'Path of Exile 2 in some ways is less complicated than Path of Exile 1': Grinding Gear Games talks about why it created a WASD control scheme and other improvements in the sequel to its long-running ARPG

pcgamer.com:

Last month Path of Exile 2 was selected as the #9 Most Wanted game in PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted. The sequel to the long-running ARPG Path of Exile is coming soon, and with work on Path of Exile 2 now well underway, we flew to New Zealand to talk to developers at Grinding Gear Games about how they're approaching a game that needs to be firmly rooted in the original while offering both new players and veterans something fresh and different.

«One of the things I've really enjoyed when designing Path of Exile 2 is just being able to surprise team members by the kind of changes we're willing to do,» game director Jonathan Rogers said. When I suggested, 'Hey, maybe we should have WASD controls for our characters as well as click-to-move,' being willing to make those kind of changes to actually make the game better I think is something that's going to really impress existing players, as well as new players coming to the game who maybe thought they weren't interested in playing before."

Lead game designer Rory Rackham said the studio wants to keep the underlying mechanics from Path of Exile in the new game, but also aims to «rebuild or restructure them» in a way that makes them easier to understand and more accessible, particularly for new players. The goal is to maintain the depth of gameplay but keep it hidden or «natural» feeling so players can jump in and

«I think there's a difference between depth and complexity,» Rogers explained. «Path of Exile 2 in some ways is less complicated than Path of Exile 1, because we've simplified the technical complexity around doing things like the way you socket skills and things like that, to make it easier to understand. But at the same time we're making sure that we keep all the depth