Path of Exile (PoE) has been doing great recently. The most recent season, incursion, has been a blast. Each season adds a new element to the game that usually carries over into the main game after the season ends and the next begins.
This current season has brought me into Path of Exile racing. For the season there was a huge race to level 100, a massive feat in my opinion, and a few other smaller races organized by the community. There are some small prizes but racing in PoE doesn't have a huge amount of backing or following.
There are really two types of racing that I'm aware of. Shorter races that typically are a sprint to kill a certain boss in the game. These races are usually done on a smaller scale and played in softcore mode, so dying doesn't mean you lose but it does put you in a big hole. These races are usually under two hours and are quite fun to watch. The other race type is more of a marathon, open to anyone who wishes to participate race to max level on the hardcore, self-sufficient game mode. So no trading and if you die you have to start again from level 1. These races can go on for close to week and garners a decent following in the PoE community.
Right now there is a race going on in a special three week league put on by PoE. The top 10 highest level players from each class on each game mode will earn a unique ingame item only obtainable from the race. The special league has a crazier rule set with lots of random elements to kick the game up a notch. It's a bit weirder watching players race for 10th place but the nature of the special league makes watching pretty cool.
I've enjoyed watching PoE and it got me wondering about racing viability as a real esport. It's entertaining, takes an immense amount of skill and dedication and gets quite competitive. I'm not sure it would ever compete with games like League of Legends, Dota 2, CS:GO or Overwatch but it would be nice to see esports branch out from being restricted to team games.
