Path of Exile 2 is getting a small but potentially economy-shaping change in its 0.5 update, Return of the Ancients: Divine Orbs will drop more often. Grinding Gear Games says the tweak is meant to make league-to-league comparisons less clean, after a recent seasonal strategy in Fate of the Vaal pushed Divine Orb counts unusually high.
What’s changing in 0.5
Divine Orbs sit near the center of Path of Exile 2’s trade and crafting economy. Players use them to reroll the values of item modifiers without changing the modifiers themselves, and they also act as a common reference point when comparing farming methods and rewards.
In Return of the Ancients, GGG is increasing their drop rate. The studio says the goal is not to flood the game with currency, but to make Divine Orb totals less useful as a direct comparison between leagues.
Why GGG is doing it
The timing is tied to what happened in the previous league. Fate of the Vaal let players generate very large numbers of Divine Orbs through a specific “snaking” strategy in the Temple seasonal mechanic, and that mechanic is being brought into the core game in 0.5 with a targeted nerf.
That left GGG expecting a lot of “how many Divines per hour” comparisons between leagues. Raising the drop rate is one way to blunt that, even if the studio admits the reasoning is a little unusual.
How much more common?
Don’t expect Divine Orbs to become trivial loot. GGG says they are not dropping “like candy,” just enough more often that they no longer map cleanly to the old league-wide comparisons players like to make.
In practical terms, that means:
- Divine Orbs should feel a bit easier to find overall.
- They remain important for endgame crafting and trading.
- Old farming comparisons may be less meaningful after the update.
- The change is happening alongside broader loot adjustments across the game.
What players should know
The main takeaway is that GGG is trying to reset expectations around one of Path of Exile 2’s most important currencies. Between the Divine Orb drop adjustment and the nerf to the old Temple strategy, the studio is clearly aiming to make Return of the Ancients play differently from Fate of the Vaal.
Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients launches on Friday, May 29.
Source
Source: PCGamesN