First time encounter "Unable connect to patching server"

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear you're having this issue. Could you please try running the game as an administrator (you can do this by right-clicking your shortcut and selecting "Run as Administrator"), as well as confirming that the PathOfExile.exe is on your exclusion list for both your Antivirus as well as your firewall? It may help to temporarily disable both of them to be sure.