Fate of the Vaal is one of those ideas that looks clean on a design doc, then lands in-game and feels weirdly out of place. You step into a map, you're trying to get into a groove, and then the game asks you to bail out, load into a separate zone, do a quick side job, and pop back where you were. In a faster ARPG, that might be a shrug-and-move-on moment. In Path of Exile 2, it sticks out, especially when you're already thinking about progress, drops, and stuff like PoE 2 Currency while planning your next few upgrades.

A Slow Game That Doesn't Like Detours
PoE 2 isn't trying to be PoE 1. It's heavier. You feel the weight in your movement, your dodges, the way fights take a bit of patience instead of pure speed. That can be great, honestly. The problem is the mechanic doesn't respect that pace. Leaving and re-entering a map isn't just a detour; it's a hard break. You lose your rhythm, your mental map, your "one more pack" momentum. And when you come back, you're not fired up. You're reorienting. Again. After a few runs, you start noticing the travel time more than the combat, which is the exact opposite of what the game's trying to sell.

In PoE 1, This Would've Been a Non-Issue
Drop this into the original game and it probably gets a pass. PoE 1 is built to absorb interruptions because everything is so quick: movement skills, mapping speed, the whole loop. You'd warp out, smash the side zone, warp back, and barely register the gap. In PoE 2, the same structure feels like friction on top of friction. The game already asks you to be deliberate, so a mechanic that keeps yanking you off your line doesn't feel like "variety." It feels like you're being slowed down twice: once by the core combat pacing, then again by the forced routing.

Endgame Motivation Isn't There Yet
This hits harder because the endgame still feels a bit unanchored. When there's a clear long-term target, players put up with plenty. You'll grind, you'll optimize, you'll tolerate some annoying steps because there's a big payoff on the horizon. Right now, a lot of people are building characters because it's fun to tinker, or because they're hoping the next piece of content gives the grind a sharper point. Without that north star, Fate of the Vaal starts to feel less like a cool side activity and more like a speed bump you didn't ask for.

What Players Actually Want From It
I don't think most players hate the Vaal theme or the idea of optional objectives. They just want it to match the game's cadence. Keep it in-map, let it flow from the route you're already on, or make the reward hit hard enough that you're happy to take the diversion. If the mechanic keeps its current "leave, load, return" shape, it needs to feel worth the interruption, especially for folks trying to stretch their time, stay motivated, and keep their builds moving without turning every session into a stop-start routine around PoE 2 Currency buy decisions in the middle of a map.Power through PoE 2’s toughest content with plentiful currency from U4GM, delivered quickly and always safely.