Playing as one of six character classes, players find themselves banished for their past misdeeds to the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast. There, they will encounter hundreds of species of opponents laden with loot and mysterious artifacts as they explore the abandoned continent.

Players will be able to purchase in-game perks, such as extra victory animations, clothing and special effects. To protect the integrity of the game for all players, Grinding Gear Games has decided not to sell abilities or experience points – ensuring a level-playing field for everyone in game.

With an open-ended and flexible skill and item system, randomised items and random dungeons, the game promises three acts of visceral combat gameplay, with additional expansions already planned.

Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters will introduce a slew of new and meaningful content based on the plight of the Forsaken Masters of Wraeclast -- seven men and women, masters of their trade, who were exiled by Dominus, a powerful entity of corruption and tyranny.

As per the expansion's title, players will cross paths with the seven Forsaken Masters, each offering separate and unique quests, training, mission variations, item crafting and modification options, secret and customizable towns known as Hideouts, tiers of Hideout decorations, and more in exchange for an Exile's help. Also featuring Rampage and Beyond Challenge Leagues, revamped boss fights, new lore, new Unique items, new support and skill gems, a PvP Spectator Mode, and dozens of other additions, Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters will offer players a robust augmentation to the game's already highly replayable experience.

Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters will arrive August 20, 2014 as a free update.

New Features:

Train with the Masters

As players roam the wilderness of Wraeclast, they will sometimes encounter a Forsaken Master. All seven Masters have their own unique missions that they either need help with, or are willing to train Exiles to handle. For example, Haku asks players to cleanse an ancestral area and recover a lost Karui spirit. Vorici provides training in the art of assassination. As players progress through the eight levels of reputation with each Master, more of what these Masters can offer will be unlocked.

The seven Masters each have their own style of mission and each mission has many potential circumstances. As players delve deeper into the realm of Wraeclast, the pool of available mission variations increases, offering players new and unexpected challenges -- all of which can occur anywhere in the game.

Hideouts: Customizable Towns

In their extensive travels throughout Wraeclast, the seven Masters have discovered ideal locations for an Exile to use as their own secret Hideout. Once a Master's trust is gained, the player will be able to create their own personal and customizable town. Masters residing in a player's Hideout will offer them daily Missions and training as well as advanced crafting options. Players are also able to expand their Hideouts to use as personalized Guild Halls.

Craft and Upgrade Items

Each master specializes in crafting different types of items. As a player gains reputation with a chosen Master, they will gain access to more of that Master's unique crafting options and abilities, such as manipulating an item's sockets or crafting special modifications. Masters also function as vendors that sell items ranging from Skill Gems to Unique items. At higher levels, each Master also sells Magic items with a specific, new, build-defining modification. These can be used as-is or crafted further with either the new Hideout Crafting Benches or the traditional Orb system to create powerful items.

The expansion also includes 16 new Unique Items, some of which are exclusive and may only be found in one or the other of the new Challenge Leagues.

New Challenge Leagues: Rampage and Beyond

With the release of Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters, two new three-month Challenge Leagues will begin, providing players with an opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of Path of Exile. Like the Challenge Leagues before them, these new leagues have a set of extremely difficult challenges to complete. Players who complete five of the eight total challenges will be rewarded with an exclusive microtransaction effect. Finishing all of the eight challenges will unlock another, different, exclusive microtransaction effect. The first 50 players to complete all of the challenges will receive a Rampage/Beyond t-shirt.

To make for more intense and surprising battles, many of the existing boss encounters in Path of Exile have been revamped. More lore has also been added for players to discover, with snippets of Wraeclast's history scattered throughout the existing acts. Additionally, large portions of the Passive Skill Tree have been redesigned, particularly in the Witch, Shadow, and outer Ranger class areas. Extensive balance improvements supported by these changes have been made to the core game.