Reddit : Here what Rory (GGG staff)have to say about the new skill tree..interesting stuff ...

few hints at what the balance team is doing with the tree right now:

http://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/2oh7gg/why_do_swords_have_the_most_attention_node_wise/



About number of Sword nods compared to other weapons:

Rory_Rackham
The reasoning all comes down to the fact that Swords should be a reasonable build for both the Marauder and the Ranger early on, and reachable by the Duelist whether he chooses to head towards the east or the west. The need to make these choices visible and viable early to these classes trumped my otherwise overwhelming desire to keep weapon clusters equal in number.

That said, I'm reviewing values on other weapon clusters and the sword clusters as we speak! Since you guys had a look at the tree, there is already more attack speed in the tree in non-sword places.


About block:

Rory_Rackham Balance
A little bit of both; The Block Penetration change is partially because there is a new way to gain Block Penetration, and because the opportunity cost of Block Chance is higher now.

The change to reducing Block Chance was for both PvE and PvP reasons. The real cost of using block was build choices rather than passive points or damage - Some builds couldn't cap block, some could without breaking a sweat, and achieve similar levels of damage. To a subset of players, that made it feel 'mandatory', and it was definitely the most efficient route for taking on some end-game content. Fingers crossed, the changes to Block Chance will bring block-less builds more on-par with block builds for end-game efficiency.

As for the "duelist nerf", it was never intended to be a nerf. Comparing the two trees, the Duelist had some cheap and powerful escapes for certain builds, which I can only assume were the builds making use of him. The new layout should make the cost of escape closer to other classes. In response to feedback, some values have been buffed in his tree since we released the tree layout, which should compensate for this.




About maps:


Rory_RackhamBalance

There will be a slight reduction to damage at higher map tiers, most likely. This is still being discussed though!



About shadow:


[–]Rory_RackhamBalance
The Shadow has so many things he can do that we decided we needed to cut some choices out. Having him only have access to 1h weapon passives was a necessity, really; Giving him access to 2h weapon gem rewards would overflow his already impressive list of builds that quest rewards need to give him access to! That said, a three or four point Staff cluster between the Shadow and Witch could be a possibility in a future tree update.

About crit:

Rory_Rackham
Crit is definitely one of those things I wake up at night screaming about. There is no way to just nerf it without making it an absolute trap for new players at lower levels (which is really dangerous for such an iconic, integral part of the game), the same as any exponentially scaling mechanic. It's something I want to improve, but have to be very careful about doing so, so will give it the time it deserves when the opportunity arises.


Feedback has been helpful, as it has drawn attention to stuff that had slipped my mind!

This current tree change hasn't really been focused on improving the Critical meta, as I want to really improve Critical mechanics in a sweeping way in future; Sadly 1.3.0 didn't allow the time for a real review.



About facebreaker,fb skills and the lost of block nods:


Rory_Rackham
There are some skills coming that should counter this loss for Facebreakers.

I've got a blunt weapon and unarmed skill in the works, but it wasn't ready for 1.3.0. Generally I try to keep skills usable with as many weapons as possible, as a wider weapon use variety increases build variety, but we've got enough general melee skills that it might be time for some more specific ones to give those weapon types some flavour.

About dual weapons:


Rory_Rackham
I'd really like to focus on having dual wielding characters be able to use any 1h weapon skill better by improving dual wielding overall and removing the focus from skill that use both weapons. The answer might be some dual wield specific supports instead!

About weapon specifique nods:

[I]
Rory_Rackham
This is a big picture kind of issue - We want a limited number of weapon specific nodes, we want them to direct new players to good build choices, we want the majority of them to be usable by all builds using that weapon type, and we never want them to feel mandatory - This leaves us with very little space for things like critical chance nodes for axes. That said, I haven't adjusted many notable values during the tree rework, so I'll take a good look at the total bonuses for these weapon clusters and consider redistributing how much of the Notable's value is spent on attack speed for these different weapons. Swords should get a little more, but probably not on the level of what they have now![/i]


TO better anderstand those, it is better to go to reddit ( lol)

Btw I am switching to reddit, the Official forum is just dead concerning those interesting Dev POV... :( :( :(



*Edit if a dev reading this*

It wouldn't kill anyone if a Dev could post a thread like that, talking about his Pov on what is going on with the game right now. It could be a closed thread, a Dev letter whatever.

I just find it is little sad that I had to find this by chance on reddit.

You forgot this one, re: the endurance charge on crit node being non-specific...

Yeah, this was intentional, so players can be 'smart' and use these bonuses on crazy builds at great cost. We can easily change them to be weapon specific if any of them become a balance issue, we'll see what you guys do with them!

...which is exactly what I was afraid of. This one is going to be a problem, Rory. Like, real fast.

we'll see what you guys do with them!

giving crit builds perma immortall call with no investment thats what the game needed! because armor isnt that bad when your immuen to physical damage

--

[Removed by Support]

Also, re: the interesting effect nodes being added to the left side of the tree, but not the right...

It was intended to add special bonuses to every notable at some point, but these stats have to be both specific and general; You can definitely expect more of these stats appearing in the tree in future.

re: wanting more weapon specific interesting effects...

Creating more impactful implicits to differentiate weapons is something Erik is very passionate about; We looked at the logistics of it, and decided to first/instead put special and flavorful bonuses on different notables. Fingers crossed we'll get more weapon differentiation coming in future - Maybe on implicits, maybe in other forms

re: the culling effect on mace stuns...

I'll have a look at introducing a way to take this passive but not cull, like a unique that prevents culling or some such.

about the crit meta... (I_NO, prepare your anus)

It depends on your definition of dramatic, but changes are being made. Feedback has been helpful, as it has drawn attention to stuff that had slipped my mind!

This current tree change hasn't really been focused on improving the Critical meta, as I want to really improve Critical mechanics in a sweeping way in future; Sadly 1.3.0 didn't allow the time for a real review.


Edit: sorry, you got this in the OP. My mistake.

"

Antnee wrote:

about the crit meta... (I_NO, prepare your anus)

It depends on your definition of dramatic, but changes are being made. Feedback has been helpful, as it has drawn attention to stuff that had slipped my mind!

This current tree change hasn't really been focused on improving the Critical meta, as I want to really improve Critical mechanics in a sweeping way in future; Sadly 1.3.0 didn't allow the time for a real review.

Mmmh that is actually concerning lol and my ass been prepared well as soon as I find a new game if thing's do hit the fan haha.

Granted I'll still play but not to the point where I'm a god in every league aka get the best stuff in the game yada yada whatever same shit that I've been doing.

Well see how it goes.

"

I_NO wrote:

Granted I'll still play but not to the point where I'm a god in every league aka get the best stuff in the game yada yada whatever same shit that I've been doing.

Well see how it goes.

You'll find a way, I'm sure.

"

Antnee wrote:

"

I_NO wrote:

Granted I'll still play but not to the point where I'm a god in every league aka get the best stuff in the game yada yada whatever same shit that I've been doing.

Well see how it goes.

You'll find a way, I'm sure.

Nah if I don't find a thing fun I'm not going to play it as I've said whatever change he will do I'll see towards it, If I don't like / I don't find it fun by all means.

I either vanish or continue to play depending if his decision was moronic (imo) or highly decent.