Path of Exile has been the big winner of Blizzard’s series of misfortunes in recent years. While Diablo 3 received only a few updates and Diablo Immortal was not even a game for many hack ‘n’ slash fans, Path of Exile was able to shine. The major expansion Path of Exile 2 was even supposed to compete with Diablo 4. But now it seems that Grinding Gear Games has overstepped. The new season “Lake of Kalandra”, which started on Friday, is receiving negative feedback and immediately Path of Exile is facing the consequences on Steam.
What is happening with the reviews of Path of Exile on Steam? People are currently venting their bad mood in Steam reviews of Path of Exile:
- Overall, the game has “very positive” reviews on Steam since its release on October 23, 2013 – 89% are positive
- But in the last 30 days, it has received criticism: only 42% of the reviews were positive. Quite a disaster.
Actually, the league was supposed to be cool:
Players with more than 2,200 hours write negative reviews on Steam
What bothers players? Players are dissatisfied with the current patch. A user with over 2,200 hours in Path of Exile criticizes (via steam):
Everything nerfed. Enemies buffed to the moon: melee is no longer an option for players who only use uniques. I want to have fun instead of dying in a random stunlock or by oneshots.
Steam user Dan Massimo
Addictive – but not in a good way
A German-speaking user with more than 2,000 hours complains (via steam):
Sorry, I can no longer recommend it without reservations. Given the changes to the gameplay in the last 6 months, I must clearly advise against installing the game.
Steam user Exalderan
The user compares the game to alcohol or cigarettes: it is indeed addictive, but not in a good way. He also criticizes that the game has become harder and stingier in recent months. Compared to earlier, you get 90% less loot, while enemies have become 10 times harder than a year ago.
He even says that the developers only care about selling microtransactions – they have lost sight of the players’ enjoyment.
How does the criticism affect player numbers? Usually, Path of Exile experiences a huge surge in players with a new league on Steam and other platforms. This time there was also a surge in players: at its peak, there were 151,145 players online on Steam, but they did not stay this time.
As the site mmorpg.pl reports, the player surge fizzled out this time:
- By Tuesday, only 55% of the players who started with the new league on Friday were left.
- It is said: this is the largest player loss in the history of Path of Exile.
Developers seem surprised at how few drops there are now
How do the developers react? The developers seem surprised themselves (via poe) that the game is now allegedly much stingier with drops, as this loot shortage was not planned that seriously. They have made some changes, but this result surprises them.
The developers report that they want to examine this more closely and address the issues with the changes.
Some observers criticize the developers for already having their heads at “Path of Exile 2” and neglecting the live game. More about Path of Exile 2:
Everything known so far about Path of Exile 2 – in 2 minutes
