After three months, Grinding Gear Games released a new update for Path of Exile 2 that, believe it or not, fixes absolutely nothing. Patch 0.2.1b is now available, and this is just a microtransaction update. In other words, it only brings MTX to the game and nothing more.
For a game that is still in Early Access, this is hilarious. Due to this awful update, the game’s recent reviews have dropped to Mixed. Moreover, the number of players who have been playing it has been reduced significantly.
Path of Exile 2 had an amazing EA launch. The game managed to hit 578K concurrent players when it came out. Nowadays though? Its peak is around 10K. And, to put things into perspective, the first Path of Exile had a 24-hour peak of 68K concurrent players. Ouch.
I don’t know what Grinding Gear is doing and why they haven’t invested more resources into the game. I get it. The first Path of Exile remains profitable. But the devs should have invested more in its sequel. Otherwise, what’s the point of purchasing it in Early Access?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Never buy games that are in Early Access. Path of Exile 2 is another reminder that you should stay away from them. So, hopefully, PC gamers will one day learn their lesson.
I’m not saying the game is dead. Grinding Gear Games can still turn things around. But one update every four months isn’t enough. Don’t forget, the game is still in Early Access. That means it should be updated often, based on what players say and suggest. After all, that’s the whole point of an EA game.
Grinding Gear Games said that the next big update for Path of Exile 2 is coming on August 29th. This will be Update 0.3.0, and it will add a new League. Leagues are special modes with their own economy and brand-new content. They usually have new ways to fight, new items, crafting tools, and new bosses. While the League is live, you’ll see this new content all over the game. After the League ends, the devs will decide how to add that content into the main game.
As I said, Patch 0.2.1b is just an MTX patch. Still, I’ve included its full patch notes below. So, those interested can see what has been added to the game.
Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.2.1b Release Notes
Microtransactions included in this patch are:
- Watcher’s Wrath Armour Set
- Archon of the Atlas Armor Set
- Skull of Undeath
- Syndicate’s Demise Unique Finisher Effect
- The Originator’s Portal Effect
- Rose Charges
This patch also enables the Mercenaries Supporter Packs for Path of Exile 2. There are two series of Mercenaries Supporter Packs; the Phrecian Magistrate series and the Cryptkeeper series. Each of the two series has different exclusive cosmetic contents.
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GGG continue to take the piss. Sort the bloody servers out.
PoE2 is quite darn nice, hope they wont take a turn for the worse IE pay to win mt's, cosmetics are fine when there are plenty of good looking normal sets
PTW will never happen, PoE has been out 12 years and they make more than enough money from selling extra storage and cosmetics.
Even when i know that's the case and applaud them for it, i would never say never, why? Been proven time and time again that greed is a powerful motivator that tends to slowly corrupt.
Who say how much is more than enough in the future?
Anything is possible but it hasn't happened in 13 years with PoE1. They have already raised the development funds for PoE2 with the early access sales, why piss off your loyal customers when they already spend consistently for cosmetics and storage space?
They know P2W would sink their game, and there has never been P2W in PoE 1. And all the stuff that is actually worth buying (the stash tabs) all go on sale once per month.
no it's the same s**t. Endgame is stupid atlas grinding and they made it as complex as the first one where you have to be a scientist to navigate the skill tree and other r*tard level or complexity only suitable for nolifers. PoE needs simplification and not a nerf/buff based 3 monthly reset rotation
If you want a "simpler" arpg, play something else. Just because it's too "complex" for you, doesn't mean it should be simplified. Complexity made the original PoE unique.
Titan Quest 2 appears to be just that, Last Epoch appears to be a half way house. There are a few other smaller players as well but nothing with the polish of the 3 already mentioned.
classic nolifer answer. this has been typed so many times by your type of player that I don’t even process it anymore. all I see is blaahh blaah nolifer NPC speech blaahh
Is PoE massively complex? Yes, it's 13 years of expansions. Is PoE2 the same? Absolutely not, it's simplified. Is the end game more map grinding? All ARPG's are end game grind of the same or similar variety, the whole point is min/max. What would you rather they have as the end game? Genuinely curious.
You wont like my answer mate: Endgame based on grinding must die. It’s a stupid model. I would rather have new acts, new lore, new enemies and expansion of the storyline instead of grinding. but this is my own extremely unpopular opinion. And I hate the atlas with a passion. crafing maps and playing around with layers upon layers of modifiers. I hate the atlas. I was devastated when they revealed that PoE2 will have base its entire existance on the atlas grind
Okay but that's you wanting games to be what you want rather than what a hell of lot of other people desire. Personally I want games of both types, luckily there are other ARPG's and Titan Quest 2 seems to have more of a traditional setup. Hopefully.
As for Atlas, it's not my favourite either, I do enjoy a bit of heist but some of the other endgame modes are a bit w*nky. Still, it's a hell of a game for a freebie.
Ahh, I almost forgot about Titan Quest 2, thanks for reminding man. My last hope for the genre
Why is this article written as if its already confirmed they're not working on anything but microtransactions? Its still super early in development and is already a solid game.
Why is this article written as if its already confirmed they're not working on anything but microtransactions? Its still super early in development and is already a solid game.
It's not super early in development, it will be launching end of this year or more likely spring next year. It's a beta at this point with half of the acts missing and most of the endgame modes apart from atlas.
They were pretty upfront at the very start that its extremely early in development. Also look at the version, .2 when 1.0 is the release.
That just isn't the case, the version number is in no way indicative of the current state of the game, it's already pencilled in for full release in 6 to 9 months. You'll often see low release numbers and then version 1.0 is release, you can't use version numbers as any kind of benchmark. Watch the state of the game videos and the patch notes, watch the main content creators, we will be getting the final 3 acts before the end of the year and the rest of the endgame by spring.
Why is this game not Free to play like the first?
It's early access, will go free to play late this year or early next year. You actually get ingame currency for the price you pay which can be used in either game and whatever you buy in one game is auto duplicated to the other games. It's a very good deal.