Insanely long loading screens

Since the EA launch I have ETERNAL loading screens. We're talking 2-3 minute loading screens into town and 1-1:30 minute loading screens between areas/maps. I also have performance issues as of late, which I didn't have previously - 20 FPS in combat, monsters not loading in - If I run to the end of the area/fought for a while, somehow I gain 80 FPS and everything is smooth.

While the state of the game isn't my favorite, I'd love to be able to play more, but these loading screens actually drain me so much from wanting to play. I can't even trade, because by the time I get into my hideout, the guy has obviously just left because it takes so long.

Things I've tried on my end:
Re-installing the game on another drive
Deleting shader cache folders
Increasing shader cache to 100gb limit in Nvidia settings
DX11, DX12, Vulkan
Put PoE2 to high performance in Nvidia Control panel AND in Windows graphics settings
Verify integrity of game cache in Steam
Disabling shader pre-cache in Steam (Rebooted after, did nothing, so re-enabled)
Running the .exe file of PoE in Windows 8/7 Compatibility mode
Running as admin
Updated Nvidia drivers

None of these helped with performance or loading screen time.


I am always running without any background applications, at max I'll have Firefox open but no streams or videos running.
Haven't had any issues with newer games, besides just having to run on lower video options. Other games I've played recently with zero issues on the same rig: Tekken 8, Deadlock, CS2, Elden Ring, Hell Let Loose.



- My PC specs -
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (yes, it's in the PCI x16 slot)
RAM: 2x 8GB 3600MHz (XMP Enabled)
Storage: M2 SSD with plenty of space