Supporter newsletter 76

Issue
This is a copy of Eternal and Diamond Supporter Newsletter #76, published by Grinding Gear Games.

Hello Supporters,

Last week we announced our upcoming mini-expansion - Forsaken Masters!

We’ve been playing a lot on our local servers as we tweak balance and finish the last of the features. It is a great deal of fun, with the toughest decision being whether to enjoy it on Rampage or Beyond.

This week, Rory is going to talk about making changes to the Passive Skill Tree.

Passive Skill Tree Design

The 1.2.0 passive tree received a major re-design to the Shadow and Witch area, and some sweeping changes to the rest of the tree. Erik, Mark2 and I worked collaboratively on the changes; Erik had some clear goals in mind for improving flavour and customization on the tree, while Mark2 advised on the end-game ramifications of changes and tried to give players the same access to attributes and necessary bonuses, while making the less popular nodes more valuable and accessible.

There were a few core design goals I had when working on the new tree layout. For a new player, there should be a clearly defined path to a stable build - Now the Witch, Shadow and Ranger all have a direct route to the outer highway through core defensive or utility bonuses. The outer highway outside these classes now has class-tailored specialization wheels. For example, the Shadow has a Dagger, a Claw and a Trap/Mine wheel.

I’ve also tried to give players more compelling choices when trying to reach Notables, without any options being incorrect. There are a few new five-point wheels that have both a short route and a long route to the notable. The long route always has more desirable values, but at a higher point cost. The short route lets the player reach the notable faster, but isn’t as powerful. A player who wishes to fully invest can take the points on both routes if they wish. These clusters intend to promote complex choices where the player is weighing up many variables without realizing, and with no truly wrong answer, just a change in efficiency.

There are some other general changes that you’ll see across the tree - There are now fewer general crit chance nodes, but more weapons have critical specialization wheels. Life increases are now much more evenly distributed over the tree, so there will be no paths you can take that leave you without defensive increases for too long.

There are many more changes you’ll see to the tree when the expansion drops, and we’re still working on improvements. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy the new passive tree, and look forward to seeing all of the new builds players create with the release of Forsaken Masters

Insider Info

Though we’re not yet able to show you any Forsaken Masters or Act 4 concept art, we can show you some cool concepts of Act 2 features you may recognize:

http://i.imgur.com/IZWjKgl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uEuzEJd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vBl56Nf.jpg