As part of the Delirium league, we introduced a strange voice who doesn't interact with players directly but instead manifests right in their heads. Nick, one of our narrative designers, has written an article about creation of the Strange Voice and the process behind it. We hope you enjoy it! __________________________________________________________When a new league is in the works, there typically comes a point when we have to give the collection of planned mechanics a theme. Delirium was first described to me as an ever-expanding ring that would affect all monsters in an area, granting them powerful effects and making them harder to kill and more dangerous. It would be something that passes through the area quickly, encouraging players to move rapidly between monster packs, but would drop off if the player couldn't keep up with it. Whatever theme we gave this league had to allow for extremely broad but temporary effects.The idea of something playing tricks on the player character's... Read more

At the end of this work week, we're planning to deploy Patch 3.10.1 which includes improvements to several aspects of Delirium (including the visual updates we discussed last week), bug fixes and more. We've prepared a preview of the patch notes so that you know what to expect.Delirium Improvements

• Made various visual adjustments to Delirium mist to improve visibility of effects below the mist.
  
• Added a variety of coloured lights to monsters and packs with Delirium on-death modifiers to more clearly represent the type of damage their skills will deal.
  
• The Vengeful Blast modifier now creates a Fire-damage Flameblast (rather than Cold-damage). We have improved the telegraphing of the Flameblast as well.
  
• Updated the effects of the Vengeful Skyfire meteors.
  
• Updated the effects and audio of the Crushing Terror telegraph and impact.
  
• Added a ground target marker for Vengeful Soul's Soul Mortar skill.
  
• Added a red tint to the homing Delirium volatile monsters and the ground objects which create ...

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This is a stressful time for many of us in the world and we want to bring a little light to the moment by offering a free Thaumaturgy Mystery Box! To redeem a free Thaumaturgy Mystery Box all you need to do is to open the in-game shop! The Mystery Box will be automatically added to your account. Please note that visiting the shop on the website does not trigger the free box - it must be accessed from inside the game client.To receive a free Thaumaturgy Mystery Box, your account has to have been created prior to today. It's only possible to get one box per account. You'll be able to collect one free mystery box any time within the next week.Stay safe, everyone! We wish you all the best. Read more

As an island nation in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand has an opportunity to stop the local spread of the recent coronavirus pandemic before it gets too entrenched. With around 100 cases from travellers returning home and two that may have been due to community transmission, our government announced yesterday that all New Zealanders will self-isolate for at least four weeks to eradicate the virus. This includes our entire development team.The Path of Exile game service will remain online without disruption. Our server administrators were already solving problems from home when needed, so we do not expect any new issues that would affect the live service as a result of being unable to see each other in person.We have moved all of our staff to working from home. While it's entirely possible for them to do any work they need to away from the office, it raises several new challenges for us.Firstly, from a technical standpoint, there's a lot of development data for people... Read more

Path of Exile has teamed up with Alienware to bring you the Arcane Helmet and new Arcane Horns for free when you participate in the Alienware Advent Calendar for daily rewards.The Arcane Horns
The Arcane Horns are a new type of helmet attachment that are making their exclusive debut through Alienware! Currently, the only way to get them is by signing up to their loyalty programme. However, they'll be available to everyone in our store after our June expansion.If you'd like to grab a pair of horns, just head to Alienware Arena here [anz.alienwarearena.com] and create a new account. You will receive a code automatically after your registration is complete and can find it in your Rewards Section[www.alienwarearena.com]. If you are already a member of Alienware Arena, and are level 5 or higher, you can grab a code here.[www.alienwarearena.com] The Arcane Helmet
The Arcane Helmet belongs to the Arcane Armour Set and looks great when paired with the Arcane Horns. Once you're an Alienware Aren... Read more

We want to give you an update on what's been happening behind the scenes since our recent manifesto about upcoming Delirium Improvements.Paralysing/Wasting/Eroding/Diluting Touch Debuffs
These debuffs have been reduced substantially, down to 3 seconds. This change is already out on the live realm.Monster Damage

• We've gone through all Delirium monsters and assessed which ones need to be less deadly and have made those tweaks. We've made the following changes in this regard:
  
• Reduced the difficulty of Delirium monsters at each mist depth (while increasing the drop rate of Simulacrum Splinters as part of the same rebalance).
  
• Reduced the chance of Delirium modifiers appearing on monsters by a significant amount.
  
• Reduced the damage that Rage monsters deal by 20%.
  
• Disgust's mortars no longer deal damage on impact.
  
• Reduced the damage of the stationary volatiles created by Disgust's mortar skill by 30%.
  
• Doubled the proximity range at which Delirium objects which spawn monsters are triggered.
  
• The...

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While we continue to improve Path of Exile: Delirium, another batch of fixes have been completed and are currently being tested for deployment. We're keen to deploy the 3.10.0d patch as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out its patch notes.Please note that the patch notes listed below may be changed prior to the release of this update.Delirium Improvements

• Delirium modifiers are now applied on a per-pack basis. This means that a given pack of monsters will only have a single Delirium modifier, rather than potentially having a variety of different modifiers.
  
• Reduced the difficulty of Delirium monsters at each mist depth.
  
• Increased the drop rate of Simulacrum Splinters.
  
• Significantly reduced the chance of Delirium modifiers appearing on monsters.
  
• Disgust's mortars no longer deal damage on impact.
  
• Reduced the damage of the stationary volatiles created by Disgust's mortar skill by 30%.
  
• Reduced the damage that Rage monsters deal by 20%.
  
• Reduced the damage of the projectile skill that...

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Thanks so much for your valuable feedback since launch. In this manifesto, we'd like to summarise the changes that we plan to make in the near future. Note that these are still in early discussion and haven't been implemented/tested yet, so the plans may change over the next few days.For speed, we'll likely apply these types of changes in patches as soon as they're ready rather than delaying them to be deployed all at once.Delirium Monster Damage
As you travel deeper into the mist, the life, damage and rewards from monsters become higher. Players have commented that they feel that monsters become too dangerous, deep in the encounters. The monster damage bonus scales up to 30% increased at absolute most. We are reviewing all of the Delirium monsters and skills to find any that are overtuned and will be making adjustments to any that might be dealing disproportionate damage.Rewards Bar
When you touch the Mirror of Delirium, a random reward type is chosen for the encounter. When you kill a ... Read more

This weekend we launched Path of Exile: Delirium and were really pleased that we reached a new peak in concurrent player numbers. While there were some server issues[www.pathofexile.com] that were exacerbated by a lengthy DDOS attack, things went relatively smoothly.Over the weekend, we released two hotfixes[www.pathofexile.com] and have released one more today[www.pathofexile.com]. We also released the Thaumaturgy Mystery Box[www.pathofexile.com] with 38 new microtransactions.We've been closely monitoring feedback about Delirium since its launch and have been discussing it among the team. We are currently preparing a development manifesto about the main concerns that people have, and expect to post this tomorrow (as we need to take today to investigate what options are available). Thank you for your patience!In the meantime, please report any problems you encounter in the bug reports forum[www.pathofexile.com]. Thank you so much for your ongoing feedback and support! Read more

Path of Exile: Delirium launches in less than a day! We can't wait to see you travelling through the deadly mists of Delirium, encountering your worst fears and seeking valuable rewards. The realm goes down and patching begins at: Mar 13, 2020 10:00 AM (PDT)
The servers go live at: Mar 13, 2020 1:00 PM (PDT)The patch size for the update will be around 10.8GB on Steam.If you're looking for some extra character slots for your account for launch weekend, we're running a sale on these right now! Additionally, this is your last chance to get Polaris Mystery Boxes[www.pathofexile.com]! It will leave the store when our next mystery box enters the store! Keep in mind that if you haven't taken advantage of it yet, it's still possible to get a free Polaris Mystery Box when you spend any amount of points in the store. NOTE: this is only possible once per account. Additional purchases do not grant additional mystery boxes. If you need some extra points, we recommend checking out the Delirium suppor... Read more

The Delirium expansion launches in just two days! To help you plan your builds even further, we've prepared gem data at level 20 with 20% quality for all the new and reworked gems in 3.10.0. Check them out in this news post![www.pathofexile.com]

We've just published the full patch notes for Path of Exile: Delirium![www.pathofexile.com]To help you prepare your builds and update your item filters for the launch, we've also gathered all of the Passive Tree and Item Filter information in this news post! Passive Tree Data We've listed the changes to the passive tree in the Patch Notes but if you're a community tool creator, you can find the JSON data here. If you're not sure what to do with this information, don't worry too much! We'll update Path of Exile's built-in item filter in the game and the Passive Skill Tree on the website alongside the launch of the Delirium expansion. Item Filter Information New Items
Fine Delirium Orb Stackable Currency Singular Delirium Orb Stackable Currency Thaumaturge's Delirium Orb Stackable Currency Blacksmith's Delirium Orb Stackable Currency Armoursmith's Delirium Orb Stackable Currency Cartographer's Delirium Orb Stackable Currency Jeweller's Delirium Orb Stackable Cu... Read more

In Path of Exile: Delirium, we're introducing Cluster Jewels which can be placed in the outermost sockets of your Passive Skill Tree. These jewels expand your passive tree and provide powerful new possibilities for your character builds. There are 280 new notables for you to utilise in your builds. Today's news unveils them all.Many of these jewels also create more jewel sockets which means you can branch quite far outside your tree if you want to heavily invest in these passives.There are three sizes of jewel - Large, Medium and Small, each with a different focus. Large jewels may be placed in the outermost passive skill tree sockets and focus on offensive bonuses. Medium jewels can be placed in the outermost passive skill tree sockets or a socket created by a large jewel and they focus on specific mechanics and utility effects. Small cluster jewels can be placed in sockets created by Large or Medium jewels and sockets on the outermost parts of the passive skill tree. Small jewels foc... Read more

In the Delirium League you'll have the option to complete 40 new challenges and earn exclusive microtransaction rewards. At 12, 24 and 36 challenges you will earn the Delirium Horns, Delirium Cloak and Delirium Wings respectively. Completing challenges also grants you pieces of the Delirium Totem Pole Hideout decoration. When Path of Exile: Delirium launches on PC on March 13th, you'll be able to check out the full list of challenges to complete for these rewards! Read more

Metamorph Ends Soon
The Metamorph League on PC ends on Monday March 9th at 2PM PDT. This means you have only a few days left to complete your unfinished challenges! Thank you to everyone who played in Metamorph! We're not saying goodbye to Tane and his dangerous experiments, and hope they'll keep challenging you as part of Path of Exile's core in 3.10.0. 50 Point Sale
We've just started a 50 Point Sale with a huge variety of cosmetic effects available for only 50 points or less, including Skill Effects, Pets, Hideout Decorations and many more. Check out the full list of specials by pressing M in game.The 50 Point Sale will run from the time of this post until Mar 9, 2020 8:00 PM (PDT).In case you need points for this sale, we recommend checking out our new Delirium Supporter Packs!The Past Mystery Boxes Return
For a limited time we're bringing back some of the past Mystery Boxes to the store, so you've got another chance to get the community-popular cosmetic effects, such as the Sin and I... Read more

In Path of Exile: Delirium we've made a variety of adjustments to some movement skills and introduced hundreds of new monster types to the pool of spectre possibilities.Movement Skills
In the interest of giving players more competitive choices when picking a movement skill, we've made various improvements to some skills and have introduced a new Support Gem called Second Wind. Flame Dash was by far the most popular movement skill because of its versatility but with these changes we've given the other skills more niche uses that should make them more compelling choices.The new Second Wind support adds an additional cooldown count to skills that already have a cooldown (excluding instant or triggered skills). This means you can use them one extra time before the cooldown prevents their use. This allows two uses in rapid succession for skills that usually only have one use like Blink Arrow or Dash, or four uses on Flame Dash or Smoke Mine.The intention of its design is to improve travel sk... Read more

Alongside Path of Exile: Delirium, we are introducing gems that allow you to translate mana investment into damage. This post shares more information about the new Stormbind and Arcane Cloak Skill Gems as well as the Archmage Support.While there are some existing options in Path of Exile that facilitate using mana as a source of damage or defense, these usually come from quite niche sources. Since mana is such a fundamental mechanic, we felt that there could be more support for players who are interested in builds that fully invest in mana. Introducing new gems facilitates this desire while also having the bonus of allowing you to gain damage from your mana pool in a way that is distinct from reserving it for auras.Arcane Cloak
Arcane Cloak is a Guard skill and, like other Guard skills, it is instant with a cooldown that does not expire during the skill's effect. The extent of your build's mana investment will scale both the offensive and defensive properties of Arcane Cloak.It uses a p... Read more

Earlier this week, we posted a news article describing some of the changes to the Atlas of Worlds in the upcoming 3.10.0 expansion. In response to community feedback, we have written a Development Manifesto entry to discuss the concerns you raised. As always, thanks for your timely and passionate feedback.Sustaining Maps
In Conquerors of the Atlas, we dramatically and somewhat inadvertently increased the map drop rate, through the following mechanisms:

• Conqueror influence adding a large amount of monsters and content to Maps when spawned.
  
• Additional maps from Awakening Levels (including Shaper and Elder Guardian maps).
  
• Synthesis Unique Maps dropped by bosses.
  
• Unique Watchstones.
  
• Additional monsters spawned by higher-tier Sextants.
  
• Conqueror maps being opened for "free" by Zana.
  
• The map mod effect from Awakening Levels applying to Quantity and Pack Size modifiers.
  
• Blight going core.
  
• etc.

Even though we did remove Shaper and Elder influence, the number of maps added was a lot higher than t... Read more

Alongside Path of Exile: Delirium, we're introducing two new Wand skill gems, with some associated wand changes. Today we're going to look at Kinetic Bolt, Spellslinger and changes to the Wandslinger notable.Kinetic Bolt
Kinetic Bolt is a new level 1 Wand skill. It fires a projectile a short distance before forking, splitting into a primary projectile and a limited range secondary projectile, each angling off at 45 degrees from the direction the skill was aimed. It then starts doing this at regular intervals or when hitting enemies, forking 5 times at gem level 1, creating an angular spread of projectiles over a wide area.Increases and reductions to Spell Damage also apply to Kinetic Bolt's attack damage at 150% of their value, opening up new build paths and item choices right from when you get the skill, and taking advantage of increased Spell Damage on your wand.The skill has unique interactions with a number of projectile modifiers. Adding "Projectiles Fork" causes the skill to fork ... Read more

In the Conquerors of the Atlas expansion we heavily revamped the endgame, adding five new bosses and drastically altering how players explore the Atlas. Today, we'd like to talk about some of the changes that are coming to the Atlas of Worlds in Path of Exile: Delirium.One of the main pieces of feedback we saw was that spawning conquerors felt too random. Previously, you would randomly spawn Shaper and Elder influence on your Atlas and then were able to deterministically push the influence around to spawn the Elder Guardians and the Elder itself. We want to bring some of that determinism back into the Atlas. Here's our current plan:Beginning after you're first able to fight the Awakener, you'll need to spawn influence in a region. This influence will spawn randomly but with a high chance. Once influence spawns in a region, you'll see a new icon and bar next to your Atlas Inventory (where your Watchstones can be stored on the left). This bar is segmented into either 5, 7 or 9 sections. ... Read more