Ahead of Path of Exile 2’s big endgame update in patch 0.5.0, here’s the one thing I want Grinding Gear Games to fix

If you think I’ve been writing about Path of Exile 2 a lot recently, you should see how much I’ve been playing ahead of patch 0.5.0.

Grinding Gear Games’ ARPG sequel is getting a major update (likely in April 2026), with a big focus on endgame, and as a player who’s put an obscene number of hours into it during the current Fate of the Vaal League, I’m looking forward to what the team could be cooking up.

Still, there is one blemish on the current endgame that I simply cannot get my head around, no matter how hard I try. You can keep the Waystones, Tablets, and hit-or-miss drop rates. Please, GGG, get rid of XP loss.

The Escapist recaps

• Path of Exile 2’s endgame is focused on clearing maps to gain loot and XP, but XP gains are slow.
• In the endgame, death results in losing XP, making the game feel artificially padded out to increase playtime.
• Still, the game remains one of the best ARPGs I’ve played in years.

Begone, XP drain

Path of Exile 2 can be a relatively punishing game (particularly for franchise newcomers who mess up their skill tree by Act 3, speaking from experience), but by the time you get to the endgame, you’ll likely have a pretty decent build taking shape, as well as an understanding of resistances.

All of that matters little, however, if there is a lag spike, or just the sheer volume of effects on screen at one time makes it hard to see what’s hitting you, and you die.

‘Restart at checkpoint’, you think, sounds easy enough. Except then you spot it – the XP you’ve been grinding for over the last half an hour or so is gone.

I acknowledge that this isn’t something new, but since we’re preparing for Path of Exile 2 0.5.0 with its focus on Endgame systems, I wanted to air my grievance.

You can mitigate some XP loss with a single-use Omen if it’s active in your inventory, but that doesn’t feel particularly intuitive, and in dozens of hours in the endgame, I’m yet to find one.

Am I the problem?

I should confess that while my Druid build followed an early game build guide, it’s grown into its own unique beast (pun intended), mixing and matching skills to the point where I’m spending 90% of my time as a frost-slinging werewolf and the remainder as a fire-breathing Wyvern.

I’ve also been selling as much as I can to vendors to build up the currency to buy pretty decent equipment. As a result, I’m pretty well kitted out and doing a decent amount of damage.

And yet, as I work my way through map after map, the XP crawl is glacially slow. I’ve been level 76 for what feels like forever, because just as I get closer to reaching the next level, I’m slain by an unexpected explosion or mob that leaves me four-fifths of the way there again.

I know all the jokes: “Games journos moaning that games are too tough is nothing new”, but as it stands, Path of Exile 2’s endgame feels as though it doesn’t respect the time I’m pouring into it. I’m not asking to level up 20 times in an hour like I can in Diablo 4, but given how slow the XP drip is, I just want to have some kind of carrot on the end of a stick – especially since I’m only really playing for XP unless a particularly impressive piece of loot drops.

Please, GGG – I have a family. Let me reach another level or two without having to play for nine hours straight.

Ask The Escapist