Instance Crashes

Sometimes when playing Path of Exile, you might find that;

• You get disconnected.
• Any portals to the map you had been in disappear.
• Some loot in your inventory may disappear.

These are telltale signs of an instance crash.

Path of Exile has databases & master servers in Texas, and instance servers scattered across the world in various locations. At various points while you play, the instance servers you connect to will trigger syncs with the infrastructure in Texas.

If an instance crash occurs, the instance server is not able to trigger a new sync - and so, there will be data loss causing anything that has happened between then and the most recent sync to, effectively, be "forgotten."

Some of the known triggers for a data sync include leveling up and changing zone. So you can think of portaling back to your Hideout as pressing a "save game" button that updates your save file, in a sense.

It's natural to want to find a fix for any instability you experience - unfortunately, server-side crashes are typically not responsive to any changes you make within Path of Exile's options menu, as those do not affect the server-side code.

Some people have reported that unequipping their MTX reduced the frequency of instance crashes they experience.

The most effective workaround is likely to be changing character. If a particular build is prone to causing instance crashes, then until GGG releases a patch to fix the instance crash, trying to avoid it might be the best option available.