Summary
- Path of Exile 2’s upcoming patch will introduce new gameplay features, such as fast-travel points within areas, for easier exploration.
- The patch will also reduce the cost of respeccing Passive Points by 40-50%, particularly at higher levels.
- The endgame will see improvements to make it easier for players to survive while fixing some overly punishing mechanics.
Grinding Gear Games has revealed details about an upcoming Path of Exile 2 patch focused on introducing more fast travel points, along with balance adjustments for monsters, the endgame, items, and more. The developer has not provided a release date for this Path of Exile 2 update but assured players that the full patch notes will be available soon.
The highly awaited Path of Exile 2 early access was finally released on December 6, bringing a wealth of improvements over the previous game. Even though PoE 2 was praised for its stunning visuals, boss encounters, and satisfyingly challenging combat, it suffered from some technical issues. Upon its early access launch, server problems marred the game due to the high number of people joining at the same time. Grinding Gear Games attempted to implement measures to prevent this, but the issues persisted. Nevertheless, the game has been a success, with more than half a million players on its second day, and now the developer is addressing player feedback with an upcoming update.
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The upcoming patch brings some useful changes. Players will now be able to teleport between checkpoints located at entrances and exits in different zones, making it easier to explore and get around. The patch will also lower the cost of respeccing Passive Points, especially at higher levels. In the past, the cost went up quickly as Path of Exile 2 players leveled up, but now it’s more balanced, with a 40-50% reduction in gold costs during the early to mid-game. This change should make it easier for players to try out different builds without worrying too much about the cost of adjustments.
Aditionally, the Trial of the Sekhemas is getting an important rework after players’ feedback about its tough close-range difficulty. Honour Damage will now be 35% lower when players are close to enemies. Along with a fix for bugs that caused too much Honour Damage from Damage over Time effects, this should make the trial much easier. Several monsters are also being adjusted for better balance and clarity. For example, Skitter Golems will now self-destruct instead of using basic attacks.
The Path of Exile 2 endgame has also been improved to make it easier for players to survive while fixing some overly punishing mechanics. Now, maps at Tier 6 and Tier 11+ will no longer add extra elemental resistance penalties, and Chaos Damage scaling has been lowered.
The patch will also focus on skill balance, tweaking both overpowered abilities in Path of Exile 2 and those that weren’t performing too well. This upcoming patch shows Grinding Gear Games’ commitment to listening to player feedback and improving the overall experience.
Path of Exile 2 Upcoming Changes
Gameplay Features
- Fast-travel between checkpoints within an area
- Cheaper Passive Point respeccin
Trial of the Sekhemas
- Honour Damage now scales down based on distance to enemies, when in close range you’ll take 35% less Honour Damage, tapering off as you are further away from Monsters.
- Fixed a bug where Damage over Time was dealing thrice as much damage to Honour as intended, and fixed a bug where Honour Resistance was only applying to two-thirds of that damage. (This was confusing for us too)
- Skitter Golems no longer use basic attacks and instead now just explode.
- Serpent Clans burrow and ambush attack now has improved visual telegraphing and cannot be used from as far away.
- Volcanoes created by Rattlecage’s Fissure Slam now last half the duration.
Endgame and Monster Balance
- Maps no longer have additional elemental resistance penalties inherently applied at Tier 6 and Tier 11 or higher Maps. It is now consistent across all of the Endgame.
- Chaos Damage now also scales less aggressively over the Endgame.
- Critical Strikes from monsters now deal 40% less bonus Damage.
- Lowered the baseline monster density of Breach Encounters, primarily by reducing the frequency of the “Elite” monsters appearing.
- Disabled the Volatile Crystals Modifier, we’ll revisit this in the future pending telegraphing improvements.
- Purple Explosives created by the Volatile Plants Modifier on Rare Monsters now deal significantly less Damage.
- The Siphons Flask Charges Modifier on Monsters now drains ten-times less Flask Charges per second. (This was unintentionally draining way too many charges)
Character and Item Balance
- We’ve made Charm Modifiers on Belts substantially more common and now appear at much lower levels. The “of Symbolism” Modifier now appears from level 23 onwards, and the “of Inscription” Modifier now appears from level 64 onwards.
- Electrocute is now 25% harder to buildup. (But the Damage Penalty has been removed from the Support Gem).
- Added a new Lightning Damage and Electrocute Cluster to the passive tree in between the Ranger and Monk sections.
- It is now more difficult to chain-freeze enemies by reducing the amount of Freeze Buildup applied after a Freeze has been applied.
- The Hunter’s Talisman Notable now grants +1 Charm Slot. The small passive skills leading up to it now grant the stat it formerly gave. The Charm helper text has been updated to indicate that you cannot have more than three Charm Slots unlocked, so that we can add more sources of it in the future.
Skill and Support Gem Balance
- Improvements to Rolling Slam and all Shield Skills in the Mace section.
- Improvements to various Bow Skills, especially the skills used to generate Frenzy Charges.
- Improvements to Bone Spells and Chaos Damage over Time Spells in the Occult section.
- Improvements to various Crossbow Skills, especially those at higher Tiers.
- Improvements to some of the underachieving Quarterstaff abilities.
- Added the Tremors Support Gem. Which can be used to give up to multiple more Aftershocks to Skills, with a damage penalty.
- Added the Bidding Support Gem. Which can be used to give more damage to the Command Skills of Supported Minions.
- The Fire Exposure, Lightning Exposure and Cold Exposure Support Gems no longer penalize Damage of Supported Skills. They now have a Mana Cost Multiplier of 120%.
There are also some notable nerfs to a few of the remaining overachieving skills:
- Skeletal Arsonists Spirit costs now match the other two Skeleton Mages, this should result in a slight decrease in the number of Arsonists at a higher level.
- A nerf to the damage over time component on very high levels of Tornado and Vine Arrow. These were never intended to be dealing damage themselves, but more so act as a way for other skills to propagate damage.
- Magnetic Salvo can now only use your stuck Lightning Arrows as opposed to those created by your Party Members.
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