Path of Exile – What was the Maelström of Chaos Before Patch 0.9.11?

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I've been playing PoE since open beta only, so I'm used to maps as the end-game content. However, from what I read, before maps were introduced in patch 0.9.11, some area called the Maelström of Chaos served as the end-game content. I have also read that it was made from different tilesets, but I cannot find any exact information about it.

So a question to those who played in closed beta: what was the Maelström of Chaos?

Best Answer

The Maelstrom of Chaos was a series of random areas, with random monsters that increased in difficulty the further in you went.

You can find all the info on how and why it was created straight from GGG here.

Specifically, you are looking for the section marked:

History of Path of Exile’s End-Game

we realised that the fourth difficulty level was only necessary until we added Act Three, at which point we’d reduce it back to three difficulty levels so that we’re not forcing the player to play through the same static content four times back-to-back. Our temporary solution, a month or so before entering Closed Beta last year, was to introduce the Maelstrom of Chaos areas. These were a sequence of random areas (using tilesets from all over the game) with completely random monster packs. Players gained access to it when they finished the final difficulty and could play through a series of levels that gradually ramped in difficulty.

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