Path of Exile News

We're launching a fan art competition themed around the Settlers of Kalguur expansion and everything introduced in it. As usual, we have prepared an awesome prize pool that includes Path of Exile merchandise and in-game microtransactions.

[h2]Prizes[/h2]

Top Three Winners

• Forum avatar based on the winning submission
  
• Path of Exile Art Book
  
• Your choice of one signed Path of Exile poster
  
• Your choice of two Path of Exile T-shirts
  
• A random Path of Exile Pin
  
• Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list below)
  
• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)
  

4-5th Place

• Path of Exile Art Book
  
• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt
  
• A random Path of Exile Pin
  
• Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list below)
  
• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)
  

6-10th Place

• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt
  
• A random Path of Exile Pin
  
• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)
  

11-20th Place

• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
  

Runners-Up

• Your choice of a Helmet Effect (a Helmet Effect from the list below)
  

[h2]Microtransaction Prize Pool[/h2]
List of Armour Sets

• Arcane Armour Pack
  
• Alabaster Seraph Pack
  
• Arctic Crystal Armour Pack
  
• Automaton Armour Pack
  
• Black Armour Pack
  
• Bleached Demon King Armour Pack
  
• Blood Guard Armour Set
  
• Carnage Armour Pack
  
• Coldsnap Armour Pack
  
• Coliseum Armour Pack
  
• Corsair Armour Set
  
• Darkprism Armour Pack
  
• Deicide Armour Pack
  
• Demon Parasite Armour Set
  
• Desert Armour Pack
  
• Dragon Armour Pack
  
• Elite Armour Pack
  
• Executioner Armour Pack
  
• Extinction Armour Set
  
• Faith Guard Armour Set
  
• Fallen Angel Armour Pack
  
• Fire Armour Pack
  
• Gargoyle Armour Set
  
• Ghostflame Armour Pack
  
• Gloom Armour Pack
  
• Gore Armour Pack
  
• Gorgon Armour Pack
  
• Gothic Armour Pack
  
• Gryffon Armour Pack
  
• Harpyon Armour Pack
  
• Heartseeker Armour Pack
  
• Huntsman Armour Set
  
• Ice Armour Pack
  
• Innocence Armour Pack
  
• Ivory Chaos Armour Pack
  
• Lightning Armour Pack
  
• Lunaris Armour Pack
  
• Mageguard Armour Set
  
• Malachai Armour Pack
  
• Merchant Armour Pack
  
• Miracle Armour Set
  
• Mystic Armour Set
  
• Necrotic Armour Pack
  
• Obsidian Seraph Pack
  
• Project Armour Pack
  
• Pure Light Armour Pack
  
• Purple Crystal Armour Pack
  
• Purple Pyre Knight Armour Pack
  
• Pyre Knight Armour Pack
  
• Radiant Armour Pack
  
• Raven Armour Pack
  
• Ringmaster Armour Set
  
• Scientist Armour Pack
  
• Seawitch Armour Pack
  
• Sin Armour Pack
  
• Sphinx Armour Pack
  
• Steam-powered Armour Pack
  
• Stormcaller Armour Pack
  
• Ultimate Chaos Armour Pack
  
• Vampiric Armour Pack
  
• Verdant Armour Pack
  
• Viper Armour Set
  
• Warlock Armour Pack
  
• Wasteland Armour Set
  
• Wasteland Warrior Armour Pack
  
• White Armour Pack
  
• Wrangler Armour Set
  

List of Portal Effects

• Arcane Portal
  
• Arcane Voidgate Portal Effect
  
• Arctic Crystal Portal Effect
  
• Arctic Portal Effect
  
• Automaton Portal
  
• Balefire Portal Effect
  
• Black Portal Effect
  
• Corsair Portal
  
• Daresso Portal Effect
  
• Darkprism Portal Effect
  
• Demon King Portal Effect
  
• Divine Arcane Portal
  
• Divine Demon King Portal
  
• Divine Stygian Portal Effect
  
• Dreadspire Portal Effect
  
• Fire Portal Effect
  
• Frost Viking Portal Effect
  
• Ghostflame Stygian Portal Effect
  
• Golden Angel Portal
  
• Gore Portal Effect
  
• Havenwood Portal
  
• Huntsman Portal
  
• Infernal Demon King Portal
  
• Infernal Stygian Portal Effect
  
• Innocence Portal
  
• Kaom Portal Effect
  
• Kraken Portal Effect
  
• Legion Portal Effect
  
• Madcap Portal
  
• Malachai Portal Effect
  
• Maraketh Portal
  
• Miracle Portal
  
• Myrmidon Portal Effect
  
• Mystic Portal
  
• Necrotic Demon King Portal
  
• Project Portal Effect
  
• Pure Light Portal Effect
  
• Ringmaster Portal Effect
  
• Scientist Portal Effect
  
• Seraph Portal Effect
  
• Spectre Portal Effect
  
• Steam-powered Portal Effect
  
• Stormcaller Stygian Portal Effect
  
• Sulphite Portal
  
• Temple Portal Effect
  
• Vampiric Portal
  
• Wasteland Portal
  
• Wild Portal
  

List of Helmet Effects

• Abyss Eyes
  
• Antlers
  
• Apocalypse Helmet Attachment
  
• Aquila Crest Helmet Attachment
  
• Arcane Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Arcane Halo
  
• Arcane Mark of the Phoenix
  
• Arcane Visage
  
• Arctic Crown
  
• Arctic Skull
  
• Assassin Halo Helmet Attachment
  
• Assassin Seer Helmet Attachment
  
• Aureate Halo
  
• Automaton Halo
  
• Bent Horns
  
• Black Headband
  
• Black Pirate Bandana
  
• Bleached Skull Helmet
  
• Blood Guard Helmet Attachment
  
• Brilliant Crown
  
• Brilliant Feathers
  
• Chaos Orb Helmet
  
• Coliseum Helmet Attachment
  
• Corrupted Skull
  
• Cow Skull
  
• Curved Horns
  
• Darkprism Helmet Attachment
  
• Demon King Horns
  
• Despair Helmet Attachment
  
• Divine Ice Crown
  
• Divine Sign
  
• Divine Skull
  
• Dragon Mask
  
• Eye Patch
  
• Faith Guard Helmet Attachment
  
• Fiery Eyes
  
• Fiery Visage
  
• Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Frost Viking Alternate Helmet
  
• Frost Viking Helmet Attachment
  
• Ghostflame Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Ghostflame Skull
  
• Glowing Red Eyes
  
• Gore Skull
  
• Gorgon Snakes Helmet Attachment
  
• Guardian Mask
  
• Harmonious Helmet Attachment
  
• Harmonious Hood
  
• Holy Eyes
  
• Ice Crown
  
• Ice Horns
  
• Incursion Hood
  
• Infernal Skull
  
• Innocence Laurel Helmet Attachment
  
• Iron Brand
  
• Iron Maiden
  
• Lightning Eyes
  
• Lightning Skull
  
• Mark of the Phoenix
  
• Medusa Snakes
  
• Misery Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Misery Helmet Attachment
  
• Nightfall Helmet Attachment
  
• Oriath Helmet Attachment
  
• Plague Doctor Helmet
  
• Purple Divine Sign
  
• Purple Eyes
  
• Purple Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Purple Skull Helmet
  
• Purple Smoking Hood
  
• Rapture Helmet Attachment
  
• Red Headband
  
• Red Pirate Bandana
  
• Rose Skull
  
• Serrated Mohawk
  
• Sin and Innocence Helmet Attachment
  
• Sin Talon Helmet Attachment
  
• Skull Hood
  
• Smoking Hood
  
• Spirit Charm
  
• Steam-powered Skull
  
• Suffering Helmet Attachment
  
• Sunrise Helmet Attachment
  
• Swan Crest Helmet Attachment
  
• Thorned Skull
  
• Twilight Helmet Attachment
  
• Twisted Bone Horns
  
• Twisted Horns
  
• Undead Outcast Helmet
  
• Vaal Orb Helmet
  
• Wasteland Horns
  

[h2]How to Enter[/h2]

Create still art that is inspired by anything introduced in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. This excludes video submissions but does include any painting, drawing or model creation. Then just submit your work in this thread.

Multiple submissions are welcome and encouraged. Please note that the submission needs to be your own work and needs to have been created after the launch of the competition.

If you're unsure how to share an image on the forum, just follow these steps:

• 1. Go to imgur.com
  
• 2. Go to 'new post' and drag your images into the window.
  
• 3. Once the image has been uploaded, right click it and click 'Copy image address'.
  
• 4. Click reply to this post and paste the link into the window with [ img ] at the beginning and [ /img ] at the end (without the spaces).
  
• 5. When you click 'post', your image should be displayed!
  

[h2]Conditions[/h2]

• The competition starts at the time of this post and will end on Friday the 27th of September at 5PM NZT. Submissions made after this time will not be counted. We'll post the winners sometime in the following days.
  
• Any work that is submitted must be your own and must be created after the launch of this competition.
  
• AI generated art will not be accepted. We reserve the right to disqualify your entry if we believe that it is AI generated.
  
• Multiple submissions are welcome.
  

Best of luck to everyone who is participating in the competition!

Our Senior Narrative Designer, Matt, has taken a moment to reflect on writing for the Settlers of Kalguur League. Here are his thoughts.

-

Designing the narrative context for the Settlers of Kalguur league was an interesting project. This may be the most 'integrated' a new piece of content has ever been—we know most of the characters already, and anyone who's seen Path of Exile 2 might have noticed players running around Kingsmarch twenty years in the future. This is both an expansion on existing lore, and set up for future stories. With some leagues, the narrative must carve into the unknown, but with this one, I was making a puzzle piece that had to fit exactly on all sides.

There's a tension inherent in the story of the Kalguurans we've met. Ostensibly, they're here to excavate and trade, but there's always been a nervous energy about certain topics. With Settlers, I was able to explore that more organically. Every single Kalguuran character has had their lives influenced by their King, and spending enough time with them or reading their letters slowly reveals each relationship and, perhaps, certain choices they've made. As Faustus says, there's a sinister shadow growing longer with each passing day—and we can be sure it's going to darken our skies sooner or later.

Speaking of Faustus, I was keen right from the start to integrate Kingsmarch with our existing world. Faustus and Isla were perfect for their roles, and their presence begins to answer something I've been hoping to expand upon since Heist: with the world in shambles, who are the rogues actually stealing from? Well, here we are, finally, with a bit of civilisation and rebuilding going on. The ports are growing, trading is profitable, and maybe Wraeclast isn't entirely zombies and wastelands!

The other interesting constraint on this one was the new type of mechanic we'd never tried. We didn't want an overarching quest line for Settlers, because the long-term nature of the city building would surely outlast any quests we made. This would need to be more a 'setting' than an 'adventure,' and so we strove to make it enjoyable to visit and hang around in. That led to idle chatter upgrades, and a new type of greeting we may actually shift toward in the future, where the NPC greets you as you approach, rather than when you open their dialogue box. That felt really natural, but we'll have to sculpt town spaces to accommodate something like that. If they're too close together, or trigger when you're just passing by, it won't feel right.

We also recorded some lines for a conversation system like Trials of the Ancestors had, with the notion that NPCs would sometimes be in the tavern instead, or, perhaps, talk to the other NPCs close to them. Unfortunately, the layout of Kingsmarch, the distances involved, and the realisation that they were probably too far apart made that system problematic. Also, for some of the NPCs, it would be really annoying if they were randomly in the tavern instead. I could already picture the meme: 'Tujen's in the Tavern. Tujen's ALWAYS in the Tavern. But only if you go to the docks first.'

Ultimately, the inter-NPC conversations were scrapped for now. I'm definitely going to try again for future content, and upgrade the systems that did work. I consider something we developed here an opportunity—services that were separated from the NPC and put next to them, such as the Map Device or Recombinator. If their services are available from a device close to them, but still trigger or involve their dialogue, then the NPCs are free to wander or do more lifelike things in their surroundings. We've already done some great work in that direction for Path of Exile 2, and I'm really excited to see how far we can go with it.

Overall, I'm quite happy with how Kingsmarch turned out. There's thought layered into every detail, so the more time you spend there, the more you might notice or understand. I feel that this is a great starting point for telling grand tales, and we're going to need that for what's coming. And, for once, I don't have to say 'stay tuned'—Path of Exile 2 is right around the corner! I can't wait!

Microtransactions from the Necropolis Mystery Box are now available in the store! We’ve individually priced each set of items based on its type and rarity.

The Necropolis Stash Bundle is also being released today. This microtransaction applies a skin to your Stash and Guild Stash in your hideout to make them look like the Necropolis Box! Check it out in the video below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Check out all the other Necropolis microtransactions by watching the video below. You can view the full range in the store by pressing 'M' while in-game to access the store, then heading over to the "New Items" tab.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you for your support!

Turn the Viridian Wildwood into your humble abode with the new Wildwood Hideout, or bombard your foes with the power of the cosmos with the new Astral Artillery Ballista! Check out the videos below, or get yours now by pressing M to open the store in-game.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Also, it’s almost time for PAX West and we’ll have a booth there where you can try out the Path of Exile 2 Demo!

• When - August 30th - September 2nd
  
• Where - Booth #2339
  

We had a blast showing off Path of Exile 2 at Gamescom and we can’t wait to keep the momentum going at PAX West! Thanks for your support, and see you there!

This weekend we’re running a Stash Tab Sale! You can view the full selection of discounted tabs by pushing 'M' while in-game to access the store. The Stash Tab sale ends at August 26th 6pm PDT.

If you’re missing points for the sale, be sure to check out the Paladin and Penance supporter packs, which you can also find in the in-game store!

Thanks for your support!