Supporter newsletter 71

Issue
This is a copy of Eternal and Diamond Supporter Newsletter #71, published by Grinding Gear Games.

Hello Supporters,

This is the last week of the current four-month challenge leagues. It has been an exciting and interesting four months, and it has been cool seeing what players have managed to achieve during these leagues.

As of writing this newsletter, 22 players have reached level 100 in Ambush and 5 have reached level 100 in Invasion. You need to reach at least level 83 to get into the top 15000 in Ambush league. At least 11 players have achieved all eight challenges.

This week, Nick and Erik are going to talk about how we handle the alternate-art Race rewards.

Alternate Art Race Rewards

One of my favourite things about Path of Exile is the race seasons we run. Each season we put up a new set of rewards for players to potentially nab by being the quickest with any given class.

Each of those rewards is a unique item from the game with brand new art—often with brand new 3D art as well. It has been a goal of the art team to have the 3D art available immediately upon receiving the rewards being given out.

Creating 3D art for these items can be pricey, though, so we tend to mix in jewelry and belts, which have no 3D art. Body armour in particular is expensive as it needs to be rigged and resized for each of our seven classes, which is why it’s not often that we have alternate-art body armours as prizes.

We tend to put at least a few of the 3D-art items towards the start of the race since, well, they look awesome, we put a lot of work into them, and we want players to see and use them. This season we have Lifesprig, Pillar of the Caged God and Three Dragons fulfilling that role. We’ve got a Saffel’s Frame later on in the season which, while not as widely obtainable, serves as a powerful and visually identifiable reward for hardcore racers to show off.

Every season we try to find a happy middle-ground between the costs of creating that art and the joy that art brings our players whether it be by their relative achievability or the pride of ownership they grant. We’ve not yet found the perfect formula, but each season brings us closer.

Insider Info

Here is a character wearing some of the 3D art of Season 8 race rewards:

http://i.imgur.com/rz4EI7M.jpg

This 3D art will be added to the game when 1.1.5 is deployed later this week.