Path of Exile - Upcoming Synthesis Improvements and Korean Version

The Synthesis expansion for Path of Exile launched earlier this month and brought along a plethora of new content and game mechanics. Not all of those landed as well as the developers intended, so now they're busy working on a sizable new patch for their action-RPG that should be going live sometime this week. Here's what you can expect:

We're continuing to work on improvements for recent content, based on your feedback. We're planning to release the 3.6.2 patch by the end of this working week, which contains a lot of Betrayal changes as well as whatever Synthesis ones are ready. Please note that the following list may be changed prior to the release of this update.

The following improvements are planned to be included in this patch:
  • Fixing various issues where monster packs in Fragmented Memories and the Memory Void didn't contain the correct Rare monsters. This also fixes the issue that many players are having where they can't find the Rare monsters required for the "Defeat Synthesis Monsters" challenge.
  • Adding labels to Synthesised Chests.
  • Reducing number of additional monsters that spawn during Betrayal Intervention encounters. Monsters will respawn less frequently as well.
  • Fixing various issues where Niko would not show up in areas for some players, preventing Sulphite from being spawned.
  • Increasing the amount of Mastermind Intelligence gained at the completion of a Safehouse.
  • Adjusting Intelligence gain values from Betrayal encounters.
  • Further changes to address lag and client freezes during Intervention encounters.
  • Adding a "release" option that players can select if they don't want to make a choice at the completion of a Betrayal encounter.
  • Intervention targets will now deal less damage for a short duration after they have spawned. This is intended to give players more time to react and to re-position as needed.
  • Areas prior to Maps will only spawn a single Betrayal encounter. Map areas will continue to spawn three encounters. While we understand that players have been able to somewhat deterministically find Betrayal encounters by repeatedly creating new instances of areas such as The Quarry or The Foothills, we don't want this to be the correct answer. It is both bad for server load and not exactly the intended avenue to gather Intelligence. We are adjusting Intelligence-gain values towards Safehouse unlocks and Mastermind unlocks which should give players quicker access to these without having to resort to creating the same area repeatedly.
  • Transportation encounters require you to be closer to them before they'll begin. Previously, they began when you were further away than felt correct.
  • Fixing a bug where Intervention encounters could not occur if you had already completed another Job in the same area.
  • Fixing a bug where Sulphite Veins in an area affected by the Monstrous Treasure prophecy would not give any Sulphite.
  • Fixing a bug where various Sextant modifiers spawned their monsters or barrels inside of Fragmented Memories.
  • Adding the ability to toggle visibility of map modifiers on or off.
There are other Synthesis changes that we are working on but can't commit to for 3.6.2 as they are taking some time to finish, test and finalise before they can be patched in. Some of these may have to wait until 3.6.3, which we're targeting to release sometime in the middle of next week.

And if you'd like to play Path of Exile in Korean, you will soon be able to do so thanks to Grinding Gear Games' new partnership with Kakao Games. More on that:

We're proud to announce that in cooperation with Kakao Games, we will be bringing Path of Exile to Korea later this year. We're working with Kakao Games to make the Korean version a new gateway of the existing main Path of Exile realm.

Some highlights of the Korean version are:
  • A full translation into Korean.
  • Support for Korean payment methods through Kakao Games' payment systems.
  • Korean customer support provided by Kakao Games.
  • Simultaneous release with the English version.
  • Local Korean servers for low-latency play.
  • The ability to play and trade with other friends who play Path of Exile on the rest of the international realm.
  • The same non-pay-to-win business model that we already use.