0.4.0c Hotfix 14

The last hotfix didn’t fix the core issues with Fate of the Vaal — it added hidden mechanical friction that makes temple building significantly harder, especially for casual players.

By flipping the buffs between Spy Master and Golem Works, you’ve changed how certain rooms are meant to be progressed. The issue isn’t that Golem Works is required for temple safety — it’s that some rooms can now only be fully leveled through the use of generators.

Here’s where the problem really starts:

Generators can only be placed on path tiles

Some rooms cannot naturally reach their maximum level

Which means upgrading them now requires:

Very specific pathing

Correct generator placement

Early planning that players often don’t even know is required

On top of that:

Room locking now only works at level 3

So if you didn’t plan generator access early, you can’t reliably fix or protect the room later

None of this is clearly communicated in-game.

For experienced players who already understand temple routing and generator mechanics, this is manageable. For casual and mid-core players, it’s a trap:

You can invest multiple runs into a room

Only to find out too late that it can’t be completed

And the temple you were building toward is now compromised or effectively bricked

This isn’t meaningful difficulty — it’s opaque dependency stacking.

What makes this more concerning is the timing. These kinds of changes were pushed via hotfix mid-league, when players were already invested in existing temples and strategies, instead of being introduced in a .1 update with proper explanation.

And it’s already having visible consequences.

Streamers and players are openly talking about — and actively moving to — Last Epoch, Torchlight, and even going back to Diablo 4, a game many people wrote off entirely. That should be a serious warning sign. When players would rather revisit a failed ARPG than deal with mid-league instability and hidden mechanics, something has gone wrong.

In a genre this competitive, player trust matters. So does respecting player time.

Right now, Fate of the Vaal:

Punishes players for information they had no reasonable way of knowing

Raises the knowledge floor dramatically overnight

And makes temple building feel unintuitive instead of strategic

At minimum, this needs addressing by:

Providing alternative ways to level these rooms

Relaxing generator placement restrictions

Or making these dependencies explicit and visible in the UI

Fate of the Vaal has strong ideas behind it, but the current direction — especially how these changes are delivered — is pushing players away rather than pulling them in.

Please reconsider this approach before more of the player base decides their time is better spent elsewhere.

Burn All Temples. You only punishing casual players while doing f-all to people, who DID managed to build one.
This is by far the worst mid-league nerf, that PoE had EVER seen.

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If you really displeased with this situation, try to send emails directly to Tencent (especially if you are China players). Express your disappointment and dissatisfaction with the current state of the game and how it could turn away the profits made from support pack. A single phone call from Tencent HQ will instantly make GGG do urgent meeting.

I agree on the room lock it shouldn't be only for t3 rooms but at the same time i think you guys are hating way too much. I don't know how you didn't see the nerf coming when they obviously over buffed and let us farm it for half a month(I didn't make a snake in the temple and I farmed abyss and fracture orbs while everybody was abusing the temple as much as they can and it was still fine) .
Every time they nerf something there is a lava of people saying the game is shit and they will never come back bla bla yet the next league you have even more people . Chill down the economy will revert in few days you don't have to be fubgun to enjoy the game . When they add something good nobody says anything but when they nerf something they get insane amount of shit . I will also get hated for this but chill down and try to enjoy the game its not like this made it unplayable and saying stuff "like I will never support GGG again and ill go play Diablo 4 and La its just childish .. The amount of free content they give us every 4 months is kind of insane compared to every other ARPG and they have improved the game and added so much quality of life in the past 1 year .

REVERT THE LOCK CHANGE OR THE LEAGUE IS DOOMED BOYS, GGG OUT OF TOUCH

Give us atleast option to reset whole temple please! It is frustrating if you can delete only one title.

I love and play poe over 10 years now this is the worst patch decision since Kalandra Leauge. THe goal should be to keep a large player base after 2 weeks into the leauge, you had gamers and streamers who loved to play this leauge even after 3 weeks and now u decide to give us this ??? And pls dont tell us this patch was cause building variations. I mean u can show us the "middle Finger" but dont tell us lies about it.

Still Love GGG but man today is a SAD DAY.

GL Guys

Ok, i always knew this game same as poe1 for nolifers as there is no good drop until you juice maps or temple or anything else. But to do so you need some money for gear. But wait there is no drops

REVERT THE HOTFIX