There is no doubt that the most eye-catching ARPG in recent times is Path of Exile 2, which was launched at the end of 2024. Although it is still in the early access stage and has not yet shown its full version charm to you, POE 2 is better than the recent performance of another strong competitor Diablo 4 - after all, the latter’s Season 7 has not yet arrived.
But perhaps you have a question, since Path of Exile 2 is in full swing, is it still necessary to experience the first game in the same series in the new 2025? Based on this, we will make a comprehensive comparison of the recent performance of POE 1, POE 2 and Diablo 4 to provide you with some reference.
Path Of Exile 1 Performance Review
In the past year, from 3.24 Necropolis to 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur, even though it has been more than ten years since its official release, POE 1 has always been committed to maintaining its freshness by constantly updating the league, which is one of the main reasons for its enduring popularity.
POE 3.24
The league was officially launched on March 29, 2024, and added a lot of new content based on the past leagues, such as the league mechanism that allows you to configure the difficulty of monsters and POE Currency rewards, and Embers of the Allflame items that allow you to encounter abnormal monsters with special rewards.
POE 3.25
As the most recent Path of Exile 1 league released to you, POE 3.25 can be said to have made many special updates to the game. In terms of combat, version 3.25 has completely changed your melee mode and introduced Warden class to replace Raider. But besides these, the most eye-catching is the challenge league mechanism that allows you to build and manage your own town.
It is worth noting that it is this league mechanism that allows you to experience a new and more complete trade system in POE 1, allowing you to obtain more necessary materials by hiring workers and port trade besides obtaining POE Divine Orbs through battle.
Compared To Path Of Exile 2
As a sequel, POE 2 must innovate in many aspects to ensure that it will not be overshadowed by the brilliance of the previous work, and based on the current performance, it has completely done this.
First of all, it is worth mentioning that it responds to the response and expectations of fans in the past, and launched the couch co-op that POE 1 did not have, as well as cross-platform games and cross-platform progress. In view of the continuous evolution of current game devices, it is imperative for a large-scale ARPG to keep you and provide you with more convenience in playing.
In the specific game content, POE 2 allows you to provide more unique mechanisms for game characters through support gems based on skill and class differences. This undoubtedly gives you more control and customization, giving you more personality than Path of Exile 1 for any class and weapon you want to experience.
If you like the boss battles of POE series, then POE 2 will never let you down. It brings more than 100 unique bosses to fight. Besides the improved boss battles in the endgame content, you also have the opportunity to get a brand new combat experience through dedicated maps for each boss. And the bosses in POE 2 are more challenging, requiring you to use critical thinking to deploy strategies and make the battles more interesting.
Based on the above changes, there is no doubt that Path of Exile 2 is better than the first game in these aspects, especially the narrative method of the second part is also better. In addition, all the playing threshold of the first and second parts are actually not low. So if you are an old player of the series, you can experience an upgraded version of Path of Exile through POE 2 in the new year.
But if you haven’t come into contact with POE yet, then I think you can also consider playing POE 1. Because compared to the second part, it still has some unique mechanisms, such as the fun league and trade system in 3.25. And the first game has been running for ten years, so it may be more stable.
And if you plan to play POE 1 in the near future, you still can solve the possible POE Currency shortage through the giveaway information and activities in IGGM Discord, avoiding worries.
Compared To Diablo 4
In the past year, Diablo 4 has always been popular and discussed, especially after October, with the launch of DLC Vessel of Hatred and Season 6, it quickly attracted a group of new players.
Although Diablo 4 was launched in 2023, the development history of the entire Diablo series is much longer than Path of Exile. So although POE 1 also has its own characteristics, Diablo 4 is better than Path of Exile 1 in terms of the smoothness of the game and the exquisiteness of the picture, and the experience will be better.
Although in the face of 2025, except for Season 7 which will be launched soon, Diablo 4 has not yet revealed whether it will launch new DLC or other major activities, but there is no doubt that Diablo 4 is the current core of Diablo series, so any updates will basically be launched in Diablo 4, and the development focus of POE series in 2025 is undoubtedly the second part. So from this perspective, in 2025, Diablo 4 may bring you more surprises than POE 1.
Based on the above review and comparison, if you are only interested in POE series, then in the next year you can choose to play the first or second part according to your own preferences; but if you have to choose between Diablo 4 and POE 1, the former will be better. I hope you can continue to enjoy the fun of ARPG in the new year! Thank you for reading!
