Path of Exile 1’s Secret of the Atlas League is Looking to Reinvent Itself After A Decade
The real sequel is here!
Path of Exile 1 is starting to get overshadowed by Path of Exile 2, but it is mainly due to the fact that PoE 1 never received a new league after the massive success of the Settlers of Kalguur patch.
It took over a year for PoE 1’s Secret of the Atlas league to launch, and this was because Grinding Gear Games was trying to stabilize Path of Exile 2, which needed more attention from the team.
With all the commotion regarding PoE 1’s next league, we finally have it, and it is setting up to be its biggest one yet.
Path of Exile 1’s Secret of the Atlas Patch Is So Massive That Things Could Go Wrong, and It’ll Still Be Amazing
For over a decade, players have provided a lot of feedback that could generally improve the game. Now, they have added several of those quality-of-life changes, such as pausing the game by opening the menu, a map device inventory, longer text for using regex, a Rogue Harbor waypoint, currency item highlighting, and much more.
We already had a massively positive QoL change from the Settlers of Kalguur patch, and we wouldn’t even know if they could top those changes… until now.
Apart from QoL changes, PoE 1’s Secret of the Atlas focuses more on expanding the endgame, which they haven’t done in several years. There are now more pinnacle bosses, changes to endgame crafting (welcome back, Veiled Chaos Orbs), mercenaries, unique items, memories, powers, and even a new endgame storyline.
Each of these new features could be broken down into thousands of words, and players haven’t felt this excitement since PoE 2’s announcement launch. Also, they are keeping some of the Settlers of Kalguur features, which means they’ll stay permanently.
There are so many things to discover and experiment with that it will feel like a new game, as if you are playing the “real” Path of Exile 2.
The Secret of the Atlas Could be the “Path of Exile 2” For PoE 1 Vets
Path of Exile 2 brought millions of new players to the franchise. These players are either Path of Exile 1 fans or new players, but the reception of the sequel was mixed with controversy. Since Path of Exile 2 was designed to be more challenging, slow, and methodical, a lot of ARPG fans didn’t like the grueling grind because the difficulty didn’t match the reward.
Some PoE 1 veterans couldn’t go back to Path of Exile 1 because they suddenly announced that the PoE 1 team had to temporarily work on Path of Exile 2 to help with the launch and get things on track.
This change heavily impacted a small but significant group, and they couldn’t enjoy the Path of Exile 1 they all craved – a game where they could work hard, grind, blast as fast as possible, and get generously rewarded for it.
That’s what kept them coming back to every PoE 1 league, which is also one of the main reasons why PoE 1 maintains and sometimes increases its concurrent player count every single league for a whole decade.
With PoE 1 going on hiatus and PoE 2 unable to fill the void, the Secret of the Atlas could be the real sequel people were hoping to get.
