Live Interview with Chris Tomorrow

New skill called Desecrate.

Chris Wilson is impressed by the amount of fanfare around the game; i.e. people who spend hours translating announcements to their own language for others.

There aren't many hardcore gamers in GGG, but the Sound Department is one guy who is a gamer and knows exactly what sounds the gamers want.

The QA department is only 5 people and does an amazing job. Someone pass this on to DICE.

GGG doesn't really rely on the Alpha server anymore, although it's still used periodically. GGG plans to bring it back for the 1.1 patch and find testers to test it, while also not leaking information.

New technology is allowing them to hotfix servers without restarting the realm.

There is no "Roll Back Button" to flash the servers back. Reviving a dead character (like with the Carrion bug) involves manual work including checking items and gems. Chris Wilson still regrets reviving the 700 characters because he doesn't want to set a new standard for reviving dead hardcore characters.

GGG tries to be careful with outside advice from other companies. Chris notes that 99% of Free to Play games use "dubious" methods to acquire players. As such, GGG is hesitant to listen to outside players because much of the advice would involve decisions that a majority of players would not appreciate.

Chris is careful to reply to posts. He spends most of his time on the Announcement, Patch notes, and Races forums for important responses he needs to make. Reddit is easy to stay up to date on due to the much lower amount of posts that come in daily.

Chris is asked about anti-RMT strategies. He says he can't really talk about their strategies, but that GGG does sometimes purchase items from Chinese RMT sites to source where the items come from. It is a constant fight to keep bots out, and there are specific GGG employees who look at RMT cases. Cases are handled discreetly.

GGG has a test server with everyone's characters on them (no password information). They can log into any character to research an RMT issue but also use this server to gather build information and observe balance issues. If someone complains about a balance issue, GGG can log into that character and see it firsthand. Chris shares a funny story about a player who wrote a hateful post about how hard Merveil was, and he logged in to find the character was hoarding currency and had all white items.

GGG is aware of the Summoner abuses with Cast on Death. They were aware early in the season of this. However, they are careful about this because, technically, players are using the gem for its purpose. They have a fix in the next patch. Chris says it's playing by the rules, but think of it as "a build that just needs to get nerfed."

Hegemony points out most damage skills focus on Physical Damage. GGG tries to avoid major system changes until the start of 4 month challenge leagues; however, Chris states he isn't aware of specific Elemental Damage plan changes but Qarl has it on the list to investigate.

Aegis Aurora is a diamond unique. GGG tries to accommodate Diamond purchasers and sometimes underestimate the strength of these uniques. There are some unique changes coming with 1.1, but Chris is unsure if Aegis is included.

Hegemony implies that Bringer of Rain is overused. Chris states that he doesn't have a problem with a build being used by several players. GGG really likes BoR from a design perspective. If GGG makes it rarer, players will really believe they have to have it, which leads to RMT and a sense of entitlement. He further considers minor changes to its stats, but that BoR may be totally fine and that 1.1 may discourage further builds.

Chris says it's really useful for builds to cycle with the 4 month leagues. Melee is really strong right now, but for two years it was called "Path of Ranged".

Hegemony points out that flask nodes are weak and underused especially with Iron Reflexes in the game. Chris discourages carelessly using infographics that show builds from 1 week races, because of course people will use the best builds. In terms of flasks nodes, Chris states that there may be changes in 1.1 (he can't remember), but he further states that GGG is okay with some passives being worse than others.

Chris states that he's okay with racers hoarding items for new leagues because prices should reflect the influx of items. He admits 2 weeks may be the wrong answer but they'll look at it carefully. People have used an exploit to create really good Moonstone Rings from race rewards. Chris thinks there only a few total and they plan to have them removed from the Special tabs that can be withdrawn from in new leagues.

Chris is aware of Twitch functionality issues but fixes are low on the priority list. The individual in charge is focusing on PVP content.

Hegemony states that the color schemes are inconvenient on the minimap. Chris states there are plans to change this. There is a long term plan to improve the minimap substantially.

There is no plan to create functionality to reveal monsters when there are less than 20 remaining because GGG is wary of map hackers who could turn the functionality on. However, with more resources becoming available to fight hackers, this feature may be considered later on.

Hegemony asks for an alternate color X for the group leader because it's difficult in maps to know who is leading. Chris states they have not heard this suggestion but will bring it up with the team.

Chris is okay with microtransactions with a name, like for Children's Charity or another group cause, and they've discussed the idea in the office. Chris didn't like the Razer footprints.

There is discussion of adding another bind key, though Chris likes there being a limited number of actions.

Chris is aware of a possible change to maintain separate keybind sets when swapping weapons, but it is not high on the priority list.

Chris will consider the suggestion to create Exiles based off the first players to reach 100 in the new leagues, though these new Exiles may not utilize the same builds. GGG agrees that a competition to get to 100 is cool.

Aux asks if it's possible to have skin transfers apply to Permanent League items to be used in new leagues. Chris says this is very hard from a technical point of view and that they are wary of exploits. He points out the irony of players who hate the idea of racers hoarding items for new leagues and players who love alternate art items and want to maintain them in new leagues.

Chris says they are getting close to PVP. They will release it when it's ready and won't hold off until a big patch to release it. The first tournament season won't begin until the community has tested PVP once it's released.

Chris states there are PVP rewards (like race rewards) already created.

Chris ends by stating that GGG wants there to be multiple PVP events across all leagues, and not just events restricted to the 4 month leagues. GGG may scatter PVP events instead of holding simultaneous events across races since league populations are different.

Hegemony thanks Chris, Twitch, and a few others for making this podcast happen.

Chris thanks Hegemony and Aux for the opportunity and encourages players to spend time with the "advanced fishing holes".

Let me know if I've missed anything!