Path of Exile is actually considered a popular action RPG and has had mostly positive reviews on Steam so far. However, that has recently changed and an expert explains why.
Who is it about? A video appeared on the YouTube channel “ZiggyD Gaming” in which the YouTuber explains why the Path of Exile action RPG community is currently so dissatisfied with the game (via YouTube).
ZiggyD mostly deals with action RPGs, loot-driven games, and RPGs on the channel, amassing 224,000 subscribers on the platform. Much of its content is on Path of Exile.
What has changed in the ratings?
The ‘Path of Exile’ player base is the most consistent I’ve seen, unfortunately that’s because they are very unhappy with the current state of the game and developer ‘Grinding Gear Games’ initial response to their complaints.
ZiggyD on YouTube about community dissatisfaction
What reasons does ZiggyD give for player dissatisfaction? In his video, ZiggyD summarizes four reasons within the game that players in Path of Exile are currently dissatisfied with.
Heaps of changes lead to player dissatisfaction
What did the Sea of Kalandra expansion bring?
Lake of Kalandra
What’s the problem with the Lake of Kalandra? ZiggyD says in his video that players quickly didn’t see the expansion’s new challenge league as worthwhile. The comparison to the state in which most new content is published is particularly important.
ZiggyD himself says he likes the concept of the Lake of Kalandra but would like more new content. In general, however, he concludes that an expansion league released in a thankless state is “no big deal”.
In addition, according to ZiggyD, the state of the expansion means that players cannot currently use the hype surrounding a new expansion to forget annoying things in the game.
[…] It means that as things stand, players can’t really capitalize on the hype surrounding the new expansion when other things in the game are irking them.
If you need more impressions of the Sea of Kalandra, we include the trailer for the new expansion league:
Path of Exile lets you create the levels of the new league yourself – “They always find a way to drag me in”
Archnemesis mechanics on all monsters
What is Archnemesis? The Archnemesis mechanic was originally an expansion mechanic that allowed players to redesign rare monsters with new modifiers. This allowed players to create and battle very strong and difficult-to-fight monsters.
What is the problem with Archnemesis mechanics? According to ZiggyD, many of the Archnemesis modifiers have distorted gameplay and “for the most part frustrated players”. When those frustrating Archnemesis modifiers were added to all rare monsters in the game shortly thereafter, ZiggyD says it came as a big surprise.
On top of that, players may not be able to dodge these rare monsters with the frustrating mods. In addition, the rewards that were still attached to the modifiers in the Archnemesis expansion have been removed. So the monsters got more frustrating, but didn’t drop more loot than before.
ZiggyD goes on to state that while the modifier issue has been improved with several patches and there are fewer rare monsters and decent rewards, for many players the monster overhaul has made the game worse than before.
Several patches were released to eliminate some of the worst offenders of these Archnemesis modifiers, but many players continued to feel that the game as a whole had gotten worse with this new rare monster overhaul.
ZiggyD on YouTube about the Archnemesis modifiers
In the comments below ZiggyD’s video, YouTuber user Nathan Davis also addressed the issue, writing:
“Archnemesis was fine as a standalone thing. If I died from an invincible rare monster with infinite damage, it was my own fault because I created it on purpose. Now I have no choice.”
Nathan Davis on the Archnemesis Monsters via YouTube
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Changing mechanics, example: the harvesting system
What is harvesting? Harvesting is a powerful and rewarding item crafting system, according to ZiggyD. The problem with the system was that it was frustrating to use, trading was based on trust and often had to be done through third party Discord groups.
In an announcement, according to ZiggyD, the developers then promised to make the harvesting system more enjoyable, make it fully tradable, and remove unnecessary crafting options in the process.
What is the problem with the harvesting mechanics? As ZiggyD reports in his video, useful and powerful crafting options, such as re-rolling or reforging items, were completely removed when the harvesting system was revised. Overall, the amount of crafting after the revision is reduced to a tiny fraction compared to before.
For example, according to ZiggyD, an adjustment that was touted as a “nice improvement on an older, beloved crafting system” is instead “very, very clumsy.”
Decreased Loot
What’s the problem with the loot? As ZiggyD reports, there were initially a few people who noticed that they got less loot than usual. Then the “evidence” piled up and even top farmers or whole groups shared their miserable loot and, according to ZiggyD, showed comparisons to previous expansions.
In a “We’re working on it” post from the developers, they then stated that they had adjusted the drop rate of items:
“We removed a massive historical bonus to item quantity and/or rarity that applied to some league-specific monsters. We replaced it with a moderate (2-3x) item amount increase to compensate for the fact that they often have more life than normal monsters and some cannot drop cards.”
Grinding Gear Games via pathofexile.com
ZiggyD explains the change in a bit more detail, stating that the amount of loot from some monsters on endgame maps has been reduced by an estimated 50 to 80 percent. Furthermore, the rarity bonuses that affect the dropping of rare and unique items have been removed completely.
Overall, ZiggyD looked at the developer’s post and came to a devastating conclusion:
This disparity between the magnitude of the proposed changes and the magnitude of the problems as seen by the community creates a strong sense of disconnection and helplessness, along with a loss of confidence and dwindling optimism for the future
ZiggyD on YouTube about the changes proposed by the developers
What are your thoughts on the current state of Path of Exile? Do you think the game is in bad shape or do you think the negativity from the players is overdone? Write it to us here on MeinMMO in the comments!
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for some other action RPGs to take a change from Path of Exile or Diablo, check out our list of 11 that are just like Diablo.
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