If you are a loyal POE 2 player, you must be excited these days, because there are only one or two days left before the release of the new patch Dawn Of The Hunt! More importantly, this patch differs from the past and will bring many new content to Path of Exile 2 early access, fully satisfying your combat needs!
However, it is worth noting that Path of Exile 1 is still running. Although it has been stopped at 3.25 for a long time, it does not mean that the development team has forgotten it. In order to retain a group of players who love the first game, POE also launched a new event Legacy of Phrecia in February, and the response was very good.
Now, with the arrival of Dawn Of The Hunt, this may not only indicate that the official version of POE 2 is getting closer and closer to you, but also have some impact on the next development plan of POE 1. Based on this, we will analyze these effects based on the performance of the 0.2.0 patch.
Dawn Of The Hunt Overview
The official release date of this patch is April 4, 2025. Rather than fixing bugs, it is more about adding more playable content to the game, fully expanding the richness of Path of Exile 2’s early access experience while solving some problems previously reported by players in the game community.
New Classes
This patch will bring a seventh class, Huntress, based on the existing 6 classes as a new practice plan to welcome the 12 classes in the official version. Huntress is a powerful class that can use different weapons to perform both melee and ranged abilities at the same time, ensuring that you can face different types of enemies.
In addition, 5 new Ascendancy classes belonging to different classes have been added to the game, which are expected to provide you with more combat assistance. They are Ritualist, Amazon, Lich, Smith of Kitava and Tactician.
New Items
More than 100 new skill gems, support gems and unique items will be available in the 0.2.0 patch. Not only can you make your character stronger by equipping them, but you can also buy POE 2 Currency to add better affixes for some of these items or gear.
New Encounters
To further enrich your loot farming methods, this 0.2.0 patch will add Rogue Exiles and Azmerian Wisps as new encounter enemies. They will provide more fun for your Path of Exile 2 journey in the next few months through different combat mechanisms and loot.
New Endgame Content
Dawn Of The Hunt will bring 7 new maps and a new mechanism called Cleanse The Corruption to the game’s endgame, fully guaranteeing your resource farming needs.
Impact On The Official Release Of POE 2
Previously, the person in charge of Path of Exile 2 and the development team expressed their hope to complete the development and release of the official version of POE 2 within 2025. At a recent media conference, founder Jonathan Rogers reiterated this expectation in an interview.
However, Jonathan also said that the development of Dawn Of The Hunt took 4 months, and if the development of the entire official version is to be completed, it will inevitably take several times longer. Therefore, the possibility of launching the official version of POE 2 within the year has dropped from 90% to 65%.
The game’s development team revealed that they hope to release at least the content of Act 4 to 6 through subsequent patches during the early access period (maybe once or multiple times), and retain a part of it as new content for the official version. As for the remaining 5 new classes, it is likely that they will all be left for the official version.
In fact, if Dawn Of The Hunt frequently has bugs or the content does not satisfy you after it goes online, the development team will inevitably have to consume extra time and energy to solve these problems, resulting in the date of the official version being further delayed; if it performs well, it may bring more income to the game developer and promote the development progress of the official version.
Read More: How Does Anoint Work In Path Of Exile 2?
Impact On POE 1
Previously, POE 1 would release a new league about every 3-4 months, and the launch date of the previous League 3.25 was July 26, 2024, so according to the normal progress, Path of Exile 3.26 should be released in October or November 2024, but obviously the result is not the case.
Because some players are more concerned about the first game, the development team also responded to the delay of 3.26 in February this year and launched Legacy of Phrecia to compensate. The event has won praise from players through a series of new ascendancy classes and other content, and the game has therefore postponed the end time of the event by one month, which will continue until April 23.
However, after Dawn Of The Hunt is launched, the development team will still focus on improving the patch and developing the official version of POE 2, so the specific launch date of 3.26 is still difficult to determine. But if everything goes well during the patch, perhaps the development team can spare some time to build 3.26, or continue to release more new events through 3.25 to extend this transition period.
In any case, it is certain that the impact of Dawn Of The Hunt is definitely more beneficial. Although it may cause the update of the first game to stagnate for a long time, if its performance is good enough, it can also provide a reference for the development of POE 3.26.
