Path of Exile: Ultimatum revealed in new gameplay showcase

The Trialmaster has come! The new expansion for Path of Exile has finally been revealed. Path of Exile 3.14 has been confirmed and has a release date. Here’s what to expect from Path of Exile: Ultimatum. The Trialmaster presents a challenge, reward and three difficulty modifiers to select from. If you succeed, you must choose to either leave with what you have or risk it all in the pursuit of more. If you fail, you’ll lose it all. Check out this new premise in the trailer below.

As we see from the trailer, Path of Exile: Ultimatum is basically a refinement of the gameplay loop from Ritual League, with some increased challenges.  In each area where Ultimatum spawns, players encounter a Trial with the player asked to overcome a set of challenges. Each challenge can be chosen from a list of modifiers and tasks, that way players can tweak each trial to their desires and builds.

GGG has tailored this build around the mindset that the community often has with Vaal Orbs, risking items for huge rewards. The RNG is taken out a bit, as players can opt-out at any time and avoid losing the items they’ve gained. They can of course choose to keep fighting in harder challenges to get even better rewards. Each time you go after a new challenge, a new modifier is added to the pool, and you must take on that new set of options to take your items. If you fail, you get nothing.

You can take on many of these trials in a map, with as many as 10 spawning in each endgame map. That leaves plenty of room for experimentation and fun to be had. Of course, it also leaves tons of room for failure as you can lose everything if you’re not careful. And just like previous leagues, there’s a more challenging mode on the horizon.

Inscribed Ultimatums are that more challenging mode. You can find these in endgame maps, and use them in a map device. You must bring the offering listed on the item to take part in the trial. These offerings can be currency or certain other item types. You will be able to try and complete the harder trial, and win an item worth about twice the value of the item you must bring as an offering. If you must bring an Exalted Orb, you might get a bunch of Exalts back if you win. GGG teases players by showing an Inscribed map with an offering of Nurse cards, meaning Headhunter may once again become a huge chase unique.

Reward Overhauls

Along with these new Chaos Challenges, players can expect new rewards to take center stage. Path of Exile: Ultimatum will allow for the item rewards from many of the previous leagues, from Perandus to Breach and everything in between, to get a major overhaul. And speaking of rewards, don’t worry about losing rewards if you play with other players. You can join up with other players, and each player works together to complete the challenge. You can also vote on which modifiers to pick for your party.

A big series of complaints that players have had is that the quality of loot isn’t compelling enough. Grinding Gear Games are working on fixing this in big ways. The core item drop mechanics, as well as pretty much all past league mechanics, have all been given a balance pass. One such change is that new currency and base item types have been added to chests, and final act bosses have had loot buffed. League-specific uniques, including Headhunter, can now drop from base monsters. This means that all monsters can drop these items. It’s very likely that these items will be much harder to find via this method.

Vaal Reliquary Keys are a super-rare item that can drop Foil Uniques of various item classes. And speaking of Vaal items, Queen Atziri and Uber variants have two more Uniques each. There’s also just better loot to be found.

Labyrinth Enchants also got a big buff. The Eternal Labyrinth now gives you multiple options to pick from, similar to unveiling items. Path of Exile 3.14 will also be handing out unique Jewels for each day’s fastest Lab runs. Trials can also now be opened in the map device via using a single Offering to the Goddess. No more hoping for RNG.

If you want more details, watch the full overview down below.

The new league begins April 16 on PC & Mac, and launches on April 21 on Console

Source: https://www.iskmogul.com/path-of-exile-ultimatum-revealed-in-new-gameplay-showcase/