Grinding Gear Games is ramping up for Path of Exile 3.0 - The Fall of Oriath. With the amount of interesting new revelations this week, and with the promise of more to come, it's a great time to be an Exile.
Delivering DoTs to Change in 3.0
The biggest piece of news this week comes at the hands of a new article, a "manifesto", from the dev team about forthcoming changes to damage over time, or "DoT" abilities.
What the team has noticed over the years is that many had to invest a lot of time and effort to push out the same amount of damage as others using damage over time spells in a more synergistic way. Poison, Ignite and Bleeding are the DoTs most commonly used.
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The goal is, of course, to "level the playing field" to bring more builds closer together in terms of damage values, power level and progression.
Secondly, when balancing the power of items and modifiers, we always had to take the potential for double dipping into account. We had to reduce the power of core passives and common items that are effective for Ignite and Poison builds to the point where they're not worth the investment for other builds. Lastly, Ignite and Poison had to be reduced in power so they were at a desired damage level after heavy investment in effects that "double dipped", making them virtually worthless for builds that didn't take advantage of these systems, creating another trap for players to fall into if they weren't aware of the minutia of the game mechanics.
According to GGG, more systems will be undergoing big changes in 3.0, though devs aren't ready yet to talk about them. Keep your eyes peeled!
On a semi-related note, the Cyclone gem will be getting some alteration. It has been present since 2013 and, since then, many players have been asking for improvement for pathing to ensure it reaches its target rather than be interrupted by the terrain. To show off how it's changing, check out the video below:
GGG had this to say, "Currently this is the only one we have announced. If we do find ways to improve others, then we'll hopefully announce them as soon as they've been through testing."
Speaking of 3.0, want to see some more of what you'll be facing while there? You can see several of the monsters you'll be facing off against in The Fall of Oriath, including this bad boy:
See several more monsters here.
Developer Q&A Part 5
The PoE community has gone crazy with its questions to the developer team and they have published the fifth in a series of Q&A covering a ton of subjects including whether or not the Legacy League launch was satisfying (it was!), inventory size, Halloween-exclusive MTX and more. You can read them all here.
When you started up GGG, you already had experience in the industry, right?
Our founders had no professional game development experience when we started Grinding Gear Games. We had experience in our respective fields (like programming and art), but hadn't worked on a commercial game of this scale before. We now have over a decade of experience each, but it was a bit of a trial by fire.
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In addition, we asked the team what, if any, questions had surprised them. Here's what they had to say:
We read a lot of feedback and questions from the community, so none of the Q&A ones surprised us, but there were some very cool ones! Our favourite ones are questions that ask about office life, how to get in to game development, or give us an opportunity to address community concerns. The most memorable one was "Is it OK to feel guilty for killing an albino rhoa? The poor thing was scared and running away, and I slaughtered it. Does that make me a bad person?". This is an interesting ethical dilemma!
Starting Your Journey as an Exile
Last on this week's docket is abeginner's guide from Path of Exile streamer Ghazzy featuring currency and crafting in game.
It's always nice to see the community shine and GGG does a stellar job of it every single week. We asked devs about their commitment to community:
The community is routinely spotlighted by GGG. When did the company make the commitment to ensuring that the community was recognized for its contributions? What have been some of your favorite things the community has created?
We've always been intrinsically connected to our community from the beginning. We furthered this connection around two years ago we also started an ongoing 'Community Showcase' series in our news where we frequently highlight user submissions as well as many creative competitions that allow the players to show off their talents. We've also created other series to showcase creative builds and hideouts! There are honestly too many awesome creations to list favourites, but this witch cosplay from a few years ago comes to mind!
