Path of Exile 2 Devs 'Feel Sorry' for Blizzard Amid Diablo 4 Season 1 Struggles

ign.com:

Path of Exile has long run in parallel to Diablo. When the original launched back in 2013, it was pitched as a fresh alternative to the then-troubled Diablo III. Now, with Path of Exile 2 in development and Diablo IV struggling, their identity once again seem inextricably linked.

Reacting to Diablo IV's struggles since the launch of Season 1, director Jonathan Rogers told IGN, "I mean ultimately the learning process for running a live game with Seasons like this is a hard one. We've learned our lessons about how to do this stuff. Honestly, when I look at that, all I can think is, 'Man, it's tough. It's a real tough situation to be in.'"

Path of Exile has been running its version of Seasons, known as Leagues, for many years now. With Path of Exile 2 now confirmed to be a standalone sequel, both games will feature leagues of their own.

Diablo IV, meanwhile, has been excoriated for its handling of issues like class balance. Earlier today, Blizzard held one of its regular Campfire chats in which the developers promised to address the issues as quickly as possible.

"I feel very bad for the developers, because I'm sure that they mean well, but yeah, it's a hard lesson to learn," Rogers said.

"Yes. There are times when a developer looks at a thing in their game that is too fast and they think. 'I should slow this down.' However, there is a process for that," fellow director Chris Wilson agreed.

Asked what separates Path of Exile 2 from Diablo IV, Rogers said that Blizzard's action RPG is on what he would call an "MMO path."

"They certainly have a lot more around like cool down rotations and things like that, but also just the more open world design and that kind of thing," Rogers said. "Whereas we're going more in the kind of like