Grinding Gear Games, the developers behind Path of Exile 2, have rolled out further emergency updates in response to the intense community backlash following the Dawn of the Hunt update. This latest patch aims to address the widespread discontent that has driven recent Steam user reviews into the 'mostly negative' territory.
Launched earlier this month, Dawn of the Hunt introduced the new Huntress class, wielding a Spear and Buckler with a focus on hybrid melee and ranged combat. The update also included five new ascension classes—the Ritualist, Amazon, Smith of Kitava, Tactician, and Lich—alongside over a hundred new unique items and enhanced crafting options. Despite these additions, the community's reaction was overwhelmingly negative, criticizing the game's pacing as having been slowed down to a "total slog."
The most prominent negative review on Steam from the past 30 days encapsulates the community's frustration: "Every boss fight is incredibly longer than it needs to be. Most of the skills do little to no damage. I understand they said they wanted to slow gameplay down, but I don't think I will even make it more than one week in this league at this point. It just feels incredibly awful right now, IF you can even get the game to run and be stable. That is a HUGE if."
Another review highlighted the game's punishing nature: "If you're a masochist who enjoys being punished for little to no reward, this game is for you. If you're not, it's likely that you won't enjoy the game."
Players noted that the game's previous version (0.1) already had issues with large area sizes, slow movement, and forced combo gameplay. These problems were exacerbated in the new version (0.2 - Dawn of the Hunt), with the game being slowed down even further. Loot drops were nerfed, making it harder to obtain rare items and crafting currencies. The forced combo gameplay was seen as restrictive, contrary to the freedom typically enjoyed in ARPGs.
Despite having over 5,000 hours in Path of Exile 1 and considering it their favorite game, one player expressed reluctance to recommend Path of Exile 2 in its current state, hoping for future improvements.
In response, GGG has released update 0.2.0e, scheduled for April 11, aiming to alleviate some of these concerns. The patch notes detail a range of changes:
Path of Exile 2 Update 0.2.0e Patch Notes
Monster Speed Changes
To address the overwhelming nature of monster encounters, GGG has made specific adjustments:
- Removed interrupt events for many human monsters like Cultists, Faridun, and Tribal Humans in Acts One, Two, and Three, allowing players more time to engage and use skills between monster attacks.
- The Haste Aura modifier is no longer applied to already fast monsters.
- In Act One, Werewolf and Tendril Prowlers now walk after melee actions, reducing their speed unless the player moves away. Hungering Stalkers have reduced life and damage to balance their high movement and attack speed.
- Act Two's Boulder Ants in Titan Valley have been replaced with less irritating Risen Maraketh.
- In Act Three, Diretusk Boar and Antlion Chargers now push players to the side rather than along with them during charges, and adjustments were made to the monster composition in areas like the Lost City and Azak Bog.
Boss Changes
Specific bosses have been tweaked to improve player experience:
- Viper Napuatzi's Chaos Rains are now fewer and smaller, with faster cleanup to enhance visibility of drops.
- Uxmal's fight has been made less annoying by reducing his location changes, preventing Energy Shield recharge while in the air, and decreasing his use of Flame Breath.
- Xyclucian's arena now lacks ground foliage to improve the visibility of his effects.
Player Minion Changes
Minion mechanics have been adjusted to improve gameplay flow:
- Minion revive timers now increase less with each successive minion death, mitigating long waits when multiple minions are down.
- Disenchanting Bind Spectre or Tame Beast gems now unbinds them for reuse, and tamed beasts can navigate through gaps the player can fit through.
Other Player Balance
Additional player balance changes include:
- Rally support can now be used with any melee attack, not just Strikes or Slams.
- Glory from Hammer of the Gods and Spear of Solaris is no longer consumed if the player is interrupted during use.
- Fixed a bug with the Ritualist's Blood Boils not propagating when monsters explode on death.
Crafting Changes
Crafting options have been expanded:
- All caster weapon runes now work on Wands and Staves.
- Renly's shop in the Burning Village now offers a Blank rune that can be forged into any elemental rune.
Performance Improvements
Optimizations have been made to ground foliage in various areas to enhance performance.
0.2.0E Deployment Timeline
The 0.2.0e patch is set to deploy at around 10AM NZT, with further changes planned for post-weekend deployment.
Charm Changes
Charm functionality has been revamped:
- Charm slots on belts are now determined by implicit mods, with the number of slots increasing with the belt's level.
- Charms have been made more powerful and now protect from the hit that activates them.
Stash Tab Affinities
New stash tab affinities have been added for various item categories, including Socketables, Fragments, Breach, Expedition, and Ritual items, with Charms now fitting in Flask stash tabs.
Atlas Bookmarks
Players can now bookmark locations on their atlas for easy navigation, with up to 16 bookmarks available.
The question remains whether these changes will be sufficient to turn the tide of negative feedback and restore a positive atmosphere around Path of Exile 2. Despite the game's successful launch and the challenges it posed to GGG's servers, the community's response has been a critical factor in shaping the game's ongoing development, even affecting Path of Exile 1's updates.
