The recent “Dawn of the Hunt”update for Path of Exile 2 has successfully reinvigorated approximately 40% of its peak concurrent player base on Steam. However, this resurgence may face challenges as the game’s Steam reviews have plummeted to a “Mixed”rating. This development is likely not surprising to those closely following the PoE community through social media or streaming platforms.
While the “Dawn of the Hunt”update aimed to introduce substantial new content as the first major patch for the game, players have expressed dissatisfaction with the balance changes implemented.
What Grievances Are Players Raising About the Latest Patch?
The latest patch for Path of Exile 2 introduced significant nerfs to numerous Skills and synergies, including those that had not previously dominated the meta. Developers aimed to enhance game difficulty by reducing base player stats, particularly in terms of defensive capabilities.
Unfortunately, the curtailment of various Skills has left a majority of character builds lacking in effectiveness. This is particularly problematic during the initial phases of the campaign, where players may find themselves struggling to progress past certain difficulty barriers. Given that the League is still in its infancy, acquiring resources to retool one’s build is almost impossible.
Although the developers invested considerable time into revamping the Endgame systems—a focal point during patch 0.1.0—players may not appreciate these efforts if they perceive the leveling experience as tedious before reaching the Endgame content.
It appears that the developers have a distinct vision for the game’s balance, a complex undertaking that Path of Exile 2 is currently grappling with. Feedback indicates that the state of balance is diminishing the overall enjoyment of the game, which likely accounts for the influx of negative reviews following the “Dawn of the Hunt”update.
To complicate matters, the game has also encountered several technical issues and crashes related to the day-one patch of “Dawn of the Hunt.”On a positive note, many of these technical difficulties are being addressed in subsequent patches, including adjustments to monster rescaling that were introduced with the 0.2.0 hotfix 6 in response to player feedback.