32:9 Support Is Not Cheating — It’s Player Choice

I’m writing this as a long-time Path of Exile player and supporter who is genuinely disappointed by the decision to restrict 32:9 ultrawide support in PoE 2.

This isn’t about trying to gain an unfair advantage — it’s about player experience, accessibility, and consistency with the game’s design philosophy.

32:9 is not fundamentally different from 21:9.
If additional horizontal view were inherently “cheating,” the line would have been drawn long ago. There is no meaningful breakpoint where acceptable visibility suddenly becomes exploitative — especially in a PvE-focused ARPG.

PoE is not a precision PvP game, and balance is not dictated by aspect ratio.
Player power comes from build knowledge, mechanical execution, and decision-making. Seeing slightly more on the horizontal axis does not invalidate encounters or trivialize content.

If this restriction exists for race or competitive parity, the tradeoff is backwards.
Race modes represent a tiny fraction of the playerbase — well under 1% — yet this decision negatively impacts everyone using ultrawide displays in the main game. Designing the default experience around edge-case competitive scenarios forces 99% of players to accept a worse experience for a problem that barely exists.

If race integrity is the concern, then race-specific restrictions make sense. Applying those same constraints to the entire playerbase does not.

The downside is real and constant for affected players.

Forced black bars:
- Break immersion
- Increase eye strain
- Waste expensive screen real estate
- Make modern hardware feel actively worse than older setups
- This doesn’t level the playing field — it simply degrades usability.

Accessibility and ergonomics matter.
Many players use ultrawide monitors for comfort, reduced eye movement, and the overall cinematic experience. That’s not power — that’s usability.

Hardware advantages already exist and always have.
Higher refresh rates, faster CPUs, better GPUs, clearer panels, better peripherals — PoE has never attempted to equalize these, nor should it. Singling out aspect ratio feels arbitrary and inconsistent with that philosophy.

As someone who has spent significant money supporting Path of Exile because I believed in its respect for player choice, this decision is frustrating. It feels like a step backward for no meaningful gameplay benefit.

I genuinely hope this is reconsidered.

ALSO: If the concern is competitive integrity, then apply restrictions where competition actually exists (bots/trading/etc). Designing the base game around race conditions harms far more players than it helps.

games have restrictions, is what it is

just swap to a normal monitor (your fps would be better anyway)

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tdonov5#2743 wrote:

games have restrictions, is what it is

just swap to a normal monitor (your fps would be better anyway)

You must now stand on your head while playing POE2.

The game has restrictions, it is what it is.

Just concentrate less, you won't have so much of a headache. If your feet get cold around the time your massive migraine sets in, just get some warmer socks.

The parade of idiocy on this forum never ceases to amaze.

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shubbs2#7076 wrote:

This isn’t about trying to gain an unfair advantage

I thought the issue was that the enemies were already drawn but inactive, and the player shouldn't be aware of enemies until they are active. Ultrawide support is possible, but it requires spending the compute to activate enemies that are offscreen for most players, while people are already complaining about offscreen one-shots.

GGG might be working on it, but it isn't just a graphical change. It would require a rebalance.

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DistributedAutomaton#5739 wrote:

GGG might be working on it, but it isn't just a graphical change. It would require a rebalance.

There is nothing balanced about this game.

Attack classes are better than spell casing classes, except for the one or two spell casting classes who erase the whole screen in seconds if they have a certain threshold of gear.

Melee classes are worse than all classes, except for the one with its own oneshot mechanic that can also aoe clear while never running out of combo points.

What would you say is balanced in this game now?

Let's be honest, beyond a certain level of gear no one even pays attention to mobs, except for the ones known to drop facturing orbs, heart of the well jewels, and omens of light.

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xayd#4454 wrote:

What would you say is balanced in this game now?

I can think of a few ascendancies that are equally strong in different ways. Disciple of Varashta might be the strongest minion build. Oracle might have the greatest diversity of strong builds. Pathfinder might allow for the most creativity, probably we don't know all the builds there yet. Bloodmage best clear speed.

Personally, I like finding ways to make underused ascendancies work. I was successful with Gemling Legionnaire. I've been trying now with Chayula, but I'm probably going to abandon that character. Acolyte of Chayula is an ascendancy that seems underpowered, at least at my skill level. A stronger player might have better ideas.

Apologies to the OP for the off-topic response.

It was a rhetorical question. Nothing in this game is balanced now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5cuxsxdfhE

A 32:9 monitor is not made for ARPG Games, maybe simulator games.

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DistributedAutomaton#5739 wrote:

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shubbs2#7076 wrote:

This isn’t about trying to gain an unfair advantage

I thought the issue was that the enemies were already drawn but inactive, and the player shouldn't be aware of enemies until they are active. Ultrawide support is possible, but it requires spending the compute to activate enemies that are offscreen for most players, while people are already complaining about offscreen one-shots.

GGG might be working on it, but it isn't just a graphical change. It would require a rebalance.

I have a 16:9 27” screen and I play in a wide window mode. Why? Because I hate to have the camera do tight that my char uses a big part of the screen.
The camera is too close.
Most of the bosses have part of them out of the screen because they are big and the camera is too close.
The bosses arenas don’t fit in the screen because, and say it with me, the camera is too close.
Some mobs that swarm you stay out of the screen because… you know.

The removal of 32:9 is a choice from GGG, not because “it would need more server power to count for the extra mobs” as they said but because they want to make you suffer and that’s why they don’t put the camera further away.
There is no issue with the amount of mobs since you have simulacrum packed with them.
There is no issue with “gaining a unfair advantage” because what is the advantage? To see that there are more mobs around? Of course there are and guess what, since you see them they become active so there’s more of them trying to hit you.

GGG…

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i1332v#2731 wrote:

A 32:9 monitor is not made for ARPG Games, maybe simulator games.

Last Epoch supports this the definition of a modern ARPG, I don't count Diablo 4 because blizzard isn't a modern gaming company. GGG by all rights is they should be able to accommodate for modern needs. Its ridiculous in 2026.