How To Master The Archmage Crackling Lance Hierophant Build In Path Of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League?
With the recent changes to the Archmage mechanic in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, our Arc Lightning/Crackling Lance spell has received a significant boost in damage output. In this guide, we'll explore the potential of this Archmage Crackling Lance Hierophant build in POE 3.24's endgame scenarios, where its formidable damage numbers truly shine.
Remarkably, our standard Arc setup can deliver a staggering 100 million damage, while the specialized Crackling Lance setup, tailored for boss encounters, boasts over 220 million damage. These figures, though astounding, are entirely achievable. Even the most challenging Tier 17 map bosses are no match for this build's power. What's more, switching between setups is remarkably simple. Merely adjusting 2 gems is all that's required, with no alterations necessary to items, jewels, or the passive tree.
Ascendancy Choices
Let's start by discussing our Ascendancy choices.
As a Hierophant, we've opted for this class primarily because it offers the most effective mana support ascendancy available.
Our first priority is Arcane Blessing. This particular node enhances the effectiveness of Arcane Surge by providing a significant 20% boost to spell damage, alongside its other benefits. Additionally, it grants us a level one Arcane Surge buff whenever we land a hit. It's essential to note that the 20% spell damage boost scales with modifiers to the Arcane Surge buff effect, rendering this node exceptionally potent.
Moving on, we have Conviction of Power. This node not only increases our maximum power charges and endurance charges by one but also sets our minimum charges for both to 4. While the additional maximum power charge enables us to function as a power charge stacker, the minimum endurance charges offer a valuable defensive benefit.
Next, we acquire Divine Guidance. This particular node raises our maximum mana and ensures that 10% of all damage we sustain is deducted from our mana before affecting our life pool. When combined with The Agnostic keystone and Mind Over Matter, this setup essentially renders us invulnerable as long as we have any remaining mana. Moreover, it enables us to utilize Righteous Fire for an additional spell damage boost.
As for our final ascendancy node, we've foregone selecting any. The remaining nodes within the Hierophant ascendancy don't offer significant benefits for our build, so we've opted to acquire the minor mana node instead.
Passive Skill Tree
Now, let's examine our passive skill tree.
Our current tree retains its structure from the previous version. Our emphasis remains on enhancing mana, lightning damage, spell damage, cast speed, spell critical chance and multiplier, mana regeneration, and life.
Additionally, we incorporate 2 extensive cluster jewel configurations into our setup. These provide access to potent damage-related notable passives such as Practiced Caster, Sap Psyche, and Scintillating Idea.
Mastery Choices
Next, for Mastery choices, we have:
- Spells that gain Intensity have +1 to their maximum Intensity
- + 15% to Maximum Shock Effect
- 3% increased Damage per Power, Frenzy, or Endurance Charge we have
- + 25% to Critical Strike Multiplier against Unique Enemies
Gear Selection
Let's proceed by examining our gear selection.
First and foremost, we continue to utilize the signature wand, known as Void Battery, employing two of these wands specifically. Void Battery provides substantial benefits, including an increase to maximum power charges, global critical strike chance, cast speed, mana, and significant spell damage when powered up with charges. Widely considered the best-in-slot option, acquiring Void Battery typically requires only a few Divine Orbs, given the immense damage boost it offers to our build.
Moving on, we have the Crown of The Inward Eye, ideally with the corruption that grants an additional maximum power charge. This helm proves crucial for its overall life and mana statistics, although acquiring one with the bonus power charge corruption is highly desirable. Alternatively, if obtaining such a helm proves challenging, opting for a rare helm with the plus one power charge affix becomes a viable alternative, albeit a difficult one. Therefore, purchasing this helmet outright often remains the optimal choice.
Now, turning our attention to body armor, we employ the Cloak of Defiance. This chest piece grants us the Mind Over Matter keystone without the need to invest numerous passive points in the skill tree. While the free Mind Over Matter feature proves invaluable, we primarily utilize this item for its unique attribute: a percentage-based increase to mana regeneration, a rarity in the game and a crucial resource for our build's sustainability.
Furthermore, we consider Atziri's Foible amulet as another indispensable item. Given that mana serves as both an offensive and defensive resource for our build, maximizing its potential becomes imperative. Atziri's Foible significantly enhances our mana pool and regeneration rate, providing us with everything we require. It's worth noting the importance of anointing the amulet with Disciple of the Unyielding, granting a fifth permanent endurance charge and a notable 40% increased damage boost.
Moving on to our rings, acquiring 2 synthesized rings with a 6% increased spell damage per power charge implicit is imperative. Utilize Essences of Scorn on them until you secure both percentage mana regeneration and critical strike multiplier modifiers. In the event of an empty suffix, lock the suffixes and then reforge the caster mod to forcefully introduce cast speed into your suffix pool. Once done, lock the suffixes again, employ the Veiled Orb to obtain Veiled mana or life, and proceed to craft the remaining modifier yourself.
Now, concerning our gloves, we opt for Eldritch Influence gloves, prioritizing attributes such as life, mana, resistances, and any Veiled damage modifier obtainable. Alternatively, crafting the desired modifiers yourself proves a cost-effective approach to preserve your POE Currency.
However, the paramount consideration here is securing both Lightning Exposure and a chance to unnerve enemies on hit implicits. These attributes contribute significantly to damage output and can be readily incorporated using Eldritch Ichors and Embers.
Moving forward to our boots, the desired attributes include movement speed, dexterity, mana, life, and a resistance modifier. Additionally, incorporating beneficial Eldritch Implicits such as increased action speed and cooldown recovery rate, if possible, further enhances their utility.
Regarding our belt, obtaining one with the crucial increased mana recovery rate (Redeemer mod) is essential for our build's functionality. Aim for maximum roll and catalyze it up to 14%. Additionally, prioritize other desirable modifiers such as life, mana, and resistances to bolster survivability.
Gem Setup
Now, let's discuss the gems to be inserted into these items.
Beginning with our primary six-link setup, we include Arc, Archmage, Power Charge On Critical, Inspiration, Awakened Spell Echo, and Awakened Lightning Penetration. Notably, the new Archmage Support does not amplify its damage based on increased mana cost, making the inclusion of Inspiration a sensible choice. When transitioning to our high-damage Crackling Lance setup, simply substitute Arc and Awakened Lightning Penetration with Crackling Lance and Intensify Support.
Moving on to the four-link guard setup, we incorporate Arcane Cloak, level 20 Arcane Surge, Increased Duration, and Enhance. The strategic activation of Arcane Cloak allows us to maximize its benefits.
Next, we assemble a four-link configuration for falling damage support, comprising Wrath, Eternal Blessing, Righteous Fire, and Empower.
For our mobility setup, a four-link combination of Lightning Warp, Faster Casting, Less Duration, and Swift Affliction facilitates swift movement. If Lightning Warp proves unsuitable, Dash serves as a viable alternative.
Lastly, a three-link setup accommodates the remaining gems, including Conductivity, Summon Lightning Golem, and Faster Casting.
The Strategic Placement Of Jewels
Now let's delve into the topic of jewels.
For our Watcher's Eye, we continue to utilize a basic variant, offering a modest 15% Lightning Penetration while under the influence of Wrath.
Next, we possess a single Militant Faith Timeless Jewel, specifically tailored to reference High Templar Dominus. Placing this jewel strategically maximizes its impact, as it transforms nearby keystones into Inner Conviction. Inner Conviction, in turn, grants a substantial 3% increase in spell damage per power charge. Should this jewel inadvertently convert any crucial notables within its vicinity, there's no need for concern. Simply trade it for another one.
The final unique jewel featured in our build is The Adorned. This jewel amplifies the effectiveness of all socketed magic jewels by an impressive 150%, provided they are corrupted. Consequently, acquiring 4 identical magic jewels of this nature becomes necessary. Look for attributes such as increased maximum mana and a 15% boost to spell critical strike multiplier to optimize your build's performance.
In conclusion, the Archmage Crackling Lance Hierophant build offers a potent and adaptable option for Path of Exile 3.24 players seeking to dominate endgame content with unparalleled spellcasting prowess. Its remarkable damage potential, coupled with its simplicity and versatility, makes it a formidable choice for any seasoned adventurer daring to challenge the highest tiers of gameplay.
Recommended Article
View More
Since the release of Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids, Shaman seems to be used more frequently among the two Ascendancy classes of the new Druid class. This is perhaps because it is easier to learn and its benefits are quickly felt.
However, this doesn't mean the other one, Oracle, is not worth experiencing. In fact, if you craft the right build, Oracle can help you build temples and earn loot faster in the optimized Fate of the Vaal mechanic.
Based on this, we will provide you with a strategy for crafting such an Oracle build. If you are interested, please read on!
Oracle introduction
Choosing this Ascendancy class will grant you the power of foresight, allowing you to gain combat advantages by predicting enemy actions and unlocking additional passive skills.
If you find the above explanation difficult to understand, the following exclusive skill effects should give you a more intuitive understanding of how to play Oracle:
- Entwined Realities: You can allocate key passive skills without connecting them to an existing passive tree.
- The Unseen Path: Unlocks additional passive nodes accessible only to Oracle players.
Oracle Build for Atziri's Temple
One of the key elements to improving room building and overall exploration efficiency within this league mechanic is minimizing your skill cooldowns. Therefore, many related builds require Temporalis Silk Robe, which provides this effect.
Fortunately, Oracle build we're introducing here provides a similar effect without this gear and can easily defeat most bosses with extremely high DPS, making it very useful for clearing maps!
Skills and gems
After unlocking Oracle as your Ascendancy class, the key is to stack your critical strike chance to over 100%, as Mana Flare triggers on critical hits, giving you an auto-explosion effect.
Another crucial point is to reduce Lightning Bolt's cooldown to below 0.2 seconds - this is a critical point; any cooldown below 0.2 seconds is considered good. Additionally, you'll need 115% to 150% cooldown reduction to increase damage.
To achieve all the above, you need to unlock Spark to trigger Lightning Mode and add Pierce to increase projectile speed, faster casting efficiency, and duration.
For Spirit skills, you need to add Trinity to boost elemental damage, especially lightning damage.
Next, you need to add Blink and Mobility skills to gain a 100% reduction in Blink cooldown and increased Blink regeneration speed. Combine this with support gems Clarity I and Rapid Casting II, and you can eventually Blink in less than 1 second.
Best gear
First, you need Headhunter Heavy Belt. If you don't have it yet, start farming it now, or get PoE 2 currency for sale and exchange for one; this will be faster.
This gear provides increases to maximum health, Strength, and Dexterity, and rewards you with an extra 20 seconds of modifier when you kill rare monsters.
Next is The Vertex Tribal Mask Helmet, which is easier to obtain and, when equipped, increases four skill levels, significantly boosting damage and critical strike chance.
For weapons, we recommend Sacred Flame Shrine Sceptre, which grants you additional Purity of Fire skill, providing a fire damage buff for you and your allies, as well as a life recovery buff for allies.
When choosing gloves, prioritize those with energy shield resistance, and boots with chaos resistance, movement speed, and increased health.
Jewels and passive tree unlocking
Some nodes in Oracle passive tree provide significant cooldown reduction increases; these should be unlocked first.
Additionally, you need to unlock the additional Multitasking node for a 12% cooldown reduction increase or a 15% increase in ability duration. To do this, you need to defeat the boss Kosis, the Revelation, to obtain Megalomaniac Diamond.
Alternatively, you can consume Exalted Orbs to craft one From Nothing Diamond, distributing passive nodes within a specific keystone radius, even if these nodes are not connected to the main tree.
This greatly increases the flexibility of build crafting and saves many passive points. You can freely invest them in other nodes according to your needs.
If possible, we recommend socketing a Time-Lost Emerald, preferably with attribute bonuses and cooldown reduction speed. Heart of the Well Diamond is also a good option, as it similarly provides cooldown reduction speed and a small damage bonus.
In short, the core of this build's reliability lies in maximizing cooldown reduction speed to keep your Lightning Bolt cooldown below 0.2 seconds, ensuring automatic casting of Lightning Bolt.
While you might find this build a bit clunky in practice, it's one of the best ways to complete temples faster without adding Temporalis Silk Robe.
Other excellent Oracle builds
Oracle build we've introduced focuses on accelerating your temple challenge progress, but in terms of overall strength and experience, there are actually many better options.
Currently, the most well-known Oracle build is probably Lunar Assault Werewolf. As a top meta Oracle build in PoE 2, it centers on high-speed melee attacks and cold damage bonuses, utilizing transformation to freeze and crush enemies.
Besides these, Cast on Critical Comet, Plant/Vine Oracle, and Mass Summoner are all good choices. They'll suit you better if you're not focused on the temple progression.
Atziri's Temple is expected to become better experienced after Patch 0.4.0d is released. If you're interested, you can use our recommended Oracle build to test if the patch's changes are effective! It'll definitely be fun!
The recent Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 has been undergoing constant changes, with numerous patches and hotfixes optimizing the game based on Fate of the Vaal League mechanics, aiming to improve the overall experience.
Ten days after the release of Patch 0.4.0c hotfix 14, PoE 2 announced that Patch 0.4.0d will be released this week. Based on the announced content, this patch primarily focuses on bug fixes, with some aspects worth highlighting and discussing.
Below, we will provide a preview of this patch and analyze its main features and potential impact.
Patch 0.4.0d overview
The entire patch can be broadly divided into three parts: further optimization and fixes to Fate of the Vaal League mechanics, overall modifications, and comprehensive bug fixes. Undoubtedly, the most noteworthy aspect remains the first part.
Interestingly, even before the patch has been officially released, Fracturing Orbs have already depreciated in value simply by being announced. This means you can more easily acquire them through PoE 2 Divine Orbs to stabilize your gear affixes.
This is likely due to changes in the league system, making this part of the patch analysis a key focus of our guide.
Atziri's Temple boss fight reform
Let's temporarily ignore the usual temple fixes and focus on a new respawn change: if you die while fighting the boss Architect or Atziri in Atziri's Temple, you can respawn in the new temple instance.
However, this opportunity is very limited, as almost the entire temple is destroyed during the boss fight - somewhat like how endgame maps work in the game.
Therefore, when this mechanism is finally implemented, it's expected that not all players will be satisfied with it, but it's necessary because it can curb the possibility of some players seeking cheating due to the inability to respawn.
In short, if you die in these boss fights again later, you should be able to start re-challenging them faster, instead of having to unlock the rooms from scratch.
This means that even if you unfortunately fail on your first attempt, you'll have an extra chance to familiarize yourself with the boss mechanics. In fact, these bosses aren't difficult to defeat; their mechanics are just rather intricate.
Holten exploit fixes
As you know, collecting Energized Crystals by defeating monsters around Vaal Beacons is a crucial part of experiencing Atziri's Temple gameplay, as only with enough crystals can the temple progress.
However, in the game prior to Patch 0.4.0d, there was an issue where Vaal Beacons frequently spawned in an easily accessible location within Holten campaign area.
This allowed players to exploit this by repeatedly resetting dungeons to farm Energized Crystals faster, causing an imbalance in the entire Atziri's Temple system and an abnormal inflation of the value of some rare currencies.
Frankly, the issue of economic inflation was repeatedly mentioned in the player community shortly after Atziri's Temple's release, but for some reason, concrete measures to improve it have only now been introduced. However, better late than never.
Atziri's Chambers fix
As the spawn location of the final boss Atziri, the connection between this chamber and other rooms was previously a mess; sometimes you simply didn't know how to place and connect rooms.
Fortunately, Patch 0.4.0d finally fixed this, allowing Atziri's Chambers to correctly connect to any adjacent room, ensuring the entire mechanism functions more clearly and consistently.
Temple QoL fix
This fix requires you to place at least one room before each run. If you already have a highly optimized temple, you might not want to place any rooms at all, and therefore might mistakenly think this is a weakening change.
However, the purpose of this measure is actually to ensure that you don't accidentally open the temple before placing rooms, and to better guide new players through their first temple.
Of course, considering the needs of different players, the game also allows you to bypass this option. If you're a PC player, hold down Ctrl key and click Run Temple button. If you're a controller player, simply select "Deny" when prompted.
More Atziri's Temple fixes
Besides the highlights above, Patch 0.4.0d focuses on optimizing Atziri's Temple mechanics and includes other details, such as clearer instructions for Atziri's Chambers and more explanations of different mechanics.
The complexity and depth of gameplay have always been major obstacles for new players joining Path of Exile series. Sometimes, new leagues and their new mechanics can even confuse longtime fans.
Therefore, this patch shows that providing clear explanations is more effective in winning over players than creating mystery and raising the barrier to entry through seemingly complex mechanics.
Fracturing Orbs fix
In the first half of this article, we mentioned the devaluation of Fracturing Orbs, primarily due to a bug fixed in Patch 0.4.0d involving Immured Fury - the endgame boss and primary source of Fracturing Orbs drops.
Theoretically, this boss shouldn't spawn in cleansed areas, but previously, clearing excessive corruption would imprint a hidden marker indicating the presence of Immured Fury in certain areas.
This meant players could more easily earn Fracturing Orbs by defeating this boss, leading to an abnormally inflated value and disrupting PoE 2 economy and trade balance.
Fortunately, Patch 0.4.0d fixed this by making Immured Fury spawn completely unpredictably, restoring the rarity of Fracturing Orbs to a more normal level through a more randomized spawn method.
The above content covers what needs to be explained in detail in Patch 0.4.0d. However, there are also some interesting changes and fixes that you can discover and experience one by one through the game after the patch is finally released. Thank you for reading.
As you know, Patch 0.4.0, while adding new classes and other content, also brought many changes to the game's inherent mechanics. Although these changes may not be drastic on their own, they still affect the overall system.
For example, in The Last of the Druids, the left side of the skill tree, focusing on melee, defense, and life/block mechanics, was adjusted, leading to changes in the popular defense configurations used by each class.
This article will introduce the entire defense system and analyze the latest popular defense mechanics and styles during Fate of the Vaal league.
Path of Exile 2 defense mechanism overview
The game's defense system can be roughly divided into four layers: core and secondary defense layers, evasion, and recovery mechanisms. Each layer has multiple different functions that can be used in combat.
The core defense layer refers to the main attributes on the gear, which can be adjusted through the talent tree, such as armor or energy shields, which can directly block damage.
The second layer of defense indirectly transfers or reduces the damage you receive, including blocking, resistance, and more.
Avoidance mainly refers to default or temporary defensive buffs, while recovery restores health after being attacked, such as with flask or leech.
Changes in Patch 0.4.0
This patch primarily focuses on the left side of the skill tree, where the lower half emphasizes strength, while the middle and upper halves emphasize intelligence.
The left-side skill tree focuses entirely on defensive mechanics, containing numerous nodes that increase your health, armor, and block chance. It's key for melee builds that excel in high tanking or health.
The focus on these changes might be because the new Druid class is itself a defensive melee class, so most of the new passive nodes also share these characteristics.
The addition of new nodes and clusters necessitates adjustments to many existing skills. If your previous builds were based on these skills, you'll have to reset them, significantly altering the defensive styles popular during the new league.
The popularity of shield wall styles
The shield mechanic remains highly popular after Patch 0.4.0, primarily due to the surge in shield wall builds. As the most popular starting skill for Warrior class, shield usage has actually increased season by season.
This is perhaps because Patches 0.3.0 and 0.4.0 focused on hardcore single-player modes, where shield wall builds provide effective benefits, especially if you further unlock Titan as an Ascendancy class.
The popularity of Disciple of Varashta
As a newly added Sorceress Ascendancy class, Disciple of Varashta has caused quite a stir in the current league. Based on its powerful defensive capabilities, it performs exceptionally well in modes of varying difficulty.
For example, the passive skill The Fourth Teaching grants a 40% increase in shield recharge rate when your shield is below or equal to 35% of its maximum value.
In other words, the larger your energy shield hit pool, the better this talent node is, because you can maintain a considerable effective hit rate during the initial phase when the higher energy shield regeneration rate takes effect.
This talent node, combined with powerful support skills such as Nascent Hope or Convalescence, can significantly increase the natural regeneration rate of the energy shield, making its charging mechanism more reliable.
Even if you take a lot of damage and your health drops to a low level, you can still benefit from the higher regeneration rate by forcibly charging, ensuring your energy shield is fully charged again.
This Ascendancy class also has a powerful defensive skill called Sacred Rituals, which converts 60% of your current energy shield into armor, thus reducing the physical damage you take.
It's worth mentioning that both of these nodes can be combined with Chaos Inoculation to form one of the most powerful defensive configurations in PoE 2 - Chaos Inoculation is also another key defensive skill in the current league.
Despite a major balance update in patch 0.4.0, energy shields remain significantly stronger than pure health builds, and the addition of Discrete of Varashta has provided an ideal platform for the growth of these builds.
Talisman defense mechanism
This new Druid-friendly gear type cannot be used with shields, leading many Druid players to favor a hybrid health approach to defense.
The updated talent tree features a considerable number of energy shield and armor hybrid talents, so the vast majority of Druid builds focus on investing in energy shields as an extension of health.
Furthermore, many players using Talisman builds utilize the new keystone passive Lord of the Wilds, allowing them to simultaneously use a non-unique scepter and talisman to gain a pure resistance aura.
This not only alleviates gear pressure regarding resistance affixes but also allows for the use of numerous support gems without prior reservation. While this may be a bug, it has been present in the game for some time.
Self-chill and increased speed
In Patch 0.4.0, speed is also one of the most powerful defensive measures. As long as you can move, attack, or cast spells at extremely high speeds, no enemy can hit you or catch you - the best offense is also the best defense.
To achieve this, you can combine Asphyxia's Wrath Broadhead Quiver with Sierran Inheritance Marabout Garb. This quiver reduces the damage you take based on cooldowns, providing you with amazing damage reduction.
Therefore, you are not only unmatched in speed, but even if you do take damage, the damage reduction significantly reduces the actual damage dealt by enemies.
That concludes this introduction. Hopefully, this analytical guide will be helpful in your future crafting of defensive builds in PoE 2!
Path of Exile 3.27 has been running for almost two months, halfway through the League season. As usual, the official announcement for the upcoming livestream indicates that news about the next league will begin in the coming weeks, and that Path of Exile 3.28 will be released as planned in early March 2026.
While it's good that the official update is on schedule, given the large amount of content in each Path of Exile update, such a short timeframe has raised concerns among players about whether the content has been reduced.
Official Update Plan
In June 2025, Path of Exile's lead representative, Jonathan Rogers, clarified the future update plan in an interview, stating that Path of Exile 1 and 2 would both have a four-month update cycle, with the two games alternating in updates. This means that on average, players will see new content for one of the games every two months.
On January 12, 2026, the official forums announced that the Path of Exile 3.28 expansion would be released on schedule in early March, continuing the tradition of a four-month development cycle. This timeline is approximately three months after the release of Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4 in December.
For developers, a fixed update schedule alleviates development pressure. Rogers has admitted that delivering content every two months is quite difficult, but a fixed-date, variable-content model is more conducive to development management.
Update Schedule
Although the official timeline seems balanced, the official update dates are not entirely fixed; they may be released at the beginning of the month or at the end. Based on the principle of alternating updates between the two games and important schedules, this cycle may harbor some risks of imbalance.
Let's look at the update timelines for the two games:
- December 12, 2025: Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 The Last of the Druids released normally.
- Early March 2026: PoE 3.28 released, approximately three months after PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0.
- April 2026: A possible PoE 2 Patch 0.5 update is expected in about a month.
The official statement indicates they will strive to conclude early testing of PoE 2 by 2026. Therefore, they may adjust the update schedule for Path of Exile 1 to maintain a consistent update pace for PoE 2. Even if they cannot release Patch 1.0 by the end of the year, they will still release a major update to attract more players.
This raises a problem: for an early-stage game like Path of Exile 2, content consumption is faster. While version 0.4 adds the Druid class and Vaal Temple mechanics, the overall content volume still cannot compare to the mature PoE 1.
Potential Issues
Many core players worry that this cycle of one month for Path of Exile 1 and three months for Path of Exile 2 will create a double problem.
Because the mature Path of Exile 1 has more endgame content and three years of accumulated League mechanics, giving players ample choices to farm PoE currency, this is enough to support months of deep gameplay. However, players only have about a month to experience each new league before being drawn to the PoE 2 League.
Path of Exile 2 is currently still in early access. According to the game director, the originally planned six-month Early Access has been extended to approximately one year. Player concerns currently focus on whether its existing content is sufficient to support nearly three months of gameplay.
Furthermore, recent League updates have revealed a high player churn rate for PoE 2. Even with the addition of the new Druid class in patch 0.4.0, significant player attrition has occurred.
This is because the new endgame mechanic, Vaal Temple, initially didn't yield good returns. Subsequent adjustments by the developers, coupled with player discoveries of loopholes, allowed the mechanic to generate a large amount of currency. Several subsequent poor adjustments resulted in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0 experiencing inflation, leading to increased unfairness in trading for ordinary players.
This is actually due to the current lack of endgame content in PoE 2, making players more likely to focus on game issues.
Possible Solutions
Faced with a potentially entrenched imbalance in the update schedule, some constructive alternatives have been discussed within the community. These proposals aim to break the potential vicious cycle and seek a more sustainable update model for both players and developers.
Perhaps a multi-stage update could replace a single full Path of Exile 2 League update. This would give the development team extra buffer time to adjust the timeline while maintaining player activity.
Another direction is to adjust the length of each update cycle. However, this would conflict with the crucial year-end revenue window, and considering that holiday season releases can generate three times the revenue of other months, this solution is less likely to be implemented.
Director Rogers stated that he will maintain communication with the community and promised to experience the game from the player's perspective and understand the reasons behind their feedback. This indicates that the official team may flexibly adjust the plan based on player acceptance of the actual update schedule.
With the release of Path of Exile 3.28 and Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0, you can observe whether this cycle will continue. If this cycle is broken, it may not be through drastic adjustments to update dates, but rather because the official team has found a way to populate Path of Exile 2 with enough new content within a three-month cycle.
