Currently, the developers of Path of Exile 2 are nerfing various skills in the game’s Early Access to adjust them for balance. The fans are annoyed and have their own demands.
Which skill has been nerfed? In Path of Exile 2, skills have been nerfed repeatedly since the release. Now, it’s the one that summons the Raging Spirits. It can only have 5 active raging souls simultaneously.
The nerf also ensures that the Raging Spirits cannot be spawned by fire skills when triggered. Triggering means that the ability is used automatically when an enemy suffers from a certain condition.
For example, one could automatically cast a fire skill as soon as an enemy is burning. This would also trigger the casting of Raging Spirits before the nerf, which meant that one had Raging Spirits almost permanently.
Here you can see how bosses spawn in the game:
Players demand compensation from the developers
Why are players demanding this? When skills are nerfed as in the current example, it often leads to players’ builds no longer functioning, and they have to re-spec with great effort. In Path of Exile 2, this is quite expensive.
As @ItsMalok212197 writes on X.com, he has just spent 80,000 gold to switch his build to the Raging Spirits. Now, to redistribute a skill point, he says he has to spend 1,900 gold.
So players are not just disappointed because their builds no longer work as expected, but also because they now have to spend a lot of gold to re-spec.
What are they asking from the developers? There are two demands in the community. The first mainly comes from veterans and pros who have been following Path of Exile for a long time. One of them is the German developer of the first loot filter for Path of Exile 2.
He presents the demand on X.com: “I agree with the change, but I believe this justifies a full character respec opportunity for everyone.” This demand is supported in the comments by many, some even go further and demand that for the duration of Early Access, all respecs should be free (via X.com).
The second demand, which is often mentioned, is raised by @ThiagoHecksher. He writes on X.com: “With this micromanagement policy for everything in the game, you have definitely become Blizzard. This excess of balance changes is not healthy. These skills are not even so overpowered that they deserve a nerf; you are just ruining the experience for players who will lose their characters.”
He further adds on X.com: “The respec is too expensive. Also, the campaign is too long; I will almost stop with these changes.” Others disagree with him and argue that adjusting balance regularly, including nerfing skills, is part of Early Access (via X.com).
However, some share the demand for fewer or no changes during the ongoing season.
Despite the nerfs that are likely annoying many players, Path of Exile 2 is currently very popular. Even more popular than the competition from Diablo 4, which could be a reason that even the head of the Diablo brand is looking forward to the holidays so he can then play Path of Exile 2: Path of Exile 2 is currently 45x larger than Diablo 4 on Steam, and even the head is now playing at the competition
