Developer Questions and Answers

It seems your skill balancing strategy is based on amount of player usage of those skills, and therefore only indirectly based on their power. How do you feel that strategy is working over the long run?

Q: Useful Cold Related items are are almost nonexistent.. With the nerf to shotgunning alot of spells have been affected, one of them Freezing Pulse. With ur 25% INC Dmg buff to FP its still useless and requires Heavy point investing to actually work and be mediocre compared to other skills. Fire and lighting have Great support items that can protect them and Improve their dmg substantially, Infernal mantle, Lighting coil and even cloak of flame is useful, what do we cold spell users have? Nothing.

I would like to ask for a creation of a uniq dagger* MUST BE A DAGGER we need whirling blades to dodge in mid range* that can help Improve the projectile aspect of the spell, we need to cast closer to get more dmg... Something like that can Make a meaning to FP + maybe inc Cold dmg and crit Multi since < THE DEFENSE OF FREEZING PULSE PLAYERS IS ACTUALLY TO FREEZE EVERYTHING BEFORE IT GETS TO YOU>
and Maybe a Pure Eva Chest that can make use of our Useless dex stats to increase the proj speed ? * since we have +1 cold res near the Ranger* with Mods like Lighting coil/cloak of flames.

The cold Dmg cluster Flash Freeze Needs rework and Needs to be closer to the shadow.

Hello there Devteam =).

I have a few questions.

1: Is there any way to make animate weapon workable with mines and traps (even totems pherhaps might be a bit op) , it works with null's inclination so it doesn't seem to farfetched anymore =).

2: any chance we can see bloodslam coming as a microtransaction soon :D , i think i have been patient enough to ask :D ? .

Otherwise keep up the good work , and i really do appreciate all the good uniques in 2.0 which have lead to many fun builds that i have built , and that im planning to build =).


PS : thx jonathan for the filmtips btw , both "the prestige" and "predestination" were awesome .

Any plans on buffing "unwanted" affixes on gear? Namely thorns and flat life regen. Or low tiers rolling on higher level items? Or awful bases like coral amulet past lvl 10. I feel there already are enough dice rolls to make an item bad that "dead" rolls is more frustrating when it could easily become an asset. Such as another way to stack life regen than % life, thorns as a potential build-around theme (player's have been trying to force it long enough), etc. An item can be bricked or deemed worthless for multiple variables: bad base, wrong base, bad rolls, mix-matched rolls (caster vs attack, ele vs physical), required specific combination of affixes, suboptimal affixes (movespeed vs res on boots). I feel that the "dead" rolls are just redundant, especially when they could be used to expand the game rather than make it feel streamlined or homogenized. It could even open up more possible affixes available on gear to add more diversity to builds when it comes to gearing.

I think that last point is especially poignant. All physical builds, whether bow, 2h, 1h, wand, sword, dagger, etc, all want the same 3 prefix rolls. All casters want the same affixes too (even the flat damage to spells prefix isn't all that stronger on multi-hit/cast spells due to effectiveness). The only skill that breaks that mold is Poison Arrow (and old Viper Strike). There are a few other niches (stun for example, which is a non competing suffix on weapons), but we are due for more interesting ways to gear offensively. Added damage to spells was a step in the right direction, but it was homogenized to be equally effective on slow and fast casting spells, removing any potential for it to really change how people prioritize affixes, like an incinerate build that prioritizes cast speed and added flat damage from Heralds and weapon affix WAY over spell damage.

The only real build decisions that could alter how you gear your character are if you're playing a Magic Find or Crit Character. In which case you just must ADD to what you'd normally want on your gear.


So in the end the question again is: Does GGG have any plans to expand gearing diversity in builds by either improving the "dead" affixes AND/or adding new niche ways to scale characters, both offensively and defensively (outside of unique items)? (and niche meaning an affix is much more valuable to one build as opposed to another. Similar to how flat physical damage on a ring is great for many attack builds, but invaluable to a Facebreaker build)

Is there any reason mtx management is still...lacking at least a retrieve all button? This is something that has been requested immensely and would be an absolute quality of life improvement in the game.

Would also cut down on support time too :)

Are you going to look into eva/Acrobatics avoidance builds situation or are happy with Wraeclast "diversified" into everybody playing heavy tanks builds?

Hey GGG,

first of all I want to thank you for this great game!

1) Since there has been a lot of new content in Act 4, will there also be new hideout decorations incoming?

2) According to question 1, are you going to make the decoration stash sortable? This would mean the possibility to change the position of decorations by myself for example.

3) Some skills did get nerfed with 2.0 too hard as they would deserve it imo. Dual strike hasn't been used very much and still it was mainly a skill for dw daggers or claws, so changing the quality from crit chance to attack speed was a huge nerf. Will you balance some changes that may have been too much?

4) Last but not least I have read Chris' statement about the master's metamods and just crafted a very good amulet by myself. I realized that, the longer that this information is known, the higher the usage of exalted orbs will become. According to that of course the prices will rise and the economy will change.
I would like to know if you have anything in mind to do something against that unbalance since exalted orbs will become very rare and expensive if you don't react.

5) It would be awesome to know about upcoming mtx earlier than 1-2 days or maybe a week. Will you increase the time between announcing new mtx and releasing them? Especially according to some that are only obtainable for a short amount of time.

Not that i will be playing anytime soon but.. for the pvp people.

Do you guys plan to balance or even touch hld (general pvp for that matter)or is this it? (No plans for map remake or additional maps, game modes other than bashing each other aimlessly ) are you happy at the 3-4 builds (different skills nearly same tree ) working and will leave it like that.?

Just a yes or no would be fine. Thanks

why isn't there more dev priority on things that improve the game for supporters?

examples:
- moving between stash tabs and moving tabs themselves if you have many
- mtx stash not sortable, difficult to find and claim back mtx
- no overview at all which mtx a players has spent points on at all (except mailing support)

(mtx = microtransactions)


why do i have to rely on ggg support's goodwill to transfer points to another player but for guilds (which consist basically on one player) it is allowed and supported?

do you think guild leaders have too much power?

How often are developers required to play Path of Exile in a typical week?