Currently, the new Path of Exile Delirium League is underway. Many players have now reached the endgame and are using a particularly strong build. The developers had to react and break an important principle.
What happened? On Thursday, April 2, a mid-season patch was released for Path of Exile, which made a significant change to the skill Purposeful Harbinger.
This is uncharacteristic for the game, as developers want to avoid nerfs within a season. Players invest a lot of time and in-game currency in the right builds and playstyles. A change to the builds means that players have worked towards a build for nothing.
Nevertheless, this nerf was sorely needed, as the developer Grinding Gear Games stated in a separate forum post (via PoE Forum). After all, the skill utilized mechanics that were not intended.
Many things count as an aura and that is a problem
What does the skill do? Through the cluster jewels, 281 new passive skills were introduced to Path of Exile with the new Delirium league, which is very difficult. One of these new passive skills was Purposeful Harbinger.
Purposeful Harbinger ensured that auras were amplified by 10% for each herald you use. According to the developers, it was already clear during creation that the skill would become too strong.
However, they did not expect the skill to create many unintended interactions.
What is the problem? The skill was supposed to only serve to amplify the auras of skills. However, everything that counts as an aura internally was also amplified. And it seems that has been quite a lot.
As a result, the build around Purposeful Harbinger became the strongest option in the game and even “unintentionally the most powerful mechanic ever seen in Path of Exile,” according to the developers.
What was changed? The adjustment was made so that now only the aura from skills is amplified, not every aura anymore.
A change to the timer, as many players demand, however, did not bring the update.
Developers apologize for intervention
Why was the intervention made now? Initially, the developers did not want to make any changes at all. They wanted to prevent builds from changing mid-season in Path of Exile.
The first complaints were also slightly brushed off because the skill was intentionally designed to be strong. A nerf was announced for the next season. It was only later that they realized there were the unintended interactions.
When they finally wanted to take action, the developers had to switch to working from home due to the coronavirus. Therefore, the release of the update was delayed.
Developers apologize: At the end of the text, the developers apologized for the inconveniences. They realize that many PoE players have wasted a lot of time and money. They should have reacted much sooner.
In the PoE forum (via PoE Forum), there were also some initial reactions to the patch: Most players reacted positively to the explanation and apology.
Apparently, the developers were also right in their initial assessment that the skill is overall very strong.
As user unloder100500 writes: “And the skill is still OP.”
Path of Exile is among the 15 best MMOs and MMORPGs you can play right now.
