Introduction:
You were all set to spend the night grinding maps, making your perfect build, or working on endgame stuff when your connection suddenly stopped working. Is your internet down? Are there problems with the pathofexile servers? Or is there something else that keeps you from going to Wraeclast?
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have spent hundreds or even thousands of hours playing Path of Exile. If you’re having trouble connecting, it might save you a lot of time and trouble to know if the problem is with your computer or the game servers. This whole guide will teach you everything you need to know about checking the status of a server, figuring out why your connection isn’t working, and getting back into the game as soon as possible.
Understanding Path of Exile’s Server Infrastructure
Path of Exile runs on a network of realm servers that are located all over the world. Grinding Gear Games has dedicated servers in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America so that players from all over the world can easily connect.
In each realm, there are a number of gateway servers that connect players, make instances, and keep game data in sync. Path of Exile may have localized outages that only affect some areas while other areas keep running normally. This is because of its distributed design.
The game uses a permanent online connection method, which means that your client and the game servers must always be able to talk to each other. The game is still on server-side instances even when you’re playing by yourself. This is why it’s so important to have a stable connection, whether you’re playing alone or with a group.
How to Check if Path of Exile Is Currently Down
Official Status Channels
The best way to check if a server is up is to go to the official Grinding Gear Games channels. There is a page on the official Path of Exile website just for server status. It shows real-time information about all realm gates.
The path of exile Twitter account also lets you know what’s going on in real time during outages, maintenance, and emergency downtime. The development team talks to the community through this channel on a regular basis, letting them know when they can expect services to be back up and running and why they are down.
Community Resources and Third-Party Monitoring
There are a lot of community-made tools that let you see your server in real time. Websites like DownDetector collect information from users to find out about extensive outages and present maps of outages that indicate where connection difficulties are happening.
The Path of Exile subreddit (r/pathofexile) is not official, but it is a great way to find out what’s going on with the game. When the server has problems, the subreddit gets a lot of complaints right away, which shows that the problems are widespread.
When Reddit is down, discussions often have useful information like:
- Areas and doors that were affected
- Messages that other players are getting about mistakes
- Ways to get back online that might work
- Responses and thanks from official developers
Using In-Game Gateway Selection
Path of Exile’s gateway selection screen shows how much lag there is on each server that is available. If your chosen gateway is slow or doesn’t respond at all, it could be because the server in that area is having problems.
If you test more than one gateway, you might be able to tell if the problems are with a specific server or with the whole network. If all of your gateways are having trouble connecting, it’s likely that the problem is with your local network or ISP and not with the pathofexile servers.
Common Causes of Path of Exile Downtime
Scheduled Maintenance and Patch Deployments
Grinding Gear Games takes regular breaks to add new content, fix bugs, and make balance changes. Major league debuts and expansion releases usually need a lot of downtime, which can last from two to six hours.
The development team tells people about planned maintenance at least 24 hours in advance through official channels. Most of the time, these maintenance periods happen when most of the players aren’t playing. However, since the game is played all over the world, there is always someone whose prime gaming time is affected.
This is what patch deployment timelines usually look like:
- Big Expansions: 4 to 8 hours of downtime
- League Launches: 2 to 4 hours of downtime
- Minor patches: can take anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes of downtime.
- Hotfixes: can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes of downtime.
Unexpected Server Outages
Unplanned downtime happens less often, but it’s more annoying since you don’t know it’s coming. You might have to do emergency maintenance if your hardware breaks down, your network infrastructure has problems, or you find a serious bug.
When a big league starts, Pathofexile servers can have trouble with too many players at once. This could lead to problems with queuing systems, creating instances, and being locked out for a short time. These issues on launch day usually go away in 12 to 24 hours as the development team adds more infrastructure and fixes problems that slow things down.
DDoS Attacks and Security Incidents
Path of Exile, like many other well-known online games, is often the target of distributed denial-of-service attacks. These bad attempts to overload servers with traffic could make the game temporarily unavailable.
Grinding Gear Games has spent a lot of money on DDoS protection, but sometimes advanced attacks get past these defenses. The company doesn’t often talk about security issues that come up during live events, but it usually does once they are fixed to be honest with the community.
Troubleshooting Connection Issues on Your End
Network Diagnostics You Can Perform
You can check your local connection by doing some tests before you assume that the pathofexile servers are down. These tips for fixing things will help you figure out if the problems are with your internet connection or the game server.
To begin, check your overall internet connection by visiting other websites and using other online services. If everything works, the problem is either with Path of Exile’s servers or with your connection to them.
Basic troubleshooting steps include:
- Restarting your router and modem
- Testing with a physical Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi
- Temporarily disabling VPN services
- Looking for background downloads that are taking up bandwidth
- Looking to see if your firewall is blocking the game client
Port Forwarding and Firewall Configuration
Path of Exile needs some network ports to be open for the best connection. Even when servers are working normally, connections might not happen if the firewall settings are too strict or the ports are closed.
TCP and UDP ports between 6112 and 6119 are used most of the time in the game. You might be able to fix your connection problems by setting up your router to give these ports to your gaming device.
At times, Windows Firewall and other security programs stop Path of Exile from connecting to the internet. Adding PathOfExile.exe and PathOfExileSteam.exe to the list of exceptions makes sure that security software doesn’t stop gaming connections.
Client-Side File Verification and Repairs
Sometimes, broken game files cause connections to fail, which looks like the server is down. The standalone Path of Exile client may have a built-in tool for checking files in the options menu.
People who use Steam can check the integrity of their game files by going to the properties menu on the platform. This process checks installed files against approved versions and fixes any that are broken on its own.
You might have to uninstall and then reinstall the game client if problems keep happening. This process takes a long time because Path of Exile’s file size is almost 30GB right now, but a clean installation fixes problems that won’t go away with damaged installs.
Understanding Error Messages and What They Mean
Common Connection Error Codes
Path of Exile gives you specific error messages that could help you figure out why your connection isn’t working.
You can tell if the problem is with your computer or the pathofexile servers by looking at these signals.”Failed to Connect to Instance” usually means that the game server got your request to connect but couldn’t make the instance you wanted.
This happens a lot when a lot of people are using the instance servers and they are almost full.”An Unexpected Disconnection Occurred” means that your connection to the game server dropped out of nowhere.
This could happen because of problems with your ISP, your local network, or the server that you’re connecting to.”Login Server Unavailable” means that something is wrong with the server. If the authentication servers are down, no one can play the game, no matter how their network is set up.
Authentication and Login Issues
Sometimes, issues with logging in happen even when the game server is stable. The authentication mechanism works on its own, apart from the realm servers. This means that you may not be able to log in even if the game is running well for players who are already connected.
Problems with two-factor authentication, security flags on accounts, and database maintenance may all stop people from logging in. These problems usually only impact certain accounts, not all of the players.
Staying Updated During Extended Outages
Official Communication Channels
During major outages, Grinding Gear Games stays in touch with players in a number of ways. The official forum usually gets a lot of updates about problems that are still happening and how long it will take to fix them.
People in the area like how honest the company is about tech problems. Developers often share technical details about problems with the infrastructure, which helps gamers understand how hard it is to keep up with big online gaming services.
Community Discord Servers and Forums
Unofficial community sites let people talk to each other in real time, even when things are going wrong. Path of Exile Discord servers give players a place to talk about the game, guess what might have gone wrong, and let off steam about not being able to play.
These community areas also do important things when the server is acting up. Players talk about which gates are still open, offer solutions to some issues, and set up tests to help find patterns in problems.
Regional Server Status and Gateway Selection
Optimal Gateway Selection for Performance
Users of Path of Exile can choose their own gateways, which lets them pick servers that work best for them. The game tells you how long it takes each gateway to respond, which helps you pick the best ones.
Being close to each other doesn’t always mean you’ll do better. Things like bad routing, ISP peering agreements, and server load in different parts of the world can all affect how good your connection is. You might find that all of the nearby gates work differently than you thought when you test them all.
Sometimes, players can get better stability by choosing gateways that are a little farther away but connected to more reliable network paths. Trying out different gateways can help you find the one that gives your network the best balance of low latency and a reliable connection.
Cross-Region Play Considerations
You can play Path of Exile on any global gateway, but the game is less fun to play when there is a lot of lag. When latency is more than 200 milliseconds, it gets harder to play builds that need a lot of action.
You have to play across regions when your local servers are down. When there are problems in your area, knowing the pros and cons of higher latency and continuing to play can help you make good decisions.
Server Status Comparison Table
| Outage Type | Average Duration | Advance Notice | Frequency | Impact Level |
| Scheduled Maintenance | 2-6 hours | 24+ hours | Monthly | All regions |
| League Launch | 2-4 hours | 1+ week | Quarterly | All regions |
| Emergency Hotfix | 15-60 minutes | None | As needed | All regions |
| Regional Outage | 1-3 hours | None | Rare | Single region |
| DDoS Attack | Variable | None | Very rare | Variable |
What to Do While Servers Are Down
Productive Alternatives for Path of Exile Players
You can do things that make your pathofexile experience better even when the server is down. It’s helpful to set aside time to focus on planning your next character build, finding the best skill gem pairings, and learning more about advanced crafting skills.
The Path of Exile community makes a lot of helpful things, like guides for building characters, ways to make money, and explanations of how the game works. When you have some free time, it’s the best time to learn this stuff without having to “just run one more map.”
Path of Building is a character planning tool that the community made. You can use it to do a lot of theorycrafting when you’re not playing. You could spend hours getting ready for your next character by trying out different passive tree allocations, looking at gear options, and figuring out where to deal damage.
Community Content and Entertainment
You can catch up on Path of Exile content developers when you’re not playing. Streamers put videos on YouTube that show everything from how to start a league to how to kill bosses in unique builds.
The official Path of Exile podcast and developer Q&A sessions give players a behind-the-scenes look at how the game is made and what’s coming up. These tools help players understand how mechanics work together and make better decisions about how to level up their characters.
Mobile Options for Monitoring Server Status
Apps and Notifications
A number of third-party mobile apps send push notifications when pathofexile servers go down or come back up. These features are very useful for gamers who don’t have a lot of time to play and want to know right away when maintenance is over.
You can get updates right away on your phone if you set up Twitter’s mobile app to send alerts for posts from @pathofexile. This makes sure you get important information about long outages or problems that happen when you’re not at your computer.
Browser-Based Mobile Monitoring
You can check official status sites and community information on your phone’s browser when you’re not at your gaming marketing. You can quickly check the status of important resources by bookmarking them, which saves you from having to go to many different sites.
Historical Server Stability and Improvements
Infrastructure Evolution Over Time
A lot has changed in the game’s server architecture since Path of Exile came out in 2013. There were a lot of problems with stability in the beginning. Big content updates would crash the servers, which would mean hours of downtime.
Grinding Gear Games has spent a lot of money on improving its infrastructure. Tencent’s 2018 purchase gave them the cash they needed to make big changes to their servers. This made league debuts much more stable and cut down on the number of unexpected outages.
This time of year, big expansions have gone smoothly so far, which is a first. There is no such thing as a perfect launch, but the pattern shows that infrastructure capacity and the development team’s experience with big deployments are getting better.
Community Perception and Developer Response
Most people in the Path of Exile community believe that Grinding Gear Games is open and helpful when it comes to fixing technical issues. There will always be technical problems, but the development team’s willingness to admit when things go wrong and give detailed explanations has made people feel more confident.
During the hard launch of the Metamorph league, when developers talked to each other, this was clear. The team gave daily updates, released a lot of hotfixes, and extended the league to make up for the problems with performance that happened in the first week.
Frequently Asked Questions
1: How can I tell if my connection is down or if Path of Exile is down?
Check the official pathofexile Twitter account and server status site first. Try different websites and online services if they work but you can’t connect. If everything else works but Path of Exile doesn’t, try switching to a different gateway server in the game. DownDetector and the Path of Exile subreddit are two community sites that also show when a lot of people are having problems right away.
2: Do I lose my character or items if I disconnect because of server problems?
No, Path of Exile keeps characters on the server, so all progress is always saved. Your character stays in the instance for a few seconds after you disconnect while fighting. They could die if there are enemies nearby. But you won’t lose any of the items in your inventory or stockpile, and your mission progress will stay the same.
3: Why do you have to be online to play Path of Exile by yourself?
The game’s design does all of the math on the server side to stop cheating and keep the economy stable. This design choice stops players from cheating by copying items, changing stats, and other things that happen in games with client-side character storage. This needs a constant connection, but it keeps the game’s balance and fair trade economy.
4: How long does it take to do regular maintenance?
For small patches, maintenance periods happen every 15 to 60 minutes. It takes 2 to 4 hours for big content updates and 4 to 8 hours for expansion launches. Most emergency hotfixes take less than 30 minutes to do. The development team gives time estimates when they announce planned maintenance.
5: Can I play on servers in a different region if my servers are down?
Yes, Path of Exile lets you connect to any regional gateway, no matter where your account came from. You can still get to your account, characters, and things from any server. But if you play far away from where you are, you can expect more latency, which will slow down how quickly you can respond in battle and change your overall experience.
6: If I’m the only one having trouble connecting, what should I do?
Before you do anything else, make sure your internet connection works with other services. Shut down your router and gaming device. Try connecting to other pathofexile gateway servers. Check to see if your firewall or antivirus software is stopping the game. Use the client or Steam to check the game files. If you’re still having problems, post the exact error messages and network settings you’re getting in the official technical help thread.
Conclusion:
Knowing how to tell if pathofexile servers are down or if your connection is bad can be very helpful. This will save you a lot of trouble and time. Using official status channels, community resources, and systematic diagnostic methods, you can quickly find problems and fix them.
Server downtime is a normal part of online gaming, even though it can be annoying. Grinding Gear Games has always been honest about things, worked on its infrastructure, and fixed problems quickly. The game’s stability has gotten a lot better over the ten years it has been around. It’s easier now than ever for new leagues to start up.
Save this guide as a bookmark and follow the steps in order if you have connection problems again. First, look at official channels. Second, check your local connection. Third, check community resources for up-to-date information. Most importantly, keep in mind that the Path of Exile community loves the game as much as you do and is always ready to help you with any technical issues you may have.
