Why Crafting Feels Broken in Path of Exile 2

Omens, Market Control, and a System That Doesn’t Work for Normal Players

Crafting in Path of Exile 2 technically exists—but for most players, it’s functionally inaccessible. While high-end crafting tools are present in the game, the reality is that they are priced and structured in a way that excludes the vast majority of the playerbase.

This article explains why PoE 2 crafting feels broken, how Omens created a distorted economy, and why simply adjusting drop rates does not solve the core issue.

The Reality of “True” Crafting in PoE 2

If you want to engage in real high-end crafting in PoE 2, the transcript makes one thing clear:

You need high-tier Omens.

Examples include:

• Omen of Whittling
• Omen of Sinisteration
• Omen of Exhilaration
• Omen of Sinister Anointment
• Omen of Dexterity Anointment

These Omens unlock the highest crafting potential in the game. Lower-end crafting options technically exist, but they do not compete with what these Omens enable.

The problem is not what these Omens do.
The problem is who can realistically use them.

The Cost Barrier: Crafting vs Buying

At the time referenced:

• Omen of Whittling ≈ 41 Divines

And crafting does not require one Omen—it requires several.

For a normal player, this creates an obvious decision:

• ❌ Use the Omen for crafting
• ✅ Sell it for ~40 Divines and buy the finished item

As a result:

Normal players do not craft with Omens. They sell them.

This shifts crafting away from gameplay and into pure market activity. For players managing currency flow rather than crafting, access to tools like PoE Divine Orbs becomes a way to participate economically instead of gambling on impossible crafts.

Who Is Actually Crafting With Omens?

According to the transcript, high-end Omen crafting is primarily done by:

• Players creating mirror-tier items
• Sellers charging mirror fees
• Market-controlling players

The argument made is blunt:

A large portion of PoE 2’s economy is driven by real-money trading behavior.

Whether you fully agree with that claim or not, the outcome is clear:

• A tiny group uses Omens as intended
• Everyone else treats them as trade goods

This raises a critical question:

Why does a core crafting system exist for only a handful of players?

“Make Them More Common” Doesn’t Work — And GGG Knows It

GGG previously increased Omen drop rates.
The result?

• Omens are still extremely expensive
• Market-controlling players simply buy more
• Availability for normal players did not improve

GGG’s own explanation (from an interview referenced in the transcript):

Increasing rarity doesn’t fix the problem because the same players will always corner the market.

This is an important admission.

Because it implies:

• The issue is not drop rates
• The issue is the system design itself

What This Says About the Crafting System

If:

• Increasing rarity doesn’t help
• Decreasing rarity doesn’t help
• Availability never improves

Then the conclusion is unavoidable:

The crafting system is fundamentally flawed.

When access to crafting power depends on tradeable items that:

• Are required in multiples
• Are extremely rare
• Are market-controlled

…then crafting becomes non-interactive for normal players.

At that point, improving your character through alternatives—such as PoE Improve Build—often makes more sense than engaging with a broken crafting loop.

Why Removing Old Tools Made Things Worse

The transcript highlights a critical regression:

• Omen of Homogenizing Exaltation was removed
• It previously allowed better high-end access
• Nothing meaningful replaced it

As a result:

• Lower-end crafting improved slightly
• High-end crafting became less accessible
• The same Omen problem repeated every season (0.1 → 0.4)

Only patch 0.3 felt less painful—and that was because lower-end crafting options were stronger, not because Omens were fixed.

The PoE 1 Comparison: A Working Model Already Exists

In Path of Exile 1:

• Meta-crafting is available to everyone
• The crafting bench provides fixed-cost options
• Divines act as a currency sink
• High-end crafting is rare—but accessible

In PoE 2:

• No equivalent deterministic system exists
• Omens act as tradeable meta-crafts
• Divines flow upward, not out of the economy

The result is less crafting, more trading, and a system that rewards market power over gameplay.

A Practical Solution (Not a Rant)

The transcript proposes a clear alternative:

• Introduce a crafting bench–style system
• Fixed costs (e.g. “Prefixes cannot be changed for X Divines”)
• Non-tradeable access to power
• Divines become a sink, not a ladder

Even if:

• The system is less deterministic
• Costs are high
• Power is limited

It would still be usable, which Omens currently are not.

For players who prefer predictable progression over speculative crafting, investing into PoE League Starter Builds or solid early setups remains the most reliable path.

Why This Matters Long-Term

PoE 2 has now gone four seasons with the same Omen issue.

Key problems remain:

• Crafting power exists but is unreachable
• Omens serve traders, not crafters
• Rarity adjustments don’t solve market control
• No replacement system has been added

Until this changes, crafting will continue to feel like something you sell, not something you do.

Final Thoughts

This isn’t about wanting everything to be cheap.
It’s about wanting crafting to exist as gameplay.

Right now:

• Omens are too rare to use
• Too powerful to ignore
• Too tradeable to balance
• And too central to crafting to remove without replacement

Until PoE 2 introduces non-market-dependent crafting tools, the system will continue to favor a few players—while the majority engage with crafting only through trade.

And that’s not a crafting system.
That’s a marketplace wearing crafting’s skin.