Summary
Path of Exilehas just announced its upcoming Settlers of Kalguur expansion and its associated challenge league where players will be entrusted with developing the coastal city of Kingsmarch. Of course, Settlers of Kalguur is also introducing an absolutely massive number of balance changes, a comprehensive rework to melee combat, an overhaul of the Gladiator class, and the addition of a new Warden class.
Ahead of its announcement, Game Rant was given an early look atPath of Exile’s Settlers of Kalguur expansion and spoke with game directors Mark Roberts and Jonathan Rogers about some of its key features. In particular, they weighed in on what their ultimate goals were regarding the city management system, and the challenges involved in making this unusual league mechanic feel right in a fast-paced game likePath of Exile.
GGG Doesn’t Want Path of Exile Players To Be Annoyed
Roberts noted that one of the top priorities when developing thecity management systemwas ensuring that it wasn’t an annoyance in the first place. After all, gamers have certainly lamented about similar mechanics in other games when they begin to feel more like a chore instead of a welcome change of pace. GGG’s approach was to ensure that players could queue up many tasks at once when they visit Kingsmarch so that they aren’t pressured to constantly return.
One thing that’s really important that we had to keep an eye out for is that people don’t want to feel like it’s too annoying, especially in PoE which is a game that is very fast-paced, and so it was ultra important to make sure that you can queue up a lot of stuff to happen without having to go back and manage it constantly. So during the league, you’re not going to be going back every five minutes and having to do stuff. We’re making sure that’s not the case. I think that was probably the main thing for PoE that we had to make sure of: that it’s not annoying, and you can queue a lot of work.
Additionally, managing Kingsmarch appears to be a fairly quick affair. Players might build farms, but they won’t have to individually harvest every croplikeStardew Valley. Players will make a few decisions, queue up the tasks they want to accomplish, and return in a few hours when it’s time to reap the rewards.
Path of Exile’s Settlers of Kalguur Expansion Shouldn’t Be An Idle Game
Another important consideration for the GGG team was that they didn’t want managing Kingsmarch to be afull-blown idle game. This is the other end of the spectrum, where an entire system is built and then promptly ignored by players once they find a way to automate it. Roberts says it was a difficult balancing act to figure out how much player engagement should translate into Kingsmarch’s productivity. One part of the solution was requiring gold for most of Kingsmarch’s functions, and this finite resource comes from playing the game.
The other thing, of course, is we don’t add parallel systems that bypass playing the game. Gold is a requirement for everything. It’s not like you’re able to just leave your town running forever and ever and ever. You have to play to keep it running. I’d say one of the hardest things to get feeling right is how much should you have to play for in order to get enough gold for the town to run for how much time. Working out those assumptions and getting that feeling right has been a real challenge. I think we’ve been in a pretty good spot with it of course, but I’d say it was probably one of the harder things given that we hadn’t interacted with real time mechanics like that before.
Path of Exileplayers will find out whether GGG succeeded in this unique endeavor when the expansion launches on July 26. In the meantime, GGG has announced that sign-ups are now available forPath of Exile 2’s first closed betatest.
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Path of Exile is an online Action RPG designed around a strong online item economy and deep character customisation. It is set in the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast. Scarred by mysterious catastrophes of the past and inhabited by creatures of nightmare, the very environment challenges exiles who dare explore it. You play as the Duelist, Witch, Ranger, Templar, Marauder, Shadow or the Scion class. From forsaken shores through to the city of Oriath, explore Wraeclast and uncover the ancient secrets waiting for you.You are an Exile, struggling to survive on the dark continent of Wraeclast, as you fight to earn power that will allow you to exact your revenge against those who wronged you. Created by hardcore gamers, Path of Exile is an online Action RPG set in a dark fantasy world. With a focus on visceral action combat, powerful items and deep character customization, Path of Exile is completely free and will never be pay-to-win.
