Last week, Lead Developer Chris Wilson had the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Josh Strife Hayes about game design philosophies and more about Path of Exile. Josh has uploaded the video to his channel, which you can check out below!


Thanks again to Josh for hosting and having a chat!

This weekend, we're running a sale on popular microtransactions! Check out the full selection of sale items by pressing 'M' while in-game to access the store.

The sale ends on Monday, 18th July 5:00PM PDT.

If you are in need of more points for the sale, don't forget to check out the Archnemesis, Sentinel or Core Supporter Packs!

Not sure what to get? Why not try combining items from different sets? Check out the screenshot below, which features the Dark Magic Helmet, Stygian Body Armour, Revenant Sword and Tranquil Ethercraft Gloves, Boots and Back Attachment, which are all on sale this weekend!



Finally, don't forget about Zizaran's Class Gauntlet Event starting this weekend! More information on the event can be found here. Best of luck to everyone participating!

Thanks so much for your support!

Earlier this week, we announced the winners of the Well Dressed Exile competition. There was an overwhelming amount of excellent submissions, so today we'd like to showcase several of the competition's runners-up!

Each runner-up will receive their choice of any footprint effect from the store as a prize.

Natural Runners-Up

BlueBloodstain


blvcksvn


PugChampion


ƙloƙɱacɧine


pablija


eznukezilla


GunpowderGolem


Premium Runners-Up
Adrinanane


deebe


EpicNoobCZECH



hiddenxgrizzly


내가동훈인데누가동훈이냐


s0mbr


lu1z


Thanks again to everyone who shared their well-dressed exiles with us! We'll be contacting the runners-up within the next few days to arrange their prizes.

Later this week, we're planning to deploy Patch 3.18.1d which includes a few improvements and bug fixes. In this news post we've prepared a preview of its patch notes.

The following patch notes are still subject to change prior to the patch's deployment. We'll deploy the 3.18.1d update on consoles as soon as possible after its release on PC.

3.18.1d Patch Notes

This patch contains a handful of improvements and bug fixes, alongside fixes for a couple of client crashes.

• Divine Vessels are now able to modify Maps while you have the Stream of Consciousness Atlas Keystone Passive allocated.
  
• The Soul Conduit monster modifier now raises a maximum of 30 nearby monsters to fight again on death.
  
• Fixed a bug where defeating Aul, the Crystal King was not granting credit towards The Forsaken Masters achievement.
  
• Fixed a client crash that could occur when re-entering the Absence of Symmetry and Harmony.
  
• Fixed a client crash that could occur at the end of a PvP match.

As the ongoing Sentinel League progresses, we wanted to shed some light on our next expansion's release date.

The 3.19 expansion will probably launch on August 12th PDT, which means that the Sentinel League will end on approximately the 9th of August PDT. We'll confirm Sentinel's end date later in the news as we get closer to it. As usual, we'll unveil the details of the expansion a week before the launch during a livestream. Please note that the above dates are just our current plan, and we may have to change them if development runs into any issues (if so, it'd likely just be back one week).

As we have said earlier, the 3.19 expansion, as well as all future expansions in the leadup to Path of Exile 2, will contain further improvements to Path of Exile's endgame. And of course, you can expect a new challenge league and lots of other content and balance changes which will be revealed in the livestream. The scope of this expansion is bigger than Sentinel and we're very excited to share what we've been working on.

Stay tuned!

Last month we launched the Well-dressed Exile competition where players could compete with and without microtransactions to create the best look for some awesome prizes! After going through everyone's submissions, we're now ready to announce the winners!

Both the Premium and Natural categories will have their own prize pools.

Top Three

• A custom forum avatar that features the winning outfit
  
• The Lord's Labyrinth Gamebook
  
• Signed Path of Exile Art Print
  
• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list here)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)

4th-5th Place

• Signed Path of Exile art print
  
• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list here)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)

6th-10th Place

• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list here)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)

11th-20th Place

• Your choice of one Path of Exile T-shirt - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)

lu1z


Earthan


Hippydolphin


Valkruf


akaflux


Ensperon


Pootis_Tootis_Man


trappedwraith


medwannabe


godshero11


Ariolous


Illusiontde


Noxfean


Vasilas


CSTCN


Gadmont


jazael


OLAN_HOPE


pro17


Nervyr


DrHermelin


Murgatroyd


Thajarin


s191417nq


Tachykir


bli7zz


ArchiebaldEvalson


beccarte


DiceeciD


FuF_Tactics


Shareware


Vende77a


Congratulations to all of the winners! We'll be contacting you within the next couple of days to arrange your prizes. Thank you so much to everyone who participated. This was an awesome competition to run and we loved the huge variety of entries you all submitted. We'll be announcing the runners-up in the next few days!

This weekend, we're running a sale on microtransactions from the Harmony Mystery Box! If you're looking for cosmetic effects themed around Zana and The Shaper, now's your chance to fill your wardrobe! Check out the video below to see what's in the box, or peruse the sale by pressing 'M' while in-game to access the store!


If you are in need of more points for the sale, don't forget to check out the Archnemesis and Sentinel Supporter Packs!

Thanks so much for your support!

We went through our Hideout Showcase forum again to highlight some of your amazing hideout designs with the rest of the community! If you're looking for a new Hideout or need some inspiration for your next one, check them out in the showcase below!


Here's a list of the hideouts featured in the video (.hideout files are available for download in corresponding forum threads):

• 
  Citylife by Deathtiny2266
  
• 
  Celestial Warpgate by Noooberino
  
• 
  Chinese Dragon by TallBird
  
• 
  Elven Forest by Alyanne19
  
• 
  Ashenvale by Morinmeth

Community streamer Zizaran is back with another 10-day Class Gauntlet Event which starts on July 15th PDT. Racers will level characters and kill challenging bosses to earn points and compete to find out how each of the classes fare against some of Path of Exile's most difficult encounters. The event will take place in a Hardcore Solo Self-Found Event League provided by us with a range of damage and life mods which are now dynamic. The prize pool is funded by the community and Zizaran's event partners.


The following mods active for the event apply to monsters:

Acts 1-5

• 20% less Damage Taken
  
• 20% Increased Damage
  
• 10% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  
• 1 Additional Projectile

Acts 6-10

• 20% less Damage Taken
  
• 25% Increased Damage
  
• 15% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  
• 1 Additional Projectile
  
• Monsters have 10% Increased Area of Effect

White Maps: (Area Level 68+)

• 30% less Damage Taken
  
• 30% Increased Damage
  
• 20% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  
• 2 Additional Projectile
  
• Monsters have 20% Increased Area of Effect

Yellow Maps: (Area Level 73+)

• 30% less Damage Taken
  
• 35% Increased Damage
  
• 20% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  
• 2 Additional Projectile
  
• Monsters have 30% Increased Area of Effect

Red Maps: (Area Level 78+)

• 30% less Damage Taken
  
• 40% Increased Damage
  
• 20% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  
• 2 Additional Projectiles
  
• Monsters have 30% Increased Area of Effect

Area Level 85+ (Uber Bosses)

• 35% less Damage Taken
  
• 40% Increased Damage
  
• 20% Increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  
• 2 Additional Projectile
  
• Monsters have 30% Increased Area of Effect

The Gauntlet will be held as an Event League that is available to all players during the event by clicking "Join" in the bottom right corner of the character select screen.

Players will receive points once per character based on their level, specific boss kills and select Maven's Invitations. Don't forget, to get boss kill points you must submit your kills in the Path of Exile Community Racing Discord which you can join by clicking here.

Start time: July 15th Friday 2:00PM PDT. The event will last for 10 days. A countdown is available here.

The prize pool is crowdfunded by Zizaran's event partners and community streamers! In addition, streamers and their communities will be able to create a bounty with the money they fundraise for the event. Bounties are a custom prize that can be awarded to players for achieving a specified goal in the event. Keep an eye out on their social media for announcements regarding when their fundraisers are taking place and what they will be!

Zizaran's event partners will match donations to the prize pool (up to $25,000).

The total prize pool minus bounties will be awarded as follows:

• Rank 1 Overall: Gauntlet Trophy + 12% Bonus
  
• Rank 2 Overall: 4% Bonus

Witches

• Top Witch: 8%
  
• Second Witch: 4%
  
• Third Witch: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Shadows

• Top Shadow: 8%
  
• Second Shadow: 4%
  
• Third Shadow: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Rangers

• Top Ranger: 8%
  
• Second Ranger: 4%
  
• Third Ranger: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Duelists

• Top Duelist: 8%
  
• Second Duelist: 4%
  
• Third Duelist: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Marauders

• Top Marauder: 8%
  
• Second Marauder: 4%
  
• Third Marauder: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Templars

• Top Templar: 8%
  
• Second Templar: 4%
  
• Third Templar: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Scions

• Top Scion: 8%
  
• Second Scion: 4%
  
• Third Scion: Heartseeker Character Effect + Ultimate Chaos Portal

Leveling your characters to certain thresholds will also make you eligible for the randomly-drawn prizes made up of both merchandise and microtransactions provided by Zizaran's event partners and Grinding Gear Games! The general prizes listed below will be randomly drawn from all appropriately leveled characters except for the Level 90+ Armour Pack prizes, which will be drawn per class. You can gain more than 1 ticket per account for the microtransaction/physical prizes, however you cannot win more than one prize per category below:



You can catch exciting moments from the event by checking out Zizaran’s Youtube Channel where Skryah and OMGitsJousis are teaming up to deliver some epic highlights!

There will also be live casting on Zizaran’s Twitch Channel. More info on who will be casting to come!


Special thanks to community members Faderon, MrMadakey, ManWithHat, Skryah, OMGItsJousis and Viyro for their contributions to this event.

Good luck to all those participating!

We took a moment to chat with Nick from our community team about his work with Grinding Gear Games. Check it out below!

Hey Nick, thanks for taking part in the interview! Please introduce yourself.

Hi! I'm Nick and I've been with the Community Team for a little over a year now. I joined the team just after the launch of the Ritual League. I've been playing Path of Exile on and off since Anarchy League (softcore Andy reporting in!)

Could you please tell us about your current role at Grinding Gear Games and what an average work day is like for you?

My current role covers a huge range of things from looking for feedback or issues with the game, preparing and posting the daily news posts and sometimes helping out with filming gameplay for microtransactions. If you see a Community_Team post on Reddit, that most likely would've been me! Almost every day is different, which is awesome for variety!

How and when did you find out about Path of Exile?

I found out about the game when I was still in high school in 2011. I think Closed Beta sign-ups had opened then, but I didn't actually play the game until Open Beta in 2013. Like many others, I'd have to say Kripparrian's coverage of the game is what really put it on my radar.

What was the moment that got you hooked on the game?

I think it'd have to be the different ways you can build your character and play the game. Modifying Fireball to be able to Fork or fire multiple projectiles felt like the coolest thing ever to me. Learning all the mechanics and having them "click" also felt really satisfying!

What are your favourite builds from your time in Path of Exile?

My memory might be failing me on this one, but one of my favourite builds I remember playing was I think when Mirror Arrow worked with Minion Instability, and you'd reserve your life so that your Mirror Arrow clone would instantly explode once it landed for juicy proliferating ignites. Something about it was bugged though, because I remember it being fixed shortly after!

Otherwise, I really enjoy CoC (YEP) builds, and fondly remember playing Shatterchuck back in the day, and Cospri's Malice Ice Nova more recently!

How did you end up working at Grinding Gear Games?

I actually applied for a community role in 2019 but didn't make the cut. In 2020, there was another call for applications so I thought why not try again? I was lowkey hoping Bex didn't remember I had already applied the year before, but she did :')

What are the highlights from your time with the community team?

Everyone in the community team is awesome to work with. Bex especially. For real though, she's awesome and the banter we have going between everyone in the community team is a lot of fun!

Are there any unexpected challenges in this job?

I think the most unexpected challenge was getting used to putting everything together for our livestream announcements. There's a loooooot of moving parts for these, and we wouldn't be able to cope without other departments like our awesome QA team and our UI Artists!

What hobbies or interests do you have?

I like playing a lot of video games (who didn't see that coming?). At the moment, I'm playing a lot of Path of Exile, Dota 2 and Street Fighter 5 but am excitedly waiting for Monster Hunter: Sunbreak and Street Fighter 6! I also like watching and lurking in Path of Exile streams, especially during events like our Boss Kill events or Zizaran's Gauntlet. Outside of video games, I enjoy playing badminton from time to time. I also like watching Anime and Marvel films. My favourite Marvel film would probably be Morbius, specifically the scene where he says "It's Morbin' time."

Anything you want to tell to all PoE players?

If you have any questions, feel free to drop a post in the thread here and I'll shoot you a reply if I can answer it!