Path of Exile outlines its plans to make casters more active as it moves into the Synthesis expansion

For too long in Path of Exile, casting spells has been a sub-par path to being a caster. You’d think that would be, like… the most basic element of serving as a spellcaster, but passive trigger effects have long made casters want to do things other than cast spells, compounded by spells that took too long to cast and were thus fodder for using highly specialized effects. Ahead of the next expansion’s patch notes, the designers have explained the overall balance goals moving into the game’s next stage of play, which includes a shift away from the metagame of casters not, well, casting.

This has resulted in making triggered effects less potent as well as changing (and adding) several passive support options, putting more power in the hands of players making active use of skills. The balance changes also look at specific combinations of stats that were more powerful than intended along with rebalancing aspects like critical strike (which now has a minimum value of 0% instead of the previous 5%). Check out the full rundown for a top-level look at the design goals.