Path of Exile 2's build-breaking patch leaves fans calling for better respec options

Path of Exile 2 Sorceress build — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Path of Exile 2 has been out on Steam Early Access for nary a week, but already it's been a wild ride of record-breaking player counts, servers buckling under the load, and overpowered builds that can one-shot bosses (though when they're not being ganked by broken builds, the bosses are actually way more challenging than Diablo 4's).

Grinding Gear Games has wasted no time in rebalancing ridiculous moves like the Supercharged Slam, which were widely agreed to be overpowered, but it seems that the community isn't too happy with some of the nerfs implemented in patch 0.1.0D which rolled out last night, leaving many Sorceress builds broken.

Path of Exile 2 Sorceress build - Fire spells burning monsters — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

The general consensus seems to be that players understand Early Access is inevitably going to be a maelstrom of massive, game-changing updates (especially in the first week), but that Grinding Gear Games should offer more respec flexibility so that players can easily adapt to these changes. As it stands, respeccing in PoE 2 is a bit of a faff, and the gold prices increases relative to your level.

The OP of the above Reddit post said: "We need to have a free respec because right now my character is completely brick[ed] and I have no way to spec into something else. I believe every time GGG make change that COMPLETELY rebalances some builds, we should have some free respec."

Another popular post said: "I understand needing to quickly address the truly broken things like the charged slam attack one-shotting bosses, but while cast on freeze was strong I don't think it was "need to turbo delete a huge amount of players characters" strong. It also seems like a large [part of the] identity of the sorceress was built around the trigger skills and this has practically been removed as a core identity from the game now. Go try cast on shock, it's laughably bad."

PoE 2 spirit - A player and a statue — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Some players are more blunt in their frustrations, with a growing narrative of 'Does the build feel good to play? It will get nerfed' emerging in the community.

While putting restrictions on respec forces players to be more discerning about their builds, that whole idea goes out the window when a build refined by dozens of hours of grinding and research gets rug-pulled overnight by a patch. Hopefully devs and fans can find a happy middle ground during these unpredictable early days of the monster-melting ARPG.

Robert is a freelance writer and chronic game tinkerer who spends many hours modding games then not playing them, and hiding behind doors with a shotgun in Hunt: Showdown. Wishes to spend his dying moments on Earth scrolling through his games library on a TV-friendly frontend that unifies all PC game launchers.