Path of Exile 2 just got a significant new update with a veritable feast of bug fixes and improvements, but it's hard for action RPG players to see the positives when it's also deployed some "build-destroying" nerfs that some are now stuck using.
Amidst the many tweaks, crash fixes, and squashed bugs detailed in the patch notes for Path of Exile 2's version 0.1.0d update, there are significant changes to "trigger gems and energy gain." Developer Grinding Gear Games says: "Trigger gem energy gain was not in the right place and it was far too easy to use ailments to trigger spells. One problem with the previous system is that if we balanced it to make triggering happen in boss fights then the triggering would happen far too often during clearing."
To fix this, it's incorporating 'Monster Power' into the calculation used for energy gain so that it's "far easier to trigger skills from Unique Monsters than it is from normal monsters" overall. On top of that, the patch notes say there was an issue with players "using low-level skills with unconditional ailment applications such as Flame Wall to ignite enemies for triggering. In order to make the source of the ignite matter we are making the energy gain be dependent on the strength of the ignite. We have also rebalanced all energy gain across the board."
- Path of Exile 2 director "really sorry for how this went down" as he announces new Path of Exile 1 expansion has to be paused: "How could I justify taking some of the most experienced developers we have off PoE 2 when it's on fire?"
- Path of Exile is running a one-month event with "whacky ideas that never quite made it off the brainstorm board" to keep you happy until the delayed expansion
Over on Reddit, action RPG players haven't exactly been taking the news well. In particular, builds using Cast on Freeze have been severely impacted, with one saying its energy gain has been "absolutely gutted," and another unlucky player claiming that they "spent 170k on a respec and it was brutally nerfed within an hour."
I know it's EA. Balance will happen. But we need a way to switch from builds that were removed from the game. from r/pathofexile
Even before this latest round of nerfs, the game's massive respec costs had been raised as an issue, but even more people are bringing it up now, since some can't afford to change away from their newly weakened builds.
"The build-destroying patch notes have completely killed my will to play," one says. "Not only are 50+ hours of grinding gone, but how am I meant to farm for respec gold on a broken build? Why would I reroll when this can just all happen again?"
"We need to have a free respec because right now my character is completely brick[ed] and I have no way to spec into something else," argues another. "I believe every time GGG [makes a] change that COMPLETELY rebalances some builds, we should have some free respec."
Path of Exile 2 is still in early access, so we can definitely expect more changes to come, but let's hope players might be given a bit more freedom to work around the alterations.
If you have enough gold to spare, be sure to check out our guide on how to respec in Path of Exile 2, or take a look at our ranking of the best Path of Exile 2 classes.
