Lake of Kalandra showcases a lot of updates that have changed several aspects of how the game works. Aside from introducing the Mirror of Kalandra terminals and map, one of the most significant changes is PoE Divine Orb’s take over as the premium currency in the game. Will the change make any difference?

Divine Orbs Versus Exalted Orbs in PoE

While Exalted Orbs have been the top currency throughout the years, Divine Orbs remained at the sidelines as another end-game modification. Exalted Orbs got its premium status due to how important and valuable it is rather than how rare the actual loot is. In fact, Divine Orbs are much harder to acquire due to their limited sources.

The main similarity between these two is that they both have the same drop rate from slaying mobs. However, this is where the resemblance ends. Gamers have tons of sources where they can get Exalted Orbs. These include several Divination Cards and a few vendor recipes, ensuring players can farm this token effectively.

Divine Orbs, on the other hand, have very select sources where Exiles can get them. Aside from loot, players can only acquire this currency from The Sepiroth Divination card and by selling a six-link item to a Vendor. This situation technically makes Divines rarer than Exalted Orbs. However, players do attest that the latter is much harder to get since its vendor recipes are much more difficult to get.

Divine Orbs as the New King of PoE Currencies

For the Lake of Kalandra League, GGG is giving the premium status of the Exalted Orbs to Divine Orbs. This will essentially make the latter the primary currency used for trading. The recent rates have already shown how much Exalted has dropped, with this token currently sitting at 10c per piece. Meanwhile, Divines are now worth 100c and above.

Aside from this change in standard trading, developers have also made several changes to Divine Orbs, which make them harder to get. Previously, players get this currency from selling their six-linked items to Vendors. In the current League, the reward for this recipe has been replaced with Orb of Fusing. This means that gamers can only acquire Divines from farming or through the Sepiroth Card.

Divine Orbs will also be replacing Exalted in their role in metacrafting. Previously, Exalted was used in the crafting bench to create tons of big, high-value items. In Kalandra, this currency has been downgraded to be used for creating minor and much smaller gear, while Divine Orbs will be used for making big and powerful crafts.

Why the Change in Currency Rarity?

In previous Leagues, Exalted Orbs have been the de-facto king of PoE currencies since they are the primary tokens used for trading. Their status as the economy-driving currency was due to how essential the item was. Aside from trading, Exalteds were mainly used for modifying gear to have a new random affix. This feature is an essential stage in metacrafting at the Path of Exile end-game phase.

Due to the premium status of Exalted Orbs, players use the currency as a trading tool rather than as modifiers. GGG has expressed its interest in making these tokens fulfill their original purpose of being used for modification. By removing the role of Exalted from trading and powerful crafting, it is assumed that this currency will be frequently used for improving existing gear.

Devs have also expressed their desire to make Unique Items more impactful. Since Divine Orbs will become rarer, gamers will have fewer chances to modify their Unique. Players should have an increased appreciation for getting items of these sorts with good mods.

What is the Impact of this Change in the Premium PoE Currency?

PoE Players have mixed feelings about this change in premiums due to the various effects that it will have on the in-game economy and other aspects. The most affected feature in the game would be the unique items. Unique Items have a pre-determined list of modifiers, which can only be augmented using Divine Orbs. Since this specific token will now be valued at a much higher rate and will become scarcer, players will have a harder time rerolling their Uniques. Getting a high-quality roll Unique item will feel more rewarding this time.

Another feature in the game that will be heavily affected is metacrafting. Many gamers, especially casuals, were satisfied with using Exalted Orbs for making their own gear since Unique items can be hard to come by. However, with the recent changes, Exiles will now need Divine Orbs for metacrafting and making their powerful gear. As mentioned earlier, Divine Orbs will become even rarer, so players will have very limited materials for creating equipment.

One slight but very annoying change will be related to trading itself. PoE’s inventory management is unique in way that you can only have a certain number of stacks of a specific item before it occupies another slot. This presents a problem in trading because players can only exchange a set number of currencies simultaneously. Since Divine Orbs are expected to quadruple in cost compared to the original price of Exalteds, Exiles might only be able to exchange one or two Divines per transaction.

Is this Change Bad for Path of Exile?

While GGG may have good intentions with these changes, the implications may not be positive. On paper, the effects of this update will make the game extremely difficult for casual players. This is because Exiles will have more difficulty getting and creating good gear. However, since we are in the early stages of this League, gamers can hope that developers will make more positive changes in the future.