In Path of Exile: Scourge, we introduced The Last to Die, a new NPC from an alternate Wraeclast swarmed by ravenous demons. For this news post, our Narrative Designer, Matt, has taken a moment to reflect on writing for Scourge League. Here are his thoughts:

Narrative work on Scourge League took a very different approach for a number of reasons. For one, essentially the entire league was created during lockdown here in New Zealand, so getting voice acting recorded was an interesting odyssey over multiple online recording sessions. In a sense, we got lucky that our plan for The Last to Die NPC was for her to have a limited number of lines and essentially retire soon after handing off the Blood Crucible. If she had been anything akin to the complexity of Expedition league three months before, it would have no doubt been impossible to finish her scripts. As it turned out, the voice actress for The Last to Die, Genevieve Kent, nailed the tone we were looking for despite working at a distance - and, in one case, during a massive windstorm that forced us to record lines multiple times and then edit around the wind!

The second reason things were different this time around was a new approach we decided to try for this content. The vast majority of lore for this league is inferred or implied instead of directly stated. Where Expedition had a detailed historical saga to follow, Scourge league was made in conjunction with numerous details mentioned in the core game and previous leagues. There's enough out there already that, before Scourge league even released, observant players were giving TED talks on the upcoming lore. I can't confirm or deny if any particular theory was right, but there's more fun to be had with the Scourge than might be immediately apparent.

With The Last to Die too traumatized and depressed to wax on at length about what she's seen, we have to guess with what little we know. She does tell the Exile that the Blood Crucible functions through a pact with Chaos, which is the second time we've encountered someone working with them. For those who remember Ultimatum League, the Trialmaster described Chaos as an entity who is aware of different possibilities at the same time. The Last to Die outright states that she has been to 'other Wraeclasts,' which we can reasonably infer are other possible versions of the continent. Her pact with Chaos must allow her to Shift between them, and, indeed, that is exactly what the Exile temporarily does when the Blood Crucible is activated.

If the Wraeclast we know is perhaps one of the better ones thanks to the Exile's path of destruction, then one might imagine there are versions of the world out there where events instead went very, very wrong. What exactly went wrong? What are these invaders? All we know for sure at this point is that the apocalypse is out there. We are a single beleaguered jewel floating on a sea of madness, and it's only a matter of time until doom comes knocking on our door.

As a follow up to the Deepwater Concept Art we published last week, today we'd like to share pieces of the Siren concept art. Check them out if you enjoy seeing our artists' work.

The following artworks were created by Seung Gue Lee, Ryan McQuarters and Timothy Albano.

For today's news post, our Tech Art Lead Saveun has written about using the Subsurface Refraction technology in Path of Exile. Check out the examples and find out more here.

By the end of this week (or early next week) we're planning to deploy Patch 3.16.1 on PC which contains several bug fixes. To give you an idea what to expect from this patch, we've prepared a preview of its patch notes. Check them out below!

Please note that these are still subject to change prior to the patch's deployment.

Improvements

• The Maximum Life of Non-Reaper Minions displayed in Skill tooltips is now affected by the less Maximum Life modifier from a Summoned Reaper. This is not a functional change.
  
• Added a 10 second Grace Period when visiting the Mine Encampment from within the Azurite Mine.
  
• Added 3D art for Atziri's Acuity.

Bug Fixes

• Characters that were previously able to equip a Wand and Melee Weapon at the same time have had their Wand disabled.
  
• Fixed a bug where Delirium encounters in Scourged Maps with the "Rare Scourged Monsters drop 1 additional stack of Simulacrum Splinters" modifier would cause splinters to drop at the end of the Delirium encounter, rather than on killing the Rare Scourged Monster.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Laboratory Map boss could become inaccessible if the final lever was used during a Scourge encounter.
  
• Fixed a bug where Elemental Overload was not working with Totems, Traps, Mines, or the secondary projectiles of some skills such as Cremation or Molten Strike.
  
• Fixed a visual bug where "20% chance to Impale on Hit" granted by the Physical Mastery was not displayed in the Character Panel.
  
• Fixed a bug where, after dying, the Survival Secrets Unique and the Profane Chemistry Notable Passive were not causing Flasks to gain Charges.
  
• Fixed a bug where, after dying, Necromantic Aegis was not applying bonuses from an Equipped Shield to your Minions instead of you.
  
• Fixed a bug where the "Link Skills can target Damageable Minions" Minion Defence Mastery allowed Link Skills to target Totems.
  
• Fixed a bug where Belts with some Energy Shield and Armour modifiers could not be reforged with random modifiers, including a Defence modifier, through Harvest crafting.
  
• Fixed a bug where Temporal Rift would have to be reactivated after logging out.
  
• Fixed a bug where some Veiled modifiers on the Cane of Kulemak Unique were not having their magnitudes increased.
  
• Fixed a bug where some modifiers were missing the Attribute tag.
  
• Fixed a bug where the chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Frenzy Charge modifier on Legacy Darkray Vectors was not functioning correctly.
  
• Fixed a bug where Brands could be hidden under the floor in some areas.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Viscera Cauldron quest item description was incorrect.
  
• Fixed a bug where The Lord's Labyrinth quest implied you were still required to complete multiple Trials of Ascendancy in Maps before being able to access the Eternal Labyrinth.
  
• Fixed a bug where some Synthesis hideout decorations were not being exported to hideout template files.
  
• Fixed a bug where some effects on the Oblivion Toxic Rain Effect Microtransaction were ending prematurely.
  
• Fixed 3 instance crashes.

It's time for our players to prove themselves not only in slaying hordes of the Scourge creatures, but also in creating pieces of fan art inspired by the content introduced in this expansion. We're launching a Scourge Fan Art Competition which focuses on any content from our current expansion, including The Last to Die, new Skill Gems, Uber Endgame content, Expedition and of course, the Scourge demons.

Top Three Winners

• A custom forum avatar made from your submitted art
  
• A special forum badge
  
• Your choice of two Path of Exile T-shirts* - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Signed Path of Exile Art Book
  
• Signed Brutus Art Print
  
• Cloth Map of Wraeclast
  
• Foam Exalted Orb
  
• Your choice of Weapon Effect from the list below
  
• Your choice of Helmet Effect from the list below
  
• Your choice of Armour Set from the list below

4th and 5th Place

• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Signed Path of Exile Art Book
  
• Foam Exalted Orb
  
• Your choice of Weapon Effect from the list below
  
• Your choice of Helmet Effect from the list below
  
• Your choice of Armour Set from the list below

6th-10th Place

• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Foam Exalted Orb
  
• Your choice of Helmet Effect from the list below
  
• Your choice of Armour Set from the list below

11th -20th Place

• Your choice of Armour Set from the list below

Runners-Up

• Your choice of Helmet Effect from the list below

The number of runners-up prizes awarded will depend on how many entries to the competition there are.

*Please note that T-shirt style is subject to size availability and may be substituted for a T-shirt in another style. In this scenario, we will work with you to meet your preferences.

List of Weapon Effects

• Acid Weapon Effect
  
• Arcane Weapon Effect
  
• Azure Seraph Weapon Effect
  
• Carnage Weapon Effect
  
• Ebony Weapon Effect
  
• Dreadspire Weapon Effect
  
• Ghostflame Weapon Effect
  
• Kraken Weapon Effect
  
• Mystic Weapon Effect
  
• Pure Light Weapon Effect
  
• Purple Weapon Effect
  
• Radiant Weapon Effect
  
• Seraph Weapon Effect
  
• Temple Weapon Effect
  
• Vampiric Weapon Effect
  
• Verdant Weapon Effect
  
• Wasteland Weapon Effect
  
• Water Elemental Weapon Effect
  
• Wrangler Weapon Effect
  
• Wild Weapon Effect

List of Helmet Atatchments

• Aquila Crest
  
• Automaton Halo
  
• Bent Horns
  
• Bleached Skull Helmet
  
• Brilliant Crown
  
• Coliseum Helmet Attachment
  
• Divine Sign
  
• Fiery Visage
  
• Frost Viking Helmet Attachment
  
• Iron Maiden
  
• Mark of the Phoenix
  
• Serrated Mohawk
  
• Skull Hood
  
• Spirit Charm
  
• Swan Crest
  
• Twisted Horns
  
• Smoking Hood
  
• Huntsman Hood
  
• Madcap Hood
  
• Darkprism Helmet Attachment
  
• Purple Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Ghostflame Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Misery Flaming Head Helmet Attachmen
  
• Arcane Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  
• Arcane Horns Helmet Attachment
  
• Undead Outcast Helmet

List of Armour Sets

• Arcane Armour Set
  
• Carnage Armour Set
  
• Coliseum Armour Set
  
• Darkprism Armour Pack
  
• Desert Armour Set
  
• Dragon Armour Set
  
• Elite Armour Set
  
• Fallen Angel Armour Set
  
• Ghostflame Armour Set
  
• Gorgon Armour Set
  
• Gore Armour Set
  
• Gryffon Armour Set
  
• Lightning Armour Set
  
• Lunaris Armour Set
  
• Mageguard Armour Set
  
• Malachai Armour Set
  
• Merchant Armour Pack
  
• Miracle Armour Set
  
• Necrotic Armour Set
  
• Radiant Armour Set
  
• Raven Armour Set
  
• Seraph Armour Set
  
• Stormcaller Armour Set
  
• Temple Armour Pack
  
• Vampiric Armour Set
  
• Verdant Armour Set
  
• Wild Armour Set
  
• Water Elemental Armour Set

Create still art that is inspired by anything introduced in the Scourge expansion. This excludes video submissions but does include any painting, drawing or model creation. Then just submit your work in this thread.

Multiple submissions are welcome and encouraged. Please note that the submission needs to be your own work and needs to have been created after the launch of the competition.

The competition starts at the time of this post and will end on Monday the 6th of December at 5pm (PST). We'll announce the winners sometime in the days following.

Best of luck, everyone! We can't wait to see what you create.

Grinding Gear Games is looking to hire Animators, Artists, Designers and Programmers to support the development of Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2, ideally from our office in Auckland, New Zealand (when travel restrictions lift).

• Art Director
  
• Level Designer
  
• 3D Art Generalists
  
• Environment Concept Artist
  
• Senior Materials Artist
  
• C++ Gameplay or User Interface Programmer
  
• Visual Effects Artist
  
• Senior Animators
  
• 3D Game Environment Artist
  
• Game Lighting Artist/Environment Designer

Responsibilities

• Provide artistic leadership, direct and lead your team to produce and maintain high quality and consistent aesthetic across all areas in the game and related material.
  
• Facilitate and lead art reviews, directing and providing positive, constructive feedback across your team.
  
• Lead the delivery of assets that fit artistic, production and technical performance goals.
  
• Manage external outsourcing studios and maintain a consistent aesthetic across all of the areas in the game and related material.

Requirements

• 10 years experience in games development with 3 years as an Art Director
  
• Experience with high budget AAA game development
  
• Leadership experience
  
• Understanding of how to create awesome gaming experiences
  
• Working knowledge of game development tools and their limitations
  
• Excellent communications skills, with an ability to train other artists
  
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to proactively seek out solutions to unblock progress and make work easier for others
  
• Understanding of Path of Exile and its themes
  
• Traditional arts background and/or a BA in Fine Art or 3D/Game Art is a plus
  
• A strong portfolio, and/or reel demonstrating your artistic skills and showing your shipped projects
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

You will develop randomised levels with high replayability while maintaining the Path of Exile aesthetic across the game. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of Path of Exile and its themes.
Responsibilities:

• Create immersive and replayable gameplay that supports and enhances the core mechanics and aesthetic
  
• Ensure a high level of quality through close collaboration with the Creative Director, Art Directors, Game Designers, Environment Artists, Sound Designers and other disciplines
  
• Integrate the content produced by other disciplines for your designs into the game engine (new gameplay elements, AI, sound, etc)
  
• Quickly learn to master our internal tools, and assist in making them better
  
• Conduct gameplay evaluations with the team, providing feedback and suggestions to help fine-tune the game
  
• Locate and fix bugs in both your own and your colleagues' work

Requirements:

• 2+ years of game industry experience
  
• Game design sensibilities
  
• Experience using Maya or a high level of proficiency in a similar 3D modelling tool
  
• Proactive and self-reliant
  
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills
  
• Ability to work within a team environment
  
• Your portfolio, and/or reel demonstrating relevant skills required
  
• You must be willing to complete a level design test if requested to do so

You will help create and handle art assets in Path of Exile. You will work to create, improve and maintain the aesthetic of environments, characters and monsters; and you will give critique, manage and prepare other artists’ work to ensure functionality with our in-house tools and pipeline.
Requirements:

• Experience working in game development at a professional studio on shipped 3D animated titles
  
• Good general knowledge of Maya when it comes to modelling, texturing and basic rigging.
  
• Good understanding of import/export processes using .obj/.fbx file formats.
  
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly.
  
• Proficiency in Maya and Photoshop.
  
• Familiarity with Substance and PBR materials is a plus.
  
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to evaluate time requirements
  
• Proactive and self-reliant
  
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills
  
• Ability to work within a team environment
  
• A strong portfolio demonstrating relevant artistic skills required
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Pluses:

• An avid gamer with a deep understanding of our game, Path of Exile.
  
• Experience leading and/or mentoring
  
• Ability to light and render 3D objects
  
• A traditional art background and/or a BA/Diploma in Fine Art or 3D/Game Art
  
• TD skills

You will develop concept art and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across the game and related mediums such as trailers and web. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of colour, texture, composition and anatomy as it relates to games. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of our game Path of Exile and its themes.
Requirements:

• 2 years of environment concept work in games, or 5 years of relevant studies or work in visual/technical fields like advertising, architectural visualisation ETC.
  
• Superior eye for lighting, value, colour, details, and the ability to use them in creating realistic, gritty and visually appealing imagery.
  
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly. Excellent communications skills, and able to work within a team.
  
• Passion for creating 'dark and gritty' environments.
  
• Deep understanding of the game we produce (Path of Exile)
  
• Traditional arts background and/or a BA in Fine Art or 3D/Game Art is a plus
  
• A strong portfolio, and/or reel demonstrating your artistic skills and showing your shipped projects
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Responsibilities:

• Create high-quality work using a variety of software programs
  
• Maintain a consistent aesthetic across your work in the game and related mediums such as trailers and web
  
• Collaborate across disciplines sharing ideas and articulating visions.
  
• Show initiative, push ideas and innovate within your duties
  
• Be aware of project/task schedules and be capable of delivering work to deadlines
  
• Take direction from the Art Director, Creative Director and engage with Producers
  
• Attend regular team meetings, providing updated status and progress of your deliverables

Requirements:

• Solid background as a 3D Art Generalist or Environment Artist in professional AAA video games or cinematics, animation or VFX studios
  
• Experience as a Materials Artist
  
• Solid grasp of colour and other physical material properties as they relate to games
  
• Proficient at creating both stylized and PBR materials using Substance Designer, Substance Painter and Photoshop
  
• Expert knowledge in node-based material editors, tiling layered materials, shader networks and procedural texturing
  
• You are inspired by growth and excellence and thrive on sharing your knowledge with your teammates while continually honing your craft
  
• Iterating, communicating and creating together is what drives your passion for art and games
  
• Knowledgeable in the key professional tools, techniques and asset creation pipelines: Maya, Zbrush, game engine (e.g. UE/Unity/proprietary), Marvelous Designer, modeling, baking, texturing, UV creation, unwrapping
  
• Proactive and self-reliant with good problem-solving skills
  
• Excellent communications skills with the ability to in a team environment
  
• Solid portfolio showcasing your Environment assets as well as your ability to create and apply high-quality materials to assets
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or equivalent
  
• Strong knowledge of modern C++
  
• Excellent communication skills
  
• At least six months of commercial game programming experience
  
• Must be able to pass our technical C++ programming test (approximately one hour long)

Pluses:

• Experience with our game, Path of Exile

You will develop real-time effects from concept to implementation and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across all the effects in the game. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of colour, texture, timing and impact as relates to FX and shows an ability to sketch and storyboard to convey design ideas.
Requirements:

• Three years of experience creating game art
  
• Experience creating real-time game effects in a wide range of software
  
• Superior eye for lighting, value, colour, details, and the ability to use them in creating efficient and impactful visual effects
  
• Self-motivation, excellent communications skills, and able to work within a team
  
• Positive attitude and able to receive and provide objective feedback
  
• Passion for creating 'dark and gritty' spells and microtransactions
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

A senior animator is responsible for creating animation assets and working with the Creative Director, Animation Lead, Designers, and Riggers to realize characters, monsters, or special effects.
Requirements:

• 7 years of animation and animation production experience
  
• Solid body mechanics and experience animating general combat, melee weapons and magic for both human, animals, and abstract creatures
  
• Proven experience in a professional production pipeline and the ability to create high-quality animations
  
• Solid knowledge of Maya
  
• The ability to take constructive criticism and maintain a professional attitude
  
• Independently self-motivated team player with excellent communication skills
  
• Team lead experience is a plus
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

You will develop tiles, implement assets and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across the game. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of gritty texture, colour, and shapes. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of our game Path of Exile and its themes.
Requirements:

• 3 year of environment work in games, or 5 years of work experience in a related fields(sculpting, miniatures)
  
• Experience with maya, Z brush and substance painter(designer is a bonus)
  
• Superior eye for texture, value, color and the ability to use them in creating gritty consistent environments
  
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly
  
• Excellent communications skills, and able to work within a team
  
• Deep understanding of the game we produce(Path of Exile)
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

You will create real-time environments and moods and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across all the areas in the game and related material, like trailers. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of colour, materials and light as it relates to level design and lighting in games. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of our game Path of Exile and its themes.
Requirements:

• Experience with level or room creation in games
  
• Understanding how to create efficient and impactful lighting that enhances narratives
  
• Working knowledge of Maya and real-time game authoring environments like the Path of Exile hideout creation tool
  
• Excellent communications skills, with an ability to train other artists in the creation and lighting of locations and levels
  
• Ability to create video tutorials related to the level design process
  
• Some proficiency in graphic editing tools like Photoshop
  
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly
  
• Deep understanding of the game we produce (Path of Exile)
  
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

If you meet the above requirements and are already legally permitted to work in New Zealand, OR if you’re a citizen or permanent resident of Australia willing to relocate to Auckland when travel restrictions ease. Due to the global health crisis, visa sponsorship is not offered at this time.

Email us a cover letter and your CV with link/s to your portfolio/reel (whichever is relevant). Send your email to jobs@grindinggear.com with your name + role you are applying for in the subject line.

Our recent Atlantis Mystery Box introduced three new different microtransaction designs, united by the mystery of the dark waters of Wraeclast. Today we'd like to share pieces of the concept art from the Deepwater themed cosmetics. Check them out below!

Concept by Veli Nyström







Concept by Timothy Albano


Concept by Ryan McQuarters

From his "ACTUAL" Path of Exile trailers to his awesome Path of Exile content on Youtube, you're sure to have come across some of the many types of content produced by ItsYoji! Continuing our series of interviews with community streamers, we took a moment to chat with him about his life inside and outside of streaming.

I'm Yoji, a 34 year old gamer, dad, RPG nerd and chemist from Germany who also happens to be a legacy content creator based around Path of Exile.

Shortly before Path of Exile released the 1.0 version a friend back during uni started bugging me to try this weird, deep, crazy difficult, complex Action RPG he recently started playing. He was relentless about it and insisted it was a game I would enjoy. Eventually I got around to try it. I started out in Hardcore, which was the predominant game mode back in the day. I created quite a few freezing pulse CI witches that somehow all died during the campaign. Apparently going for Chaos Inoculation straight away was not the most optimal way to build, who knew. I eventually gave up on the game for a while and returned in early October 2013 a few weeks before Nemesis league and haven't stopped playing since.

Unlike many people in the Path of Exile community I don't come from a Diablo background. I grew up mostly with JRPGs and ARPGs on console such as the Final Fantasy series, Champions of Norrath and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

Those influences immediately made Path of Exile click for me. The passive tree reminded me of the Final Fantasy X sphere grid and the support gem system was familiar from playing around with Final Fantasy VII's materia system.

What keeps me coming back is the variety in playstyles and builds combined with the meaningful and deep character progression. PoE does that part better than any other game I have played.

I got a Headhunter from Gwennen in the Expedition league which was pretty neat. Since I was playing in a small group found private league in Expedition this made it possible for everyone in the league to try it out and have some fun with that crazy item.

Probably my Righteous Fire Mjölner Chieftain Tank from Harvest league. I have been wanting to make an RF Mjölner character for some time and when the insane crafting capability from Harvest became apparent I realized it was finally time.

Other than that I just really enjoy melee in general, from Slams to Strikes to Slashes, Bonks and Flickers. Melee is my jam.

Even though by current standards the league was very simplistic and had huge flaws, I have very fond memories of the Tempest league. The way players were always communicating and trying to find the best tempests in maps quickly after the change of Tempest areas each hour was a fun experience. Also some of the Tempests such as Corrupting loot or the Exiles and Ghosts everywhere ones were extremely crazy mods at the time and really stood out.

I always have so much fun making the trailers, coming up with jokes and memes that fit the current climate in the community and poke fun at the game and you developers, the players and some content creators at the same time. As for the writing part I had a really good time with the Ultimatum ACTUAL Trailer as I feel there was a good narrative I could tell with the some of the more obvious jokes while weaving in a few smaller points.



When it comes to the editing and production part I got a bit carried away with the Heist trailer. Following the theme of the league and experimenting with the theme in music and editing style led to me making the longest trailer yet. That was a ton of fun too.



Around six years ago during Tempest league I ended up with a lot of extra time on my hands when I was about to finish university. So I played a lot of PoE which I've been playing for 2 years by then. None of my friends played the game anymore however which means I had no one to talk to about my silly hipster meme builds.

When I finally made my Resolute Technique Elemental Split Arrow Totems build work and got it to endgame in Hardcore I needed to tell someone about it.So I booted up a Twitch stream and a few people came by who I could tell all about this silly character and my other build creations.Then I made a video guide for the Split Arrow totem build as my first PoE YouTube video and thousands of people watched it. My stream grew and shortly after I decided to go all in on content creation for a while. But eventually I went back to becoming a regular IRL Andy who has a stream and makes videos in his freetime. It just works way better than being a content creator who does chemistry in his freetime.

The schedule is an illusion, Exile.

That's what the !schedule command in my stream chat would give you. As a part time content creator, full-time dad and full-time chemist, it's quite tricky to maintain a regular schedule. So I recommend people to follow my stream on twitch and if you see me online, know that it might be a once in a lifetime event, so make sure to come and say hi while I am live.

From a PoE perspective I think it is important to find a way to enjoy the game while having less time to play than you previously had. I found a lot of people have trouble with that and sometimes get frustrated when they can't progress as much. But there is a lot of fun to be had even with the earlier progression of the game and especially if you have experience and a decent knowledge base and play a league over the whole 3 months you can get pretty far even with little playtime. And if not then permanent leagues are always a great option that shouldn't be discarded!

When I am not streaming, making videos or gaming in my freetime, I am probably in the gym, doing something tabletop RPG related (Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder) or playing with the kids. I recently started to learn digital drawing which is an awesome experience.

I'm always happy when I see collaborations happening between content creators so the more people get together to talk and meme about PoE the better in my eyes.

I am currently on a bit of a break content wise and the Scourge league announcement stream happens right in the middle of my upcoming vacation. But if at all possible, there will be a Scourge League Actual Trailer coming before the league launches with the usual memes, jokes and trolling.

Note: ItsYoji's Scourge League ACTUAL Trailer has been published since the writing of this interview. Check it out below!



Thank you so much for participating in the interview! If you'd like to follow ItsYoji, you can do so on Twitter, Youtube and Twitch. Also, don't forget that you can support both ItsYoji and the development of Path of Exile by buying microtransactions from his Nexus page!

We are in the second week of Path of Exile: Scourge and we are preparing to deploy Patch 3.16.0d which includes a variety of changes and bug fixes including a fix that will address the counteracting modifiers on Scourge Items. We will be releasing this patch tomorrow. In the meantime, we've prepared a preview of the patch notes for you.

Please note that this is a preview only and some patch notes may be added or removed before it is deployed.

3.16.0d Patch Notes

This patch contains improvements to Scourged items and maps, and fixes a variety of small- and medium-importance bugs.

Scourge Improvements

• Scourged items are no longer be able to generate downsides that would directly counteract their upside. For example, an item with "Added Physical Damage" will not be able to generate "Deal no Physical Damage" as a downside.
• The description of the Scourged Map modifier that shifts into Nightmare on killing a Rare or Unique Enemy has been updated to more accurately reflect its functionality. The amount of Blood obtained from killing enemies in Maps with this modifier has also been increased.
• The Scourged Map modifier that causes you to shift into Nightmare on reaching maximum Blood now has a slight drain of Blood over time, though the amount of Blood lost on Killing a Scourge Monster has been reduced to 0.4% (previously 0.5%). It also now causes you to lose all Blood when you shift out of Nightmare.
• Scourged Maps that shift into Nightmare on reaching maximum Blood can no longer teleport you into an Incursion upon shifting out of Nightmare.

Other Improvements

• The damage of the Delve Spider Flicker Strike skill has been reduced.
• The damage of the exploding pods in the Stagnation Map boss fight has been reduced.
• The Rank 1 Defences Crafting Bench options now have a cost of 4 Orbs of Transmutation (previously 6 Orbs of Alteration).
• The Siren Weapon Microtransaction found in the shop has been renamed to Trident Weapon.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Sentinels of Absolution summoned through Intuitive Link would not attack.
• Fixed a bug where Plague Bearer displayed the incorrect Maximum Plague Value on the Skill Bar tooltip if you had allocated the Passive Mastery that increases this Value.
• Fixed a bug where Tempest Shield would have to be reactivated after logging out.
• Fixed a bug where Raise Spectre could sometimes raise the wrong minion.
• Fixed a bug where Mirage Archer Support could support Power Siphon, causing the Skill to become unusable.
• Fixed a bug where the effects of the Wind Dancer Keystone Passive could be triggered from being hit by a spell.
• Fixed a bug where the Lethality Notable Passive was not affecting rain skills.
• Fixed a bug where the Blackflame Unique Ring was not granting kill credit for enemies killed by the Ignite.
• Fixed a bug where the Veiled Suffix modifier on Bows which grants a percentage to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier was using two-handed values.
• Fixed a bug where the Flask modifier which grants Immunity to Maim or Hinder for a duration if used while Maimed or Hindered was not functioning correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the Suffix modifier that provides reduced Flask Charges gained and Flasks applied to you have increased Effect was categorised as Prefix modifier in the Crafting Bench.
• Fixed a bug where the Stagnation Map boss could sometimes summon vines at their location, rather than their target's location.
• Fixed a bug where Jaesyn and Maker of Mires were unable to create clones in the Hallowed Ground Unique Map.
• Fixed a bug where the Reef Map boss could continue to spawn minions after dying.
• Fixed a bug where Delve darkness damage over time was slightly higher than intended at depths shallower than 1000.
• Fixed a bug where opening a Chronicle of Atzoatl did not grant credit toward the Assist the Forsaken Masters Challenge.
• Fixed a bug where party members could not interact with Zana mission portals after leaving the mission area.
• Fixed a bug where party members were sometimes unable to see the party leader's map portals in a Guild Hideout.
• Fixed a bug where Monsters in Nightmare could prevent discovered Hideouts from being fully cleared.
• Fixed two instance crashes.

The Scourge League is well and truly underway so we wanted to give you a behind the scenes look at the expansion's development! Check out some of the demonic concept art below.