The ExileCon 2026 keynote (the big opening presentation) starts at 1 p.m. PST on Friday, November 6 (10 p.m. in Paris), which is 10 a.m. in Auckland on Saturday the 7th. Thirty-five days later, on December 11, Path of Exile 2 launches in 1.0 and goes free-to-play. Between those dates, Grinding Gear Games (GGG) has gaps to fill: the Duelist has no known ascendancy, acts 5 and 6 have no title or length, and nobody has said what happens to the current league.
So the useful move is to sort it: what GGG has confirmed, what should logically drop in Auckland, what players hope for without any promise, and what will matter most to anyone coming back on December 11.
ExileCon 2026: what GGG has already locked in
The date came out on January 27. On X, Path of Exile announced “our third ExileCon in Auckland, New Zealand” for November 7 and 8. Tickets have been on sale since February 10, according to the game’s Steam news post. They sold out in waves: on October 6, GGG was down to a final batch described as “very limited”, still on the official page.
The broadcast schedule dates from October 6. In a post by the Community_Team on the official forum, GGG sets the start of the broadcast at 12 p.m. PST (Pacific time, UTC minus 8) on November 6 and 7, and the keynote at 1 p.m. PST (that is 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. in France, where winter time has applied since October 25). Auckland runs on NZDT (UTC plus 13), so the keynote lands on November 7 there but still on the evening of the 6th in France. The Gamer Headlines site says the keynote will deliver “unannounced updates” from game directors Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts. The broadcast is free on Twitch and YouTube, the full schedule arrives about two weeks beforehand, and the post ends on “Teasers? Soon.”
In the Steam screenshot below, the game’s thumbnail reads “Return of the Ancients”. That is neither the name of 1.0 nor an update for Path of Exile 1. It is patch 0.5.0 of Path of Exile 2, released on May 29, 2026 with a reworked endgame (the late-game content), according to Maxroll.
Likely: the Duelist ascendancies and acts 5 and 6
What is established fits in two lines. Stan, on PoE Vault on August 26, sums up 1.0: the Duelist, the first class in the game to wield a sword alone or a sword and shield, and the final two acts of the campaign. Beyond that, silence. No ascendancy (the specialization chosen mid-game, which unlocks extra passives) has received an official name since the announced arrival of the Duelist and its stances. Acts 5 and 6 have no title, no length and no announced boss.
This is the most likely announcement of ExileCon 2026. A Duelist without ascendancies can be neither planned nor compared, and 35 days from launch, the keynote and the on-site demos are the last big window to show them. GGG has not written it anywhere: sites presenting this reveal as settled are deducing, not quoting.
Plausible but unpromised: the launch league and Path of Exile 1
The current league (the season of a few months that resets the economy to zero) is called Forbidden Rites, released on September 4. Centered on Ritual and a Trial of Chaos overhaul, it received nine hotfixes in three days (fixes pushed out in an emergency). What GGG is not saying: whether this league ends on December 11, what mechanic a launch league would bring, and what happens to existing characters.
As for Path of Exile 1, Game8 reports comments from Mark Roberts at a press event: “We’re still going to have another PoE 1 release this year,” then “It’s hard to say exactly when, but it will be there before PoE 2’s release.” Version 3.30 is therefore confirmed in principle, with no date. ExileCon is the natural place to unveil it, which remains a deduction.
What players hope for, with nothing promised
The move to free-to-play is confirmed, Game Informer describing it on August 25 as “a free-to-play title” that will stay that way at full release. The details are another matter: GGG has not said what the shop will sell, and Path of Exile 1, its model, sells only cosmetics. Players want the same promise in black and white, and a word on character migration. The official site already runs a sign-up campaign until December 10, whose rewards (cosmetic effects and a pet) unlock in tiers as sign-ups grow. The release date and the switch to free-to-play have been known since gamescom.
The verdict: the launch league comes before the Duelist
If GGG answers only one question in Auckland, it should be the launch league. The Duelist will make the most noise, but it is one class among many, and its ascendancies should be known before December 11. The league decides your first month: starting from zero or keeping a character, what your accumulated currency is worth, which endgame opens launch week. Forbidden Rites showed the price of launching without a safety net, with nine hotfixes in three days and no balance change. A flood of free players on December 11 will leave even less room.
Second priority, currency: until GGG says something about migration, investing heavily in the Forbidden Rites economy remains a gamble. Third, the length of acts 5 and 6, which sets how long a newcomer will take to reach the endgame. Answers on all three are expected at the ExileCon 2026 keynote on November 6, 1 p.m. PST (10 p.m. in Paris).
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