Players, as Diablo 4 Season 14 PTR concludes and the new season is about to launch, while Season 14 is more refined in many aspects, there are still numerous areas for optimization and improvement. From the pacing of Season 14 gameplay itself, to the randomness of Mythic gear, and the challenges some classes face in skill and set balance, these factors significantly affect the overall playability and health of the season. Below, we will systematically analyze these areas in Season 14 that most need adjustment and offer corresponding suggestions for changes. General Functionality Improvements From a general functionality perspective, Diablo 4 has not yet decided to make War Plans account-wide. Currently, it only allows sharing within a party and applies to the entire party after the leader activates it, but creating a new character still requires upgrading War Plans again. We believe that making War Plans completely account-wide is a desire shared by most players. Furthermore, Horadric Cube material pickup currently lacks automatic pickup like Forgotten Souls; Season 14 could even consider adding a pickup radius attribute. While the gold cap has been increased to 25,000, Baleful Fragment cap seems to have been forgotten by the development team. Frequent Diablo 4 players will notice many fragments falling to the ground during gambling or salvaging Diablo 4 items, which cannot be automatically processed. This cap should also be adjusted. Grim Favors stack cap is currently only 10. If the number can be increased to around 50, players will be able to kill multiple enemies in Helltide without being forced to leave because their Grim Favors are full. The overall principle is to hope that Season 14 will remove as many unnecessary caps as possible. Echoing Hatred Mode Starting Difficulty The drop rate in Echoing Hatred mode has been doubled, which is a good change, but the mode has a design flaw: regardless of Torment difficulty the player starts with, the internal waves always start from Normal difficulty. This means that if you enter Torment 12, you'll need to waste about 10 minutes clearing the first 100 waves of easy mobs before you can access the more challenging content. If the wave count directly matched Torment difficulty when the player started, a significant amount of time would be saved on the less challenging content. Infernal Hordes Needs Increased Density While experience gain in Infernal Hordes has been improved through War Plans, significantly increasing leveling efficiency, the gameplay itself remains too lengthy. Currently, each Infernal Horde session requires 10 waves, taking approximately 10 to 12 minutes, which doesn't match the pace of other modes like The Pit and Nightmare Dungeons. Season 14 could halve the total number of waves to 5, while allowing players to choose between two Boons after each wave, resulting in a similar total Cinders gain to the original 10 waves. This not only shortens the overall duration of Infernal Hordes, but also allows for a more intense and exciting gameplay experience, making the player experience more compact and fun.  The Randomness of Mythic Gear Reforging The upgrade system for Mythic gear in Season 14 has been a subject of ongoing discussion because of the excessive randomness of reforging within Horadric Cube. Adding a ring might result in an amulet, while adding pants might yield a helmet or chest armor. Season 14 would be better off limiting this reforging mechanism to reforging within the same equipment type, or even further, fixing it to the same specific equipment. Furthermore, the completely randomized affixes on Mythic gear significantly reduce its differentiation from Legendary gear, diminishing its uniqueness. Original Mythic gear such as The Grandfather and Ring of Starless Skies should regain their special status, perhaps by adding a fifth affix or a fixed powerful effect. Otherwise, these once-ultimate gear pieces are now less appealing than some upgraded rare gear. For example, the only fixed effect on Ring of Starless Skies is 10% Attack Speed, which is disappointing. Barbarian-Specific Issues Insufficient Vulnerable Coverage First, Barbarians suffer from a severe lack of Vulnerable trigger sources. Almost all core and defensive skills in the skill tree do not generate Vulnerable. The only usable skill, War Cry, has a four-second duration and a 22-second cooldown, while Kick is almost never used in any build. With numerous Vulnerable multipliers on gear, the lack of a stable source of Vulnerable leads to significant damage loss. This problem doesn't only affect Barbarians; other classes experience similar issues, but Barbarians are particularly severely affected. Outdated Basic Skill Builds Secondly, Barbarian basic skill builds are declining. Frenzy, Bash, and Lunging Strike builds were once favorites among many Diablo 4 players, but their current damage is about 10 times lower than other mainstream builds. Previously, there was a Chaos Perk called Dual Threat, which caused casting a basic skill to simultaneously use another equipped basic skill, dealing 80% more damage. This mechanic completely revitalized basic skill gameplay. It's unclear whether Season 14 will bring back similar effects as Legendary Aspects or Unique items. Set Balance Barbarians currently have multiple sets, but almost everyone uses Berserker's Crucible Set. The problem with Bleed set is that it specifically enhances bleed damage rather than general damage over time. Whirlwind, Rend, and Charge, which are related to fire damage, already exist in the skill tree, but the five-piece set bonus of Bleed set doesn't synergize with these fire damage over time effects, making fire-based bleed builds unusable with the set. Even for pure physical builds, the five-piece set bonus is too weak compared to other classes' five-piece sets. Season 14 would be better suited to changing Bleed set to general damage over time bonus, allowing it to support both bleed and fire damage over time effects.  Hopefully, Diablo 4 development team will release an enhancement patch before Season 14 begins to create a positive atmosphere for the season. As long as the aforementioned issues regarding season mechanics and balance are partially resolved, Season 14 will still be a very interesting release.

It has been half a month since the launch of Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0. If you have been playing regularly, you have likely completed the campaign, and endgame farming will be your primary focus for at least the next three months. However, the endgame content in Path of Exile 2 is inherently complex, and Patch 0.5.0 has introduced even more mechanics to master. While you may already understand the individual systems, effectively combining them is key to maximizing your farming efficiency. In this guide, we will outline a concrete progression path for the endgame, starting from scratch (assuming the campaign is already complete), based on all available PoE 2 endgame mechanics. Read on if you're interested! Starting with Precursor Towers In the current game, Precursor Fortresses serve as the central hub of the endgame system; they unlock a vast network of interconnected maps, and completing these maps grants crucial Atlas Passive Tree points. To make these fortresses appear, you must first complete Precursor Towers located on the preceding maps. You will encounter other maps with additional content along the way, but if your priority is progression, we recommend skipping those for now and focusing on the towers and fortresses. Upon entering a fortress, you will discover Burning Monolith. Here, you will face the pinnacle boss, Arbiter of Ash; defeating him offers a chance to obtain significant amounts of PoE 2 currency and other potential exclusive items. Before that, however, you must collect a puzzle fragment from each of the fortress's two entrances, one east and one west, to gain access to the monolith. After clearing some maps inside the monolith, you will encounter specific bosses, Count Geonor, Doryani, and Geminra, in puzzle chambers on the east and west sides. You must defeat them to unlock the final boss encounter. Once Burning Monolith is activated, enter and head toward Origin Tower; you will find it in a damaged state. You need to locate two caves, one to the left and one to the right, and retrieve the fragments required to activate Origin Tower. After successfully defeating Origin Tower, you can use it to clear all maps within the current Fortress zone, earning yourself approximately 50 Atlas points. Waystones and Tablets Waystones are the primary items used in PoE 2 map device to unlock endgame maps; they determine the map tier and modifiers for the areas you clear. Tablets, on the other hand, influence the league mechanics or challenges encountered within those maps. Generally, there is no need to rush into upgrading your Waystone tier right away; you can start by playing lower-tier maps to acquire decent boots and armor. Next, tackle T7 maps to upgrade your rings, gloves, and helmets, before finally moving on to T11 maps to upgrade your weapons. However, maintaining a stockpile of Waystones is crucial. If you run out, you will start losing currency, making it difficult to sustain your map progression. As for Tablets, while they enrich the map-clearing experience, we do not recommend switching between different tablets when you hit a progression bottleneck. In most cases, tablets do not increase map difficulty, they primarily provide buffs. Playstyle determines your progression strategy The items mentioned above are central to progressing through PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0 endgame and mastering key item mechanics. How you choose to proceed freely to maximize gains depends on whether you opt for Solo Self-Found (SSF) mode or are willing to engage in some trading. If you intend to be self-sufficient, it is best to focus on endgame content that yields tangible rewards. For instance, if you need essential unique items, choose Ritual, Breach, or Abyss. Definitely avoid Delirium early on, as the difficulty is extremely high. Abyss is great for crafting gear, and Breach is excellent for upgrading rings, making both mechanics highly valuable. Expedition is another solid choice; it offers great item drops and features moderate difficulty. As for Atziri's Temple mechanic, carried over from the previous league, it offers wonderful rewards but is best saved for the later stages of the game. If you are open to trading to strengthen your character when necessary, you should prioritize unlocking Masters of the Atlas. This system features three masters. The first, Hilda, assigns tasks requiring you to hunt down gigantic monsters. Defeating four bosses unlocks all content associated with this master. The various bonuses she offers might seem underwhelming at first, or even slow down your progress by increasing the difficulty, but once you unlock her full Atlas tree, they become incredibly valuable. Unlocking and upgrading the second master, Jado, not only grants you his specific benefits but also allows you to obtain Lineage Support Gems through related combat encounters. He improves the quality of loot drops and increases the likelihood of encountering random bonus content. This means you will face more Rogue Exiles and, after defeating at least three bosses, gain the chance to double the effects of modifiers on your tablets. The third Master, Doryani, can be upgraded by purifying Corrupted Nexuses. You will find a node near the starting point; entering it and defeating the boss triggers the appearance of an additional boss. Clearing out the corrupted monsters purifies the nexus. The area transforms into a purified zone and yields highly valuable loot. Master Doryani now provides extra resurrection chances and applies a radiation effect to the area, resulting in richer and rarer rewards. If you engage in trading, selling these items can also generate significantly more currency. Crafting the right endgame build The above outlines the general progression for the endgame. Once you feel your character is strong enough and your resource reserves are solid, you can start exploring additional side-content endgame mechanics. However, regardless of which Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 endgame content you tackle, it is crucial to focus on your build selection and execution from the very beginning; your build is the deciding factor in your combat effectiveness. You can consult various guides to craft a build based on your preferred class, choose a top-tier endgame build directly, or modify your campaign leveling build. The key is simply ensuring that it works effectively. That covers everything in this guide. If your endgame adventure hasn't started yet, why not use this guide to jump right in?