The Atlas of Worlds, full revealed.
But despite the tiers, Path of Exile’s end-game was an unguided experience. Maps would drop, you’d run them and hope for more to drop, then repeat. That’s exactly what Atlas of Worlds is trying to fix. It gives shape and context to Exile’s maps, while also adding a whopping 30 more to find. Instead of tiers, Grinding Gear has laid out all 100 maps on a large chart called the Atlas of Worlds that each player uncovers by progressing down snaking paths of connected maps POE currency trade .

There are four maps you can find initially, each starting in a different corner of the Atlas. As you play on any map, you have a chance of finding maps adjacent to any of the ones you’ve already completed. The Atlas has a bunch of different winding paths that all eventually connect up to each other in one way or another, and finally end in four larger circles around a compass rose in the center. Each of these inner spots has a special boss that will drop a key. Collect all four keys and you can fight the boss at the center of the Atlas, which is being left as a surprise for players to find for themselves.

This amount of structure is a pretty huge change to the formless system the maps took on before Atlas of Worlds, but Grinding Gear told me it wanted to make sure that players could ignore the Atlas entirely if they didn’t like it, not wanting to alienate current players. If you just want to play like you were before, you’ll still be completing maps, finding more that drop, and generally seeing them getting more difficult—you just won’t know the method behind it all unless you consult the Atlas. So while it adds some welcome structure, it doesn’t impose itself upon you.

Another big change is that the tier system doesn't look like a pyramid anymore. Sure, you need to progress from one map to the next, with the inner maps being harder than the outer ones, but the bottom tier (made up of the easiest maps) is no longer the biggest section. Grinding Gear told me it realized having the most maps be in the lowest-level tiers of the Atlas didn’t make any sense, because players will spend most of their time replaying harder areas anyway. The distribution now looks more like a bell curve than a pyramid, with older maps being readjusted to POE buy currency  fit in new spots.