WEBVTT 00:01.000 --> 00:10.000 Gamescom 2023, it's our last day, finally, and we are excited because we just took a quick look, but very interesting look, at Path of Exile 2, 00:10.000 --> 00:21.000 and we saw a druid, and we saw him turning into a bear, and we saw some very beautiful graphics for the stage of the game already, 00:21.000 --> 00:27.000 and it's the year of ARPGs, and people are looking forward to learning more about the game, so thank you so much for joining us, guys. 00:27.000 --> 00:36.000 What can you tell us about the druid, and about the shapeshifting, which is of course perhaps one of the main new features in the game? 00:36.000 --> 00:42.000 So the druid is a hybrid spellcaster and melee class, as a spellcaster he uses lots of natural disasters, 00:42.000 --> 00:50.000 like tornadoes, and lightning storms, and volcanoes, things like this, and as a melee character, he can turn into various animals, 00:51.000 --> 00:59.000 so we showed today him turning into a bear, he's got big stompy, big slams, and big attacks, but he can also turn into other characters as well, 00:59.000 --> 01:06.000 we're not showing that today, but a wolf is obviously something that a lot of people imagine a druid might want to turn into, as well as some other forms as well. 01:06.000 --> 01:13.000 So yeah, it's a lot of fun, and I guess the main thing we wanted to really focus on is the fact that you're changing between forms really frequently, 01:13.000 --> 01:20.000 you've got a lot of spells that can support tactically your attacks, so it means that you're jumping in and out of combat with the spells and your attacks, 01:20.000 --> 01:22.000 and really combining skills for a lot of synergy. 01:22.000 --> 01:31.000 And that's, I guess, difficult to balance, of course you have your spells as a human, and then perhaps you can drop the volcano attack that I just saw, 01:31.000 --> 01:36.000 and then you can turn into a bear, and use that to your advantage as well, both attacking and defending. 01:37.000 --> 01:46.000 Yeah, so the balance is pretty hard, but one of the things we're very keen to do in Path of Exile 2 is to make it so that the most efficient way to play is also the most fun way to play, 01:46.000 --> 01:52.000 which is something that we're really focusing on, is to make it so that there is actually advantage to combining all of these things, 01:52.000 --> 01:57.000 so we really want the damage increased when you actually successfully combine things to be very high, 01:57.000 --> 02:00.000 which is something that I think in Path of Exile 1 we didn't quite achieve as well. 02:00.000 --> 02:09.000 And as I said, it looks really nice already, but you guys have this roadmap, you are going close by in June, so it's almost a year from now, 02:09.000 --> 02:15.000 but how do you guys feel about the status of the game right now, and perhaps this question is more for you. 02:15.000 --> 02:21.000 Status-wise, the development of Path of Exile 2 is going really well, we've got enough time to get it finished, and we're very confident we can meet that deadline. 02:21.000 --> 02:26.000 In the background, of course, we've still got Path of Exile 1 going on, we've got new expansions every three months for that game, 02:26.000 --> 02:30.000 so it's a bit of a balancing act, making sure there's enough resources split between the two games, 02:30.000 --> 02:33.000 but we're very confident that Path of Exile 2 next year will be a really good game. 02:33.000 --> 02:41.000 And other than the shape-shifting, what was the main request from those fans for you guys to implement into the sequel? 02:41.000 --> 02:48.000 Because, for example, you're keeping the same static, what is called skill tree, sort of static. 02:48.000 --> 02:52.000 So what were they asking for you guys to do here? 02:52.000 --> 02:56.000 I mean, really, the shape-shifting is just something that players really, really identify with for some reason, 02:56.000 --> 02:58.000 like certain people just really want to be able to do that. 02:58.000 --> 03:04.000 But it is tricky to fit into a Path of Exile context because, especially with our skill system where all classes can use any skill, 03:04.000 --> 03:10.000 this kind of means that we have to work out what does it even mean to turn into a bear in Path of Exile. 03:10.000 --> 03:16.000 So the answer to that basically is that we've got bear skills, when you use any bear skill you turn into a bear, 03:16.000 --> 03:19.000 when you use another skill you turn out of a bear, for example. 03:19.000 --> 03:22.000 And that just kind of means that it's all kind of handled automatically, it's very easy to use. 03:22.000 --> 03:28.000 And technically any class can do it, but the druid is the one that's kind of designed, you know, being strength intelligence, 03:28.000 --> 03:32.000 it's kind of designed for the ability to use those kinds of skills. 03:32.000 --> 03:37.000 And speaking about design, of course this is a different story, and this is different environments, 03:37.000 --> 03:40.000 and of course different creatures, different characters. 03:40.000 --> 03:46.000 So what can you tell us about more of the, you know, the broader view of the studio in terms of the talent that you guys are using, 03:46.000 --> 03:51.000 the artists, the design, the different things going on here in a broader way? 03:51.000 --> 03:57.000 Well, we've built a world-class team of artists, programmers, and other content creators, and it's based in New Zealand, 03:57.000 --> 04:00.000 so it's sometimes kind of hard to hire people all the way to New Zealand, 04:00.000 --> 04:03.000 but we've got a really good team that we're confident can get the project finished really well, 04:03.000 --> 04:07.000 and it's really, really great working with all these very talented people. 04:07.000 --> 04:11.000 About the story itself, what can we learn as of now about what's going on, 04:11.000 --> 04:15.000 and what can players expect in terms of, you know, narrative? 04:15.000 --> 04:17.000 So we're going to be talking more about story stuff later. 04:17.000 --> 04:22.000 We've got definitely more to talk about there, but for now it's relatively simple. 04:22.000 --> 04:25.000 I can say that it is a direct sequel to Path of Exile 1. 04:25.000 --> 04:27.000 It continues the storyline from there. 04:27.000 --> 04:34.000 It's set about 25 years later, so some characters are still around, some characters are not. 04:34.000 --> 04:36.000 But, oh, this is annoying. 04:36.000 --> 04:40.000 But, yeah, we'll be talking a lot more about story stuff later. 04:40.000 --> 04:45.000 We do actually have some upcoming story content pretty soon to show people. 04:45.000 --> 04:49.000 All right, and finally, we mentioned the June closed beta, but what's the next checkpoint? 04:49.000 --> 04:55.000 Are you guys running another ExileCon, or when can we expect to learn more about the game? 04:55.000 --> 04:58.000 We've got a lot of announcements planned between now and June of next year. 04:58.000 --> 05:00.000 We have a lot more classes to discuss, a lot of new systems to show, 05:00.000 --> 05:01.000 so keep your eyes out in the news. 05:01.000 --> 05:03.000 We'll be revealing a lot of new information. 05:03.000 --> 05:05.000 And we haven't talked about endgame yet either, 05:05.000 --> 05:08.000 which is something that obviously players are going to be very interested to talk about. 05:08.000 --> 05:11.000 So that's another thing we have to be announcing before we get to June next year. 05:11.000 --> 05:16.000 Looking forward to endgame and to the werewolf sort of shapeshifting. 05:16.000 --> 05:17.000 Thank you so much for your time, guys. Enjoy the show. 05:17.000 --> 05:18.000 No problem. Thank you very much.