Path of Exile Fans Upset Over Harvest Crafting Nerf

A recent nerf in Path of Exile has all but done away with a fan favorite crafting system known as Harvest Crafting. With the introduction of last year's Harvest league, players could gather caches of seeds, plant them, and kill the monsters that spawned out of them in order to craft items. The most beloved feature of the Harvest league in Path of Exile was that it facilitate deterministic crafting.

Players that wanted to search for a specific modifier could do just that. The net result was that the Harvest league offered a relatively inexpensive and low-entry way for players to craft high-level items. With the recent nerf in Path of Exile, that has all been reversed.

In an effort to reintroduce randomness to the game, Grinding Gear Games, the studio behind Path of Exile, decided to phase out the deterministic crafting that was happening through Harvest Crafting. Players who had heavily relied on the system were understandably upset. To make matters worse, many players had spent their time farming orbs—items that are used during crafting that also facilitate in-game trade in Path of Exile. Now, with the nerf to Harvest Crafting, players who had hoarded orbs as currency are forced to consume massive quantities of them just to have a chance at a usable item.

In defense of the nerf, Grinding Gear Games admitted that it felt Harvest Crafting had lent too much power to players, allowing them to bypass the built-in randomness within Path of Exile. Since nearly all other means to obtaining items are random, Harvest Crafting needed to be brought in line with the rest of the game. Unfortunately, fans view this nerf as hurting new players and only benefiting the top echelon of players who have accrued enough orbs by this point.

No ARPG can compete with Path of Exile's customization. A passive tree that spans hundreds of nodes and seven classes to pick is enough to keep any dungeon crawler enthusiast happy, but Path of Exile doesn't stop there. Skills, Support Gems, and Ascendancies allow for a near-infinite number of build possibilities.

Ascendancies, in particular, contribute heavily to a build's identity. They can add new mechanics, reward powerful passive benefits, or grant skills entirely. While no Ascendancies are bad in Path of Exile, some are much easier to use than others. Here are all 19 of Path of Exile's Ascendancies ranked from worst to best. This article was written during patch 3.13, Ritual league.

Ritual league saw a confusing nerf to this Ascendancy, mainly to totem builds. Hierophant can no longer summon two totems simultaneously and lost its damage boost for each enemy they've killed recently perk. In exchange, Hieros have seen a buff to their Arcane Surge nodes.

Unfortunately, that just isn't enough to compensate for this massive nerf. Those that want to play Archmage casters still have no better alternative, but totem builds and other spellcasters are better off playing Chieftan or Elementalist, respectively.

Survivability is the main focus of Juggernauts, trading absurd damage notables in exchange for constant Endurance Charge generation and bonus armor.