Since the launch of POE 2 early access in December last year, Path of Exile has been active in ARPG market in an unprecedented manner. Not only did it launch the first league Dawn of the Hunt in April this year, but it also updated 3.26 league for the original game in June.
Although it should be a long time before the official version of POE 2 is launched, the development team said that it will be updated every 4 months in the future to ensure that you can always earn more POE 2 currency through new gameplay in the new economic system.
Based on this, the new Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3.0 is expected to be launched on August 29, and new content will be spread in every area of the game, enriching your experience while improving the shortcomings of Dawn of the Hunt.
The Main Problem Of Dawn Of The Hunt
Unless it is the first league, whether it is POE 1 or 2, the development plan of the new league is actually based on the main performance of the previous one. Because sometimes it is more important to fix existing problems than to create new ways to play.
For POE 2’s first league, Dawn of the Hunt, the most difficult thing for you may be the weakening of the role of skill gems and the high difficulty of combat, which makes most tasks very time-consuming and labor-intensive to complete.
On the other hand, this also makes it impossible for you to obtain enough currency in time to upgrade your characters and gear, especially the commonly used POE 2 Exalted Orbs or rarer orbs. This vicious cycle ultimately reduces your combat efficiency further.
For this reason, during this league, POECURRENCY.com has provided you with reliable help by providing relevant combat strategies or additional currency acquisition channels. This time, we will also speculate on the possible new content of 0.3.0.
New Druid Class
As you know, Path of Exile series of games has a wide range of class selections, and each has two exclusive Ascendancy classes. POE 2 is expected to launch 12 basic classes in the official version, while there are only 6 in the initial early access.
Before Dawn of the Hunt was released, everyone speculated that the game might gradually release the remaining 6 classes through new patches before the official version was released, and 0.2.0 should bring Huntress and Druid as the first new classes.
However, in the end, 0.2.0 patch only released a basic class Huntress (and 4 Ascendancy classes), and Druid was delayed because it was not perfect. But it is precisely because of this that it will become the best choice for 0.3.0 new class.
However, since POE 3.26 is also in full swing, the developers may not be able to spare enough energy to update Ascendancy classes for Druid. But even so, it is only a matter of time.
QoL Optimization Related To Map Size
Mapping should be the most distinctive endgame gameplay of POE 2. Although it is difficult and time-consuming, it is also the main source of rare currencies such as POE 2 Divine Orbs.
When you explore a map, although the game does not force you to clear all enemies, you only need to zoom in on the campaign to clear the main enemies, but to fully exploit the map, you do need to walk through every corner of the map.
The tricky thing is that the current POE 2 maps are relatively large, and if there are no checkpoints around, you can only walk back and forth, which is very inconvenient.
So 0.3.0 patch is likely to optimize QoL for this problem that has been bothering you for a long time, and improve your mapping efficiency and experience by changing the map size or your travel method.
Balance The Strength Of Each Skill
If you played Huntress during Dawn of the Hunt, you will find that although this new class and most of its builds are very powerful, they are all based on the same skill, Lightning Spear, which causes problems such as the monotony of Huntress combat.
For this reason, rather than launching more new skills for the new class, balancing the strength of existing skills is the main task of 0.3.0.
At the same time, you should also be allowed to obtain more available POE 2 currency and gear through boss battles or mapping, enriching the options for builds crafting.
Let Endgame Events Provide More Loot
In terms of playability, patch 0.2.0 already brings a lot of endgame activities. Of course, it would be better if 0.3.0 could launch more playable content, but it is more important to ensure that the existing gameplay can provide enough loot.
In fact, the low item drop rate is a long-standing problem for POE 2, which is one of the reasons why it is more difficult to play than many other ARPGs. Although the game should be challenging, it will make players lose motivation if it is too difficult.
In addition to the above changes that you hope patch 0.3.0 to bring, you may be more looking forward to the game being able to release the patch on time. After all, delays are already a “long-standing problem” of Path of Exile.
However, if POE 2 really releases new expansions on time every four months in the future, it may also sacrifice some content due to the shortened development cycle.
But to be honest, one of the signs of a normal game is to release new content on time, so sacrifice is sometimes necessary. At least for Path of Exile 2, the more stable the early access performance is, the earlier the official version will be launched.
