With Path of Exile 2 early access in full swing, developer Grinding Gear Games confirms community concerns that its predecessor’s next update is on hold. PoE 1 and 2 are planned to run simultaneously, with seasonal leagues alternating between the two. However, continued development strain on the new ARPG means that work on the Path of Exile 3.26 update has been delayed indefinitely until the next major PoE 2 patch launches.
“When we announced Path of Exile 2, we promised that we would continue to create PoE 1 expansions, and we do intend to keep that promise,” PoE 2 game director Jonathan Rogers says in a new video. “But it’s certainly been a lot harder to deliver on it than we expected.” He explains that following the previous league, Settlers of Kalguur, update 3.26 and the next league for the RPG should ideally have landed in late October 2024, but that the team “just didn’t think we could do it.”
The proposed date “was too close to the huge circus that was the organization around Path of Exile 2’s launch.” That meant a new timeslot had to be found, but December was too soon after PoE 2’s arrival, and the holiday break made January unfeasible as well. As such, Rogers says GGG “really didn’t think it was possible to do it any earlier” than February. With a bit more space available, the team was free to focus on working on the imminent sequel ahead of its launch in December.
With Path of Exile 2’s endgame “not in a shippable state” as its release approached, all hands were on deck to ensure it was ready, including the team that would normally have focused on the first game. “The problem is, we were fooling ourselves,” Rogers admits. PoE 2 was delayed by three weeks, and its launch gave rise to plenty of new issues, from crashes and bugs to balance issues.
“After the Christmas break, we really had to admit something to ourselves,” Rogers continues. “The most urgent priority was getting Path of Exile 2 to a point where it didn’t have major issues, and it’s hard to think about what PoE 1 needs when PoE 2 has really obvious problems that need fixing.” While the sequel will also be a free Steam game when the full release arrives, those currently playing it have paid to take part in the early access period.
The result, Rogers remarks, is that the team “can’t really work on Path of Exile 1 until PoE 2 0.2.0 has shipped,” and likely not until at least a few weeks of support for that patch are in the books as well. Devs who aren’t needed for this will be working on PoE 3.26 pre-production in the meantime, and once the next PoE 2 update is out, the focus will be on ensuring its predecessor has the development resources needed to finish 3.26 as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately, I just can’t promise a date right now,” Rogers concludes. “I’m really sorry for how this went down.” He says he “should have resisted” borrowing the PoE 1 development team to help with Path of Exile 2. “At every stage I kept thinking, ‘We still have time,’ and then we didn’t have time any more. We still have a lot to learn about how to run two games simultaneously. We were overconfident.”
It’s certainly a frustration for long-term Path of Exile players who love to bury themselves in its long-form endgame – as robust as the PoE 2 endgame is, it doesn’t yet come close to the sheer volume of content currently available in the original. Rogers says GGG has “a solid plan” for what 3.26 will look like, however, so hopefully it will be worth the wait.
For now, you’ll have to content yourself with making sure you’ve mastered all the Path of Exile 2 bosses. If you’re struggling, take a look through the best Path of Exile 2 builds for some ideas.
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