Developer Questions and Answers

Is there any reason why we cannot get a log for the guild stash ?

Didn't you guys promise user-hosted leagues at one point?
Is that still a thing for the future, or..?

Do I have a better chance to receive a Mirror of Kalandra or visit the GGG office? Also, could we expect PoE to run on a new engine in the future?

1.) What non-ARPG games would you say have been the biggest influences on PoE? Whether it's mechanical or thematic, I'm very interested in any insight into what contributed to the creation of PoE outside of the most obvious.

2.) Similarly, what influences impact the lore of the world the most? There's the obvious influences of epic poetry in the various questing kings and heroes of ages past, and the Lovecraftian Nightmare, but is there anything more subtle that may have flown under people's radar you're particularly fond of?

Most heated argument GGG staff has had in the office?

Have you started working on act 5 ?

Is there any chance we will see Talisman mechanics in the core game? I have always felt that new mechanics (formerly bound to a given temporary league) improved the game quite dramatically and also posed a significant incentive to play the standard league as well, especially for players who like to focus on standard. I honestly think the concept of talismans was great and remains rather underrated, which could be changed if we saw it less frequently (compared to the actual Talisman league) in the core game. Btw, I personally don't think a Zana mod, in itself, would be sufficient.

Can we expect permanent spectres, at least in the long run? Right now the way raise spectre works is very user unfriendly. I'm slightly against the idea of spectre scaling, but once you manage to find a high level spectre in a high-tier risky endgame map, you should be rewarded by being able to keep the spectre permanently. They could be raised after logout the same way you summon your guardian so I believe there shouldn't be any technical limitations.

What do you think about interconnecting XP gain with the number and/or difficulty of map mods. Also, do you consider making red T12+ maps more rewarding XP-wise? This could be a strong incentive to run more difficult maps. At the moment I can't see many reasons to run T12+ maps with difficult rolls instead of easier maps. I think there ought to be a positive incentive to prevent players from running Gorge over and over again, rather than a negative incentive of general experience gain nerf.

Hey guys, thanks for this amazing game and all your hard work!

I have two questions but if you can only answer one, this would be it:
Are you working on a huge balance patch to be released this year? There are a lot of skills that just feel super underpowered now, such as spell/ranged attack totem, and most single target melee skills only do slightly more damage than their AoE counterparts yet only hit one target (or a small radius with melee splash, which takes up a support slot).

If you're happy to answer my second question:
I've started working with a couple other guys on our own games. We have a few planned but whether or not we develop all of them does depend on the financial viability post-release. Do you have any advice for an indie game startup? We all have some savings and two of us still do other paid work, but would you recommend devoting more time to a passion that may never work out? How were your experiences? (We live in Australia btw, for context.)

What will be the role Prophecy mechanics will have in the future?

Will Rigwald and other talisman monsters be rolled back into the game? I miss them.

Will be there special dungeons like the labyrinth in the future (not necessarily with traps)? Will you add new enviromental hazards?

I love you <3

How does GGG feel about the current risk/reward balance of Melee in general? What do GGG see as the incentives to choose melee in favour of ranged?

Can we get a Development Manifesto post on Game Balance and/or Build Diversity?