Path of Exile 2's 0.4.0 update is "on track," GGG says, and I'm hoping it brings the bear necessities

Path of Exile 2 is finally on the up and up, generating some much-needed steam with its excellent Third Edict update. Keen to continue its ascent, developer Grinding Gear Games is pushing to maintain its consistent content pacing, which is good news if you're desperately trying to avoid spending too much time with your family over the holiday season. Sorry, suspiciously weird uncle, but a PoE 2 0.4.0 early December drop is still firmly on the cards.

Following Path of Exile 2's less-than-ideal start to early access life, GGG has seemingly turned a substantially large corner with the RPG's latest updates. The addition of Act 4 in 0.3.0 was itself a significant moment for players tiring of re-running the same trio of story beats over and over again. The Rise of the Abyssal League has also been far more successful than its predecessors, which has only been helped by the huge endgame overhaul that arrived in 0.3.1. Where there was trepidation regarding what GGG would bring to the table next, there's now genuine excitement for 0.4.0 and beyond.

In a new Path of Exile 2 community post, GGG confirms that its next big update is very much "on track," and promises to "reveal the livestream and release date very soon." It's a feather-light update, but at the very least we can rest assured that there won't be any delays. Considering how much content there's still to come on the road to 1.0, I'm hoping (praying) that we'll start seeing some real movement on the classes front.

Of the 12 classes promised for the full launch, five are still MIA, including my beloved Druid; my go-to for pretty much every game I've ever played that it's pickable in. Big bear was supposed to arrive with 0.3.0, but ended up being cut due to development issues. Speaking to 'DarthMicrotransaction' back in August, game director Jonathan Rogers states the class has been in "animation system hell." When weighing up whether to continue piling resources into getting Druid up to scratch, as opposed to working on other elements of 0.3.0 that were sure to ship, the decision made itself. Hopefully, it's now good to go.

Alongside the 0.4.0 crumbs, GGG notes that, once Rise of the Abyssal League ends, your characters and items will migrate over to the Standard or Hardcore early access League. As Edna Mode would probably say: no wipes. Though we'll have to wait that little bit longer for a much more substantial update from the devs, I expect we'll hear more in the next week or two.