Conquerors of the Atlas was the third major endgame update to Path of Exile's complex endgame, following War for the Atlas (which introduced the Elder) and Atlas of Worlds (which introduced the Shaper) before that. However, unlike those two updates, we were not simply adding a story or augmenting an existing story, but progressing it, and examining the consequences of those events from an outsider's perspective. How did it come about? Well I'm glad you asked me!We knew we were doing some endgame changes about 6 months ahead of the launch of Conquerors. What we didn't know was the scale of those changes, or what would happen to the existing Atlas and its associated storylines. And ExileCon was coming up quick, where we would be announcing not only this expansion, but the Metamorph league and the sequel to Path of Exile, which was also actively being worked on.We looked at our array of story elements, and at the current Atlas storyline. We considere...
Read more
Conquerors of the Atlas was the third major endgame update to Path of Exile's complex endgame, following War for the Atlas (which introduced the Elder) and Atlas of Worlds (which introduced the Shaper) before that. However, unlike those two updates, we were not simply adding a story or augmenting an existing story, but progressing it, and examining the consequences of those events from an outsider's perspective. How did it come about? Well I'm glad you asked me!We knew we were doing some endgame changes about 6 months ahead of the launch of Conquerors. What we didn't know was the scale of those changes, or what would happen to the existing Atlas and its associated storylines. And ExileCon was coming up quick, where we would be announcing not only this expansion, but the Metamorph league and the sequel to Path of Exile, which was also actively being worked on.We looked at our array of story elements, and at the current Atlas storyline. We considere...
Read more
One of the most-enjoyed aspects of the Synthesis league was the lore the league explored. At the time, we didn't get a chance to talk much about it, so we're doing so now!Like most of our leagues, Synthesis started first as a few interconnected mechanics -- namely, the dissolving landscape and the tile-placement metagame. We decided early on in discussions that 'memory fragments', which had previously been established by the Atlas lore, would be a great representation for these dissolving landscapes. Immediately, I knew I wanted narration throughout these areas. We'd just come off the back of Betrayal, however, in which we'd run into issues with overlapping dialogue.As soon as we had playable prototypes for the dissolving areas, I tried to figure out approximately how much dialogue we could reliably fit into a run of one of these areas without running into overlapping or early-cutting off. Turns out, about a sentence or two. With our limits in pla...
Who remembers Talisman League? While not one of the most popular leagues, Talisman was a turning point in Path of Exile's league design philosophy. Prior to Talisman, Standard and Hardcore each got a separate league mechanic, with the mechanic designed to be a layer that sits on top of Path of Exile's core gameplay. There was a time when a league could just be some new monster mods!But Talisman changed that. It introduced a new set of items, a progression, an endgame boss, and a story. After Talisman, every league was to feature these things.When we're working on a new league, finding a way to integrate it into Path of Exile's expansive lore is always a challenge. Here's why:Unlike your typical MMORPG, Path of Exile features regular 'resets'. When you create a character in an MMO, you're stepping into a living world that could have years of real-time events already built into it. But in Path of Exile, when you create a character, you are entering ...
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 perception of reality coalesced quite quickly, but it took some time for the Strange Voice to come together. I wanted whoever was talking to you to be funny at times, menacing at others, and ultimately evoke a sense of distorted reality. For inspiration I initially looked to Gene Wilder's performance of Willy Wo...
Whenever we introduce a new NPC alongside a league, I am filled with a confusing blend of excitement and dread. Sister Cassia, the NPC introduced alongside Blight, was no exception.NPCs like Cassia have to do a lot of heavy lifting. They are often your first point of contact with the league, and are thus responsible for helping teach the league's mechanics and intricacies. But on top of that, they also have to provide a lot of context for the mechanic. It's one thing to add tower defence into Path of Exile. It's another to make it fit within the world, and to give the player a purpose to interact with it beyond the juicy rewards. A personal goal of mine, however, is to ensure that even if you don't enjoy the specific mechanics of a league, you'll still enjoy the presence of the NPC. That means each new NPC needs to feel distinct from those already present -- not just the masters in your hideout, but the dozens of other characters you interact with...