Path of Exile 2 dev isn't afraid of nerfs: "I've lost all sympathy for that bloody Temple"

Path of Exile 2 is a vast, complex game; more so than ever following the launch of the Return of the Ancients update with its gigantic endgame redesign. That means players are almost always going to dig out weird and wonderful ways to completely shatter the RPG's intended economic balance by turbo-farming a particular system in a way that wasn't planned. Game Directors Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts are ready and willing to pull out the nerf hammer, however - particularly for mechanics that have been notorious troublemakers before.

If you were around for the previous Path of Exile 2 league, Fate of the Vaal, you'll recall players realizing they could exploit the new Vaal Temple mechanic to create snaking chains of chambers filled with high-value loot. By using careful positioning, these were made immune to the random room deletion that would occur after each run, allowing them to be farmed repeatedly for huge payouts. This resulted in extensive back-and-forth balance patches as Grinding Gear Games attempted to rectify the balance without completely destroying the potential value of its shiny new system.

This league, the Temple is still around, but it's not the focus any more, and GGG is feeling much less charitable. "I know we nerfed it recently," Roberts remarks to YouTuber Kjetil, best known as 'Zizaran.' "There was a bit of a, 'yay, let's not have that again.' The Temple ruined Christmas for me. I don't want another -" he lets out a pained laugh, cursing under his breath. "That Temple destroyed me."

Unfortunately, Zizaran delivers fresh bad news: "I think people have broken the Temple again." Roberts and Rogers glance at each other, saying that it's been strong in 0.5, but "not even in the same universe as what was a thing." Then, confirmation comes in from another GGG developer off-screen, and the pair burst into laughter. "We have been told that there's a T1 issue with the Temple. 'Temple shenanigans T1 issue after interview,' in capital letters. Right. Okay, cool. Yeah, we'll look into that right after."

Roberts sees it as an opportunity to let off some steam: "The amount of joy I can get out of just going and obliterating the Temple right now, trust me. I don't care if it's a mid-league nerf. I've lost all sympathy for that bloody Temple and everyone running it for now." He smiles. "I'm being extreme, obviously I don't want to actually just make it bad, but you know, it's left some trauma."

He explains that last league actually caused GGG to implement new economy tracking tools. "We now, because of this bloody Temple, have way more active stats for checking how many items of whatnot are dropping in certain instances, and all of that. I swear, if the Temple's number one on that list again - I've already had one Christmas ruined by this." You can see the despair in his eyes for yourself below.

If you're feeling sick of Temple, you're not alone. "Recently, I was like, 'Honestly if that Temple's the strategy again I'm not playing this league,'" Roberts admits, "I was just like, 'I'm done. We have to solve this.' I think a lot of people share that - I think that spending another entire league doing the exact same kind of Temple thing would immediately turn off so many people from wanting to actually play."

He even counters a common talking point: "That thing, 'Oh just don't do it if you don't enjoy it.' Well, you know how it is - if something is economically that advantageous, you kind of have to, right? It's not a good thing if the Temple just ends up being supreme." Roberts promises to dash straight to the balance room: "If there is something, don't get too attached to it," he states, and in the time since the interview, GGG has already taken action.

"One of the explicit goals we had at the start of 0.5 was to make it so that all leagues have stuff that is valuable, that is a reason to farm," Rogers notes. "The state we were in before, there just wasn't that sort of compelling reason to do all the leagues. Getting to the point where that's the case is definitely something that we really wanted, and I think we've mostly gotten there - it's pretty good now."

Across the rest of the interview, Zizaran asks Roberts what his best farming strategy is for the current league, but he's keeping it to himself. "No, no, no - I'm a support character right now that's joining someone else's maps, and he'll be very angry if I all of a sudden cause his investment to triple in cost," he jokes. He does, however, suggest trying to use some Fracturing Orbs: "If you happen to fracture the right mod you could 20x… or probably 200x the value of the item."

Rogers also touches on the ever-present 'ground loot' conversation and its value versus crafting. "There is a thing where currency is so easy to know that it's valuable - it's just an easier time to pick up all the currency and assume that the gear is crap, but there is definitely some value there if you know what to look for. But it is a much more complicated process, and I can certainly see why people are less keen to engage with that."

He adds that trying to assess the potential value of an item you find requires much more knowledge. "It would take a lot to make it so that the overall perception is that ground loot is better, because of the fact that it has such a higher skill ceiling in order to know what to find," Rogers remarks. "That's the challenge that we have, of trying to shift that perception." I got my current weapon through trade, but perhaps I'll keep a closer eye on the floor in future.