Three Big Changes to Improve Poe 2 Endgame

Three Big Changes to Improve Poe 2 Endgame
Implement a dedicated Waystone stash tab for easy access and organization.
Enhance map nodes on the Atlas to include layout videos for better understanding.
Reconsider the one-portal policy for death to make Path of Exile 2 less punishing.

Path of Exile 2 launched in early access just a little over one month ago, and it was arguably already in a great spot. Then, this week, GGG released Path of Exile 2's first big 2025 patch, which addressed a plethora of issues and bugs, and it implemented or acted on player feedback in some key areas. For example, players can now overwrite Runes and other socketables like Cores in their items with a different socketable, which was a big issue with the Rune system so far. While the game is doing great and can only grow from here, it can capitalize on three changes to its current version of the endgame.

As it stands, there is a lot for players to do after they finish the campaign and the Cruel difficulty Acts. Path of Exile 2 takes players to the Ziggurat Refuge, which acts like a base of operations for players to slowly make their way through higher tiers of Waystones, starting from Tier 1. The Atlas has a multitude of map nodes for players to choose from, with several icons that represent different League mechanics or other modifiers, such as bosses. All this can be quite exciting at first, but there are changes GGG can implement to improve the overall experience: a Waystone stash tab, better map/biome visibility on the Atlas, and a less frustrating approach to death.

Path of Exile 2 Needs a Waystone Stash Tab
Path of Exile 2's endgame requires players to constantly move through Waystones, as they are needed to advance through the Atlas and its fog of war and to complete objectives, like getting Atlas passives or reaching key parts of it, like the Burning Monolith and the three Citadels. As such, a great addition to the game would be a dedicated Waystone stash tab where players can easily store and access all their Waystones, filter by keywords, and group them by Tier.

How Path of Exile 2 Could Improve its Mapping Experience
While the recent 0.1.1 Path of Exile 2 patch did add new functionality to the Atlas where each map node states its biome, this could be taken to the next level. For example, each map node could have a brief video attached to it showcasing both a sample layout of the area and its mini-map. This would be a game-changer because some League mechanics, like Path of Exile 2's Breach or Ritual, are area-based. If a Breach or Ritual spawns in a narrow corridor, with some map types having multiple of these, they can be dramatically less rewarding than they would otherwise.

Why Path of Exile 2 Should Reconsider its One-Portal Policy
Last but not least, Path of Exile 2's approach to death might need some changes. It's no secret that GGG wanted the game to be slower and more methodical in its combat, especially with boss fights being a prevalent part of the ARPG. However, the game can be very punishing in the endgame section, where dying in any Waystone means losing experience and access to the Waystone itself, including all loot that hadn't been picked up before the event.

The reasoning from GGG seems to be that, this way, players can learn from the experience and improve their characters and builds accordingly. However, this is hardly the case for many reasons, like how it can be very hard to change gear pieces on the fly or how the game doesn't really have a death recap screen where it clearly states what happened. On top of that, although Path of Exile 2 can be paused, which it is also supposed to do automatically in case one is disconnected, it does happen that players may be disconnected and still die to it. What follows is that making death less punishing, alongside the other changes, would make Path of Exile 2 the best version of itself.