Welcome to this week's edition of the Path of Exile: The Exiled Tribune. In addition to our regular update about all things development-related and the celebration of community, we had the chance to ask Dave Brevik about his new advisory position with Grinding Gear Games as it prepares to launch Path of Exile in China. See what's new this week in Path of Exile!
Dave Brevik on the Path of Exile Chinese Launch
MMORPG: What unique perspective can you bring to Path of Exile as it makes the move towards a China release?
Dave Brevik: I have obviously been heavily involved in many Action-RPGs, including globally releasing several of them. The wisdom and experience I gained from going into foreign markets is the guidance I am providing for Grinding Gear Games. The Asian market is different from the western market and hopefully I can help communicate those differences and advise them on avoiding the pitfalls that many developers fall into.
MMORPG: What sort of lessons did you learn from Marvel Heroes and as CEO at Gazillion, which you can apply at GGG?
DB: The biggest lesson I learned at Gazillion was the importance of direct communication with your audience. In today's gaming society, information between developer and their customers is more direct and important than ever. Listening to that audience and interacting with them is about the most important thing you can do. I already feel that Grinding Gear Games does a great job with this, so all I can do is ask them to continue as the game expands into China.
MMORPG: Aside from the China launch, is there anything else you're working on within Grinding Gear?
DB: The management of Grinding Gear Games and I have been close for a few years now. I even went out to New Zealand to their GDC and hung out at their offices. I have an ongoing open dialog with the development team and provide feedback about upcoming content.
MMORPG: What do you see as the most important part of an ARPG, and the genre's future?
DB: The most important parts of an Action-RPG are visceral combat, random levels, random items, character customization and atmosphere. When all of these come together, you can create a superb experience that gamers will enjoy for years. I see all of these as critical parts of the future of ARPGs. The genre has changed a lot in twenty years and I'm sure the future will bring many exciting changes as well as long as people stick to the core tenets I described.
And in OTHER News...
In other Path of Exile news from the week that was, content update v2.4.1 officially launched packed with updates to the Atlas, Sextant Mods and bug fixes. In addition, several new Microtransactions were added including Imp Haste, Carnage Vitality, Trinity Purity, Verdant Split Arrow and the pretty dang cute Dragon Totem. Check out each one's video to see them in action.
The latest update also brought about new versatility for totem skins in that most totem skins now work with all totem types (minus the Ancestrals). To show off the newly updated looks, several microtransaction videos were recorded that you can see here.
To clarify, the Ziggurat, Eagle Guardian, Olmec, Tiki, Green Searing Bond and new Dragon Totem Skins work on every type of totem excluding the Ancestral totems. Ghostflame Flame Totem is the only totem skin that exclusively belongs to one totem type (Flame Totem).
A pair of pretty cool developer videos also went out this week. The first is a community video podcast called The Lioneye's Watch with several community members chatting it up with Technical Director Jonathan Rogers. Rogers provides some background information about the technical side of game development with regard to Path of Exile and it's a neat look behind the curtain.
The second video is a compilation by Quill18 to give new PoE players a bit of information about the game and various builds. In this latest episode, Quill18 introduces new players to the first of a two-part series about the Summoner Witch. His description says it all: "Because killing bad guys by throwing flaming skulls at them sounds fun!" Check it out below!
The_X_Ile is back with the latest installment of Build of the Week. In this episode, the Chieftan Marauder is the star in a new build called "Cast on Ignite". The_X_Ile has a handy video for those who want to see this bad boy in action or you can head directly to the text build with all of the intricacies for making this build for yourself.
Are you tired of COC?
Tired of the need to hit stuff in order to spam alot of spells?
If so... you are in the right place!
Don't Forget Those Thrills & Chills!
Lastly, to get yourself in a Path of Exile-themed Halloween mood, a free Carnage Mystery Box is being given away to anyone who spends any amount of points in the Microtransaction Store. These boxes can contain some positively ghoulish delights such as Carnage Wings or the Grasping Hands pet. It's worth a look and you can check out the spooky contents below.
See you next week for a brand new issue of Path of Exile: The Exiled Tribune!
