Summary
In typical Grinding Gear Games fashion,Path of Exile 2’s Dawn of the Hunt update came with a plethora of changes to the ARPG’s mechanics and gameplay loop in order to create a diverse enough experience for fans to delve into. Dawn of the Hunt was immediately controversial due to the patch notes mentioningnerfs forPath of Exile 2builds, items, and skills of all kinds, including ones that were not considered the top of the meta. This also applied to other parts of the game, and one of the main endgame progression systems got hit hard, and GGG may need to revert this or improve it as soon as possible.
There is a dissonance of sorts betweenPath of Exile 2’s current state and the vision GGG has for it, as highlighted by the interview content creator Zizaran had with Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts. This means that the game may receive changes that seem entirely out of tune with what the community wants or has been calling for, causing the general opinion about the game to shift around. For example, the game now has Mixed reviews on Steam due to patch 0.2.0. One notable change from the update is that endgame loot was overall reduced, but this is something GGG can’t ignore for long.
Path of Exile 2 is Shooting Itself in the Foot Without Loot Changes
So far, GGG has made many changes to the game since Dawn of the Hunt came out, mostly addressing player feedback in key areas like damage inflicted, the relative power of monsters and enemies, and more. However, patch 0.2.0 essentially gutted thelooting part ofPath of Exile 2’s endgame, which makes the grind much slower and less meaningful when running Waystones. Even during the campaign, the game provides very little impactful loot throughout, which affects the speed at which the story can be completed in order to then access the endgame, only to still have loot problems there, too.
GGG’s upcoming patch 0.2.0g is reportedly addressing some concerns, but not all. This list includes:
While these changes can be good for the game, they only address a small part of the issue. Gearing up during the campaign is not great at the moment, but the main problem is that getting to the endgame has a very slow progression through the intended power fantasy for a given character.
This is because Dawn of the Hunt nerfed all aspects of getting loot in the game, such as Rarity of Items Found and actual drop rates, not to mention how some chase items likePath of Exile 2’s Ingenuitywere nerfed into the ground. As such, players are now obtaining much less loot across the board, reaching the endgame with very few upgrades to their build and finding the currency to progress at problematic rates.
Path of Exile 2 Needs to Revert Loot Changes in 0.2.0 Sooner Rather Than Later
GGG has a history with nerfing anything problematic from multiple angles, effectively annihilating any chances for that specific aspect of the game to be relevant again. Loot suffered a similar fate in Dawn of the Hunt, and while some good changes are coming, the big one about endgame loot and progress doesn’t seem to be in the cards just yet. This can even cost the game in other departments, as the recently released Season 2 forLast Epochgained a lot of traction among ARPG fans, withPoE 2players migrating to it for the time being.Path of Exile 2’s new Ascendanciesand features all make Dawn of the Hunt still a very alluring time to play the game, but reverting some loot changes could go a long way in winning fans back.
