Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters Launches

Grinding Gear Games did exactly what we hoped they would today, and that’s release their Forsaken Masters expansion pack for the popular free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile. Word is that the number of people logging in was enough “to kill their website but leave the game servers intact”, but before you join that reception, take a look at this launch trailer:

And check out the press release for a refresher:

Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters is Now Live

Newest expansion adds personal towns, master missions, new item crafting options, Rampage and Beyond Challenge Leagues, and much more!

Auckland, New Zealand – August 20, 2014 – Grinding Gear Games, developer of the award-winning action RPG Path of Exile, today announced that Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters, an entirely new content expansion, is now live as of 3:00 PM PST (10:00 AM New Zealand Time on August 21) as a free update to the game. Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters offers both new and returning Path of Exile players a slew of new content and features related to the seven Masters.

As per the expansion’s title, players will cross paths with the seven Forsaken Masters — seven skilled individuals who were exiled to the forsaken continent of Wraeclast by Dominus, a powerful entity of corruption and tyranny. Each Master offers unique quests, training, mission variations, item crafting and modification options, secret and customizable towns known as Hideouts, tiers of Hideout decorations, and more in exchange for an Exile’s help. New Challenge Leagues, revamped boss fights, new lore, new Unique items, new skill and support gems, a PvP Spectator Mode, and dozens of other additions have also been implemented as part of the Forsaken Masters expansion.

Below is a brief synopsis of the many new features now available in Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters:

Train with the Masters

As players roam the wilderness of Wraeclast, they will sometimes encounter a Forsaken Master. All seven Masters have their own unique missions that they either need help with, or are willing to train Exiles to handle. For example, Haku asks players to cleanse an ancestral area and recover a lost Karui spirit. Vorici provides training in the art of assassination. As players progress through the eight levels of reputation with each Master, more of what these Masters can offer will be unlocked.

The seven Masters each have their own style of mission and each mission has many potential circumstances. As players delve deeper into the realm of Wraeclast, the pool of available mission variations increases, offering players new and unexpected challenges — all of which can occur anywhere in the game.

Hideouts: Customizable Towns

In their extensive travels throughout Wraeclast, the seven Masters have discovered ideal locations for an Exile to use as their own secret Hideout. Once a Master’s trust is gained, the player will be able to create their own personal and customizable town. Masters residing in a player’s Hideout will offer them daily Missions and training as well as advanced crafting options. Players are also able to expand their Hideouts to use as personalized Guild Halls.

Craft and Upgrade Items

Each master specializes in crafting different types of items. As a player gains reputation with a chosen Master, they will gain access to more of that Master’s unique crafting options and abilities, such as manipulating an item’s sockets or crafting special modifications. Masters also function as vendors that sell items ranging from Skill Gems to Unique items. At higher levels, each Master also sells Magic items with a specific, new, build-defining modification. These can be used as-is or crafted further with either the new Hideout Crafting Benches or the traditional Orb system to create powerful items.

The expansion has also added 16 new Unique Items, some of which are exclusive and may only be found in one or the other of the new Challenge Leagues.

New Challenge Leagues: Rampage and Beyond

With the release of Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters, two new three-month Challenge Leagues have begun, providing players with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of Path of Exile. Rampage and Beyond both have unique properties that set them apart from normal play:

‘¢ Rampage: Appropriately named, the Rampage League focuses on maintaining kill-streaks. As Exiles in Rampage League slay enemies in succession, their strength as well as attack and movement speeds will increase exponentially. New and powerful effects such as Novas can also be triggered the longer a player keeps their Rampage alive, which can explode enemies, summon defensive spirit weapons, and more.
‘¢ Beyond: Exiles who choose to take on the hardcore Beyond League must deal with a race of extra dimensional demons invading Wraeclast throughout the game’s progression. When a group of these demons is slain, a portal appears, spawning more powerful monsters. Once those enemies are slain, a larger portal summons a unique boss designed to be extremely difficult to kill. Large bounties await Exiles who vanquish these powerful foes.

Like the Challenge Leagues before them, these new leagues have a set of difficult challenges to complete. Players who complete five of the eight total challenges will be rewarded with an exclusive microtransaction effect. Finishing all of the eight challenges will unlock another, different, exclusive microtransaction effect. The first 50 players to complete all of the challenges will receive a Rampage/Beyond t-shirt.

Revamped Existing Content

To make for more intense and surprising battles, many of the existing boss encounters in Path of Exile have been revamped. More lore has also been added for players to discover, with snippets of Wraeclast’s history scattered throughout the existing acts. Additionally, large portions of the Passive Skill Tree have been redesigned, particularly in the Witch, Shadow, and outer Ranger class areas. Extensive balance improvements supported by these changes have been made to the core game.

Further information about Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters can be found on the Path of Exile website at http://www.pathofexile.com/masters.