Path of Exile 2’s director wants you to care about drops again
Path of Exile 2 promises to be a dramatically different game from its predecessor despite the initial similarities. The changes are such that, during the Path of Exile 2 reveal at ExileCon 2023, it was revealed the sequel will now be entirely standalone from the first game, contrary to previous plans. The loot-chasing RPG game also looks set to solve many of the issues of the first as Grinding Gear Games makes smart alterations for Path of Exile 2, and PCGamesN speaks to game director Jonathan Rogers about how those choices came to be.
Among the biggest changes is the introduction of the dodge roll – the new universal space bar ability that’s core to Path of Exile 2’s combat. Obviously this will change the way you approach both avoiding enemy attacks and positioning for your own, but I ask Rogers if there are any other big design differences that have resulted from the addition of the dodge.
“Canceling changes a huge amount of stuff,” he tells me in a 1-to-1 interview ahead of the ExileCon reveal. As the team demonstrates on-stage, you’ll now be able to cancel out of almost every skill at any time using the roll. “In PoE1 we just didn’t have long cast time skills, because they just felt terrible,” Rogers remarks.
“There’s so many subtle parts to making that feel right.” He notes some of the other changes for PoE2, where the ability to move and retarget while channeling and casting skills means you’ll basically never lose control of your character. “You can have a long cast time skill as long as you don’t feel like you’re losing control – in PoE1 we just couldn’t do it, and in PoE2 we can, so it does unlock the ability to do more with regards to what we can design.”
Another big switch revealed elsewhere at ExileCon is
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