Path of Exile 2 just released a patch adding "Unlucky drop protection," here's the patch notes

Path of Exile 2's first patch after the Early Access release has gone live, and the changes are already huge for the early-game experience. Specifically, the first few hours of the game will be much more rewarding for all players. Other than increasing the drop rate of Regal Orbs to make the transition from Magic to Rare crafting easier, there are some boss drop changes to ensure players don't get unlucky. The developers admitted the problem in a forum post detailing their patching plans for the immediate future:

"One of the major issues we have identified are outlier "unlucky" drops. A single Unique boss dropping badly, especially early on can significantly affect your character."

This patch, numbered 0.1.0c, has already gone live for all Path of Exile 2 players without a realm restart. That means if you've been playing the game for the past few hours, you should restart it now to receive the patch.

What are the major changes in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.1.0c?

Earlier, it was possible for you to get supremely unfortunate and have the first few bosses drop only Gold and crafting currency items which you can't leverage very well this early on. Now, they're guaranteed to drop one Rare item, and no more than 50% of their drop pool can be replaced with Gold.

While a bunch of the changes is dedicated to early-game players, there are some important things for those of you who are pushing Act 3 or Cruel. Namely, Lesser Jeweller's Orbs are more common now at the cost of reduced Artificer's Orb drops, so it's overall easier to get your Gem-links upgraded. On top of that, it's far easier to improve your Gem quality now: Gemcutter's Prisms drop five times as often as they used to, and each of them increases quality by 5% instead of 1%.

To learn more about all the changes, read the full patch notes below.

Full patch notes for Path of Exile 2 update 0.1.0c

Here's the patch notes as per the official documentation on Path of Exile forums:

Campaign bosses killed after the first kill will now drop less currency items, replacing them with other items.
Increased the drop rate of Regal Orbs.
Significantly increased the drop rate of Gemcutter's Prisms.
A single Gemcutter's Prism also improves the Quality of a Skill Gem by +5% (previously +1%).
Lowered the drop rate of Chaos Orbs and distributed it amongst the other more valued Currency Items (Like Regal Orbs, Exalted Orbs).
Lowered the drop rate of Artificer's Orbs and distributed it to Lesser Jeweller's Orbs.
Disenchanting Rare Items with 6 Modifiers now provides 2 Regal Shards (previously 1). The value displayed will still show as 1 until a later patch.
Increased the values of all Prefix Modifiers that can roll on Waystones. We've also adjusted the chances of getting the more commonly powerful Modifiers such as increases to Rarity and Pack Size.
Monster Modifiers now grant higher amounts of Item Rarity and Item Quantity. This is most common on Magic and Rare enemies, but also affects Unique Enemies if applied through various Endgame Mechanics like the Deadly Evolution Keystone.
Increased the chance for Rare Monsters in Maps to have 3 or 4 modifiers.
Rare Monsters in Map areas are now revealed on the minimap when there are 200 Monsters remaining (previously 50).
Fixed a bug where some Persistent Buff Skills, such as Raging Spirits and Mana Remnants, were not working for the Infernalist when in Demon Form.
Fixed a bug where you could sometimes be unable to interact with the Map Device in The Ziggurat Refuge.
Fixed a bug where Monsters Shattered in a Blood Circle Ultimatum Encounter were not contributing blood.
Fixed a bug that could cause the instance to permanently stop time (freeze) when trying to revive a Chronomancer.
Fixed a bug where Rare Monsters could not be found within the Chimeral Wetlands.
Fixed a bug where "Move only" was name-locking.
Fixed three instance crashes.
Fixed a client crash.

Check out our other guides on the game:

Path of Exile 2 Beginner tips
Path of Exile 2 Buff Gems guide
Path of Exile 2 class tier list for beginners
Path of Exile 2 Keystone passives