Path of Exile 2 fans are about to be treated to a huge new update on PC (via Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Since launching earlier this month, developer Grinding Gear Games has been collecting feedback on the early access game.
The developer has used some of this feedback to put together a big new update that’s rolling out to fans soon.
As you can see from the patch notes further down the page, the update adds new gameplay features, makes balance changes to monsters and characters, and improves the endgame.
According to Grinding Gear Games, the changes to the endgame should result in an experience that is “much more survivable than before”.
Having already nerfed some overpowered abilities, the next job is to boost some skills that are underpowered.
This includes improvements to Rolling Slam and all Shield Skills in the Mace section, as well as a boost to various Bow Skills, especially the skills used to generate Frenzy Charges.
The developer has also added two new Supports and removed or lessened the penalties on many others.
If you want to try Path of Exile 2 for yourself, you can pay for early access on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam.
The Path of Exile 2 Early Access Supporter Pack is available for £23.99 on consoles and £23.93 on Steam.
In addition to early access, the Supporter Pack also comes with 300 Points, which can be used to purchase in-game cosmetics.
Fans can also purchase the Lord of Ogham Founder’s Pack for £44.99, or the King of the Faridun pack for £79.99.
Path of Exile 2 December patch notes…
Gameplay Features
• Fast-travel between Checkpoints within an area
– Also more checkpoints at all entrances and exits to areas
• Passive Point respeccing cheaper especially at higher levels.
– This should generally result in approximately 40-50% less gold cost for respeccing between the start and middle of endgame
Trial of the Sekhemas
• Reworked how Honour Damage scales when in close range in 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
• 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.
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
• 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%.
• 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.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk