As many of you may have seen, I recently made a big announcement on Twitter. Naturally, I will be taking some time off to be with my family and I wanted to make sure I keep the Path of Exile community in the loop as to what to expect from us for the next while.

I expect to take six months of parental leave, but may be able to return earlier. I suspect it's likely that I will be periodically checking in behind the scenes to make sure things are running smoothly.

As we mentioned earlier this week, we're expecting to post our 3.8.0 announcement around August 20th. While I might not be taunting the community from my Twitter or clouding our subreddit with silly gifs, you'll still receive all the normal announcements and teasers you would expect around an expansion launch.

Natalia, one of our other Community Managers, may already be familiar to you as the person who frequently writes and posts Path of Exile news. She does a tonne behind the scenes and I feel very confident with her scheduling news and teasers in my absence. She will also be working with Chris and the rest of the community team to ensure that significant community concerns that may arise are heard and addressed.

Hartlin, one of our game designers and producers, frequently posts on the subreddit and will also be keeping an eye out for community issues for the team to address. You may see him posting to address hot topics and server RIPs, etc.

As always, Chris will be overseeing everything and ready to guide the team in any decisions that need to be made. As you know, he's also notorious for causing mass hysteria so I trust you'll be in good hands.

Unfortunately, taking leave also means that I'm unlikely to be able to attend ExileCon. This is going to be super weird! I was very much looking forward to meeting everyone there and I'm so sorry that I most likely won't be able to make it. I've heard the team's plans for the convention weekend and it sounds like you'll have so much to think about that you won't even notice I'm not there!

Thank you so much to everyone who shared their well wishes and support to my initial announcement. I was extremely blown away with how many caring messages I received. It's going to be really strange to be away from the community and I will definitely miss being part of everything here for a little bit but I will be back! Side note - if you think you might need something from me over the next few months, particularly if you're a streamer, please get in touch ASAP!