I was halfway through sorting my stash when Path of Exile 2 kicked me out for the 0.4.0d patch on January 15, 2026, and for once I didn't mind. If you've been living in Fate of the Vaal endgame, you'll know the grind can feel like it's daring you to blink. People are already chatting about gear plans and whether it's worth an Exalted Orb buy before prices swing again, but what I cared about was simple: does this update actually make running Temples less of a punishment.

Temple Runs Feel Less Cruel

The most noticeable change is the Temple experience after a death. Before 0.4.0d, getting clipped by Atziri or a nasty Architect combo could wipe the whole attempt in a way that felt out of step with the time you'd already sunk. Now the respawn rules behave more like what you'd expect from map portals, and it changes the mood immediately. You still pay for mistakes, sure, but it's not that "guess I'll start my evening over" feeling. There's also some welcome clarity in the Temple interface. Room placement and pathing read cleaner, so you're not squinting at the screen and second-guessing every click like you're defusing a bomb.

Why the Community's Split on It

Scroll through any forum thread and you'll see the same two arguments hitting each other. One crowd loves the quality-of-life angle: easier access to boss fights, fewer wasted runs, less friction. The other crowd thinks the patch is a bit thin for where Early Access is sitting right now. And I get that too. If the core Temple loop still feels slow, a nicer UI doesn't magically make it exciting. Some mechanics land as "busywork" more than "challenge," and that's where the heat comes from. It's not really about difficulty. It's about whether the game respects your time when you're already doing the long haul.

Builds, Clarity, and What Players Actually Want

On the gameplay side, the meta's still moving fast. I watched a Stormweaver clip earlier that basically erased elites before the screen could calm down, and it looked both amazing and slightly absurd. That's kind of PoE, isn't it. The important bit for me is clarity: being able to hover buffs and understand what just deleted you is massive. When deaths feel explainable, you queue back in. When they don't, you log off. If GGG keeps leaning into that—better reads, fewer "gotcha" moments—then even smaller patches like this start to feel like real progress.

Where I Land After a Few Runs

After a couple Temples, I'm not calling 0.4.0d a game-changer, but it's the sort of patch that quietly keeps people playing. Fewer hard resets means more attempts, more loot, more experimenting, and that feeds right back into the economy. If you're the type who'd rather spend time mapping than bargaining in trade chat, sites like U4GM can be handy for picking up currency or items quickly so you can get back to testing builds instead of babysitting listings.