High-end crafting in POE currency has always been a defining pillar of the game. For years, it represented depth, mastery, and long-term progression. But in its current state—especially in Path of Exile 2—the crafting system exposes a serious problem, and at the center of it all are Omens.
If you want to engage in true high-end crafting, there's no debate: you need Omens. Not basic crafting tools. Not essences. Not lower-tier systems. The real ceiling is locked behind items like Omen of Whittling, Omen of Sinister Anointment, Omen of Exhilaration, and similar top-tier Omens. These are the tools that unlock maximum crafting potential.
The problem? Almost no one can actually use them.
Omens Exist—But Not for Normal Players
Let's be honest. When a single Omen of Whittling costs over 40 Divines, the crafting system is no longer designed for the average player. A normal player doesn't find one of these Omens and think, “Great, time to craft.” They think, “Great, I just made 39 Divines.”
And that says everything.
If an item is so rare and expensive that its optimal use is never to use it for its intended purpose, then the system has failed. For the vast majority of the player base, Omens don't exist as crafting tools—they exist as trade currency.
Who Is Actually Crafting With Omens?
This raises the uncomfortable but unavoidable question: who is actually using these Omens?
The answer is simple. A very small group of players crafting near-perfect items—items that sell for hundreds of Divines or are mirrored for profit. And a significant portion of that group consists of real money traders.
This isn't speculation. Market behavior makes it obvious. Streamers can influence trends temporarily, but they don't control supply at this scale. The economy is being driven by players who can consistently buy out rare crafting materials regardless of price.
And when developers openly admit that increasing Omen drop rates doesn't help because the same players just buy them all anyway, it confirms the issue.
Rarity Isn't the Problem—Design Is
That statement reveals something critical: rarity is not the core issue. The item itself is.
If changing rarity has no impact on accessibility, then the system fundamentally does not work. It means:
Market cornering is allowed
Crafting power is concentrated
Normal players are excluded by design
And worse, this problem has existed across multiple seasons. It's not new. It wasn't solved by making Omens more common. It wasn't solved by removing Omen of Homogenizing Exaltation—a removal that actively made crafting worse without offering a replacement.
Crafting Should Be a System, Not a Market Gamble
In Path of Exile 1, high-end crafting worked because meta-crafting was accessible. Rare currencies existed, but the framework—the crafting bench—was available to everyone. It also served as a Divine sink, stabilizing the economy while giving players agency.
PoE 2 removed that foundation and replaced it with a system where:
The strongest tools require multiple ultra-rare items
Those items are monopolized
The average player is locked out completely
That's not depth. That's exclusion.
A Simple Solution Already Exists
The solution isn't complicated. It already existed.
Give players a deterministic system—whether it's a crafting bench, a tree, or any other interface—with fixed Divine costs. If Omens are too powerful, nerf them and move their effects into a controlled system. Make players use currency, not gamble against the market.
It doesn't even need to be perfectly deterministic. It just needs to be accessible.
Right now, Omens serve no real purpose for most of the player base. They are lottery tickets sold to someone else. That's not crafting.
Final Thoughts
If a crafting system only functions for a handful of players—and many of them are real money traders—then it doesn't matter how powerful it is. It has already failed.
Crafting should be aspirational, not mythical.
Rare doesn't mean unreachable.
Powerful doesn't mean monopolized.
buy POE exalted orbs has solved this problem before. The fact that it hasn't solved it again is the real issue.
Fix it. Rework it. Replace it.
Because right now, high-end crafting doesn't belong to Path of Exile's community—it belongs to the market.
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