During the Path of Exile: Harvest league launch weekend, Path of Exile (PoE) reached a peak player concurrency of 231,130. To this day, it is still in the top 10 of concurrent players on Steam. Grinding Gear Games has been on a roll with the last couple leagues they have introduced. PoE started to see large jumps in their player base since the announcement of PoE 2 during ExileCon in November. I am not going to lie, since ExileCon last year, I’ve been playing PoE more than I ever have. It has taken me since launch in 2013, to get into PoE, but I think I finally get “it”.
Deep complex games like PoE might not be easy to get into, but once you do it is well worth the time spent on Wiki’s and build YouTube videos for PoE beginners. Just when I was understanding the crafting in the game and figuring out a good build, Harvest comes along to blow my mind. I just hope a lot of the mechanics from Harvest helps build a deeper crafting system in Path of Exile 2.
What is Harvest?
Basically, Harvest is a farm where you can go to slaughter enemies that spawn from your planted seeds. The enemies drop loot and higher tier seeds to plant again. Once you plant the higher tier seeds you simply wait until your seeds mature and you kill them all again in hopes of better loot and even higher tier seeds drop. There are three tiers of seeds and three categories of seeds you can harvest.
Seeds
Seeds are the start of your adventures in the Harvest league. Getting your seeds and harvesting is a fun mini-game that is extremely rewarding. You not only get loot from the monsters you kill from your harvest; you can craft modifiers for your gear to make you uber-awesome. With your leftover harvest you can condense the lifeforce to gain better rewards for your next harvest and the possibility of higher tier seeds.
- Tier 1 Seeds: In the tier 1 seeds there are three different types. The different seeds are Wild, Vivid, and Primal. Each type of seed has a whole slew of random modifiers when harvested. There is no need to go over all the modifiers because the list is just WAY too big and you can easily find a full list of all the seeds and what they do HERE. If you are like me and clicked the link, your brain started exploding with all the possibilities.
- Tier 2 Seeds: Tier 2 seeds only drop from the tier 1 monsters you killed or this is the only way I’ve been able to get tier 2 seeds. The catch with tier 2 and tier 3 seeds is, there are specific requirements you need to meet to be able to harvest them. You have to have a minimum number of seeds of a specific type next to the higher tier seed along with condensed lifeforce. It is super complicated, but once you figure out the formula of how to grow your seeds, it is rewarding and fun. I have more fun harvesting my seeds in PoE that I do in Animal Crossing. Sad, I gave up on Animal Crossing because the Nook brothers were jerks and wouldn’t give me good turnip prices.
- Tier 3 Seeds: They are just like tier 2 seeds but the rewards are juicier. Translation- I do not have any tier 3 seeds yet, so I am in awe of how juicy they are.
Building the Core
Not only did a robust crafting system come with the Harvest league, some of the core mechanics of PoE were forever changed with the Delirium league. It is nice to see leagues now building off each other and not being thrown to the wayside when a new league starts. In Harvest you can still encounter a Mirror of Delirium. Even though Path of Exile is by far the most robust ARPG on the market today, it is nice to see the game transforming from past leagues. I hope a large part of Harvest moves into the next league. Out of all the leagues I’ve played, Harvest has brought a chunk of game mechanics that is vital to the future of the game. It is a mechanic, I hope, will be used extensively in PoE 2.
Both Delirium and Harvest leagues are proof to me that Grinding Gear Games is on the right track for PoE 2 and a strong future. Since Delirium the player base has grown exponentially. I am extremely excited for the future of Path of Exile, future leagues, and PoE 2. For me, the Harvest league has brought a key mechanic to the game that I believe it needed to become more rounded.
Of course, the game has always had crafting and hordes of enemies to kill for loot, but my little murder farm feels like a beautiful cottage in the wood with a crystal-clear lake where I can relax and do what I want. It is how all farming games should be. I’m looking at you Timmy Nook and your stingy turnip prices. Why don’t you come to my Path of Exile farm for a real harvest?
