Path of Exile 2 could use three big changes to improve its end game

Summary

  • Implement a dedicated Waystone tab for easy access and organization.

  • Improve map nodes in Atlas to include layout videos for better understanding.

  • Rethink the one death portal policy to make Path of Exile 2 less punishing.

Path of Exile 2 it launched in early access just over a month ago and was probably already in a great place. Then GGG came out this week Path of Exile 2The first major patch of 2025 that addressed a lot of issues and bugs and implemented or responded to player feedback in some key areas. For example, players can now overwrite runes and other socketable items such as cores with other socketable items in their items, which has been a major problem with the Rune system until now. While the game is doing great and can only grow from here, it could use three changes to its current version of the ending.

As it is, players have a lot to do after completing the campaign and Cruel difficulty. Path of Exile 2 takes the player to the Ziggurat Refuge, which serves as a base of operations for players to slowly work their way through higher levels of Waystones, starting at level 1. Atlas has many map nodes for players to choose from, with several icons representing different League mechanics or other modifiers such as bosses. All of this can be pretty exciting at first, but there are changes that GGG can implement to improve the overall experience: a Waystone tab, better map/biome visibility in Atlas, and a less frustrating approach to dying.

Related

Path of Exile 2 would be a completely different game with one PoE feature

There are many differences between Path of Exile 2 and PoE 1, and an item from the latter would change the former in a big way.

Path of Exile 2 Needs a Waystone Stash Tab

Path of Exile 2The endgame requires players to constantly traverse Waystones as they are needed to progress through Atlas and its fog of war and to complete objectives such as acquiring Atlas passives or reaching key parts of it such as the Burning Monolith and the three Citadels. So a great addition to the game would be a dedicated Waystone tab where players could easily save and access all of their Waystones, filter them by keyword and group them by level.

Stash cards are usually paid content in Path of Exile 2 (and its predecessors), but the Waystone stash tab would be such a massive quality-of-life addition that it would probably be fine even if it wasn't free.

How Path of Exile 2 could improve your mapping experience

While the latest 0.1.1 Path of Exile 2 patch added new functionality to the Atlas where each map node lists its biome, which could be taken to the next level. For example, each map node could be accompanied by a short video with a sample layout of the area and its minimap. This would change the game because some league mechanics like Path of Exile 2's Breach or Ritual are area based. If a breach or ritual appears in a narrow corridor, with some map types having more of them, they can be significantly less beneficial than they would otherwise be.

Why Path of Exile 2 Should Rethink Its Single Portal Policy

Last but not least Path of Exile 2The approach to death may require some changes. It's no secret that GGG wanted the game to be slower and more methodical in combat, especially since boss fights are a prevalent part of ARPGs. However, the game can be very punishing in the endgame, where dying in any Waystone means losing experience and access to the Waystone itself, including any loot not picked up before the event.

GGG's argument seems to be that this way players can learn from experience and improve their characters and builds accordingly. But it's not like that for a number of reasons, like how it can be very difficult to change parts on the fly, or how the game doesn't really have a death recap screen to clearly state what happened. On top, though Path of Exile 2 can be paused, which it's also supposed to do automatically when disconnected, it happens that players can be disconnected and still die to it. It follows that, among other changes, this would make death less punishing Path of Exile 2 the best version of yourself.

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