Grinding Gear Games (GGG) has just released a massive video detailing significant changes to POE 2 Orbs. For many long-time fans, this announcement landed like a meteor. POE2 has been steadily building anticipation with its promise of a smoother, more modern experience than its predecessor, but few expected such sweeping alterations to the core mapping and bossing systems.

Having played five different characters this season and focusing on currency-making rather than boss-killing, I went into this announcement feeling content and a little burnt out. I had largely stepped back from the boss grind, finding it stale without major new encounters—outside of the new lich bosses, which turned out to be underwhelming. Yet here was GGG, revealing a suite of changes that could reshape how we all approach the endgame.

This article breaks down what was announced, how these changes alter the structure of POE2’s mapping, and what it all means for players.

Goodbye Towers, Hello Tablets

One of the biggest frustrations of POE2’s current endgame has been the “tower” system. Players had to hunt for towers to “juice” their maps—stacking overlapping effects to get the best outcomes. It was fiddly, random, and often meant you couldn’t fully capitalize on the tablets you had.

GGG’s new system removes towers as a prerequisite. Instead, tablets can now be placed directly into the map device. This change transforms them into something closer to a mix of Scarabs and the old Leaguestones, letting players enhance their maps without relying on external spawns.

Here’s how it works:

Tablets are now consumed by use. Each time you run a map with a tablet, its number of remaining uses decreases until it’s destroyed.

You can use up to three tablets per map. However, the number of available slots is tied to how many modifiers the map has. A six-mod map enables all three slots, rewarding players for juicing their maps.

Towers still exist for Atlas visibility. Running a tower will now also reward you with an extra tablet, making them more of an optional bonus rather than a requirement.

This shift gives players more agency over their map content and makes the experience far more consistent. By eliminating the randomness of tower spawns, GGG is streamlining one of the clunkiest aspects of the endgame.

Bosses in Every Map

Another major change addresses one of POE2’s more controversial mapping mechanics. Previously, not every map contained a boss. In some, the completion condition was killing all rare monsters instead—a system that turned mapping into a tedious game of “follow the minimap icons.”

GGG is scrapping that approach. Every single map will now have a boss. Completion simply means killing that boss. Players are free to clear as much or as little of the map as they want beyond that.

This will fundamentally change how players plan their runs. Boss fights in POE2 are meant to feel challenging and rewarding, and this adjustment reinforces that philosophy. Notably, icons that previously just indicated “boss present” will now mean that the boss is extra challenging and more rewarding. In other words, you’ll be able to tell when you’re in for a special encounter and plan accordingly.

For veterans who have been requesting this change since early feedback videos, this is a major quality-of-life win. It’s also part of what makes POE2 feel, as some players have put it, like “POE1 Plus”—evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Guaranteed Bonus Content in Every Map

Nothing kills the excitement of a map run like an empty layout with no special mechanics. GGG is fixing that, too. Each map will now generate between one and three random bonus features on top of whatever you add with your tablets.

This means you’ll always encounter something like Breach, Delirium, Ritual, Expedition, shrines, strongboxes, essences, rogue exiles, or summoning circles—even if you haven’t specifically juiced your map. The game will also avoid doubling up on incompatible mechanics (e.g., two Expeditions in a single map), ensuring variety without redundancy.

With this change, GGG is essentially guaranteeing that every map run feels alive and worth your time. Combined with the tablet overhaul, it signals a move toward a more consistent, rewarding mapping experience.

Monster Density and Map Size Adjustments

The announcement also touched on a delicate subject: monster density. Currently, Tier 1 maps have about 40% more monsters than the interlude area preceding endgame, creating a sudden difficulty spike. While some players enjoy mowing down huge packs, for others this has been overwhelming—especially for builds not optimized for AoE clear.

To address this, GGG is:

Reducing monster density in early maps by 30%. This reduction scales back up as you progress through higher-tier maps, returning to normal density by Tier 15.

Shrinking oversized maps. Fifteen of the largest maps—including Bloomingfield, Grim Haven, and Oasis—are being reduced in size for faster completion times.

These changes are intended to smooth the difficulty curve for newer or weaker builds. For veterans, however, the prospect of less dense early maps feels like a mixed bag. Fewer monsters can mean slower experience and loot gains, which is frustrating for players who don’t enter maps until their characters are strong enough to handle large packs.

Still, the adjustments to map size are almost universally positive. Nobody enjoys spending 30 seconds sprinting through an empty Forge area with no mobs in sight. By reducing wasted time, GGG is trying to make mapping less of a slog.

Atlas Tree and Boss-Related Adjustments

Because these changes affect the fundamental structure of maps, the Atlas passive tree is also getting tweaks. For instance, the “Crystal Realm” notable, which used to add an additional essence to areas containing map bosses, now only applies to areas with powerful map bosses. Other notable nodes have been similarly adjusted to reflect the new universal boss presence.

The idea is to keep the power level of the tree roughly the same before and after the patch. You’ll still get similar rewards for specializing in boss-related content; the mechanical triggers are just shifting slightly.

Citadel spawn rates are also being increased by 66%, addressing complaints about their low frequency. And modifiers that blanket areas with damaging ground effects (shocked, ignited, etc.) are being toned down so that at least 66% less of the ground is covered—a huge relief for melee players.

New Tablet Modifiers and Buffed Power

With the ceiling of content lowered slightly by removing towers, GGG has buffed tablet modifiers to compensate. Many modifiers are now two to three times as powerful as before. Examples include:

Electors increased to 10–30% from 7–10%.

Teeming changed from 15–25% to 17–25%.

Additional shrine, strongbox, essence, rogue exile, and summoning circle modifiers added.

These changes open up new farming strategies. For instance, you can now guarantee a rogue exile or even multiple exiles in a map, creating opportunities for specialized farming of certain drops.

Unique tablets also retain their own individual uses, and the reforging bench now sums the uses of input tablets. This system is clearly inspired by Scarabs and Leaguestones but gives players more direct control.

Currency and Crafting Changes

The patch also brings an interesting tweak to Alchemy Orbs. With tiered currency overshadowing their usefulness, Alchs now have a new function: they can be used on magic items to upgrade them to rare, replacing existing modifiers with four new random ones. This essentially turns them into a mini Chaos Orb—a simple but elegant quality-of-life improvement, especially for early mapping.

While veteran crafters may still lean on tiered currency for high-end work, this change makes Alchs far more useful in the early and mid-game.

Map Design and Quality-of-Life Fixes

GGG also addressed several specific maps and quality-of-life issues:

Reduced the size of “problematic” maps like Bloomingfield, Penitentiary, and Sun Temple.

Fixed bugs where map boss difficulty wasn’t applying to multi-form bosses, leading to wildly inconsistent phase health.

Adjusted the distribution of monsters in Forge maps, which were notorious for long stretches without any mobs.

These fixes should result in a smoother, more predictable experience across the board.

What It All Means for POE2 Players

Taken together, these changes represent a significant step toward making POE2’s endgame more consistent, rewarding, and approachable. Removing towers and guaranteeing bosses in every map streamlines the core loop. Guaranteed bonus content ensures no map feels “dead.” Adjusting monster density smooths the onboarding curve, while tablet buffs and Atlas tweaks preserve high-level farming potential.

For some, especially hardcore veterans who thrive on high-density mapping from Tier 1, the reduced monster packs in early maps will feel like a nerf. For others, particularly newer players or those experimenting with off-meta builds, it will be a welcome reprieve.

The bigger picture here is that POE 2 Orbs for sale is leaning into what worked in POE1 while refining the rough edges. As one commenter quipped, it’s like “carcinification”—everything in evolution turning into crabs. POE2 is inevitably becoming “POE1 Plus,” and for many players, that’s exactly what they want.

Final Thoughts

These endgame changes may not be enough to lure back every lapsed player immediately, but they set the stage for a much healthier long-term ecosystem. Players like me, who have already tried multiple builds this league and achieved their goals, may still wait for the next big content patch before diving back in. But it’s hard not to feel impressed by the scope and thoughtfulness of these updates.

Grinding Gear Games has always walked a fine line between listening to community feedback and sticking to its own design vision. This patch is a textbook example of why that balance matters. By taking the time to iterate rather than panic-change, GGG is delivering a set of improvements that feel deliberate and well-considered.

If these changes are any indication, POE2’s endgame is on track to be the most satisfying version of Path of Exile yet—a game where every map run feels worthwhile, every boss fight is meaningful, and players have more control over their experience than ever before.

Whether you’re a veteran mapper or a curious newcomer, the future of Wraeclast’s endgame looks bright.