The Expedition expansion was a buggy mess with too much going on at launch, but the patch updates are here to save the day.
As players join the artifact-hunting people of Kalguur, the Expedition expansion is a challenge league where they’ll be able to excavate the lost relics of the undead through the use of explosives. It’s sort of like using bombs to harvest fish from the sea, but a little more...refined. Players then uncover all sorts of treasure and loot from their excavations, they can then barter, deal, and even gamble the relics they’ve accumulated with their merchants for PoE currency and Exalted orbs. However, one can’t deny that the league is a bloody mess when it was first released. There was too much of everything. Heck, even the developers, Grinding Gear Games, admitted that there were too many types of splinters and all sorts of nonsensical stuff that were just fluff. Thankfully with the 3.15.2 and 3.15.3 patch drops, quality-of-life changes have been made. So just what improvements have been made for the Expedition expansion? Let’s find out.
A Whole
Lotta Love for Vendors
When Grinding Gear Games dropped the 3.15.2 patch notes for the Expedition expansion in Path of Exile, implemented a lot of bug fixes and general changes to the game as a whole. But overall, the patch was focused on mostly improving the new League. The 3.15.2 patch update mostly revolved around the vendors and NPCs in the Expedition. Thanks to the patch, the vendors are now able to offer item-level 86 items in their shops. Of course, those types of items will cost more PoE currency and Exalted orbs, but it’s nice to have that kind of option for the interested players.
Vendor-specific changes were also made. When dealing with Rog, for example, players that choose to remove their modifiers with the lowest modifier level will see a popup that tells them which of the modifiers is being removed. It’s a pretty handy tool to give players more information about what they’re doing if we do say so ourselves. Then, there’s also the matter of skipping crafting offers. When players skip crafting offers from Rog, they’ll be getting a different option the next time around. Oh, and did we forget to mention the Rog can now also offer to corrupt items? Neato!
Besides Rog, other vendors such as Tujen and Dannig have received some tweaks as well. Other changes outside vendors include the addition of a visual indicator that lets players know where camp areas are and the reduction of the area where players can’t place their explosives around those said camps in the Logbook.
Patch
3.15.3: More Bug Fixes and Quality of Life Changes
The most recent patch update, 3.15.3, continues to provide more bug fixes and improvements to the Expedition expansion. The update here is less meaty when compared to 3.15.2 patch notes, but hey, the more fixes being made, the better for the community as a whole. The descriptions for the Gut Instinct Atlas passive and Strength of Blood Keystone Passive have been updated. What’s more, an option has been added for players where they can prevent items on the ground from rendering should they happen to have those kinds of items already hidden through the use of a loot filter. Most gamers in Path of Exile typically use a loot filter these days, and why wouldn’t they? They’re extremely useful and help keep a player’s inventory more organized. So it’s nice to see Grinding Gear Games assisting and supporting their usage of those add-ons in that regard.
Don’t you just hate it when you see spoilers, whether it be from a film or the ending of a game? Well, that’s what Path of Exile players feel in the Expedition challenge league whenever they see terrain that they’re not technically supposed to see yet. Thankfully, the 3.15.3 patch update aims to make the terrain that isn’t supposed to be navigable in the first place no longer be revealed on the minimap at Expedition Logbook areas.
Final
Thoughts
Overall, the Expedition expansion is shaping up to be a new version of itself compared to when it first launched. As expected, Grinding Gear Games is hard at work when it comes to enhancing and making their beloved ARPG bigger and better. Although some might say that’s a bit too late for the patch notes since it’s been months already after the Expedition was released, it’s only a matter of time before GGG announces the new League. But hey, for those who are consistently playing Path of Exile and farming PoE currency, this is no doubt great news for them. What do you think about the patch updates for the Expedition League so far? Let us know down below.