Grinding Gear Games' latest hotfixes for Path of Exile 2 have plunged the Fate of the Vaal early access league into one of controversy, with the Vaal Temple mechanic at the center of a firestorm. Introduced in patch 0.4.0 as the league's core activity, the Temple lets players collect room cards from Vaal Crystals in maps, strategically placing them to build a sprawling layout culminating in fights against Atziri or the Architect for massive rewards. Optimized "snake" builds chaining synergistic rooms like Legion Barracks and Spymaster could yield hundreds of Divine Orbs per run, fueling rapid progression but also server instability. Hotfix 13, deployed on January 2nd, targeted these exploits head on.
The key changes included diminishing returns on room modifier values for setups with four or more of the same type, prioritizing lower-tier rooms to preserve high-end ones, restricting Juatalotli's Medallion (used to lock rooms) to Tier III only, and swapping bonuses between Golem Works and Spymaster rooms to curb repetitive layouts. GGG cited drastic server performance issues and crashes from top end Temples as the primary driver, alongside a bug fix reducing excess Magic and Rare monsters. This tweet sums up a lot of the pain and frustrations for players when the patch dropped:
The response was pretty immediate and heated. Forums erupted with threads like "Vaal temple is now NERFED," where players lamented that this would have big repercussions on the market that would be affecting everyone from no lifers who farmed mirrors and are sitting rich to casuals who are now permanently behind. On Reddit and X, accusations flew of betraying POE2 Game Director Jonathan Rogers' stance against mid league nerfs, with users raging like this "Insert patch that was the most fun shit uve put out... Then [frick]in nerf it so bad into the ground?" Streamers and content creators warned of league abandonment, as established Temples retained value while new builders faced glacial progress if not near impossible. Strangely every type of player agrees that it is a bad fix for everyone, which is rare for all parties of gamers to agree on. Check out Fubgun's video below explaining more of it:
Hotfix 14 followed swiftly, reducing destabilized rooms by 30% when closing a Temple without boss kills to stabilize around 60 rooms, easing rebuilds after Atziri runs and promoting larger layouts. Here is the full text from it: "Reduced the number of rooms destabilised when the Temple is closed (when not killing the Architect or Atziri) by 30%. This allows for the Temple to end up with a stable size around 60 Rooms (compared to the 40~ Rooms currently). The goal of this change is to make it easier to build larger, more interesting, and more rewarding Temples. Also with fewer rooms being destabilised, you will be able to get more Architect and Atziri kills, as well as being able to rebuild after defeating them more efficiently. (If you are doing that strategy of course!)" However, this strategy has made temple pretty boring, even I myself can make a temple with no rooms and run it. Here is my latest run:
While some praised the iteration, many dismissed it as too little, too late, demanding a full Temple reset to level the playing field. Which we all know is not realistic and not going to happen.
This anger from players underscores the tightrope GGG walks in early access. The Fate of the Vaal league revitalized engagement post-launch with Druid shapeshifting and strong campaign rewards, but endgame reliance on Temple farming amplified imbalances. Players using Holten zones for rapid setups flooded the economy early, prompting the knee jerk response from GGG. Here is a tweet a while ago from NeverSink about it:
Critics argue wether or not clearer initial tuning and faster bug fixes could have averted the crisis, echoing past leagues where unchecked strats led to player burnout. However in ARPGs things like this are somewhat common sadly, with every new league comes new ways to min max and game the system. That is part of the fun for some players, however many casual players are not fans of things like this.
GGG has yet to comment publicly beyond patch notes, but history suggests further tweaks as data rolls in. With POE2's 1.0 full release eyed for later 2026, these growing pains highlight the challenge of balancing depth with accessibility. For now, the community braces for potential player drop offs as the league goes on, as many are awaiting 0.5's promised endgame overhaul. Here is a short compilation video of many streamers and their reactions to the latest update:
What are your thoughts on the latest league of Path Of Exile 2? I have actually quite enjoyed it despite some of the economy issues. I actually hit level 97 on my Blood Mage and 92 on my Pathfinder. Played through the campaign with Druid however it is not my type of playstyle. Let us know what you are playing and if you are liking the league in the comments below!
UPDATE: GGG has deployed a 0.4.0c hotfix 15 for the game reverting the previous changes made to the Juatalotlis' Medallion made in hotfix 13. The medallion can once again be placed on almost any room in the temple is no longer restricted to Tier 3 rooms. Official X Post: