Supporter newsletter 61

Supporter Newsletters
← #60 April 13, 2014	Issue #61 Published April 20, 2014	#62 → April 27, 2014

Issue

This is a copy of Eternal and Diamond Supporter Newsletter #61, published by Grinding Gear Games.

Hello Supporters,

Today is a public holiday in New Zealand. Many of us (including me) are not in the office. As a result, this will be a short newsletter.

Joke, puzzle, trap and troll uniques

There are some ideas that come up again and again when you see requests for uniques come in. Some of the ideas we see enough that we have made names for them. Four common requests we get are for joke, puzzle, trap and troll unique items.

Joke uniques are ones with the sole intent of being funny. One of the early decisions that the founders made about Path of Exile was to play the fantasy elements straight. This cuts out pop culture references and joke items in most cases.

A puzzle unique is designed to only work in one situation - to have a single build that makes it work. Of these four categories, this one is the most commonly requested. Supporters often want these items to be actually detrimental to any other build. These items are generally something we avoid, as they provide a negative experience for most players finding the item.

A trap unique is like a puzzle unique, except there is no solution. It is usually designed to have a use, when in fact it does not.

A troll unique is one that penalises the party members of the wielder of the item in some way.

What these all have in common is that they turn the excitement of a unique item into something negative. We want to avoid having these kinds of items in the game, even if the ideas are very clever. We could consider puzzle and joke elements for an item, if the item is also desirable in its own right.

Insider Info

This week’s insider info is that Chris is working on several Development Manifesto posts. I suspect you’ll see them in a few hours.