Path Of Exile 2 patch makes looting significantly more rewarding, with further updates planned for dodge rolls

Grinding Gear outline the first major post-launch changes

Goblin-hitting bonanza Path Of Exile 2 launched into early access last weekend and the devs Grinding Gear Games have dropped some big patch notes that outline some things they've updated already, or things they plan on updating in a future patch. Things like dodge-rolling, checkpoints, items, currencies, and other stuff I can't list here because the intro to this article would expand and pop into a flurry of common rarity boots and bones, maybe with the odd purple rarity sword mixed in.

Among the first things on the agenda are dodge roll changes in response to players being frustrated at the frequency of being trapped by monsters. Once implemented, these tweaks should make the ol' roll a better tool for sneaking out of the grasp of pesky monsters, and even pushing small creatures like the Adorned Beetles in Keth. This doesn't mean you won't ever get trapped - there's no phasing through monsters - but the devs say the changes should mean you "can get through even the smallest gap".

As for checkpoints, they're taking action to save you backtracking to spots you've already discovered. In a future patch, you'll be able to teleport to other checkpoints, and checkpoints will be added to all entrances and exits of zones for those easy teleports.

There's been some major item drop changes, too, since players have felt that the game hasn't been rewarding enough. The devs say they've had to be "very careful when adjusting because it's very hard to reduce drops if we increase them by too much". So here's a quick blast of what they've deployed now:

• Killing rare monsters has been made betterer. Rewards should naturally scale up as you reach higher levels, with rare monsters having an increased chance of having more modifiers as you progress.
• Currency drops have largely been buffed. For instance, Regal orb drop rates have been increased by around 40%, and Gemcutter's Prism drop rates have been upped by 500%.
• There's been a significant increase to the value of all prefix map mods.
• "Unlucky" drop protection (when a boss drops bad loot) has been increased, so no more than 50% of unique monster drops can be gold. "Act" and "Map" bosses will always drop at least one rare, as well.

For a final flourish, an upcoming Path Of Exile 2 patch will add more rare monsters to the endgame maps.

If you want a quick summary of the changes that are live right now, I recommend having a glance at their official patch notes page here. As for all the planned changes (with those that have been deployed, too), I recommend deep-scanning this official forum thread. If you're entirely new to the game, here's our Path Of Exile 2 beginner class guide.