Summary
It has been a strange weekend forPath of Exile 2, which was released with great success in early access in December of last year and recently came back into the limelight with the launch of its 0.2.0 update called Dawn of the Hunt. While not a proper League with functionally unique and exclusive mechanics, Dawn of the Hunt does bring something new to the table. The goal was to amplify this by making a lot of changes toPath of Exile 2, overhauling some endgame systems, creating new gameplay avenues, and adding a new class as well as several Ascendancies. However, something went wrong during this process, and the game is in a poor state now.
Just a few days ago,Path of Exile 2’s Dawn of the Hunt patch notescame out, revealing a plethora of nerfs to the most powerful builds, skills, and items in the game, also hitting some core functionalities. This is not the first time GGG has done something similar, and multiple releases forPath of Exileended up going overboard with nerfs. Above all, the biggest culprit and the one thing most players are reporting online is that the game feels much slower than before - and it’s true, even after GGG’s 0.2.0b patch.
Path of Exile 2 is Shooting Itself in the Foot With Player Nerfs
One of the biggest decisions regardingPath of Exile 2’s combatwas to make it slow and methodical, meaning that it was supposed to promote a less aggressive approach and reduce power creep. However, this was only sustainable in the campaign, and not even throughout its entirety, as monsters and enemies do become progressively stronger and harder to kill, requiring players to stack offense over defense. This also means that skill combos were hard to pull off in most cases, leading to builds that favor the use of one or two skills to beat the game.
This, combined with unintended power levels achieved with builds like Spark Archmage and stat-stacking, led to the massive nerfs in Dawn of the Hunt, with GGG hitting the outliers incredibly hard, but also players' overall power - all while leaving monsters mostly untouched. The result is that the game is incredibly slower and more frustrating, as players deal little damage while also being incentivized to use combos and defensive skills, which is near-impossible to achieve when one is swarmed by enemies. As such, combo playstyles likePath of Exile 2’s spear skillscan leave a lot to be desired.
Many fans have expressed frustration at these decisions, as it can take many hours now to complete the campaign, and some parts have essentially become build checks, in the sense that only great builds or builds with great items can progress. An example is the Act 2 boss, Jamanra, which was always problematic due to its high damage output and hard-to-dodge attacks, but now, these issues are exacerbated by low player damage and survivability.Path of Exile 2’s endgameis a bit better than the campaign once players do get there, but the slogfest never really stops.
It’s worth noting that after Dawn of the Hunt’s release,Path of Exile 2’s Steam reviews dropped to Mixed.
Path of Exile 2 Needs Changes to Player or Monster Power
GGG has taken some action to address this, such as reducing monster life across the board with patch 0.2.0b, but it would take a much more drastic approach to make the game feel better in its current state. Several nerfs would need to be undone, or at least, monsters should be hit hard as well. Currently,Path of Exile 2promotes slower gameplay for players, but it uses the same criteria for monsters as its predecessor, making them fast and deadly. Either the monsters need to be slower and less powerful to allow players to use combos, or player power levels need to be brought back up to compensate. As it stands, the game needs quite a lot of work, so players will have to wait and see for updates.
Path of Exile II
WHERE TO PLAY
Path of Exile 2 is a next generation free-to-play Action RPG created by Grinding Gear Games. Journey across the deadly continent of Wraeclast, meeting multiple immersive cultures while facing off against evil in many forms. Path of Exile 2 features twelve character classes, 240 Skill Gems, hundreds of equipment base types, a six-act campaign, more than a hundred unique boss fights, a deep endgame system and so much more. Play with your friends without losing any progress with couch co-op, cross-play and cross-progression.
