„Trust that GGG had been building for years has just died.” PoE fans disappointed by announcement about lack of first installment development
The Path of Exile community may have gotten some answers about the fate of the first installment, but the studio's final decision wasn't well received.
Path of Exile 2 may be topping the popularity charts, but many fans are eagerly waiting for news about its predecessor, which has not been coming for quite some time. The current first installment league has been running since July of last year, exceeding the lifespan of any previous season. Sooner or later, Grinding Gear Games had to address this matter, and needless to say, the studio's official position didn't necessarily receive positive feedback.
Betrayal league in PoE
In his recent statement, Jonathan Rogers admitted that the studio underestimated the challenge of working on two games simultaneously, and the approaching deadlines for PoE 2 effectively halted progress on the new league for the first game. The constantly postponed update was supposed to hit PoE in February, but ultimately that won't happen - GGG is unable to confirm any specific date.
While some players showed understanding, the same cannot be said for all. Reddit forum fans admit that they have entirely lost faith in the PoE devs, who are neglecting their cherished installment of the series. As some believe, the first installment has just encountered the worst possible scenario.
Its not a delay, its admitting that they pulled people away from PoE1 to focus on PoE2 and the release of anything PoE1 related is highly unlikely. No legacy league, no events, no new league - cause that would draw manpower away from PoE2. I am absolutely heartbroken and disapointed, like most of the community right now.
- OanSur
Of course there's no clear date. They literally haven't started working on 3.26. "We've got some things planned" = somebody drew a couple sketches on a napkin.
I don't understand the need to ship PoE2 out on time and dedicate all of their resources on it. Its a beta for heaven's sake. Everyone expect it to not be properly playable till it actually releases. Meanwhile the shipped out game was forgotten for a beta.
The situation with PoE is now being likened to the original Guild Wars, which was similarly left behind by its creators following the sequel's success. It's hard to predict a bright future for PoE when GGG itself is shifting developers to work on the sequel. The studio's earlier promises, which assured that PoE 2 would not affect the original, are only adding fuel to the fire.
Fans are waiting, in the best-case scenario, for a flood of memes mocking the above words of the devs, and in the worst case, for videos announcing the end of PoE.
What's interesting, a while back on 4Chan, a post emerged from a supposed GGG employee who claimed to foresee the developers' position from a few hours earlier - and although 4Chan is a platform with a questionable reputation, fans consider this a suspicious coincidence.
axelkoffel: Maybe it's a dumb question, but if they didn't have time to make something new, why not just rerelease on of the popular leagues from the past with fresh economy?
SirVampyr: We all ask ourselves that, buddy. Nobody knows.
Some players propose bringing back previous leagues in PoE to relive past adventures and introduce them to new fans, particularly if GGG truly lacks the time to develop new content. Some people still think that the studio would have received the news about the first installment's lack of updates more positively if it had announced it sooner rather than right before February.
What will happen to PoE? Only time will tell, and for now, it doesn't seem like GGG has enough of it - especially if they're in a hurry to update to PoE 2.
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