The hack and slash Path of Exile is currently celebrating great success. The current Harvest league delights fans and results in high player numbers. And this, despite the fact that the new season is too hard for some.
What does Harvest offer? The Harvest expansion makes you a gardener. In the Sacred Grove, you need to plant collected seeds and then supply the crops with life energy. However, you won’t get beautiful flowers, but instead, you reap monsters that you must fight.
The stronger the “farmed” creatures are, the more valuable rewards you will receive.
Depending on the type of seeds and the spot where you plant them, new boss fights always arise. With the right combinations, it is even possible to cultivate the ancient beasts Ersi, Janaar, and Namharim.
This and other innovations have come into play with the current Harvest league.
The player numbers of Path of Exile are exploding
What effects does the new league have? Steamcharts shows it already: The new expansion has caused a significant spike in player numbers. At peak, 125,432 players played at the same time in the past 30 days – on Steam. That’s almost as much as the record of the Delirium league. However, according to the developers at Grinding Gear Games, the actual number – measured across all platforms – is even much higher.
At the launch weekend of Path of Exile: Harvest, we were able to reach a peak of 231,130 players (97.5% of the record we set with Delirium at the peak of the international lockdown). It was one of the smoothest launches we have ever had, with only a few hotfixes to resolve minor issues.
We are extremely satisfied with how the mechanics and crafting system of Harvest is received. It’s absolutely wonderful to see the community enjoying and engaging with something that is the result of so much hard work. We are still monitoring feedback to see if there are issues that need to be addressed.
Grinding Gear Games
Hard but successful
What is special about it? Despite the high player numbers, there are complaints about the high difficulty of Harvest – similar to the previous Delirium league. Even professionals feel overwhelmed.
Gardening is supposed to be relaxing, but with Harvest, it is rather the opposite. While everything starts quite leisurely with collecting and planting seeds, the effective placement of fertilization systems and the care of the crops with a well-functioning network of pipes becomes a complex game.
Player esk213 shows on reddit how complex this can be. In his picture, you can see where he planted which seeds and how he effectively supplies them with fertilization systems and more:
And it seems that this complexity is not well received by everyone.
- Asteroth555 writes: “There is absolutely nothing that could make me implement this. Jesus, that looks so complicated.”
- photocist explains: “It’s actually super trivial and not complicated at all. It’s just damn boring.”
- Dc-sewer sarcastically remarks: “Controlling this on a console with a controller… can hardly wait.”
What do you think about the new Harvest league? Is it too complex for you, or do you find farming monsters cool?
Grinding Gear Games are already working on Path of Exile 2. The new part will be very extensive and is supposed to be linked with the predecessor. The release is planned for 2021, but initial tests are supposed to begin as early as the end of 2020.
