2018 has been a pretty good year for Path of Exile. The game has received numerous updates, and with each update came much attention—especially from potential players and game journos. Now, as the year closes, GGG has one last hurrah, and it’s a big one! Be ready for mystery and deceit in Path of Exile: Betrayal.
East in Spirit
For this expansion, the motif is quite obviously Asian–an interesting take as it’s a break from the game’s inherent Medieval Europe meets tribal South America aesthetic. True to the theme, you’ll be tasked to help investigate the Immortal Syndicate–a shadowy organization. The one you’ll be helping in the infiltration of this mysterious group is Jun Ortoi. From her name, getup, and mission, she’s obviously Wraeclast’s resident ninja.
To aid her, you’ll be destroying the Immortal Syndicate from within. There are 18 Syndicate members, and all of them fall under divisions, namely Fortification, Transportation, Research, and Intervention, so you’ll have to take them down systematically. You also have to be careful, as there’s a chance that other members would assist the one you’re currently attacking.
Take Me to Your Leader
Aside from killing them, you can also resort to bargaining, interrogation, and even making them turn on one another. Occasionally it’s even best to do things without bloodshed.
The endgame is to bring down the captain of the divisions. That means other from killing the members, you’ll have to raid their safehouses. In doing so, you will uncover the identity of the mastermind. The type of items these safehouses keep–including POE currency–depend on the Syndicate member that runs it. Raiding a safehouse also yields item rewards apart from what you get for raiding it. The items you’ll receive depend on the Syndicate member who owns the safehouse and what division they belong to.
Never the Same After Betrayal
Other than these PVE content players can take on, Path of Exile: Betrayal brings a host of new things to the table. The first would be the Veiled modifier. To make the most of these, you have to bring them to Jun, who will let you choose one of the three properties you can imbue the item with. Later on, you’ll be able to imbue these properties onto other items, as well as unlock their higher-level versions.
Speaking of putting modifiers on items, Master crafting has been overhauled. From the user interface, the way players obtain crafting options, and to the way it’s being unlocked, this particular feature has become made much more accessible.
Next would be the new Masters. Gone are the Forsaken Masters; taking their place are Jun as well as others: Einhar, Alva, Niko, and Zana. Their leagues, Delve and Incursion, have become a part of the core content, Bestiary has been made simpler, and Einhar is all about that bestiary.
On a more semi-retroactive note, Atlas of Worlds is getting four new maps. These are the improved version of fan-favorite tilesets from Delve’s Azurite Mine. Plus, the entirety of the Atlas of Worlds has been restructured, so players will have to find their way again. It’s a bit of a challenge, but knowing exiles, they’re very much up to the challenge.
Last but definitely not least, true to Path of Exile tradition, new skill gems will be added into the game and old skill gems will be revamped. This, of course, could mean a new meta. If I were you, I’d be ready for it!
With everything it’s bringing to the table, it’s pretty much obvious at this point that Betrayal is Path of Exile’s huge parting gift for players in 2018. Grinding Gear Games definitely spared no effort in this update. The same should go for the players who will take it on.