For those unaware of how poe buy currency endgame works, it largely centers around the Atlas of Worlds, a massive network of randomly generated maps that become harder the deeper you progress through them. During normal play, monsters can drop a map that can then be taken to a special device and used to conjure a portal you or your friends can travel through. These maps, like items, have random properties that dictate the kinds of monsters you'll encounter, limit or buff your abilities, and a lot more.

It's a system that, at its most basic, is similar to Diablo 3's Rifts—you're running randomly generated maps at progressively higher difficulties in search of powerful loot. Where it gets interesting is that more difficult maps can drop while you're clearing out a map level, leading to greater challenges and, yes, the chance to drop even more difficult maps. Eventually, players can work their way through the Atlas to the final four maps, each protected by a powerful Guardian. Killing one of them lets you then take on The Shaper, the Cthulhu-looking big bad of Path of Exile's universe. Well, until December 8, when War for the Atlas launches.

War for the Atlas revamps this entire system by introducing 32 new maps, a new layout, and a new threat to the Atlas: The Elder. Though they share a similarly vague name, The Elder and The Shaper are at war and its up to you to decide which one wins. Wilson isn't willing to divulge much information on the why of it all, as that's a mystery that the community will have to work together to solve.

Each time you complete a map, the Elder or Shaper taint spreads like mould to new maps, and it's up to you to try and control it. By completing maps with an Elder or Shaper taint you'll cleanse it, allowing the other to move in and take it over. Players can choose to either destroy the Shaper, the Elder, or try and stop both from spreading and taking over the entire Atlas of Worlds.

Of course, there's a lucrative material reward for going to war against these gods. When clearing either type of map, it's possible to find Shaper or Elder gear, which has a special starry or tentacled background. On its own, this gear might not be any different than the normal loot you'd find, but Shaper and Elder gear can have special extremely rare properties randomly pop up while crafting it. One special mod for boots that Wilson showed me let you walk across fiery surfaces without taking damage—a definite bonus for certain areas in poe buy items. "These will certainly be the best items in Path of Exile once they've had them for awhile," Wilson says. "But it will take a lot of resources to achieve that."