大灾变：黑暗之日 Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead p.486

我们发现的问题是，由于采用了无职业系统，你可能只需要玩一到两个角色——你懂的，一个你想玩的，然后可能再玩个第二角色。这感觉就不像《暗黑破坏神》里那么酷了，在那个游戏里玩家一般都会想玩一遍所有的职业。[……]玩家不需要创建一个游侠（Ranger）角色，因为他们只需要玩个带弓的女巫（Witch）。这就是为什么我们加入了升华（Ascendancy）职业。

The problem that we found was that, because of this classless system, you kinda only needed to play one or two characters – you know, the one you like, and maybe a second one. It wouldn't be this cool thing that they had in Diablo, where you intend to play every other class. [...] People had no need to make a Ranger because they just played a Witch with a bow. That's why we added the Ascendancy classes.

Chris Wilson
《流放之路》制作人兼主设计师

Chris Wilson,
Path of Exile's producer and lead designer

《流放之路》的主线内容最初只有一章，后来增长到了四章。玩家需要在三个不同难度下完成全部主线才能进入到终盘部分。社区反馈认为这个设定太重复了，开发者听取了意见并重做了整个系统。他们移除了难度设定，转而把章节的数量翻倍——重复利用了美术资源和地点，但是添加了一些视觉改动和困难得多的新战斗。

最近的另一个改动是升华（Ascendancy）职业，这是在终盘阶段为的专精系统，它提供了强力的新游玩方式，不过和每个职业绑定。尽管游戏大体上是无职业的，但这个系统让玩家有更多的动力去尝试所有的职业。为了解锁升华职业，玩家必须通关帝王迷宫（The Lord’s Labyrinth）。这是一个有一定 roguelike 元素的迷宫，里面遍布陷阱、财宝和极端困难的首领战，而且玩家必须在不死亡的前提下通关。

Initially Path of Exile had only one chapter, then grew to four, which had to be done on all three difficulty settings to reach the endgame. The developers listened to feedback saying it felt repetitive and overhauled the entire system. They removed the difficulties and instead doubled the number of chapters – reusing the same assets and locations, but adding some visual changes and new, much more difficult battles.

Other recent changes are the Ascendancy classes, endgame specialisations that provide powerful new playstyles but are restricted to each class, thus giving players more incentive to try out all classes, despite the game's mostly classless nature. To unlock an Ascendancy class you must beat The Lord's Labyrinth, a roguelike-ish experience where you delve into a maze full of traps, treasures and extremely difficult boss battles, and must finish it without dying.

由于游戏中不存在货币，在线交易采用以物易物的形式。开发者刻意没有加入游戏内拍卖行，因此玩家通常利用www.poe.trade 这类服务来列出自己希望进行的交易。

Since the game doesn't have a currency, online trades are based on bartering. The developers intentionally avoid adding an auction house, so players often use services like www.poe.trade to index their trades.

除此之外还有很多有创意的机制，例如游戏中不存在货币，富有深度的打造系统，带有特殊词缀的随机地图，随击杀填充的增益药水……等等。《流放之路》中的每个系统都让人感觉眼熟，但同时也提供了有趣的新变化。

《流放之路》要求全程联网，在城镇内其他玩家是可见的，你可以在这里交易、创建队伍或者发起 PvP 挑战。这让整个游戏世界生气蓬勃，即使你是独狼玩家。不过那些寻求更高难度挑战的玩家也可以选择自力更生模式（Solo Self-Found），回避所有的在线交流。

所有这些机制和特色最终都服务于《流放之路》的核心竞争力：玩家选择。没有角色能够擅长所有事情，即使是最好的构筑和物品也不行。每个选择都带来了权衡，而最终的结果就是一段独一无二且值得回味的游戏经历。

These are joined by other creative mechanics, such as the lack of currency, a rich crafting system, random maps with special modifiers, buff potions that refill as you kill, etc. Everything in Path of Exile feels familiar, but offers interesting new twists.

The game is always online, with other players being visible when inside towns, so you can trade, create parties or jump on a PvP match. This makes the game feel alive even when playing alone, but those seeking an even bigger challenge can lock themselves off from all online interaction in Solo Self-Found mode.

In the end, all these mechanics and features serve Path of Exile's main strength: player choice. Even with the best build and items, no character will be able to excel at everything. Every choice brings trade-offs, and the end result is an experience that's unique and memorable for the player.