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PC PS4 XONE Steam Epic
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure, Indie

Path of Exile

3.19.1c Patch Notes Preview

Later this week, we're planning to release the 3.19.1c update with some of the changes to Archnemesis monsters and Kalandra League we mentioned in our news post last week. The patch also includes further Archnemesis changes and some bug fixes. Check out the patch notes below.

The following patch notes are still subject to change prior to the patch's deployment. We'll deploy the 3.19.1c update on consoles as soon as possible after its release on PC.

Archnemesis Changes

  • Increased the cooldown of the Ice Prison Archnemesis modifier from 5 seconds to 10 seconds, and the duration of the Ice Prison has been increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. This results in 50% prison uptime rather than 60%, and fewer overall prisons.
  • Lowered the duration of the shocked ground on death from the Electrocuting Archnemesis modifier from 25 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • Removed the damage from the Permafrost Archnemesis modifiers cold-damaging ground area. The area now only applies chill.
  • Lowered the duration of the Incendiary Archnemesis modifiers fire-damaging ground area from 4 seconds to around 3 seconds.
  • Disabled the on-death ground effects for the Incendiary Archnemesis modifier for Magic monsters.
  • Disabled Volatiles from spawning on death when a Magic monster with the Toxic Archnemesis modifier is slain.

Lake of Kalandra Changes

  • Gems are no longer a possible chest reward from Tier 3 and 4 generic encounters in the Lake of Kalandra and, for the most part, have been replaced by Currency chests.
  • Reflection of the Dream now has 50% increased Monster density (previously 100%), and the Breach now opens and closes 30% slower. This is both for reasons related to performance and the difficulty level of the encounter.
  • Added a warning message that will display in the Mirrored Tablet interface when performing an action that disconnects one or more tiles, preventing them from being accessed.

Other Changes

  • Increased the chance for the Will of Chaos and Deadly End Ultimatum Aspects to drop from their respective bosses.
  • Void Jaguar Influence monsters now have 50% of physical damage converted to cold damage (previously 75%), and now have a variable time before they can use their Leap Slam skill after spawning (previously a fixed time).
  • Consuming Thrall Influence monsters now deal 30% less damage with their projectiles against enemies at close range (previously 15% less).
  • Increased the following Skills target limit to 100: Ancestral Warchief, Bladestorm, Cleave, Contagion, Doryani's Touch, Earthquake, Vaal Earthquake, Fire Burst, Flame Golem's Flame Wave Skill, Ground Slam, Ice Nova, Shattering Steel, Shock Nova, Whirling Blades, Wild Strike's Fire Area of Effect, and Vortex.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug where Metamorphs with the Magma Barrier modifier would always create Fire Volatiles and be surrounded by a Magma Barrier the moment they transformed.
  • Fixed a bug where Operative's Strongboxes were not being affected by increases to Quantity of Items contained in Strongboxes.
  • Fixed a bug where the "A Trip Down Memory Lane" Challenge still required you to complete 6 Atlas Memories.
  • Fixed a bug where the Pantheon of the Gods Challenge could not be completed across two separate characters.
  • Fixed a visual bug where increased Quantity and Rarity of Items from allocated Atlas Passive Skills was not always displayed in the Map Overlay Mods.
  • Fixed a bug where item labels could be offset incorrectly in the Lake of Kalandra.
  • Fixed a bug where the highest modifier tier for local increased Attack Speed on Bows was displayed as tier 2.
  • Fixed a bug where some explicit modifiers did not have a vendor sell price.
  • Fixed two client crashes.
  • Fixed an instance crash.



Design a T-shirt Competition

We're launching a competition to design the best Path of Exile T-shirt! We will also be awarding prizes to the most compelling entries!

We're looking for a T-shirt design that will be awesome to wear out and about in the community, while still being instantly recognisable to other Path of Exile players. Maybe it'll have a clever slogan, a cool image or a meme that only our community would understand. We're really excited to see what you'll come up with!

Prizes


Top Three



  • The Lord's Labyrinth Gamebook
  • Path of Exile Art Print signed by Developers
  • Your choice of two Path of Exile T-shirts - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  • Your choice of an Armour Set (any Armour Set from the store)
  • Your choice of Back Attachment or Wings (any Back Attachment or Wings from the store)
  • Your choice of a Portal Effect (any Portal Effect from the store)
  • Your choice of Footprints Effect (any Footprints Effect from the store)

4th-5th Place



  • Your choice of two Path of Exile T-shirts - (Chaos Orb, Shaper or Untainted Paradise)
  • Your choice of an Armour Set (any Armour Set from the store)
  • Your choice of Back Attachment or Wings (any Back Attachment or Wings from the store)
  • Your choice of a Helmet or Helmet Effect (any Helmet/Helmet Effect from the store)

6th-10th Place



  • Your choice of an Armour Set (an Armour Set from the list below)
  • Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
  • Your choice of a Helmet Effect (a Helmet Effect from the list below)

11th-20th Place



  • Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
  • Your choice of a Helmet Effect (a Helmet Effect from the list below)

List of Armour Sets

  • Arcane Armour Set
  • Arctic Armour Set
  • Arctic Crystal Armour Set
  • Automaton Armour Set
  • Balefire Armour Set
  • Blood Guard Armour Set
  • Carnage Armour Set
  • Coliseum Armour Set
  • Darkprism Armour Pack
  • Demon King Armour Set
  • Desert Armour Set
  • Dragon Armour Set
  • Elite Armour Set
  • Extinction Armour Set
  • Executioner Armour Set
  • Fallen Angel Armour Set
  • Faith Guard Armour Set
  • Ghostflame Armour Set
  • Gloom Armour Set
  • Gorgon Armour Set
  • Gore Armour Set
  • Gothic Armour Set
  • Gryffon Armour Set
  • Harlequin Armour Set
  • Harpyon Armour Set
  • Huntsman Armour Set
  • Ice Armour Set
  • Ivory Chaos Armour Set
  • Lightning Armour Set
  • Lunaris Armour Set
  • Mageguard Armour Set
  • Malachai Armour Set
  • Madcap Armour Set
  • Merchant Armour Pack
  • Miracle Armour Set
  • Mystic Armour Set
  • Necrotic Armour Set
  • Pitch Black Armour Set
  • Polar Armour Set
  • Pure Light Armour Set
  • Purple Necrotic Armour Set
  • Purple Crystal Armour Set
  • Radiant Armour Set
  • Raven Armour Set
  • Rapture Armour Set
  • Ringmaster Armour Set
  • Seawitch Armour Set
  • Seraph Armour Set
  • Sphinx Armour Set
  • Steam-Powered Armour Set
  • Stormcaller Armour Set
  • Temple Armour Pack
  • Vampiric Armour Set
  • Verdant Armour Set
  • Warlock Armour Set
  • Wasteland Warrior Armour Set
  • Wild Armour Set
  • Water Elemental Armour Set
  • Wrangler Armour Set

List of Portal Effects

  • Arcane Demon King Portal
  • Arcane Portal
  • Arcane Voidgate Portal Effect
  • Arctic Crystal Portal Effect
  • Arctic Portal Effect
  • Automaton Portal Effect
  • Balefire Portal Effect
  • Daresso Portal
  • Darkprism Portal Effect
  • Demon King Portal
  • Divine Arcane Portal Effect
  • Divine Demon King Portal
  • Divine Stygian Portal Effect
  • Dreadspire Portal Effect
  • Faith Guard Portal Effect
  • Infernal Demon King Portal Effect
  • Golden Angel Portal Effect
  • Gore Portal
  • Gorgon Portal Effect
  • Havenwood Portal Effect
  • Huntsman Portal Effect
  • Kaom Portal
  • Kraken Portal Effect
  • Madcap Portal Effect
  • Malachai Portal
  • Maraketh Portal Effect
  • Miracle Portal Effect
  • Mystic Portal
  • Necrotic Demon King Portal
  • Necrotic Portal Effect
  • Orange Portal Effect
  • Project Portal Effect
  • Pure Light Portal
  • Resonator Portal Effect
  • Ringmaster Portal Effect
  • Scientist Portal Effect
  • Sentinel Portal Effect
  • Seraph Portal Effect
  • Spirit Portal Effect
  • Steam-Powered Portal
  • Stygian Ghostflame Portal Effect
  • Sulphite Portal Effect
  • Temple Portal Effect
  • Ultimate Chaos Portal
  • Vampiric Portal Effect
  • Wasteland Portal Effect
  • Wild Portal Effect
  • Wrangler Portal Effect

List of Helmet Effects

  • Abyss Eyes
  • Antlers
  • Apocalypse Helmet Attachment
  • Aquila Crest Helmet Attachment
  • Arcane Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  • Arcane Halo
  • Arcane Mark of the Phoenix
  • Arcane Visage
  • Arctic Crown
  • Arctic Skull
  • Assassin Halo Helmet Attachment
  • Assassin Seer Helmet Attachment
  • Aureate Halo
  • Automaton Halo
  • Bent Horns
  • Black Headband
  • Black Pirate Bandana
  • Bleached Skull Helmet
  • Blood Guard Helmet Attachment
  • Brilliant Crown
  • Brilliant Feathers
  • Chaos Orb Helmet
  • Coliseum Helmet Attachment
  • Corrupted Skull
  • Cow Skull
  • Curved Horns
  • Darkprism Helmet Attachment
  • Demon King Horns
  • Despair Helmet Attachment
  • Divine Ice Crown
  • Divine Sign
  • Divine Skull
  • Dragon Mask
  • Eye Patch
  • Faith Guard Helmet Attachment
  • Fiery Eyes
  • Fiery Visage
  • Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  • Frost Viking Alternate Helmet
  • Frost Viking Helmet Attachment
  • Ghostflame Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  • Ghostflame Skull
  • Glowing Red Eyes
  • Gore Skull
  • Gorgon Snakes Helmet Attachment
  • Guardian Mask
  • Harmonious Helmet Attachment
  • Harmonious Hood
  • Holy Eyes
  • Ice Crown
  • Ice Horns
  • Incursion Hood
  • Infernal Skull
  • Innocence Laurel Helmet Attachment
  • Iron Brand
  • Iron Maiden
  • Lightning Eyes
  • Lightning Skull
  • Mark of the Phoenix
  • Medusa Snakes
  • Misery Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  • Misery Helmet Attachment
  • Nightfall Helmet Attachment
  • Oriath Helmet Attachment
  • Plague Doctor Helmet
  • Purple Divine Sign
  • Purple Eyes
  • Purple Flaming Head Helmet Attachment
  • Purple Skull Helmet
  • Purple Smoking Hood
  • Rapture Helmet Attachment
  • Red Headband
  • Red Pirate Bandana
  • Rose Skull
  • Serrated Mohawk
  • Sin and Innocence Helmet Attachment
  • Sin Talon Helmet Attachment
  • Skull Hood
  • Smoking Hood
  • Spirit Charm
  • Steam-powered Skull
  • Suffering Helmet Attachment
  • Sunrise Helmet Attachment
  • Swan Crest Helmet Attachment
  • Thorned Skull
  • Twilight Helmet Attachment
  • Twisted Bone Horns
  • Twisted Horns
  • Undead Outcast Helmet
  • Vaal Orb Helmet
  • Wasteland Horns

Submission Guidelines


Your entry doesn't have to be an image. While images are of course preferable, even a textual description is good enough if it's really clever and would make a great T-shirt.
Your submission must be 100% your own work. You're allowed to refer to Path of Exile content and use its art assets, but please don't submit full screenshots from the game. Your design should be easily identifiable as a reference to Path of Exile. All designs must be appropriate for an audience of most ages. No nudity, profanity or overtly mature themes. Keep it classy!

Remember that various constraints apply to the physical shirt creation process. While a shirt that consists of the entire Skill Tree wrapped around your body may be awesome, it's not necessarily something that we're able to print easily. We'll be taking these considerations into account when selecting winners. Also, we're hoping people will be able to wear these shirts in public without feeling silly. A realistic picture of a Templar with no pants might be an awesome in-joke, but people might not want to actually wear it outside.

How to Submit your Entry


Submissions will be accepted until Monday, 17th October at 9am (NZT). Once your entry is ready, please post it in this thread. You're welcome to submit multiple different designs and we encourage people to discuss each other's submissions as they're posted. Seeing the community's reaction to submissions may help us in the judging process.

To post an image, first upload it to an image hosting website like imgur.com and paste the link into a forum-reply and use the img tags.

Selecting the Winners


Winning entries will be selected via the creative teams at Grinding Gear Games. We'll be selecting entries that we feel would make great shirts and are able to be produced. The winning designs will be announced within a week of the end of the contest.

Please note:

  • By submitting an entry, you grant us permission to use that entry for any purpose including commercial sale.
  • Submitted entries must not use copyrighted material (other than Path of Exile material which they can contain).
  • Selection of winners will be performed by Grinding Gear Games. All decisions are final.
  • If we make your design into a shirt, you'll get a copy.
  • We'll ship the prizes internationally for free, but you are responsible for any taxes that need to be paid to get them into your country.

If you like a design that you see in this thread, please post to let people know!





Build of the Week Season 10 - Episode 1 - ABCkid's Self-shock Lightning Conduit

We're bringing the Build of the Week series back! Over the coming weeks, we'll be showcasing some cool and unique builds created by the community. This week's build features the new Lightning Conduit skill, and was created by ABCkid to annihilate enemies in a barrage of lightning bolts! Checkout the showcase below!


For more information about ABCkid's build, you can find their forum post here.

If you're keen to get featured in next week's video, make sure you post your build in our Classes/Builds sub-forum, which you can find on our forum homepage!


Sentinel Microtransactions and Stash Bundle Now Available in Store

Microtransactions from the Sentinel Mystery Box are now available in the store! We've individually priced each set of items based on its type and rarity.

The Sentinel Stash Bundle is also being released today! This microtransaction applies a skin to your Stash and Guild Stash in your hideout to make them look like the Sentinel Box! Check it out in the video below.


Check out all the other Sentinel microtransactions by watching the video below. You can also view the full range in the store by pressing 'M' while in-game to access the store.


Thanks for your support!




Kirac's Vault Pass Concept Art

Today, we have a variety of both concept art and 3D art for items featured in Kirac's Vault Pass! The pass contains item skins and effects for specific unique items that unlock as you complete Atlas objectives! Check out the art below!

If you want to find out more about Kirac's Vault Pass, check out the Vault Pass in-game by clicking the icon in the top-left corner of the Atlas.

Darkness Enthroned




Zenith Magna Eclipsis






Undying Gravebind




Nebular Legacy of Fury




Predatory Farrul's Fur




Hyperboreal Cospri's Malice




If you want to find out more about Kirac's Vault Pass, check out the Vault Pass in-game by clicking the icon in the top-left corner of the Atlas.

Additional Upcoming Changes

In an upcoming patch, we'll be making some further small changes to the Lake of Kalandra expansion. This news post outlines what you can expect.

In a previous post, we mentioned we were discussing issues related to magic find/culling feeling mandatory as well as cases where it feels bad to get a lot of quality currency or flasks from killing a monster with specific Archnemesis modifiers. In both of these cases, our discussions are ongoing. However, in order to provide a bit more certainty, we can say that we don't have easy solutions for these issues mid-league and will be looking at what's possible for 3.20.

Upcoming Changes


We're planning to remove Gems as a possible reward from Tier 3 and 4 generic encounters in the Lake of Kalandra. For the most part, these will be replaced by Currency Chests.

We're planning to reduce the number of monsters that spawn in the Reflection of the Dream encounter. Additionally, we're planning to reduce the open and close time of the Breach. This is both for reasons related to performance and the difficulty level of the encounter.

We are lowering the duration of the shocked ground on death from the Electrocuting archnemesis mod from 25 seconds to 10 seconds.

We are also removing the damage from Permafrost's cold-damaging ground area. The area only applies chill now.

We are lowering the duration of Incendiary's fire-damaging ground area from 4 seconds to around 3 seconds.

We're increasing the cooldown of the Ice Prison Archnemesis mod from 5 seconds to 10 seconds. The duration of the Ice Prison is being increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. This results in 50% prison uptime rather than 60%, and fewer overall prisons.

For magic monsters only: we're disabling on-death ground effects for the Incendiary modifier. We're also disabling volatiles from spawning on death when a monster with the Toxic modifier is slain.

Flasks will be able to have Fractured modifiers, which can be obtained through the Empowered Elements conversion modifier.

We're planning to increase the chances for the Will of Chaos and Deadly End Ultimatum Aspects to drop from their relevant bosses.

We have a small patch coming out in the next couple of days with some very minor fixes, most of which is unrelated to the above changes. We'll get this set of changes out as soon as we can.

More ExileCon Tickets Available Soon!

Next week we will put more tickets on sale at 2pm on September 22nd (PDT) (9am on Friday in New Zealand). This batch will include 70 VIP tickets, 200 regular tickets and 250 balcony tickets.

Balcony tickets are identical to regular tickets but have you seated on the third floor of the auditorium (the Balcony) for the keynotes and potentially other talks. They are a bit less expensive ($210 USD).

If you have an existing ticket that you'd like to upgrade to one of the restocked higher-tier ones, there will be an Upgrade button available next to that ticket type. You'll only pay the difference between your current one and the new tier.

Please also note that the name on your ticket needs to match your photo ID, so when purchasing a second ticket for your friend or a family member, make sure that the name on that ticket matches their photo ID.

This is the final large wave of tickets, so if you are planning to attend ExileCon in person, don't miss out on them! We can't reserve tickets for you, so the only way to get one of the new batch is to be online at exactly the time they go on sale. Good luck!

3.19.1 Patch Notes Preview

By the end of the week, we're planning to deploy the 3.19.1 patch which addresses things such as balance changes to Archnemesis and Eldritch currency, as well as improvements to the Lake of Kalandra which were discussed in last week's news post. 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 3.19.1 update on consoles as soon as possible after its release on PC.

3.19.1 Patch Notes

Lake of Kalandra Changes

  • Increased the amount of Reflecting Mist you encounter by roughly 50%.
  • Breachlords spawned in Reflection of the Breachlord now spawn closer to the start of the Breach.
  • Rock formations in the Lake of Kalandra now block projectiles, allowing you to hide from enemy attacks.
  • Widened some bridges connecting Reflection Tiles in the Lake of Kalandra.
  • League Reflections where Kalandra is present now have intro and outro dialogue.

Archnemesis Changes

  • The Heralding Minions Archnemesis modifier can no longer be found on Delve monsters in the Azurite Mine. Monsters spawned at Legion, Breach or Beyond encounters in the Azurite Mine can still be found with this modifier.
  • Rare monsters spawned during Boss fights are now limited to 2 Archnemesis modifiers.
  • Rare monsters that do not drop loot are now limited to 2 Archnemesis modifiers.
  • The Aura from the Executioner Archnemesis modifier and Verdant Spores inflicted by the Healing Nova from the Rejuvenating Archnemesis modifier no longer affect Player minions.

Beyond Changes

  • The Life of Beyond Bosses has been lowered by roughly 5%, and the Life of all other Beyond monsters has been lowered by approximately 60%.
  • Improved the outcome odds for the Tainted Orb of Fusing, Tainted Jeweller's Orb and Tainted Mythic Orb.
  • Beyond Bosses can no longer spawn in Temporal Incursions.

Other Improvements and Changes

  • Lowered the damage dealt to minions by League monster skills and endgame Map Boss skills that felt punishing, for example, Shaper's Beam and Slam skills, Tul, Creeping Avalanche's Barrage skill, and many of Sirus, Awakener of Worlds' skills, amongst many others.
  • Eldritch Exalted Orbs, Eldritch Chaos Orbs and Eldritch Orbs of Annulment now drop in lower area levels, and their drop rate has also been buffed.
  • Marks applied to you by a monster are now removed if you move a great distance away from the monster.
  • Lowered the number of Rare and Magic monsters spawned during Harvest Boss encounters.
  • The Horticrafting Station now displays how much Lifeforce of each type you have available.
  • Reduced the likelihood a full sequence of Strongboxes could fail to spawn in areas affected by Alva's Memory of Cascading Fortunes.
  • The "Confine Mouse to Window" Option now confines your mouse to be within the maximum supported aspect ratio for those using larger aspect ratios (to prevent accidentally clicking on black bars).
  • Updated the description on Aegis Aurora's Energy Shield recovery to "Recover Energy Shield", previously "Replenishes Energy Shield". This is not a functional change.
  • Added the Physical tag to the Poacher's Mark Skill Gem.
  • Updated the Arctic Armour ground effect audio to be quieter.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where packs of Beyond monsters could sometimes fail to spawn Rare Monsters.
  • Fixed an issue where Elite Beyond monsters could sometimes fail to spawn.
  • Fixed a bug where various immobile monsters, such as Devourers, could be found with Archnemesis modifiers that are not meant to appear on immobile monsters.
  • Fixed a bug where players could become unable to move for a time after using Frostblink while Shield Charging.
  • Fixed a bug where Lightning Conduit could rarely cause lightning bolt visual effects to appear on enemies not hit by the skill.
  • Fixed a bug where after regenerating to maximum Life the value displayed could be incorrect until changing area.
  • Fixed a bug where Vaal Skills granted by Skill Gems with Alternate Quality types were gaining no benefit from Quality rather than the default Quality stat.
  • Fixed a bug where Sunder with over 100% wave delay reduction would behave as if it had no wave delay reduction.
  • Fixed an issue where Flasks with the "Used when Charges reach full" Enchantment were not able to be used multiple times in a single frame.
  • Fixed a bug where Innocence was not immune to knockback when encountered outside of his arena, such as in the Lake of Kalandra, or in Maven's Invitations.
  • Fixed an issue with Einhar's Memory of the Sacred Grove where monsters spawned in the Sacred Grove could become stuck in a wall.
  • Fixed a bug where Flame Turrets in the Vaal Omnitect Boss fight could fail to activate.
  • Fixed a bug where Brutus, Lord Incarcerator could sometimes get stuck on terrain in Upper Prison.
  • Fixed an issue where pressing Ctrl + Alt + C on a Mirrored Tablet would not copy the Reflections present on the Tablet.
  • Fixed a bug where the story glyphs in the Lake of Kalandra area were required for the No Stone Unturned Achievement.
  • Fixed the Alternate Art Cloak of Flames Robe 3D art missing the lower half of the robe.
  • Fixed a bug when using Controller input mode where the Map Device could reselect crafting options you could no longer afford.
  • Fixed a bug where the Sentinel Locker and Seed Stockpile hideout decorations couldn't be highlighted while editing your hideout.
  • Fixed a bug where the Sunprism and Void Emperor Enchanter's Ring microtransactions did not apply to Phasing or Onslaught buffs from the Raider Ascendancy.
  • Fixed a bug where a Summoned Holy Relic with the Exalted Holy Relic microtransaction applied could become invisible after entering a new area or when levelling up the skill gem.
  • Fixed a few wonky microtransaction interactions between some back attachments and the Astral and Golden character effects.


Lake of Kalandra Supporter Pack Concept Art

For our Lake of Kalandra expansion, we released the Knight and Rogue series of supporter packs that feature microtransactions with unique features. If you're interested in the process that goes through designing these, be sure to check out today's news post!

Rogue Stalker Armour Set










Warlord's Lieutenant Portal




Beast of Burden Pet




Bloodscouring Cloak




Hoarder's Stash




Knightmaster Armour Set



Divination Card Stories - Doryani's Epiphany

In the Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra expansion, we introduced 15 new divination cards designed by our supporters! For today's post, we asked Kezlyr to share their story about their card "Doryani's Epiphany". Check it out below!



Like many of the supporters, I've been playing Path of Exile for a number of years. I played off and on before finally settling in and really exploring what PoE had to offer in Bestiary League (3.2). This was the first league I watched the reveal, read up on all the patch notes beforehand, and discovered that other people had created build guides, which opened up so many new options and ideas. At this point, I was hooked.

However, despite PoE being an incredibly deep game, it's far less fun experiencing it on your own. My brothers and I had played games together most of our lives, but fell out of touch for a few years as we all moved out and did some growing up. We talked occasionally and played some games together once in a while, but that was really it. But then we all started playing Path of Exile together, as we all enjoyed action RPGs and deep customization games. We made a guild in game so we could quickly chat with each other instead of having to rely on whispers back and forth. That worked fine for a league or two, but is ultimately inefficient. We then made a Discord server that's just us so we could communicate outside the game, share build ideas, show off drops and victories, etc. And once we had an easy mode of communication, we began talking almost daily. It's not at all an exaggeration to say that my family is only as close as it is because of Path of Exile.

Consequently, I knew I wanted to have something in the game that I could always look to as a reminder, even if we all eventually move on to another game. The card that was added to the game was the last iteration (obviously), but the first version was actually intended to be built off of this concept. I had wanted a 6L white socket Death's Oath because I loved the build, and I wanted the art and flavor text to reflect the three of us struggling to achieve even a minute victory (we did an SSF run one league and my entire league plan was to find/chance a Death's Oath, get it to 6S, then temple slam it to white sockets; I did this in 4 days in Synthesis and actually chanced it in the middle of a fight, and very few experiences top it).

Since such a reward goes against Divination policy (and for good reason), I turned to heist which is one of my favorite league mechanics (don't tell anyone, but I even loved the version where killing monsters increased the alert level). I wanted to do a card for a replica unique, but by the time I had submitted that version, someone had beaten me to it. My next favorite heist mechanic was the alternate gems, but since I mostly play SSF, it felt kind of bad to just reward an alt quality gem (no offense to that card/supporter as it is still super handy to have in the game). I wanted people to have the chance to reroll their own gems, and try to get the version that they really wanted to enhance their build or to roll the next one, which is a lot easier with a bit of agency involved over pure luck (but still some rng).

Coincidentally, I had been checking for teasers for the upcoming league right after my card was revealed. I was so proud that I wrote up a quick post on reddit and showed the card to my son (8) and had him play through the Twilight Strand before introducing him to div cards and trying to explain that I designed the one in the picture.

I know this game means a lot to a lot of people, and to me it's been a way to connect with my family. I'm honored to have a small part in the game's legacy and hope it imparts some lasting, positive effect for others, as well. Thanks for all the hard work, GGG.