Developer Questions and Answers

1: You previously said that you didn't want pure support characters to be a viable option, but since then you've released things like generosity, which greatly boosts the potential for a pure support build. It's clear that support characters were at least a partial target of this gem, since if it were intended purely for summoners you could have excluded other players from its effect. What made you change your mind?

2: You've previously stated that you wouldn't release new tiers of affixes for items in order to preserve the top tier state of currently mirrored items in the permanent leagues. Have you ever considered going back on this? You've already introduced new affixes through masters, new base types (unset rings, sacrificial garbs) which devalue, and reduce the comparative usefulness of, existing mirrored items.

3: I am under the impression that Vaal Orbs were intended to be a sink for excess items in permanent leagues. Is this true? If so, do you feel they did this job to the extent you'd hoped? Have you considered adding another such sink, or maybe increasing the incentive for Vaaling items?

Is there any new summoner skills support gems in the work that may not be a direct buff but maybe change the playstyle similar to how animate weapon and srs changed it so much? Myabe summoner skeleton mage or inverse discharge to give dcharge effects to minions? LMK CHRISSY

Fairly short question but, why aren't there any offensive auras? I don't mean things like hatred or anger which boost damage, I mean why are there no auras like the slow aura that appears on mobs, or other auras that provide debuffs for nearby mobs? I understand that might countermine curses, but wouldn't it be an easy way to increase melee/shortrange viability without having to buff everything to hell and back?

I know you're super busy with act 4 near release but lately I've noticed that while in a major mob battle and I need to move away (when a strongbox is opened for example) to heal up that sometimes my Leapslam doesn't go in the correct direction. I move my mouse pointer to the edge of the screen and attempt to leap there but instead the server doesn't jump my exile to where I'm pointing. Usually it jumps a very small distance in the opposite direction. Sadly, I think it is another undesired affect of DDD (dreaded damn desync). It is occurring more and more frequently and I know the location I want to leap to is open and there isn't an obstruction (the path is clear). Is there a problem with Leapslam when there is a mob?

Are there any plans to add pant armor, shoulder pad armor, bracers, etc? As builds become more complicated the room for skill gems is lacking. Furthermore most builds consist of an AoE attack/spell, auras, cwdt/curse setup and maybe a single target or movemeny skill. Unlike diablo, torchlight, etc PoE lacks utility skills and the gem slots for them.

Will there be any animations of weapons getting armed / unarmed? In town for example it looks stupid if everyone runs around with his weapon equipped in his hands and not on his back or at his belt.

You said that Soul Strike couldn't begin ES recharge on crit for desync reasons, but then released Acuity, which has instant leech on crit. Why is this different?

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I have an FX 8350 and an R9 290, yet the comes second in a race with my paraplegic snail (sub 30 FPS) whenever there's floor fire onscreen (fire trap, burning map mod, Shore maps), and plays really poorly with a youtube video open on the other screen (usually 30 FPS stable), and occasionally just doesn't like a map, and refuses to go above 10 FPS. I know you guys have a small dev team, but that has to be embarrassing. Why has this been an issue for so long? Is it because the community will sour with less content and more tech in the patch notes?

1. Are you planning to shut down Cwdt+EndCry+IC mechanic by flagging enduring cry as a war-cry skill and if the answer is yes, how should especially no armor builds survive phys burst damage from chargers, leapers and devourers?

2. Any plans to make CI viable again? Atm you nearly don't see ANY CI chars (at least in HC) because of mana and defensive issues...

3. Any plans for mercenaries? You'd need extra gear (good for economy) and it would make builds more complex too.

4. Will there be a unique item rebalance to make more uniques useful again so you don't have to vendor most of them for alch shards...

5. Do you consider a vendor recipe for upgrading uniques to their higher base item tier to make more low lvl items useful in late-game (like in D2)

6. Will there be new supporter packs with act 4?

7. Will there finally be an option for remove-only tabs to delete all items in them?

8. Will there be an option to reclaim all mtx effects in case you cant find one anymore used to some item in some league?

Will you stop with the facebreaker hate and let it have some more skills please :) Such a fun unique that you can't really do much with.