Highlights
- Path of Exile 2 and Diablo 4 may seem like fierce competitors, but there is room in the gaming industry for multiple successful live-service games.
- Path of Exile 2 may have some advantages over Diablo 4, such as more customizable classes and a campaign with over a hundred unique bosses.
- However, it's too early to determine a clear winner between the two games, as both may face challenges with seasonal content and endgame sections. They can coexist and even influence each other's updates and mistakes.
With the recent release of new Path of Exile 2 footage and information surrounding the game's core mechanics, players were quick to spot the similarities and the differences with Diablo 4, whose stellar reception started crumbling with the launch of its first season. Grinding Gear Games is well aware of the ups and downs of seasonal content and the live-service model as a whole, as it's the foundation of the original Path of Exile as well as something that's coming with its sequel, although it's unclear in what capacity just yet. Diablo 4's Season of the Malignant highlighted underlying problems with the game and its balance, and with the hype train now riding for Path of Exile 2, some are already calling it the "Diablo 4 killer."
This concept is not new to video games, especially live-service ones, and one of the biggest examples to this day is Destiny 2. Bungie's space-magic looter-shooter didn't start with a seasonal model but rather leaned into it further down the line, and since then there have been multiple so-called Destiny 2 killers - yet, the game is still here, and it's likely the same will happen with Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2.
Path of Exile 2 and Diablo 4 Don't Have to be in Brutal Competition With One Another
The fact that Destiny 2 is still around is not a testament to the failures of all the games that should have been the end of it, but the fact that there's enough room in the gaming industry for multiple success stories - live service or not. Most likely, Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2 will find themselves in the same boat, even in the face of their differences. On paper, Path of Exile 2 might seem like it's topping Diablo 4 at every turn with a deeper customization process and a campaign that promises over a hundred unique bosses.
Path of Exile 2's classes might have an advantage over Diablo 4 too, considering the former has a whopping total of 12 with three Ascendancy classes each, whereas the latter only has five. Nevertheless, there's no indication just yet of how the title will handle its endgame sections and seasonal content, which historically takes the form of "Leagues" that run for three months, introducing a brand-new gameplay loop and exclusive rewards.
The problem with Blizzard's approach, as lamented by players, is that Diablo 4's battle pass is quite lacking in its offering, and the seasonal additions are not compelling enough. However, if the original Path of Exile is anything to go by, the sequel will face the same issue as Diablo 4's Eternal and seasonal characters, with the latter being the only way to experience future seasons. As such, it's hard to see Path of Exile 2 as a clear "winner" between the two games from the get-go, especially because Diablo 4 will still have its own perks - not to mention that it will likely get an expansion by the time GGG's ARPG even starts its beta.
In fact, Path of Exile 2's closed beta will launch in June 2024, and that's still a ways off. Ultimately, there are and will be even more pros and cons to playing either Diablo 4 or Path of Exile 2, and that doesn't mean there's room for only one of them. In fact, they could even influence one another with new updates and even their mistakes. This shows that not only they can happily coexist, but they can even survive and thrive over longer spans of time by being on the market at the exact same time.
Path of Exile 2 is in development.