Developers of Path of Exile 2 Respond to Their Most Challenging Update

Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt just rolled out its first major update since it hit early access last year, and, to put it mildly, things have not gone smoothly. Gamers diving into the update last Friday found themselves up against a wall of brutal difficulty. Even the weakest monsters were suddenly taking forever to defeat, and the new Huntress class left much to be desired. The frustration spilled over onto Reddit, where threads with titles like “This game feels like a massive waste of time” and “Game feels miserable” started popping up. Meanwhile, some of the top streamers were leaving the game in frustration.

Grinding Gear Games, the brains behind Path of Exile 2, quickly tried to patch things up. They rolled out a series of small updates, dialing back how much health monsters had and boosting some of the lackluster skills like the skeletal minions. Yet, despite these tweaks, a significant segment of the player base feels that the game still drags and lacks a sense of reward.

The developers addressed these issues head-on in a blog post, laying out their plans for upcoming changes. The major focus is on the slow pacing of the campaign, which players have to slog through with every new season. Some changes are already live, but many players are struggling to stay engaged long enough to reach the endgame dungeons.

In a candid chat with streamer Zizaran, game director Jonathan Rogers explained, “I can absolutely tell you that our goal here was to nerf the things that were trivializing the endgame before you’ve even managed to get your items and stuff like that.”

Adding to this, game director Mark Roberts acknowledged, “There were some blatant mistakes,” particularly the underpowered skills that needed rapid patching. “We’re kind of shooting from the hip; we thought, ‘Let’s just put it in, get feedback, and if it’s bad, we’ll reverse it.’”

According to Rogers, “A running theme with PoE 2 is that the target is harder to hit compared to PoE 1 because we aim for more engaging combat. This means getting the balance right is critical.”

He further delved into how PoE 1 leaned towards rewarding players who’ve invested countless hours mastering its systems, but PoE 2 aims to steer clear of that trap—which hasn’t been easy. The game aspires to have a challenging, Soulslike combat style that revolves around deliberate actions and dodge rolls.

Both developers acknowledge the need for adjustments to improve gameplay without making it too easy for players to speed through dungeons.

“If we get to the point where a good player never has to face a single challenge, I don’t think that’s going to be a game that will be ultimately fun in the long term,” Rogers concluded.