Summary
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Path of Exile 2 offers fewer but impressive building-shaping options like Venom Draft rewards.
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Players cannot change quest selection or rewards in PoE 2, unlike the original, leading to locked decisions.
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Option locking in Path of Exile 2 can feel punishing, encouraging the need for modifiability to improve the player experience.
There are still many ways to Path of Exile 2 growth given that this is an Early Access game with more than a decade of experience from the developers at GGG in the production of its predecessor, The path of exile. With a lot of key similarities and differences from the original, the sequel seems to show how action RPGs can grow and improve over time, which is further seen in its approach compared to the current Diablo 4 and iconic Diablo 2. Path of Exile 2's endgame could benefit from some changes, but one that GGG should implement is about campaign choices.
Path of Exile 2 isn't the first ARPG to have meaningful choices throughout its campaign, with its predecessor doing exactly the same but to a different extent. One of the most important elections in The path of exile is what Bandit Lord players should help with, if it exists, as it can dramatically affect a given build. While this choice or similar choices may seem of the utmost importance and done carefully, they can be changed later by spending Orbs of Regret. Instead, Path of Exile 2 currently does not have this option.
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The Slithering Dead Locks from Path of Exile 2 will block players' options
Fewer options need to be made Path of Exile 2 compared to the original game, but they matter and can affect the build quite a bit. An example comes from Path of Exile 2's Ancient Vows quest in Act 2, which tasks players with finding two parts of a locket that are revealed to be relics from different factions (Sun Clan Relics and Kabal Clan Relics). Combining these relics will create a Medallion in the Valley of the Titans regions, where players can choose one of two perks and keep it for as long as they want, just go back to the waypoint in the area to change it. However, this does not apply to the Venom Draft quest reward.
In Act 3 and later again in Path of Exile 2Cruel difficulty in Act 3, players can complete a side quest called The Slithering Dead. Here, players must venture into the Venom Crypts to find an item called the Venom Draught, which will give them a choice of three different rewards when taken back to Servi in the Ziggurat Encamp. These options include:
- Venom Draft of Stone: 25% increased stun threshold (Normal difficulty)
- Venom Draft of the Veil: 30% increased elemental disease threshold (Normal difficulty)
- Venom Draft of Clarity: 25% increased mana regeneration rate (Normal difficulty)
- Venom Draft of Stone: +10% Chaos Resistance (Cruel Difficulty)
- Venom Draft of the Veil: +5 to all attributes (brutal difficulty)
- Venom Draft of Clarity: 15% reduced slowing power of debuffs on you (Cruel difficulty)
All of these are valuable rewards in their own right, but some can be significantly better than others in the end game. For example, a Chaos Inoculation build will not need a Venom Draft of Stone from Cruel difficulty and a stat tally build with Path of Exile 2The unique Item Pillar of the Caged God will most likely need +5 to all attributes, however buff it may seem.
Why Path of Exile 2 Should Change Venom Design Options
The problem is that these choices are permanent, unlike quests in The path of exile or even choosing a locket in Path of Exile 2. As such, it doesn't make much sense for them to be locked once picked, especially considering how punishing it can be for new players or if someone wants to respect their character and change their build. Path of Exile 2Unlike the original game, Ascendancy classes can't be changed either, so it seems like the sequel is trying to make choices matter even more. At the end of the day, though, this approach can be unnecessarily punitive to players who change their mind, so it would make sense to allow them to change that choice in some way in the future.