Many players are currently losing interest in PoE 2 because an endgame mechanic punishes them too harshly.
Path of Exile 2 is in better shape after Patch 0.5.0 than it was a few weeks ago: The endgame feels more structured, Breach, Delirium, and Ritual have been given a clearer direction, and many players are apparently finding more reasons to stick with it longer.
VProvided, of course, that you even make it that far:The campaign has been a major topic in our comments recently because many of youdon’t want to have to go through the same acts again for every new character.
But those who make it to the endgame stumble upon another problem there: A map mechanic currently ensures that a single death can ruin an entire run.
That’s why there’s a pretty clear demand on Reddit right now:The map reset has to go.
What is the problem?
In the endgame of Path of Exile 2, one situation in particular is causing frustration: Players die at the boss in endgame maps and then return to a map that has been completely cleared, with the exception of the final boss.
However, it becomes a real problem with maps that have multiple objectives: For example, the map might require you to clear all the Abysses and kill the boss. If the player dies at the boss, the Abysses disappear afterward, but the objective remains. This makes it impossible to complete the map, even though there are still revives left on the Waystone. The same applies to Breach and Delirium objectives.
What the Players Say
A thread with the title “The Map Reset MUST Go” is currently garnering a lot of support on Reddit. Here are a few comments from the discussion:
- zaerosz:»I kill the map boss and then get caught by a Rogue Exile? Map reset. I kill the map boss and then die in a ritual? Map reset. I kill the map boss and die for some reason? Map reset.«
- Okaringer:“My favorite is dying on an Abyss map and losing the Abysses as a result, so the map can no longer be completed.”
- RedRox:“I do all the Abysses, die on the boss, kill the boss, and can’t do the Abysses anymore. So I can’t complete the map.”
- TheMightyUmbris:“ I died once on the map boss and lost my attempt at the Doryani quest step as a result. Now I have to find a new Nexus.“
- manuakasam:”I don’t understand why death is punished so harshly in PoE2. Losing experience is painful enough in PoE1. Why make it twice or three times as bad in PoE2?“
- aiphrem:”Doryani’s +1 Revive is practically useless if my map gets reset after a death under certain conditions.”
- perfectpencil:“After dying to a boss, checkpoints, Fog Reveal, and map progress were reset; I was back at the start and had to run through an empty map. Feels terrible. 0/10.”
What’s particularly problematic is that the reset apparently also warps gameplay behavior:Some players write that they now only tackle bosses at the very end of a map because of this. Others avoid certain combinations of bosses and league mechanics, or deliberately run through the map in a specific order during Delirium content to minimize the risk.
So when players have to adapt their playstyle to “hedge” against such a frustrating mechanic, it gets in the way of the game’s flow.
But what do you think? Have you already stumbled upon map resets, lost league mechanics, or broken quest objectives in the endgame? Feel free to write in the comments about your experience with the system—and whether GGG should remove the map reset.
