I've been putting way too many late nights into Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids, and I'm torn. If you're logging in mainly to try the new class, you'll probably have a blast, especially once you start tinkering with gear and PoE 2 Items to smooth out the rough edges. But if you came in expecting the endgame to feel brand-new, that hype fades fast. After a while it starts to feel like the same treadmill, just with a different coat of paint.

The Druid Hook

The Druid is the reason to play this update, no question. The new Talismans are a smart idea: they don't just give stats, they change how you move, fight, and plan a pull. Bear form is your simple "walk in, don't die, delete packs" option. Wolf form is faster and nastier, more like you're darting through enemies instead of standing still. And Wyvern is the odd one, in a good way—you're watching corpses, building charges, then spending them for spell bursts. The best part is Talismans aren't locked to Druid, so you can slap that shapeshift kit onto other classes and suddenly you're theorycrafting at 2 a.m. The new Ascendancies help too: Shaman is direct damage and momentum, while Oracle pushes you into strange passive-tree routes that feel risky but rewarding.

Vaal Ruins: Cool Idea, Awkward Reality

The Vaal Ruins league mechanic sounds like something players have asked for forever: a build-your-own dungeon you actually earn by exploring. You're hunting for beacons in campaign zones, then laying out rooms and paths with a controller once the entrance opens. It slows you down in a way that's kind of refreshing. You stop autopiloting. You look around. And yeah, the prosthetic limb swaps are as weird as they sound—suddenly you're weighing a stat bump against the absurdity of your character looking like a patchwork relic.

What Starts to Wear You Down

Then a recent change lands and it's like someone kicked the legs out from under the loop: you can't duck out to stash loot mid-run anymore. Leave the dungeon and the instance collapses. So you're either skipping drops, playing inventory Tetris, or cutting runs short because your bags are full. That sting carries into the endgame too. Maps look a bit cleaner without the heavy fog, and the smaller packs with tougher enemies can be fun for a day or two, but it still turns into repeat, repeat, repeat. Act pacing hasn't been fully solved either—Act 1 moves, Act 4 feels lively, and Act 3 still drags hard. If GGG wants people sticking around, they've got to make the grind feel less like chores, even for folks chasing PoE 2 Items cheap just to keep their builds running smoothly during the slog.