Destructoid Checkpoint Special Edition - Gotta collect 'em all

During the second (and final) day of the ExileCon 2026 convention, we had a lot of stuff to do. Starting at 7:45am New Zealand time, myself and all the other journalists were escorted to an interview room for a chance to speak with the man, the myth, the legend: Jonathan Rogers (and Mark Roberts, too).

Both of them had a lot of interesting things to say, and some of Rogers’ comments on the technical side of gaming actually surprised me, considering how inclined the entire industry toward those particular “solutions” to non-existent problems.

So, here we go.

Expect the unexpected

During this morning’s Q&A session with media, GGG’s Jonathan Rogers said people should learn to expect the unexpected when it comes to Path of Exile 2, especially now that the company is finally done with the pre-made stuff (the campaign) and can get on a stable four-month release schedule for its leagues and updates.

To keep things fresh and interesting, Rogers said, GGG always looks at things that have never been done before in an aRPG and tries to implement exactly that and to make it fit within the aRPG formula. This is exactly how PoE 2’s upcoming league Conquerors of Wraeclast came to be: the studio got hooked on Heroes of Might & Magic and thought it could work in Path of Exile. One thing followed another and we got actual battles, sieges, and faction wars in a game where no one could have ever imagined those mechanics.

And that came to be with the campaign still unfinished or, well, that’s coming together with the story’s epic conclusion. As Rogers explains, making the campaign took a lot of time and effort, but with it done and dusted, the company now has space to create even better and probably wilder leagues down the line, so Conquerors of Wraeclast may just be the least “out there” idea GGG comes up with.

‘We never pre-decide,’ both Rogers and Roberts said. ‘The players will do that for us.’

They made killing staff into an actual game

As a special little treat for those visiting ExileCon 2026, GGG came up with a card battler game where you use cards that are essentially various items from the game with all sorts of their own unique effects and then battle the staff with them. The most dedicated card battlers can eventually get a chance at the man himself, taking Jonathan Rogers down as the ultimate boss of the event.

Other founders and key people from the studio posed as either act, trial, or pinnacle bosses, allowing players to fight them head-to-head for cool and unique event awards. I’ve never been a big card guy but I didn’t want to miss out on all the fun and set to do what I had to, reaching the third act by beating a bunch of GGG’s staff in direct confrontations.

Once I progressed enough, things required me to stand in a lot of queues and do a lot of waiting which I simply didn’t have either the time or the energy for, which is when I started to support my IGN Portugal colleague Pedro in his efforts to take down the best of the best. Providing him with a very powerful unique I had acquired during my limited tenure as a card battler, I secured him with the last piece of the puzzle that allowed him to beat Octavian0.

I know I wasn’t the one to do it, but it made me feel a sense of accomplishment just the same, and I will cherish all the cards that I had gathered as hard-earned loot and treasure (even tho I quit halfway).

The Duelist is absolute peak

Today I also had the chance to play a little bit more of the new Duelist class, particularly the Knight ascendancy. Both the version with banners and a personal squire as well as the dual-wielding blood-sword are absolute peak and provide players with a bunch of cool options that can be suited to just about any playstyle.

If you want to LARP as this honorable knight who has his own paige following him around as a personal support, you can do so, but I was more inclined toward using two short swords and a bunch of blood infusions to paint the entire arena crimson. Parrying, while automatic, has audiovisual effects so good that you basically feel like you’re actually doing Sekiro style parries rather than just holding block. Genuinely, that needs to be studied.

I’ve written a separate piece on our site with my full impressions of the Duelist, which I kindly ask you to check out. All in all, it was a very long day in Auckland and I feel like I’m about to drop dead, not least because those 12 hours of jet lag are finally starting to really get to me. Reporting on so many cool things for you has kept me going, so there’s that.

Tune in tomorrow your time for our final entry in this special daily edition of the Destructoid Checkpoint as we will be visiting the legendary town of Hobbiton from The Lord of the Rings (and even have a pint at The Green Dragon Inn, like a real Hobbit should).