The launch of Patch 0.2.0 for Path of Exile 2, part of the Dawn of the Hunt expansion, was one of the most anticipated moments in the game’s ongoing development. But just 24 hours after release, players were already voicing concerns, citing performance issues, balance problems, and underwhelming new mechanics. So what exactly went wrong on Day 2—and more importantly, what’s been addressed since then?

　　The Rough Start: Day 2 Growing Pains

　　It didn’t take long for the community to notice that something felt off. While the Dawn of the Hunt promised wild new environments, primal enemies, and class updates, many players reported performance drops across the board. Frame rate issues, lag spikes, and even client crashes were widespread, particularly in the new Hunt regions with their dense foliage and dynamic lighting.

　　Worse, the update seemed to throw off the balance of existing builds. Several meta-defining skills were hit hard by changes to damage scaling and mana cost, leaving popular playstyles feeling clunky and ineffective. Players experimenting with new Hunt-themed abilities like Savage Leap and Bloodsnare found the scaling underwhelming, especially in higher-tier content.

　　On top of that, crafting and loot progression hit a snag. A bug in the new crafting modifiers led to unpredictable results, and the drop rates for Hunt-themed currency were far lower than expected, making early progression feel unrewarding.

　　The Fast Response: What’s Changed Since

　　Fortunately, Grinding Gear Games wasted no time in responding. Within 48 hours of the patch’s rollout, several hotfixes were deployed to address the most urgent issues. Here’s what’s been improved so far:

　　Performance Optimizations: Texture streaming and environmental effects were adjusted, leading to poe2 trade site a noticeable FPS boost in Hunt zones. Memory leaks contributing to crashes have also been patched.

　　Skill Rebalancing: Key changes have been rolled back or refined. Mana costs for some abilities were reduced, and damage scaling was buffed for several underperforming Hunt skills. These tweaks brought more build viability back to the game, especially for Rangers and Duelists.

　　Crafting Fixes: The major bug affecting modifier rolls has been resolved. Crafting now feels much more stable, and a temporary boost to Hunt currency drops has been implemented to help players catch up.

　　Community Feedback Loops: GGG has been transparent, sharing patch notes quickly and responding directly to feedback across forums and social media.

　　Looking Forward

　　While the rocky second day of Patch 0.2.0 raised eyebrows, the rapid turnaround from the dev team has restored a lot of faith in the community. Dawn of the Hunt is still a bold and exciting direction for Path of poe2 trade, and with ongoing fixes, it’s starting to deliver on its original promise.

　　In the world of live-service ARPGs, stumbles happen. What matters is how a studio responds—and GGG is proving once again that they’re listening.