POE Lead Dev Says League Backlash Is Due To "Human Error" On Balancing, But Admits Not Knowing "Impact Of The Change"

Exactly a week from the Lake of Kalandra league launch in Path of Exile, Lead Developer Chris Wilson has had to publish a blog addressing player backlash on the new balance changes. Wilson says the item rarity/quantity rebalance for league monsters, which players are in an uproar about, was due to "human error." But surprisingly, he admitted to not "understanding the impact of the change" at the time and greenlighting the release without further scrutiny.

Wilson offered a detailed backstory on the huge misstep by stating there were three philosophies they wanted to nail for the patch. Grinding Gear Games sought to scale reward mechanisms with item quantity and rarity bonuses, pull back the number of rare mobs but increase their rewards and challenges, and squash the gap between league and base game content. On paper, the changes sound compelling and boast a more satisfying in-game loop, but things went south due to a lack of playtesting, item culling, and overall balance.

As Wilson says, it was "an oversight" and will take "full responsibility" for it, admitting he never "understood the consequences." GGG has spent its time hotfixing missteps with the Lake of Kalandra changes ever since launch but will now prioritize actual improvements through testing. Wilson assures readers by the end of his post that the plan for Path of Exile is to not "gut the rewards." Despite that statement, a user on the blog says, "POE continues to not understand that league mechanic monsters are still unrewarding," and another calls the apology "a joke."

Lake of Kalandra is off to a very rough start, but maybe Grinding Gear Games can turn things around. With no official timeline to go by, it's likely to only get better months away.