The Viridian Wildwood 
Players will encounter Sacred Wisps that beckon them into the overgrown passageways of the Viridian WIldwood. Over time the Wisps burn away the affliction that shrouds the forest POE currency trade , but the Wisps only have a limited amount of power. Once you return to Wraeclast, the Wisps you saved from the affliction will inhabit random monsters, increasing their power and rewards.

Overall this mechanic feels like a mix of Delve with Sentinel. You'll progress through the Wildwood in a Delve-like fashion, where it's sort of an infinitely generated map. Then, you will take the Wisps back with you to power up monsters for increased rewards, similar to how the Sentinels worked.

Wildwood Ascendancy Classes and return of Ultimatum mechanic 
As you traverse the Wildwood you'll complete quests to unlock one of three new Wildwood Ascendancy classes. Your chosen ascendancy class is in addition to the regular ascendancy class, which is the first time this has happened in Path of Exile.

Also, the Ultimatum mechanic from the Ultimatum league is being added to the core game. The popular mechanic lets players undertake Vaal trials for the Trialmaster in exchange for rewards. If you defeat the trial, he gives you the option of doing double or nothing. It was honestly a very fun mechanic that I've missed, so I'm glad it's being added back in. Of course, the mechanic has been rebalanced as it was a pretty powerful way of obtaining rewards in its original form.

The Path of Exile Affliction league goes live on December 8 on PC and Mac, and on December 13 for PlayStation and Xbox.

Path of Exile 2 shows off Mercenary class and WASD movement – Destructoid

Grinding Gear Games revealed a new class that will be available in Path of Exile 2, the Mercenary. The Mercenary class features shooter-like gameplay with the ability to swap crossbows and ammo types on the fly POE buy currency . Alongside the class reveal, GGG also revealed that WASD movement has been added as an option to PoE2.

The Mercenary is a brand new class that is coming to Path of Exile 2, and does not exist in the current version of PoE. Based on the gameplay video, it looks like a pretty fun class similar to Demon Hunter from Diablo mixed with say a Gunslinger from a game like Lost Ark.