Since launching Path of Exile again in 2013, Grinding Gear Games has settled right into a refined rhythm on the subject of the way it retains the loot ’em up motion RPG ticking over. Every three months the studio challenges Wraeclast’s devoted monster hunters to greatest a brand new league and declare its loot. Once the pillaging is completed, one other league arrives and the cycle begins anew.
The nature of the challenges launched by these leagues varies relying on what conjures up Grinding Gear Games in that given second. One of final yr’s leagues, Delve, sends you barreling down a deep mine, clinging to a small gentle supply on a cart that stops your well being from vanishing. The inspiration behind that comes from an outdated flash game known as Motherload, which sees you discover a considerably much less perilous – or, certainly, loot laden – mine. Another league, known as Bestiary, takes its cues from Pokémon and is a much less frantic expertise about capturing monsters.
This yr, nevertheless, Grinding Gear Games finds itself trying inward for inspiration. Speaking forward of this month’s Path of Exile’s Legion reveal, Grinding Gear Games’ co-founder Chris Wilson tells me that the muse this time round is Path of Exile’s Breach league from 2016.
Much like Breach, Legion additionally centres on gamers stumbling throughout portals and slaying foes in a parallel realm. The method Legion differs, nevertheless, is in the way in which it performs in your want to horde as a lot loot as attainable. There are 5 completely different areas, and every has a monolith that’ll ship you to a unique dimension. When you arrive, you’ll discover two armies locked in battle however suspended in time. It’s as much as you to determine what number of of them you wish to untether from the Domain of Timeless Conflict, however your thirst for loot can simply lead your sensibilities awry.
“Mechanically, we knew that we wanted to create something like a super-version of Breach,” Wilson recollects. “We wanted something that had encounters of that size and scale, we wanted to give users even more agency in those encounters, and, basically, the same type of rewards they were getting in Breach but amped up even further. And so, once we knew that we wanted something to work like that mechanically, having the theme of covering the various armies of Wraeclast was perfect for it because it lets us explore some of Path of Exile’s iconic characters.”
One of the better challenges Wilson faces with Path of Exile, nevertheless, is sustaining the rhythm of a 13-week content material cycle whereas conserving his worker’s well being in thoughts. As Wilson just lately spoke out in opposition to the observe of crunch that’s rampant within the business, I ask him how Grinding Gear Games maintains that steadiness.
As far as I’m conscious in Legion, we have not had an hour of extra time work completed by the workforce
“With Legion, we’ve tried very hard to make sure to have an early prototype ready of the content so we can lock in what we’re going for, and make sure that all the fundamental design things are really solid early on in the process,” Wilson explains. “That means that right now it’s just a matter of putting the finishing touches on it, rather than scurrying to get gameplay to feel fun. And so far, as far as I’m aware in Legion, we haven’t had an hour of overtime work done by the team. This has certainly been relaxed from a work/life balance point of view, and that’s something we’re very proud of and hope to emulate with future content cycles.”
Another disruption to Path of Exile’s circulation of content material is the teased 4.0.0 mega expansion, as Grinding Gear must discover a strategy to slot it into the game’s content material cycle when it’s prepared. While particulars are at the moment skinny, it’s clear that Wilson has a substantial amount of confidence in it.
“The goal of Exilecon, basically, aside from having the chance to meet the fans, hang out with them for a couple of days, and show them some cool stuff, is that we’re going to be announcing both our 3.9.0 expansion, which is our December expansion, and our 4.0.0 mega expansion,” Wilson says. “That 4.0.0 expansion is our version that is going to take on Diablo 4, as far as we’re concerned. It’s the next generation of action-RPGs and represents a really big upgrade to Path of Exile. And so, we’ll be teasing that at Exilecon, and players will get some hands-on time with a very early build of it, which should be really exciting.”
As to after we can count on the mega enlargement to launch, Wilson wagers it’s not less than a yr and a half away. What’s essential, nevertheless, is that Grinding Gear gained’t disrupt their artistic rhythm with crunch as a method to fulfill any launch date.
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“Well, the mega expansion is quite easy, because if it’s not ready, then we don’t release it,” Wilson asserts. “We have a deadline to show it to people at ExileCon, but if the main expansions take up most of our time and we can’t get work done on the mega expansion, that defers its release date into the future. So there are no particular concerns with that one.”
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