My feeble and impotent mind struggles to maintain a coherent image of all these ever-changing videogames and their endless systems, but I think I figured out what PoE2 0.5 is about. Feel free to correct if/when wrong:
- Expedition, Ritual, Breach etc. are more fleshed out, some if not all of them with their own quests and pinnacle bosses too. They should now feel more like they actually belong in the game world, and more like their own gamemodes instead of sporadic, unfinished out-of-place engagements.
- A lot of shit translating to "Moar crafting"
- Atlas has more fixed points of interest, designated league mechanic areas, more intentional design to the world map, more quests involved with it, new tree
- A lot of shit translating to "Moar endgame"
My brain cramped just when I was about to check out the Fortress, new mechanics, something to do with runes, new ascendancies (my brain did tell me to pick Monk before it stroked out) or skill tree changes so I have no idea about any of that.
Generally, it seems like the game is more compartmentalized and fleshed out, while also throwing new areas, bosses and systems for endgame nerds to rub against their questionably min-maxed and fruitless groins.
It does seem like a pretty substantial update. I will once again play it and most likely find it quite alright, while engaging with only 0,12% of the actual hard content. Then again expeditions looks cool now, that might be my jam; the anchor I need to keep myself invested in the post-campaign game. Here's hoping for the best!