Path of Exile 2's first major early access content release, Dawn of the Hunt, released April 4, but it hasn't exactly been a hit with the game's ARPG community. Players have complained that the new spear-wielding Huntress class feels weak, aren't happy about huge nerfs to popular endgame builds, and are annoyed by unannounced changes to the campaign that made it a slog to play through.
Developer Grinding Gear Games has been quick to respond. In an April 6 post, GGG addressed some of the main concerns players took issue with, explaining some of the changes it had already made or were looking to make in order to right the ship. Those changes came in the form of reduced health for some basic monsters, improvements to the Huntress (including a new skill), and restoring some of the power of minions in the early game while still keeping their power in check as they progress into the endgame.
Another post on April 7 outlined all the ways the team was listening to player complaints about the game's massive Act 3 maps (something, it's worth noting, that wasn't changed as part of the update). GGG confirmed it will be making them flow better, require less running around, and in some cases, smaller in size. Then on April 8, even more changes were announced, this time focused on buffs to underperforming class skills, improvements to crafting, and reducing monster speed in areas with lots of fast monsters that can easily overwhelm players.
Despite the rapid fixes, Path of Exile 2 is sitting at "Mixed" recent reviews on Steam, although it still sports an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating overall. In a recent interview with Youtuber Zizaran, Path of Exile 2 game directors Mark Roberts and Jonathan Rogers admitted some mistakes were made with Dawn of the Hunt, stating that many of the changes players complained about, especially in regards to the campaign, were unintended and meant to target endgame builds that were making endgame content "trivial."
"The first thing we thought was 'What the hell, we didn't even nerf the campaign," Rogers said in the interview. "Literally that's what a lot of developers were saying. 'We didn't nerf this, why is everyone saying we nerfed it?' We found a few things but we are still looking for what those things are. It's not always necessarily obvious with all the changes that you make."
Roberts said the team has adopted a "firing from the hip" approach given the game is in early access, and that if a change doesn't work out and is bad, they can simply undo it. That led to what Roberts said were some "pretty blatant f***-ups" in regards to things like some monsters having more life than intended.
Rogers went on to explain part of what he believes is one of the developer's main challenges with Path of Exile 2--that due to its slower-paced combat and intentionally higher-difficulty, GGG needs to be much more precise when it comes to getting the game's balance right. This is unlike in the original Path of Exile, where over a decade after its release, knowledgeable players can easily blast through everything in the game from the very start. It's for that reason GGG worries about reducing Path of Exile 2's difficulty too much, as Rogers said he thinks it would result in a game that isn't fun in the long term.
"If we get balance numbers wrong, if a monster has double life by accident in PoE 1, it doesn't even really matter," Rogers said. "Whereas if a monster has double life in PoE 2, it matters a lot. The threshold for what is right is way tighter in PoE 2 and that means it will just take longer to balance and get it all correct."
Path of Exile 2 is available in paid early access now but will eventually be free-to-play. The game's development has thrown a wrench in development for the original Path of Exile, which GGG is continuing to develop and support alongside its sequel.
Source
Developer Grinding Gear Games has been quick to respond. In an April 6 post, GGG addressed some of the main concerns players took issue with, explaining some of the changes it had already made or were looking to make in order to right the ship. Those changes came in the form of reduced health for some basic monsters, improvements to the Huntress (including a new skill), and restoring some of the power of minions in the early game while still keeping their power in check as they progress into the endgame.
Another post on April 7 outlined all the ways the team was listening to player complaints about the game's massive Act 3 maps (something, it's worth noting, that wasn't changed as part of the update). GGG confirmed it will be making them flow better, require less running around, and in some cases, smaller in size. Then on April 8, even more changes were announced, this time focused on buffs to underperforming class skills, improvements to crafting, and reducing monster speed in areas with lots of fast monsters that can easily overwhelm players.
Despite the rapid fixes, Path of Exile 2 is sitting at "Mixed" recent reviews on Steam, although it still sports an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating overall. In a recent interview with Youtuber Zizaran, Path of Exile 2 game directors Mark Roberts and Jonathan Rogers admitted some mistakes were made with Dawn of the Hunt, stating that many of the changes players complained about, especially in regards to the campaign, were unintended and meant to target endgame builds that were making endgame content "trivial."
"The first thing we thought was 'What the hell, we didn't even nerf the campaign," Rogers said in the interview. "Literally that's what a lot of developers were saying. 'We didn't nerf this, why is everyone saying we nerfed it?' We found a few things but we are still looking for what those things are. It's not always necessarily obvious with all the changes that you make."
Roberts said the team has adopted a "firing from the hip" approach given the game is in early access, and that if a change doesn't work out and is bad, they can simply undo it. That led to what Roberts said were some "pretty blatant f***-ups" in regards to things like some monsters having more life than intended.
Rogers went on to explain part of what he believes is one of the developer's main challenges with Path of Exile 2--that due to its slower-paced combat and intentionally higher-difficulty, GGG needs to be much more precise when it comes to getting the game's balance right. This is unlike in the original Path of Exile, where over a decade after its release, knowledgeable players can easily blast through everything in the game from the very start. It's for that reason GGG worries about reducing Path of Exile 2's difficulty too much, as Rogers said he thinks it would result in a game that isn't fun in the long term.
"If we get balance numbers wrong, if a monster has double life by accident in PoE 1, it doesn't even really matter," Rogers said. "Whereas if a monster has double life in PoE 2, it matters a lot. The threshold for what is right is way tighter in PoE 2 and that means it will just take longer to balance and get it all correct."
Path of Exile 2 is available in paid early access now but will eventually be free-to-play. The game's development has thrown a wrench in development for the original Path of Exile, which GGG is continuing to develop and support alongside its sequel.
Source