Path of Exile 2's director says "it's likely" the ARPG's 1.0 launch won't include all 12 classes

With Path of Exile 2 The Last of the Druids, Grinding Gear Games is implementing the last 'new' addition to the roster of PoE 2 classes, and it's taking large steps in the right direction to join its predecessor as one of the best RPGs on PC. There are still four members of the original lineup yet to join the fray in the sequel, however: the Marauder, Duelist, Shadow, and Templar. That amounts to a third of the possible options, and includes some real fan favorites. However, according to game director Jonathan Rogers, there's a good chance at least one or two might not make the cut in time for the Path of Exile 2 1.0 launch.

During the preview showing of The Last of the Druids that I attended, the question of whether we'll actually see Path of Exile 2 leave early access in 2026 came up once again. "I'm pretty confident in that," Rogers answers, "but, you know, at the end of the day we have to keep going until we know that we're ready for release. There should be no reason why we shouldn't be [launching] in 2026 but we'll see how that goes." Of course, that leads to the question of what exactly the team feels is essential to have in place to determine that the game's ready to be declared as a full product.

"I've previously said that the conditions that we have to meet are [that] we have to have the campaign finished, we have to have the balance of the game in a good place, and we have to have the endgame in a place that people are enjoying as well," Rogers continues. "Once those are done, once all that's good, then we will be ready to release. Effectively, that's our goal, and then we can go out of early access."

That sounds fairly straightforward, but I have a sneaking suspicion that many players might assume that 1.0 will also include a few other features - most notably the full roster of 12 classes, including the four from the original game that are currently absent. So I asked Rogers whether we can expect that. "We definitely want to have all the ascendancies for all the classes that are released," he responds. "I would ideally want to have all of the classes out, but I sort of suspect at this point that it's likely we won't have all of them.

"I don't think it's as important to have all of the classes as having the full campaign and the endgame good and balanced, right? And all this other stuff. I think the game could survive with ten classes as opposed to 12, for example, or maybe 11 - I think [that would be] enough to be fair to say that it's a full game experience there." He does highlight one of the most frequently asked-for weapons, however: "Certainly I wouldn't want to not have swords when we came out. That would be bad."

As perhaps the most 'default' melee weapon in the world, it's understandable why there's been such a call for their implementation. "Swords need to be there, right? We can't ship without them," Rogers tells me. "And there's stuff like that, which players really expect, that we want to make sure is in for the full release. But as I said, I think that there are cases where if we didn't have a class or two, that would not be the end of the world." He does, however, reiterate the desire to have all three ascendancies available for every class that's present: "I feel like that's important to get the feeling of choice for all the classes we have."

Ultimately, if you've already bought into the early access then the switch to 1.0 is going to be more of a formality than anything - the transition to free-to-play will certainly widen the audience, but otherwise it'll probably just feel much like another league. And with the Druid in place, we do at least have all of the stat-distribution archetypes already present and correct. Still, the arrival of Spell Totems in 0.4 is a fresh reminder that I'm looking forward to the day when I can finally run around in PoE 2 as a cranky, pants-less Templar.