Q&A with the Developers!

What major changes can players expect to see to the Map System in Ascendancy? New tile sets? New maps? New system changes?

Thanks!

What is the internal opinion on mines right now? Do they need quality of life changes? Do they need to be buffed? Are you guys happy with mines? Im curious as to what you guys think because most of the community is in the they suck camp, and I want to know if you guys think mines are in a good place or not.

Can we get an update on what you are planning on doing with the trade system? And if you're not gonna change it then tell us that.

Any news about the long awaited guild and social QoL improvement?

Are there currently any plans for a revamp of the hideout system, including new unlockable decorations, masters, tilesets etc?

As a followup, would guild hideouts ever be a possibility?

How have the changes to map experience and drops worked out? Do you feel it is still too easy to reach 100? Personally I'd love to see more mid tier maps drop to allow more players to get into t9-13 with less hassle.

Any chance of revisiting older MTXs and revamping them? I bought gore cascade because I thought it'd be awesome, however when you have lots of cast speed it looks like a red blob. I still like the MTX but it's been coined by guildmates that I'm throwing "diarrhea" around.

Along similar lines, any chance for updating and recolouring MTX sets? I'd love to see different colour variations for Arcane and Vampire set.

When revising the skill tree what are the main motivations for changing nodes/pathing? Do you look at how often nodes are picked up and/or passed by? I imagine there are tons of factors, but I'm very curious to know how areas are selected for reworks and the process of how they are reworked. Are there any areas of the tree you'd specifically like changed?

- In its current form as I see it, Ascendancy classes will give a significant power upgrade to all players, classes, and builds without sacrificing any of the tools that we currently have. Are there plans to increase the difficulty overall to account for this increase in power level? Or do you intend for the game to be easier as a result?

- As a hardcore player, I don't feel much agency in where I go in the passive tree. Once I know what my character wants to do, my pathing decisions feel forced right from the start - I begin by taking every life node I can reasonably reach, which is mostly determined by my starting class, and then I just take whatever damage nodes are pertinent for the ability I am using. Often, ~70-80% of my tree is locked in immediately for the sake of defenses, and the last 20% is doing the math on what damage nodes are mathematically the most efficient. Would you agree with the notion that the passive tree is "solved"? Is that a problem with the tree? Is it a problem with damage still feeling overtuned in some cases? Is it just an issue with habit, as a player of 2+ years? If you do agree that the passive tree is "solved", is that something you are concerned with?

- Blasphemy was stealth-nerfed between reveal, which listed a 25% mana reservation cost, and release, where it is now a 35% reservation. While my build in particular was not heavily affected, I sympathize with people who planned builds before release who then had to make significant changes. Was it your intention to not reveal that information until players discovered it themselves, or was it a change that would have been announced, but was overlooked? Have you made any changes to your strategy with early gem reveals as a result of this situation?

- Particularly for Chris, but others can answer as well: What's your favorite Magic card?

please add "purity of chaos" gem,or more chaos resistance nodes across the passive tree.thank you-

1. Why is there a limit to masters in a hideout? I'm sure at the time it was a cool concept, but once you hit level 8 with one you can just discard them and swap them out for another anyways. Now it's just a hassle to grind each individually, or to swap them out for their daily rewards.

2. Was the Hall of Grandmasters ever be fixed so that the exiles who were immortalized there are affected by new patches such as life leech? I find it kind of silly that I can't damage certain characters there more than they can leech back usually, because of their leeching ability.

3. Plenty of skills used by enemies fought in the game have skills the player do not have access to, do you guys have plans on making it so they have access to them? I think a hammerdin would be pretty hilarious

4. Do you guys have any plans on fixing the market? A lot of neat items are worthless now, or at least to the point of not worth the time spent selling them. It's more than likely because of the unique drop rates being increased, but even yellow items are dropping in price in standard. If anything unique items should be more rare and yellow items or currency more plentiful, but this is a personal opinion.

Thanks for the game

P.S. You could ignore this whole set of questions if you just explain why increased life nodes are still a thing. I don't mind dying, I just hate having to get life nodes so I can map. It's literally the only reason why I don't play temp leagues, because losing a character over not grabbing enough life nodes just shouldn't happen. Getting one hitted because of it is pretty obnoxoius, and way too frequent

- will there be a passive skill tree reset with ascendency?
- will more life become available in the shadow area?
- will low life attack builds receive some attention?

Is there a more accurate eta for ascendancy?