The Hack’n Slay Path of Exile will remove five-year-old content from the game with the next patch. It is said to have become outdated and boring. In the MMO shooter Destiny 2, removing content regularly leads to criticism, but with the Hack’n Slay, the removal of the expansion has caused general jubilation. What is going on?
What about Destiny 2?
- In Destiny 2, content from previous expansions is regularly removed: Entire zones and storylines are moved to the “Content Vault.”
- According to Bungie, this has to be done. Because no Destiny 3 is coming, Destiny 2 would otherwise become too large and exceed limits. The online shooter was not designed to be developed and grow for over 4 years.
- The loss of content annoys many players in Destiny 2, as they say: They have paid for the content, but can no longer play it. Moreover, the story is no longer comprehensible.
Path of Exile removes 2016 expansion “Prophecy”
This is happening now with Path of Exile: With patch 3.17.0 in January 2022, the systems of the “Prophecy” expansion will be removed from the game. It is said that the 2016 expansion now feels “outdated” and has been overtaken by new expansions.
What does Path of Exile do better? Path of Exile doesn’t just remove content, but sorts it out.
- A whole range of unique items is now considered “not exciting anymore” and will be completely removed from the game.
- Other items are distributed differently and players can acquire them in other ways.
What is the reaction? Unlike Destiny 2, the reaction to the change is mostly positive. Players seem to agree with the developer team that much of the expansion was now boring. Therefore, players are happy not to have to deal with the mechanics of the expansion anymore.
People are already considering which annoying mechanics they would like to get rid of next.
Soon, we will see the duel of Diablo 4 vs. Path of Exile 2
What’s behind this: In Destiny 2, it seems that content is being taken out of the game “as a whole”: This creates huge gaps in the story. But Bungie seems not to be bothered by this. Path of Exile takes a more nuanced approach. It “retains” the good aspects of the old expansion.
Moreover, there is obviously a significant difference whether the developers_remove only systems or story content from a game. Whether a free-to-play game removes free content or whether content is taken out that had to be bought previously as DLC for money is apparently also relevant for many.
The systems in Path of Exile are closely related to the concept of “parasitic systems”: When a game adds so many new systems over the years that can enhance a character, some of them can become annoying.
