On a recent Baeclast podcast Chris Wilson has been answering questions and sharing his ideas about the current state of Path of Exile game. The interviews are still available online and you are welcome to watch them as well as the ones which will come soon. However, if you are pressed for time, you can find a short reference prepared by us here.
One of the concerns the gamers have recently had were about item crafting and updates.
During the interview it was mentioned that the issue is being worked on now. It is planned that items dropped on the ground will be decluttered, so that the gamers don't need to collect a bunch of them and spread their attention to all of them but focus on the fewer item labels.
Chris also announced some crafting enhancements like making master crafting recipes from some hidden places like Delve present in POE main content and a little upgrade with Veiled mods. During the interview it was also discussed about the development of a trade system. It is expected to make the process of trading especially large numbers of items and maps easier and Divination Card's drop location will be simplified to save the time of gamers avoiding farming areas which don't include needed items.
In general, it was noted that the problem of item deficit is currently under resolution and the item system will become more understandable. The team is working on a new "Hard Mode' which could change the item system.
Chris also spoke about a lot of additions which are coming soon. Here is a small list of some of them.
Path of Exile development team plans to add stronger mitigation to effects of the Pantheon, each immunity and ailment will get one; new clusters to mitigate bleed and poison of the tree of passive skills; Molten Shell ignite, Steelskin bleed, Purity of Fire, Ice and Lightning Auras mitigations. New crafting options and additional jewel mods will also ease the game experience.
They are also going to make the Shield Ailment Avoidance mod to be present on every shield as well as to reduce the curse effect by half on Consecrated Ground.
3.15 flask rework changes occurred to cause some inconveniences for the players as it ruined gamer defences and ailment mitigations. So, it was decided to focus on flask enhancements a lot. The team is now going to make flask mod tiers in order to make them rated to relevant levels and add modifiers of crafting for flask suffixes by means of Helena's crafting. Flasks will be given modifiers from two different mod pools according to what usage they have. Flasks for proactive use will acquire modifiers from the proactive pool and the ones for reactive use will get modifiers from reactive mod pool. Chris also mentioned that much work should be done to check how belt mods can improve flask enhancement as well as how flask oriented unique items can be developed. There sure to be more flask improvements based on POE gamers reviews.
Consequently, on the Baeclast podcast you can hear about the future of sweeping nerfs which were implemented in 3.15 and were well appreciated by POE gamers. It was mentioned that Acts Two through Ten campaign would be more engaging and Fortify nerf would be made a better defensive instrument for hand-to-hand fighting characters but unfortunately no defensive tools will be added for self-cast characters.
However, as the team has changed the work of flasks, they now receive some complaints about too few defensive and ailment mitigation tools in the game. Therefore, the defense options as well as nerfs which were used in 3.15 will be still reviewed and improved for 3.16 release.
One of the most usual questions Path of Exile community members ask is about more engaging content of the end game. Chris said that they are working on it now. The have considered to add from 5to10 waves to the end of the Simulacrum, grow the drop rate of Orbs of Delirium, from 1x to 4x Delirium Orb encounters will be more but 5x ones will be less rewarding, Uber Blighted Maps to be present in the game. They have intentions to make Delve much more engaging, in depth 1,000-1,500 it will be far more rewarding and difficult. Delve`s catch up mechanic will also be changed for better. If a gamer can go up to 16 th Tier maps avoiding Delving, they can try at a deeper depth than they would experience before that.
A new version 3.17 will contain absolutely various POE end game approaches which will include a change of the Atlas of Worlds. It currently takes much time to unlock the Atlas of Maps, and in 3.16 it will be improved for quicker passage. It is planned to cut the Atlas from 8 to 4 areas. The gamers will have to fight with 16 rivals instead of 32 , and complete 100 maps instead of 160. The Atlas bonus system will also be changed a bit.
Splinters is another topic which was mentioned in the interview. Chris said that the team didn't plan to introduce minor splinters in the next leagues, only the ones which would be valuable and worth the click. Meanwhile they would also merge Legion and Breach splinter drops ; stackable items and split stacks in Ultimatum or Incursion. Less precious Wisdom Scrolls or Orbs of Transmutation will drop less often but in more amounts in order to reduce the number of clicks to take them.
Chris also mentioned various user interfaces on consoles and said that controller support to PC as well as mouse one for consoles will be added soon. He also confirmed that Path of Exile 2 would take place by 2024. It was noted that the expectations of gamers to line up for a Royale session would be met soon but still it needs a change of the main server architecture. Nevertheless, they will fix it soon. And lastly, it was also announced that the South African Server system is being tested and soon it will also open more opportunities for South African players.
