I didn't even clock the maintenance at first. I was mid-cleanup, pricing junk, thinking about whether I should flip a Divine Orb, and then the realm list did that little hiccup that usually means "something's changed." Patch 0.4.0d is now sitting in Path of Exile 2's Early Access build for January 15, 2026, and it's not flashy, but you feel it fast if you spend your nights chasing endgame progress instead of rolling fresh alts.
Temple runs finally respect your time
The Temple changes are the headline for me. Before this, dying to Atziri or getting clipped by an Architect at the wrong time could turn a solid run into a miserable reset. It didn't feel "hardcore," it felt like you'd just wasted an hour. Now the respawn and re-entry flow behaves more like regular mapping, and that alone takes the edge off. On top of that, the room placement UI is cleaner, less guesswork, fewer "wait, where does this connect." moments. You can plan a route without treating it like homework, and that's a win.
Forums are split, because of course they are
Give it five minutes and you'll see the two camps yelling past each other. A lot of players are happy they can actually reach the boss fights without one mistake nuking the whole session. The louder veterans, though, keep saying the patch is thin for where Early Access is at. I get the frustration. Fixing bugs and smoothing UI helps, but it doesn't magically make the Temple loop feel snappy. Some parts still drag, and the "tedious vs challenging" argument is back on the menu. People don't mind dying; they mind feeling stuck doing chores.
Build talk is getting spicy again
What's funny is how quickly the mood shifts once someone posts a build clip. I watched a high-level Stormweaver showcase earlier and it was just lasers and lightning everywhere, elites evaporating before the screen could even settle. It looks great, it also looks like visual clutter is still a real thing. But you can't deny the engine's doing work in 2026, and the meta's clearly moving. More folks are testing weird scaling, experimenting with defenses, and asking the real question: will the next patches tune pacing and rewards, or just keep sanding off rough edges.
Small fixes, big relief
The quiet best part is info. Hovering enemy buffs and actually understanding what killed you changes how you play, plain and simple. You die, you learn, you adjust, you go again. That's the loop you want. And if you're the type who'd rather spend time mapping than sitting in trade chat, it's worth knowing places like U4GM exist for picking up currency or items without the usual hassle, so you can get back to testing builds instead of tabbing out all night.
