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Path of Exile 2 Forbidden Rites, is about to be released. The new economic environment, new challenges, and a batch of gameplay adjustments should have made this update another noteworthy addition before 1.0. However, for some long-time Runes of Aldur players, the focus has shifted elsewhere.

They aren't necessarily against GGG creating a new economic environment, nor do they simply want all players to stay in the old league.

The real controversy stems from the fact that, as the duration and league positioning of Forbidden Rites have become clearer, some players have found that their judgments about the future of Runes of Aldur over the past few months may not align with GGG's final plans.

As a result, the debate is no longer simply about whether GGG should launch another league. It's increasingly about how the developers communicated the change.

Changing Expectations

This round of controversy initially arises from players' differing understandings of the positioning of 0.5.5.

Some players previously understood it as a short-term Fresh Economy Event running parallel to Runes of Aldur.

Under this expectation, Runes of Aldur would remain the main League for a longer period before PoE 2 update 1.0. Continuing to farm resources, improve their characters, and invest large amounts of Currency into crafting and trading high-end gear still made sense.

This assessment began to change after the announcement of Forbidden Rites event.

Besides Fresh Economy, 0.5.5 would also bring Ritual adjustments, Sacred Plume, Forbidden Wildwood, Trial of Chaos, and Expedition-related changes, as well as independent Challenges and Rewards. More importantly, Forbidden Rites wouldn't end quickly but would continue until around 1.0.

However, the premise that 0.5.5 was originally only supposed to last a month is not definitively confirmed. Therefore, this controversy is difficult to directly attribute to the developers breaking their promises. Some players did indeed continue playing Runes of Aldur based on the expectation of a short-term event, but the current arrangements differ from what they initially anticipated.

Trading Pressure

Forbidden Rites and Runes of Aldur will exist as two independent Leagues running in parallel. Players who switch to Forbidden Rites Event will need to start over in Fresh Economy, and the gear, Currency, and trading resources accumulated in Runes of Aldur cannot be transferred.

If this shift is short-lived, the impact may be limited. However, Forbidden Rites will continue until around Patch 1.0. Once players shift their primary time to the new League, they may have little incentive to return to Runes of Aldur.

This is particularly sensitive for trading Leagues. The high-end market in Runes of Aldur is already not very active; some expensive Rares may struggle to sell even after price reductions. If a portion of players who regularly farm and craft gear, and are willing to invest hundreds or even thousands of PoE 2 Divine Orbs, shift to the new economy, high-end trading may shrink further.

Once the cycle of farming, trading, and leveling slows down, the incentive to remain in the old League will also decrease.

Promoting a New Economy

From the developers' perspective, this arrangement isn't hard to understand.

PoE series has always relied on new Leagues and economic resets to bring players back. Everyone starts from scratch, giving players who have already left a reason to return and temporarily narrowing the gear and wealth gap established in the old Leagues.

If Runes of Aldur was only going to remain the main League for such a short time, some players may question why they invested so heavily in it in the first place.

However, when this new League might continue until Patch 1.0, and there are independent Challenges and Rewards, the incentive to return is obviously much stronger, and it also makes it easier for developers to obtain more testing and feedback before the official release.

As a result, more players will shift their time and resources to Forbidden Rites, and the active player count and trading demand in Runes of Aldur may decrease accordingly.

Information Flow

League-based games inherently have cycles. Gear depreciates, markets reset, and Leagues eventually end. When players choose to enter PoE 2, they have already accepted these changes.

However, if a new economic environment lasts for several months and significantly alters the player base and trading activity of the old League, players should be informed much earlier about its duration, the future positioning of the old League, and how the two will coexist before Patch 1.0. This information shouldn't be pieced together from scattered replies and player accounts.

More problematic is that this experience could influence long-term players' future choices.

A player who leaves after a month or two may barely be affected. But the experience is very different for someone who has spent months farming currency, upgrading gear, and pushing a character toward completion.

If they eventually find that the assumptions behind that investment have changed, they may approach the next league very differently. Once they reach the mid-to-late game, they may stop investing much earlier, settle for a character that is good enough, and wait for the next reset.

If more and more long-term players begin making this choice, the impact won't just be on Runes of Aldur, but on the activity levels of every subsequent League in the mid-to-late game.

With Patch 1.0 still under development, changes to League plan are not surprising. However, when such changes are significant enough to influence whether PoE 2 players continue farming, crafting gear, and staying in their current League, the later this information is communicated, the more likely players are to find that their earlier investment decisions were based on assumptions that no longer hold.

Whether this controversy will ultimately cripple Runes of Aldur remains to be seen, but when changes to League plans can affect players' investment decisions, changes should clearly be communicated much earlier.

During Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5 reveal livestream, the official details of this update were confirmed. While the highly anticipated swords will not be implemented in Patch 0.5.5, the livestream still revealed a significant amount of key information about sword skills.

POE 2 Patch 0.5.5 is an Economy Reset, where players will create brand-new characters on a separate event server. Runes of Aldor League will remain available, so players can continue their journey without losing access to unfinished challenges. This update also introduces several major improvements, which will be explained below.

Balance Changes

The balance patch originally planned for Patch 0.5.5 is not yet complete and will instead be delayed until the full 1.0 release. As a result, this patch contains No Balance Changes.

This means that previously powerful builds will remain strong, allowing players to continue using the builds you are already familiar with.

For players who have not yet completed their endgame progression or challenges, Runes of Aldor League will remain open, with no forced migration to the new event.

Forbidden Rites

A new Forbidden Rites event will be added to the campaign. This content belongs to Ritual system, where after defeating a Boss, that Boss carries over into the next Boss encounter, creating a continuously stacking challenge.

As the battle progresses, the difficulty gradually increases, but the rewards become more generous as well. This provides a more efficient way to acquire gear during the early progression stage, helping players strengthen their characters more quickly.

Forbidden Rites will run alongside Runes of Aldor. If you are satisfied with your existing character and progression, you can simply ignore this event and continue playing without any disruption. If you want a Fresh Economy and a brand-new progression experience, you can join the event instead.

The event will also introduce a separate Challenges list, with exclusive cosmetic or visual effect rewards available for completion. The challenges are not particularly difficult, so regular players will also have a good chance of completing them.

Trial of Chaos Rework

Trial of Chaos was previously considered relatively thin on content. After the update, players will be able to progress through 30 Trial floors consecutively and challenge all Bosses within the same run before ultimately facing Trialmaster.

Furthermore, the developers have improved the quality of life by adding a Leave and Return feature. Players can leave the trial area and then return to continue, a fantastic feature for those who enjoy helping others complete Ascension Trials.

The development team has removed many of the largely useless Corrupted Items from Trial and replaced them with direct currency drops. An additional Chest has also been added to provide extra bonuses.

The impact of Trial of Chaos's Debilitating Affixes on early progression has been significantly reduced. The difficulty now increases in a smoother and more gradual manner, while the later stages retain their original level of challenge.

The previously frustrating Escort Missions and mechanics such as picking up Cores have been replaced with Kill Challenges. Elevator movement speed has also been increased, making the overall pace much faster and more satisfying.

Trial of Chaos rework is not exclusive to the 0.5.5 event. Instead, it will become a permanent core improvement introduced with the patch. This significantly increases its replayability and usefulness, and it could even become one of the preferred ways to obtain PoE 2 currency.

Endgame Improvements

Fortress Nodes

Previously, players had to defeat Arbiter of Divinity and complete all five areas inside Fortress one by one to unlock Atlas Passive Skill Tree points.

Now, defeating any Arbiter will immediately unlock all the map nodes inside Fortress, granting all of its Atlas Passive Skill Tree points at once. This change significantly reduces the time required for endgame progression.

Abyssal Ravines

Abyssal content will introduce new Ravines, which can be seen on Atlas Maps as a long green path.

These areas add several new nodes that can increase monster density and difficulty, while a Boss awaits at the end.

Expedition

Although the event will not include Runes of Aldor content in every area, Expedition, Farrow, Dannig, and other related mechanics will remain available. They will also continue to function normally in the standard league.

Expedition can now be encountered starting from Act 4, and new Expedition Tablets will also be introduced. These Tablets can roll various modifiers, such as causing two complete Expeditions to appear in the same area or creating two separate Remnant encounters.

The modifiers on Expedition Tablets will include enhancement effects provided by Aldurs Saga. This means players can roll Aldurs Saga-like bonuses on their Tablets and obtain more generous rewards from Grand Expeditions.

Sacred Bloom and Wildwood

In the endgame Atlas system, Patch 0.5.5 introduces a brand-new consumable item called Sacred Bloom. After using a Sacred Bloom, you can attach a Wildwood area to an Atlas Map of your choice.

Once you enter Wildwood, you will need to collect three different types of Wisps: Primal, Vivid, and Wild. Wisps you collect will empower all monsters in the map, making them more difficult to defeat while also increasing their drop rewards.

Although PoE 2 Patch 0.5.5 does not include balance adjustments, it still provides an excellent opportunity for players who enjoy starting fresh. The patch also delivers substantial Quality of Life improvements, making it worth revisiting the game while waiting for the arrival of 1.0 in December.

Path of Exile 2 boasts a wide variety of legendary gear. Some of these are considered mainstream gear, used by almost all players due to their immense power. However, many legendary items are rarely used and end up being sold to merchants.

GGG will be releasing even more legendary gear in future Patch 0.5.5 and Patch 1.0. But before then, I want to highlight some legendary items in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 that are underestimated but actually very powerful, and don't require a huge investment.

The Bringer of Rain Decorated Helm

The Bringer of Rain Decorated Helm is a legendary item with a significant cost. The obvious downside is that you lose an armor slot, which is undoubtedly a huge loss, but as the saying goes, the greater the investment, the greater the reward.

Its advantage is that it allows you to equip two-handed weapons with one hand, and The Bringer of Rain Decorated Helm gives you Giant's Blood Keystone passive without having to meet those maddening three-attribute requirements.

Therefore, this legendary item grants you immense freedom in character building. It allows two-handed melee builds to be geared in entirely new ways. Of course, you have to make some sacrifices, such as giving up the chest armor, but the build ideas this item offers are definitely worth exploring, and that's the essence of legendary items.

Frankly, I think The Bringer of Rain Decorated Helm will become even more interesting with the addition of more content in Path of Exile 2, such as two-handed swords. So, if you didn't notice this unique item in Return of the Ancients, be sure to check it out.

Twisted Empyrean Aberrant Sledge

This is a new legendary two-handed hammer added in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0. Although its usage rate is low, I think it provides a completely new way of building around hammer weapon skills.

Twisted Empyrean Aberrant Sledge doesn't follow the traditional path of stacking health; instead, it encourages players to stack mana and convert that mana into additional frost damage. This is what attracts me most about this item; it means skills like Volcanic Fissure can truly crush enemies and deliver a satisfying screen-clearing experience.

In addition, it boasts an extremely high critical hit rate, making it ideal for classes like Monk. However, it's not a weapon that can be freely paired with any build to instantly overwhelm opponents. Building a character around it requires some planning, and that's precisely the charm of this unique weapon.

I believe it's one of the few unique weapons that can truly rival rare weapons in its class because its critical hit rate and skill level bonuses are simply too powerful.

Sacred Flame Shrine Sceptre

This item was released quite early, but to be honest, it never really became part of the mainstream gameplay, things only changed with the arrival of Return of the Ancients. 

In Patch 0.5.0, if you obtain the affix that increases physical damage, you can craft a very powerful sceptre and further enhance its attributes through rune forges without incurring a huge PoE 2 Currency cost.

However, I think the truly interesting aspect of Sacred Flame Shrine Sceptre lies in its synergy with Blistering Bond Ruby Ring. The ring allows fire damage to be counted as bleed damage, and since Sacred Flame Shrine Sceptre' damage is inherently fire damage, this weapon can have a double bonus from the ignite effect.

This combination is niche, but it can be incredibly powerful. Furthermore, it can be developed in some very interesting defensive directions. For example, you can equip Chernobog's Pillar Blacksteel Tower Shield to maintain damage output while stacking a large amount of block chance.

Splinter of Lorrata Hardwood Spear

Next, let's look at Splinter of Lorrata Hardwood Spear. This unique weapon might be a bit controversial, so let me analyze it for you.

This weapon allows you to stack an almost unlimited number of poisons on enemies, and each attack applies poison. The main problem is that this weapon's physical damage is shockingly low, making it difficult to deal effective damage.

Now, PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0 gives it a chance: you can use Runeforging system to upgrade unique weapons, improving their base stats and revitalizing previously unusable weapons.

While the numbers aren't huge, this significantly increases the weapon's usability. You can then pair Splinter of Lorrata Hardwood Spear with Original Sin Amethyst Ring to convert elemental damage into chaos damage, not only compensating for Original Sin's shortcomings but also further boosting poison damage.

However, the obvious drawback is that you need to sacrifice a ring slot for this, which is where Ritualist becomes a very interesting option. The extra ring slot allows you to use Original Sin Amethyst Ring without completely sacrificing other rings, meaning you can still get the fixed damage and other stats you need.

Splinter of Lorrata Hardwood Spear isn't the kind of weapon that automatically becomes stronger just by equipping it. You need to build your build around it, find ways to compensate for its weaknesses, and fully utilize its uniqueness. When you do that, it becomes a very powerful weapon. 

This concludes our analysis of four underrated items in Path of Exile 2 0.5.0. If you haven't tried them yet, go ahead and give them a shot to prepare for Patch 0.5.5 and Patch 1.0.