Grinding Gear Games has decided that the mechanics of the Bestiary League in Path of Exile will not be implemented into the core game after the league ends.
The Bestiary League brought a lot of new features in early March, focusing on capturing, showcasing, and sacrificing monsters for items.
As with all other Challenge Leagues, Grinding Gear Games had to decide at the end of the league whether it would be included in the core game or not.
No “Pokemon mechanics” in Path of Exile for now
While the launch of the league was the most successful in the history of Path of Exile, player enthusiasm waned afterwards.
Grinding Gears Gaming drew its conclusions and announced that the mechanics of the Bestiary League will not be incorporated into the core game.
The developers give three main reasons for their decision:
- The need to support the interface and the menagerie continuously and adapt it to new updates.
- The fact that the Bestiary differs too much from the core game and all the tutorial texts for new players would have to be retained. The team decided against it.
- The results and content from crafting would need constant adjustment and rebalancing.
The community is relieved
Player reactions to the announcement on the official Path of Exile homepage and Reddit clearly show that the decision not to include the Bestiary in the core game is very welcome.
“I am impressed by GGG. I salute them for swallowing their pride and realizing that this mechanic is not the best for the game, even though they put in a lot of time and effort,” wrote Reddit user EonRed.
The Bestiary was an experiment by Grinding Gears, into which many resources were invested. Consequently, many players feared that the league would be integrated into the core game despite the negative reception by the community.
Many players also expressed that the league was not mature enough for an action RPG like Path of Exile and might better integrate with further development and adjustment:
As user Nordsmark wrote: “…I really didn’t like the implementation of the league, but I wouldn’t mind as a core idea if [Grinding Gears] had polished it a bit…”
