1.0.5b Patch Notes and Other News

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Qarl wrote:
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I would like to hear what Qarl has to say for himself because personally I feel the guy is out of touch with the game. Apparently he only just realised there may be a problem with IR...the community has been saying as much since deep CB, yet is has come as a revelation to Qarl.
Back in CB we were told that "we are looking at rebalancing every skill"...that never happened.


I would be happy to discuss balance and other game elements on a podcast (and I know Rory is also keen).

The interpretation that us sharing some stats for interest means that is all we know about the game is false. We frequently look at what is happening in the game in far more depth, but thought the community would be interested in some of the stats we normally see.

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We are always told Qarl is rushed off his feet doing behind the scenes balance work but we never see a balance patch come out. Just reactionary patches to gems they didn't test properly that are being abused. Look at the recent trigger gems...literally every single one was released with abusable problems that had to be hotfixed. It's getting embarrassing.

So I don't see why you would think it so unreasonable of me to hope for Qarl to do an interview & shed some light on the method to his madness.


We love to add things like the trigger gems. Dangerous things which leave possibilities open. If we didn't want to allow players to explore such things, and only wanted balance above all things, we'd not add much to the game, certainly nothing as dangerous as trigger gems, or totems, or traps, or mines, or keystones.

There is always a tension between adding things that allow for emergence of interesting things.

We are trying to allow players with more experimental bent to access new things, like Shrines and Nemesis mods in the new leagues.

If you aren't interested in us adding cool new things into the game that allow awesome and terrifying things to happen, and things that are going to be very dangerous to game balance, you may want to avoid 1.1.0. There are some big changes in that update.

As for being run off my feet, it’s true. I’m also often working on production or other things that aren't balance. Luckily we have more people than just me involved in working on the balance.

We have been progressively updating skills. There is a wide variety of build diversity this season, both at high level play and throughout the game.

Yes, the one week race had a narrower range of builds, yet it was still diverse.

Am I happy with the balance of the game? No, I never am. Is there method to the madness? Yes.

The nature of the game highlights balance issues fast. Our players are good and excessively good at exploiting the smallest of advantages. We love our players for that and like the game that it makes.

Considering how much freedom we give the player, I am proud of how well the game balance turns out.

I'd be keen to see what games out there at the moment have better balance for high end play, and how many viable builds they have.

In Onslaught there were at least 14 different build templates used by players that effectively dealt with high end content, and there were variations within them. We have more variety this season.

As for your comments on the podcast, I thought it was good, and interesting. Which is why I would be keen to discuss things with them. I wouldn’t be surprised if what they see as being balance issues is different to what you see as a balance issue.



Nice little read from you Qarl.
Would be really cool if you did a podcast or something of the sort about balancing etc since thats such a big factor in a game like this.
Content Update is good.

I would appreciate: New areas.

I want: Sockets on rings, amulets, belts, more hotkeys

I need badly: pants !!!!!!!!!!!!! (with sockets of course)
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Qarl wrote:

... delicious design talk ...


Thank you for this. I look forward to the podcast, whenever it may take place.
Have you made a cool build using The Coming Calamity? Let me know!
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leto2626 wrote:
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Finnien wrote:
Coincidentally, I have the same concern over nemesis league ending. If the nemesis mods are just folded into standard the way rogue exiles were, it'll be another example of a difficulty increase without a reward balance. Over time, those changes will certainly hurt the play experience, in my opinion.


I'm quite sure the majority of players want the nemesis mods in standard/hc/new softcore leagues. I'm tired of these people whining about every 'harder' thing introduced without a reward they expect because they have a bit more trouble with it. I mean come on, where does this come from that every tiny single thing needs a reward based on how hard it is? Last time I checked many people were complaining this game becomes too casual, what you claim is the opposite.
Maybe for one time just try to play for fun, ah wait people like you don't play for fun, only for the rewards.



Wow, your response both insults me, makes baseless assumptions about what I play the game for, and claims your opinion as the de facto majority one without any evidence, even though every player previous to you who quoted my post agreed. Way to conduct a logical discussion.

My point is that I want the game to remain balanced. If only harder mob types are introduced, then the mix of mobs and the way maps are played changes incrementally each change, but substantially over time. I have fun right now, which is both why I play, and why I want to continue playing something similar. Dungeon Defenders, in my opinion, ruined itself through constant additions of harder mob types which would be automatically included in older random survival events. Each individual change wouldn't have killed the game for me, but over time, the combined effect did. Adding devourers and the corpse-birds and projectile shield mobs won't substantially change the way maps play, but adding those plus another round of similar mobs plus nemesis mods might, if nothing is done to balance it.

I wouldn't mind seeing nemesis mods added to, say, one in four rare mobs. Potentially, those with nemesis mods could have an increased drop rate to compensate, but that's really just a personal preference. My real point is that I love the game, and wanted to express my concern for its future path, based on how previous patches have happened. It wasn't to insult anybody, to demean anybody, or to assume my opinion was the correct or majority one. It's just my opinion.
@Qarl

I am all for new content but in essence I feel the game already has a lot of dormant skills/content that just need a few tweeks to bring them up to par with the more popular choices.

14 different endgame Onslaught builds might sound kinda cool but when consider you the potential of the skilldrasil, skills & supports as well as sockets & gear itemisation one would think it would boil down to a number larger than 14.

I believe the community has for the most part come to grips with what it takes to finish the game & run some maps, there is a general benchmark out there in terms of what survivability & dps is required to be considered 'viable'.

If anything I urge you guys to follow through with your pledge to rebalance every skill in the game. There are good skills already in the game that anyone can tell you fall below that benchmark but they never seem to get addressed. That's not to say that all skills end up equal but rather that each is competitive for it's purpose.

GGG's direction seems to be an onward march which is great but my frustration comes from knowing that there is already content in the game that would be interesting to play were it more in line with it's competition.
Last edited by lethal_papercut on Jan 20, 2014, 8:44:48 PM
nice! Aux and I would like to interview Qarl/Rory as well. Its a shame that some people did not enjoy the podcast, but there is no pleasing everyone.

Aux and I do have some strong opinions about some of the areas of the game that may be similiar to your own. We believe that we will be able to provide an informative and level headed view on the game (even if it refers to the builds/abilities we currently use), because we recognize where balance will enhance the "feel" of the game.

Its fine from a design point to have some builds better than others. Its very good when a certain build tackles a particular situation better than others, but becomes inferior with other kinds of situations. This is what good balance is. Not where everyone can clear everything just the same.

When considering builds, you have to take in the risk/reward factors. If i'm sitting vulnerable channeling my spell, i better be damn sure that the spell is very potent as a reward. It fits multiple playstyles where if you want to play safe all the time, or if your APM is up to the task to take on greater feats.

Game development it's never easy. Making a design decision is critical and its usually in the best interest of the game as a whole. Will it upset a few people? Probably, but in the end it will increase the fun factor. Unique builds are refreshing and GGG has to be very careful that they tie into the role they play in PoE. Broken builds while fun to explore, you should NEVER expect them to last or stay that way. I don't see how people expect their builds to remain when they completely negate any of the challenges this game has to offer! Consider yourself lucky to ride the ez train as long as you did. Apologies have been made, no need to dwell on it. The developers learn from their mistakes and thus the game will only get better in the future.

Its important to be objective when addressing all these kinds of issues. That being said, I think its worth hearing the design team out and we could all have a better understanding of how they systematically implement these changes.

I personally stared at that 1week race chart in complete and utter fascination. I love reports like these, it really heightens my understanding of this game. I feel like when people are being narrow minded and don't fully understand the game they see such pictures and QQ. Don't ruin it for all of us. I wanna see more charts like these in 4-month leagues or even permanent leagues! Maybe include more stats like these in some alpha team forum?

Alpha team & PODCAST hype!

-Hegemony
8/8 Overachiever
http://twitch.tv/hegemonyTV
http://www.youtube.com/user/hegemonypoe
Last edited by HegemonyTV on Jan 20, 2014, 10:00:41 PM
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Qarl wrote:
Hi my name is qarl and everything I just said is awesome



Well done, sir.
A comprehensive, easy on the eyes loot filter:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1245785

Need a chill group exiles to hang with? Join us:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1251403
Qarl, thank you for taking the time to check in with us. I appreciated it and I can't wait for the 1.1 update to wreck all of my builds - because if you aren't adapting to changes in the game, how can you have fun for years to come?
Ruby light of Songbird dreaming,
Daring King of Swords deceiving,
Queen of Sirens left in grieving,
Star of Wraeclast evermore.
A bit sad that act 4 is not in the march patch ... I don't know where I got that expectation but I did.
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@Qarl
...

14 different endgame Onslaught builds might sound kinda cool but when consider you the potential of the skilldrasil, skills & supports as well as sockets & gear itemisation one would think it would boil down to a number larger than 14.

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Its not 14 builds, but 14 templates for builds with variations in them, viable for high level mapping, in a hardcore league with what has probably been the most limiting mods. I think people undervalue how much the increased attack/cast and move speed made the league harder, and more limited in options.

It is also the potential of the skilldrasil, skills and supports (especially their usability to be used cross class) that makes that difficult.

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