you. Their defining feature is that they trigger automatically when their condition is met (e.g., a “Staunching Charm” will activate the moment you start bleeding), consuming a charge in the process. This system provides crucial defenses without adding to the mental load or finger dexterity required during intense combat.
Do I need to play Path of Exile 1 to understand the story of Path of Exile 2?
No, you do not. Path of Exile 2 is designed as a standalone experience with its own self-contained campaign and narrative, which is set many years after the events of the original game. While veterans may recognize certain locations or lore elements from the world of Wraeclast, the story is written to be a completely fresh starting point, ensuring that new players can jump in and fully understand the plot and its stakes without any prior knowledge or required reading.
How does weapon swapping work in Path of Exile 2?
Weapon swapping has been transformed from a clunky, rarely used feature in PoE1 into a core, seamless combat mechanic in PoE2. You can assign your skills directly to one of your two weapon sets. When you press the key for a skill assigned to your alternate weapon, your character will automatically and fluidly switch to that weapon as part of the skill’s animation. This allows for the creation of dynamic hybrid builds that can, for example, initiate a fight with a bow from a distance and then instantly switch to a spear to finish enemies in melee, all without ever manually pressing a separate weapon-swap key.
Is the Harvest league in Path of Exile 2?
No, the Harvest league and its associated deterministic crafting system are not currently present in Path of Exile 2. This mechanic is a prime example of the deep, layered systems that make up Path of Exile 1’s mature endgame. The development of PoE2 has focused on building a new foundation, and as such, its crafting systems in the early access version are more streamlined and less complex. It does not yet feature the intricate, niche league mechanics that have been integrated into PoE1 over the past decade.
What are Metagems and Spirit?
These are two key components of Path of Exile 2’s reinvented resource management system. Spirit is a completely new resource pool, separate from mana, that is used exclusively to reserve the power of your auras and other long-duration buffs. This is a huge quality-of-life improvement because it frees up your primary mana pool for actively casting your main damage skills. Metagems are the new framework for triggered abilities. Instead of being support gems that make a skill cost more mana, they are special gems that use a new resource called Energy, which you build up by meeting specific conditions in combat (like igniting an enemy or landing a critical strike).
Can I play in a party with friends?
Yes, both games fully support and encourage party play, allowing you to team up with friends to take on the challenges of Wraeclast. Path of Exile 2 takes this a step further by offering full cross-platform play. This is a major feature that breaks down barriers between ecosystems, allowing you to form a party and play with your friends regardless of whether they are on a PC or a console, which is not possible in Path of Exile 1.
What is a major quality-of-life improvement in PoE2?
While there are many, one of the most impactful sets of improvements revolves around control and moment-to-moment gameplay. Every character class now has access to a universal dodge roll, providing a reliable and active way to avoid damage that simply doesn’t exist in PoE1. Furthermore, the game offers full support for both traditional click-to-move and modern WASD control schemes, allowing players to choose what feels most comfortable. Another massive usability win is the new item display system, which shows the tier of an item’s modifiers before you use a Scroll of Wisdom, making loot evaluation far less cryptic.
When is the full release of Path of Exile 2?
There is no official, confirmed date for the full release at this time. The game is currently in what is being called an early access or beta version. The developers at Grinding Gear Games have communicated that their priority is to continue the development process, which involves adding a significant amount of new content, greatly expanding the endgame systems, and continuously refining game balance based on the valuable feedback they receive from the early access community. The full, free-to-play launch will only occur when they believe the game has met their high standards for quality and completeness.
