Path Of Exile's next expansion welcomes you to the Trialmaster's game show
Take the money, leave the box
Along with showing off more Path Of Exile 2, Grinding Gear Games last night announced the next free expansion for Path Of Exile. It's named Ultimatum, which sounds a lot like the name of an TV game show because it kinda is. It'll introduce the Trialmaster (not to be confused with the Taskmaster), who has combat challenges with classic game show dilemmas. Do you take the money, or push on? How about double or nothing? And what is a hot spot not? [unintelligible shouting]
The Trialmaster is an agent of a Vaal entity known as chaos, and comes bearing such prizes. He'll pose a challenge with a reward and three difficulty modifiers to pick from. Beat the trial, and you can either claim the prize or continue to another trial for the chance of greater prizes. But if you lose, you lose the lot. A classic game show conundrum, that. It'll also pose Inscribed Ultimatums, where you'll have to bring offerings for the hope of winning an item worth double - but you risk losing the offering if you fluff it.
Grinding Gear say Ultimatum has "some of Path Of Exile's most valuable items" as potential prizes, plus some exclusive Unique items. I'd love to see someone cutting about the grim fantasy world in a speedboat, wearing a matching pair of his & hers rollerblades, chugging tea straight from a teasmade, and clutching a cuddly toy.
Ultimatum's webpage also notes the expansion will add new gems themed around blood sacrifice, improved the core drop pool, and more. The devs showed and explained more in the announcement stream too.
Path Of Exile: Ultimatum is due to launch next Friday, the 16th of April.