The Path of Exile website announces that Path of Exile: The Awakening is now live, updating Grinding Gear's free-to-play action/RPG to version 2.0. They offer complete patch notes for the new version, which dj LiTh notes clock in at over 13,000 words. They note that they are offering everyone a free respec, they have freed up inactive character names, and note "The entire game experience has changed from the first level onwards." Here's the overview:

Path of Exile: The Awakening is now live! Check out the patch notes here. For information on how you can win one of two Alienware Gaming Laptops, click here! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out here. If you'd like to help support Path of Exile, please consider purchasing a Supporter Pack, Premium Stash Tab Bundle (on sale today!) or one of the new microtransactions introduced in The Awakening. Thanks again for your generous support. We really hope you enjoy the new Path of Exile.

The servers are holding up well. We're working on fixing some small issues, but so far this is our smoothest launch ever.