What I Think Is the Tower Problem (and How to Fix It)

When I, as a player, reach the endgame, what I want — and I think many others feel the same — is to explore the Atlas, look for unique maps, find citadels, and push toward endgame content. Finding citadels, unlocking new areas, and gaining loot are all part of that excitement.

There is one part of this loop that’s currently designed around towers, and it conflicts with the rest of the endgame goals. That part is loot. To optimize loot — or even without trying to optimize — when a player finds a tower, they’ll insert some tablets and suddenly stop exploring the Atlas to just farm that region. And when we’re talking about optimized farm strategies, it gets worse. Players look for 2 or 3 overlapping towers, juice that area, and then stop for hours just farming, without exploring the rest of the world, finding citadels, or chasing unique maps.

My Proposed Solution

Towers can still exist, and they still give vision on the Atlas.

But now, each tower has only one tablet slot. Tablets just add league mechanics, maybe like how they work now — or something like:

- “The next X maps in range of this tower contain Y league mechanic.”


Then introduce a new item with modifiers maybe called "Soul Cores". At the bottom of the Atlas screen, there’s a new interface to place these "Soul Cores".

- One slot unlocks at the start of endgame
- A second slot unlocks at Atlas level 15
- A third slot unlocks at Atlas level 30
- Soul Cores last for X maps

Corrupted zones can drop "Corrupted Soul Cores" with unique modifiers, and Cleansing Zones can drop "Cleansed Soul Cores". This keeps the loot and map system interesting without locking players into one region just because of towers.

Bosses and Runes

I’d also like to propose a boss at each tower, which drops a special Rune — something that can only be obtained by doing towers.

I understand that Runes were implemented in Path of Exile 2 as a replacement for crafting benches, and I think that’s a solid direction. What I’m suggesting is to expand on that idea — right now it feels like the system is missing more powerful, endgame-focused runes.

For example, runes with effects like:

- +25% Physical Damage and +5% Bleed Chance
- Or +20% Movement Speed and +10% chance to gain Onslaught on Kill

These could scale in power depending on the Waystone used to access the tower. It would make tower content more rewarding.

Also, please add movement speed runes to the campaign — early on, there's no reliable way to fix the lack of move speed, and runes would be a good way to smooth out that gap without relying on RNG.


Waystone Affix Suggestion
Lastly, I want to propose a change to how Waystone affixes work.

I think every affix should come with both an upside and a downside, so players don’t only focus on stacking prefixes. Right now, it’s too easy to cherry-pick only the best modifiers. If each one had a cost (even a small one), it would add depth and decision-making to tower and waystone management.

Waystone Affix Suggestion
Lastly, I want to propose a change to how Waystone affixes work.

I think every affix should come with both an upside and a downside, so players aren’t just stacking prefixes. Right now, it’s too easy to cherry-pick only the best modifiers, which limits build variety and depth.

If each affix had a trade-off it would make Waystone management more interesting, adding real decision-making to the system. It would also help make endgame loot more accessible for newer players who don’t realize that stacking prefixes is currently the optimal farming strategy. Making the system more transparent and balanced would improve both depth for veterans and clarity for newcomers.