Path of Exile 2 Responds to Dawn of the Hunt Criticism

Path of Exile 2‘s developer has responded to the criticisms of Dawn of the Hunt following the recent controversies. Upon releasing patch 0.2.0, Path of Exile 2 faced backlash from the community, with thousands of players criticizing the developer for “ruining the gameplay.” The update in question was intended to make the campaign methodical; however, it ended up causing multiple progression issues.

Launched on April 4, PoE 2′s Dawn of the Hunt league introduced a plethora of changes. But what stood out among all the new features and classes was how the game nerfed some critical aspects of combat. Fans were quick to voice their frustration with these changes, with some claiming that their high- and low-level damage are now identical. Another issue raised by the fan base was that the new league’s monsters were nearly undefeatable. It appeared that the Dawn of the Hunt update increased the monsters’ HP curve, turning them into annoyingly strong creatures.

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In response to the complaints regarding Path of Exile 2‘s update, developer Grinding Gear Games released a statement on the game’s official forum to address the concerns. For one, the development team acknowledged that some of the changes in Dawn of the Hunt did not function as intended. Furthermore, it announced several over-the-air updates and hotfixes aimed at balancing the campaign’s difficulty. The statement also outlined the developer’s plans for the future, revealing some of the upcoming quality-of-life features, including a new method for bookmarking Atlas map locations.

PoE 2 Tones Down the Difficulty and Announces QoL Features

• The Huntress class will be able to get Frenzy charges without Parry.
• Spear throws’ speed will be increased.
• More checkpoints will be added to some areas.
• Bookmarking locations will become available.
• Stash Tab Affinities will be added for more item types, including Socketables and Tablets.
• There will be a new method to rebind Spectres and Tamed Beasts.
• The Flask Affinity will be updated to include Charms
• The damage and life that minions get during the campaign will be increased.
• Monster life has been lowered by 25% through most of the campaign.
• Rare minion life has been reduced by about 60%.

It’s worth noting that a significant part of the PoE community believes that the stated fixes are not enough to re-balance the game. Displeased fans suggest that most of Path of Exile 2′s builds are unusable, while others are annoyed that many of the promised fixes have no clear release window.

Path of Exile 2′s current reviews on Steam are “Mixed,” demonstrating the community’s pushback. And the developer’s recent statement appears insufficient to satisfy the frustrated fan base. However, the fact that Grinding Gear Games has been willing to revert some mechanics suggests the development team is open to player feedback, which is promising for the game’s future.

Path of Exile II

9/10

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Nudity, Violence

Engine

Proprietary Engine

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

Franchise

Path of Exile

Early Access Release

December 6, 2024