Path of Exile Dev Explains What to Expect From Tier 17 Maps

Path of Exile‘s new Necropolis League is launching shortly, and it will have plenty of new things for players to try – be it the seasonal gameplay loop involving Undertaker Arimor or the many changes coming with the latest expansion. Not only is Path of Exile reshaping its Scarabs and revamping many classic Unique items, but it is also changing a brand-new tier of maps for players to engage in pinnacle content – namely, Tier 17 Maps. These go one tier above the current cap of T16 Maps, which are often considered the end-goal for those who want to stay in the grind after beating Uber bosses, and there’s a lot about them that PoE players can look forward to.

Path of Exile‘s Necropolis League will let players test their mettle against Uber bosses and tackle the game’s pinnacle content in these new maps, but fans shouldn’t expect it to be a piece of cake – rather, T17 Maps are meant to be scarce and challenge players’ characters in new ways. Game Rant spoke with Grinding Gear Games’ Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts about Path of Exile‘s Necropolis League and PoE 2‘s new Ranger class, with Roberts acting as Path of Exile‘s Game Director and explaining what to expect from Tier 17 Maps.

How Path of Exile’s Tier 17 Maps Are Designed

Path of Exile’s Endgame is Changing With Necropolis

When asked about how Tier 17 Maps could change Path of Exile‘s endgame grind and economy, Roberts responded that these new pieces of content shouldn’t be conceived as the ultimate goal for farming purposes, but rather as pinnacle content that will come and go. As of now, Path of Exile‘s Tier 16 Maps act as the true endgame for those who want to keep playing after beating the game and its bosses, as they can offer wildly different experiences when rolling them and improving them. A big problem comes in the form of sustaining T16 Maps for some players, as they don’t typically drop so frequently as to allow Exiles to keep the loop going, and Tier 17 Maps are doing the exact same thing but in extreme ways.

Roberts: It’s good to have content to aspire to, but Tier 17 Maps are a lot harder. You can’t roll them, for example. They come pre-rolled and you can’t modify them, they are generally larger, way more difficult, and it’s really more of a test of your character. It’s meant to be something that you do occasionally as opposed to something that you’re farming all the time.

Roberts emphasized that this new type of content is not intended for Path of Exile players to farm continuously or expect to do so, but rather to expect to run a handful of Tier 16 Maps in between T17 sessions or at least some other form of endgame experience to obtain T17s from. This is mainly because, unlike all other Map Tiers, Tier 17 Maps will never be self-sustainable, as they don’t drop when running T17 Maps.

Path of Exile’s Tier 17 Maps Being Tradeable is Only Half The Story

Path of Exile‘s Leagues and League-specific encounters or loot also come into play with T17 Maps, such as some bosses appearing in their Uber form to challenge players. These boss fights can be extremely brutal at times, especially with players not being able to reroll T17s the way they would with other content, so there is a fine line between difficulty and reward that GGG is trying to stay on. While T17 Maps will not be rerollable, players can trade them or get them in droves when playing certain builds that increase Item Rarity and Item Quantity, so one can virtually run them forever.

Roberts: They are tradeable, but of course, if you trade them you can run them all the time forever like anything in our game. Assuming you’re good enough to do it, then yes, but if you’re just playing organically and not trading too much, then you are not going to get too many unless, of course, you are trying to maximize your drops and whatnot, in which case you are going to get a lot.

The ultimate experience won’t be about running Tier 17 Maps one after the other, at least for most players, but that is not even meant to be the case from the get-go, as these new pieces of endgame content can and will be punishing for those who are not adequately prepared. Not all Path of Exile builds will be able to take T17s on, and that’s by design, as GGG’s philosophy is about having fans play whatever content and Map Tier they feel comfortable with – even if a good chunk of the playerbase does like to min-max their time and farming abilities.

Path of Exile

Path of Exile is a free-to-play MMORPG that plays similar to the Diablo series, with a top-down action-RPG structure. Players will pick classes, develop skills, build weapons, and more.

Released

October 23, 2013

Genre(s)

Action RPG

ESRB

M for Mature: Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Nudity, Language

How Long To Beat

30 Hours