Grinding Gear Games (GGG) has released another early Balance Manifesto this time regarding Eldritch Altars and Maven Witness to Path of Exile 3.20 expansion, obviously it is going to be another controversial update. So I would like to discuss two aspects - cons and pros on this manifesto, and figure out what can we know in details.

Negative Side:

Let's go ahead and start off with the bad side, GGG is nerfing the number of scarabs that Altars will drop. Noting that currently Altar farming is just too rewarding when compared with any out-of-map strategy.

GGG is also nerving the number of Eldritch influenced monsters that spawn in maps. Previously Eldritch influenced Maps would always spawn in 60 packs of additional monsters, however they will now spawn anywhere from 20 to 60 packs, for an average of 40 packs per map instead. They said that this was done in an attempt to make boss rewards from Altars more appealing, as if you have a low number of influence packs in a map or buy POE Currency before, you're not getting as much out of choosing pack options at the Altar whereas a boss reward is static and consistent. GGG is also going to be buffing boss rewards, but we'll talk about that a little bit later when we get good changes.

Finally GGG is also nerfing the Wrath of the Cosmos - Keystone, which previously there is a 25% chance per Eldritch currencies to be duplicated, as long as per Eldritch Altar activated in a map, while also increasing the 25% damage taken by players. Now it has been changed to give Eldritch Altars a 50% chance at an additional upside, while increasing their downside by 100 percent. This also will now affect searing exarch influence maps and Eldritch Gaze.

Personally I have mixed feelings about this change. First and foremost, I believe this will have a huge impact on the Icarus and Embers Market, as in previous leagues Embers were only a tad more expensive when compared to lesser ones, this was mostly due to the fact that players were farming Wrath of the Cosmos Altar strategies with such high efficient. However with this upgrade perk gone, there will be a lot more of the less POE Currency being introduced into the game, and Grand Currency is going to become far more scarce at the end of the day. I'd expect Lesser Currency to be a similar price to what they've always been, or perhaps just a tad cheaper. But Grand currency will become very expensive which making it much more costly to achieve tier VI influences on your gear, and sometimes you have to spend your money to get extra Path of Exile 3.20 currency items from other sellers like POECurrency.com.

Thus on the other hand, as someone who doesn't enjoy dying every map, and tries very hard to make builds tanky enough to survive in most mapping encounters, I am a bit relieved that old Wrath of the Cosmos is gone. It was such an oppressive meta that it felt like it needed to be incorporated into every single mapping strategy. Tons of people like me actually didn't enjoy Wrath of the Cosmos gameplay, or find it fun to participate in, it was just a mandatory mapping that everyone has to do. So I personally think that this overwhelming nerfing is going to be healthy for at least my longevity of the game.

Positive Side:

Changing tones here a little bit, let's take a look at the good side. In my opinion GGG is removing some of the worst types of rewards from Altars. They're going to be removing duplicating gems, influenced items, unique items, gems and maps. Theoretically you could get a duplicated enlightened gem or have a Headhunter drop from the unique items, however the odds of this happening are incredibly low, and they don't really make for consistent profit.

Influenced items drops are almost always bad, and while Maps sound good on paper, maps from Eldritch influence monsters didn't respect map bonuses drop rate. If I recall correctly, you would get a guardian map or a synthesized map sometimes, but for the most part, map Altars were kind of bad.

But don't worry, GGG is keeping in map currency, which was one of the better Altar Rewards. GGG is going to be separating basic PoE 3.20 The Forbidden Sanctum Currency out, so you'll have a better idea of what you're going to be getting.

For example instead of it saying Eldritch Minion gain a 2.4 chance to drop an additional basic currency item, it'll probably say something like Eldritch Minion gain a 0.1 chance to drop an additional Divine orb, and these specific rewards are going to be farming target.

As a part of this overhaul they have removed the ability for junk currency, like Augmentations, Transmutations, Whetstones and Armorer Scraps, which to be offered by Altars. It is pretty good change because it felt like a lot of times when you got basic currency rewards, you just get a lot of garbage as well.

GGG is also going to be buffing the loot offered by map Altars Boss, to bring it closer in line with minion Rewards next up. While Scarab drop rates have been nerfed from Altars, GGG has given us something else. I think we've all really wanted for a long time the ability to upgrade scarabs at a ratio of three to one. If you're sitting on a ton of useless rusted scarabs you can convert them all into polished, and then again into gilded. But you'll have to keep in mind it will take nine rusted scarabs to create one gilded scarab. But I doubt it in addition to this change, GGG is adding rusted scarabs to the core drop pool to help offset the loss of scarabs from Altars.

Finally in an effort to make Maven influence more competitive with Altar farming, GGG is adding a chance for Maven Witness map bosses to drop an awakened gem. This change is very strong but I'm not sure it will make up for the fact that you still need to bounce around between 10 maps to complete a Maven invitation, whereas with Eldritch influence you can just farm your favorite map.

That's going be it for today's guide, while there were some very heavy nerfings, there is a lot to look forward to as well and I'm personally looking forward to seeing what else GGG has in store for 3.20 anyway thank you for watching good luck with your league.