Q&A with the Developers!

- When you are releasing the rest of the ascendancy classes so we can theorycraft harder?
- When will you release more unique items to see?
- How many items (like card drops, vendor crafting recipes, etc...) the community still doesn't know?
- Can we get more control and options (both for admin and officer) in guilds?
- Will you guys include real life living kiwi pets in the new supporter packs?
- Do you guys ever seen/pet a kiwi in real life?
- Could we get one handed bows, like a one handed ballista? I also want to be able to dual wield these ballistas, or a ballista and a shield :D Since we have over 5 different melee weapons I would like something different than wands and bows for ranged builds.
- Could we get a skill gem that throws an aethereal chain that holds enemies while strangling them and possibly another skill (like detonate mines) to pull those chained enemies to us? Or our characters could fling themself onto bigger enemies.

P.D.: Can we get any wisdom words from Chris about the fishing quest in the Winding Pier? It is a really annoying puzzle to solve.

Would you guys consider making Strongboxes spawn mobs the same way Stones spawn mobs in the Talisman league ? I can't count the times i've died from strongboxes because they spawn mobs instantly and my hardware can't handle it...

Are there any plans for new base item types? like whips or javelins...

if GGG were to make a new game, would it be a sequal to Poe, something in the same ganre? or something completely different? have you guys discussed ideas for new games?

are there any secrets in poe that the community has not yet found? like vendor recipes or a secret rhoa level...

Can you please put the nerf bat away? I understand the need to fix bugs, but after that just let us have fun.

Long term strategic planning is what keeps me interested in this game. I love to research awesome builds, theorycraft to death, and then work toward my long term goal. But, I play fairly casually so unnecessary nerfs create huge uncertainty which ruins the fun of the whole process.

Will my carefully planned OP build be arbitrarily nerfed before I see its full potential? I shouldn't have to ask that question.

Of course players are going to come up with OP builds. That's the goal. That's the point. That's the dream. That's the fun.

Always think buff, not nerf.

I hope it is okay to ask more than one question:

1. You have previously said that you wanted players to be excited whenever a unique item dropped, but many players are complaining about getting lots of "useless" uniques all the time. Are you planning to address this in the future, and if yes, how so?

2. Do you still play other APRGs in order to get inspiration for the development of Path of Exile? I remember you talking about lessons learned from Diablo 3, but what about other "competing" new ARPGs such as Grim Dawn?

3. Are you going to keep the three difficulty-levels or are you ultimately going to "phase them out" as you continue to expand the game?

Merry X-mas and a happy new year! :-)

Do you plan to address the rather arduous leveling process? I've heard several complaints that the game feels too long in it's current state and that leveling has become less and less fun for players, especially in act 4. Have you guys looked into somehow streamlining the game further or maybe even removing cruel difficulty as many players have suggested?

Another question i had was regarding the mechanics of the skill cyclone. With lockstep being an option, have you considered re-implementing namelocking as a mechanic to make cyclone feel any better? Currently, cyclone is the only viable melee skill that can be used while moving and many builds are dependent on it because of this, either re-implementing namelocking, or creating more mobile melee skills would greatly alleviate some of these problems.

Thanks so much for all the great work you guys do, as i approach 1000 hours of playtime i'm loving the game more than ever.

@Chris often mentions that POE promotes character attachment. Some might say the constant (often engineered) shift in meta game contradicts that idea--making it impossible to continue to play/salvage a "destroyed" build. What is your take on this?

Is the game going to be re-balanced in any way to compensate for the power gains from ascendancy?

Any plans on creating MTX for older skills such as freezing pulse or lightning tendril? In particular, tendril looks a little out dated.

Thanks,

1. Would you be implementing any "Shield only" melee skills in the future? as at the moment melee based characters are either using a weapon (or are unarmed). I would love the addition of being able to use a shield as the weapon itself that dealt its own base damage! depending on the base type of the shield.

2. Regarding Ascendancy the Scion has only been given one sub class that has not yet been revealed, could you possibly shed some light as to why only one class was chosen and maybe share some of her specialties?

3. Could we get a rough timeline as to when certain skills will get MTX like Arctic Herald of Ice, Blackguard Zombies, Gore Ice Crash (like Gore Glacial Cascade) and such?