GGG Discusses Serious Changes Coming To Path Of Exile 2 Act 3 Areas To Reduce Clear Times

Griding Gear Games is addressing the amount of time needed to complete some areas in Path of Exile 2’s third act. The dev team is making serious adjustments to nine areas in the F2P action RPG. By “serious,” we mean that some areas are having sections completely removed or cropped down. In one case, a boss that would appear in different areas on the map can now be easily located without the need to explore.

As noted, the post on the PoE 2 site lists nine areas that are being adjusted. These include The Drowned City, Utzaal, The Apex of Filth, The Azak Bog, Infested Barrens, Jungle Ruins, Chimeral Wetlands, Jaquani’s Machinarium, and Jaquani’s Sanctum. The Drowned City and Utzaal are getting similar treatment, where a part of the level is being removed to make things less confusing and reduce the amount of backtracking players need to do as a result of getting lost. The Apex of Filth is being changed to make the area smaller, as is the Azak Bog. The bog is also being adjusted so that the boss can now be easily located at the opposite end of the map from where players enter.

In the case of the Infested Barrens, the devs are putting in a bottleneck to direct players to where they need to go, so they spend less time looking for things. The devs also address a similar issue in the Jungle Ruins, helping players identify the exit to the Infested Barrens. As for the Chimerical Wastelands, adjustments are being made to reduce the need for backtracking. It seems the biggest issue for most of these areas is that people simply spend a lot of time wandering around in them.

Finally, Jaquani’s Machinarium and Jaquani’s Sanctum have the same issue. Players spend too much time looking for Soul Cores. To fix this, an extra Soul Core has been added.

On an additional note, the devs are also addressing an issue in which players will find a main area reset after returning to it from a side area, resulting in the need to clear it a second time. Currently, a temporary fix will increase the timeout time for areas with side areas tied to them. A better fix will be implemented later.