KickStarter Grim Dawn

[Aothan]

I'm presently playing a single-class Solider with focus in shield constellation abilities, I also have a single-class Shaman caster for tangling vines even though most of the damage still comes from wind devil (if the expansion wasn't so close I would make a melee Shaman for Primal Strike with so many unique two-handed weapons found). The design allows for a lot of synergies between classes, mechanically or functionally but also rewards dedicated classes with better focus in their core abilities and special skills. Assuming the Inquisitor is suitably self-contained I'll probably try the same with a preference to melee, but I'm guessing they are a ranged focused class

edit: in my experience there are differences in performance between video cards with particle effects, shadows and other visual features

 

[pomenitul]

In my case, it runs smoothly for 45-50 seconds at a time then stutters for a split-second before going back to normal. It's a minor yet noticeable annoyance that I don't get when playing more graphically-intensive games. Anyway, I look forward to their new renderer.

 

[Lacrymas]

Btw, talking about new things reminds me - is there a list of new features the expansion will bring? I haven't been following its development at all, so I'm severely out of the loop.

EDIT: Nvm, found it.

 

[Aothan]

I was just about to post that link, the new additions sound interesting overall, particularly the new interactions to be found with skill modifiers on items

 

[Lacrymas]

100 levels seem pointless, I'm 63 with my "main" and I'm already running out of things to put points into. Are they going to extend the old masteries? I feel like Demolitionist needs some love. Too many bombs, not enough gadgets like the Mortar and Thermal Mines. They already changed the upgrade to Thermal Mines to use chaos damage for some reason and I can't understand what build that is useful for, so I dropped it from my arsenal.

 

[ArchAngel]

100 levels seem pointless, I'm 63 with my "main" and I'm already running out of things to put points into. Are they going to extend the old masteries? I feel like Demolitionist needs some love. Too many bombs, not enough gadgets like the Mortar and Thermal Mines. They already changed the upgrade to Thermal Mines to use chaos damage for some reason and I can't understand what build that is useful for, so I dropped it from my arsenal.

I think it is expected you invest heavily in another mastery as well.

 

[Lacrymas]

Well, duh. I'm a shaman/demolitionist. Unless you mean invest heavily into another line of skills. This is my planned build for this char -> http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-qIgSnh Going all the way to and maxing Ulzuin's Chosen is just because there is nothing else to put the points in, it only works for the Stun Jacks which is eh. At most I see myself getting Wind Devil when the cap is increased, but it seems overkill, I'd like more defensive talents. Also, more gadgets like Mortar Trap, mini-tanks or moving turrets would be awesome.

 

[Aeschylus]

Well, duh. I'm a shaman/demolitionist. Unless you mean invest heavily into another line of skills. This is my planned build for this char -> http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-qIgSnh Going all the way to and maxing Ulzuin's Chosen is just because there is nothing else to put the points in, it only works for the Stun Jacks which is eh. At most I see myself getting Wind Devil when the cap is increased, but it seems overkill, I'd like more defensive talents. Also, more gadgets like Mortar Trap, mini-tanks or moving turrets would be awesome.

Looks like it'd be fun to play, but I suspect you'll have some trouble if you play it all the way to Ultimate as designed, mostly because Storm Totem and stun jacks are kind of crappy by the end (disclaimer: this may have changed since I last played), and Mortar Trap is only really good (imo) if you can get the base skill to 26 to get 3 at once. I'd also invest a bit in Wendigo Totem and Vindictive Flame to improve survivability. Flashbang is also a pretty useful one or two point investment that you can spam.

 

[Lacrymas]

Mortar Trap is only really good (imo) if you can get the base skill to 26 to get 3 at once.

I swear there was only a 1 summon limit when I conceived this build, or I was blind when reading the description, I would've pumped it up had I known you could summon more. I tried Vindictive Flame for a while, but it's not very good in this context, as it requires you to be hit to work and I don't get hit a lot due to the mobile nature of this build.

 

[Aeschylus]

Mortar Trap is only really good (imo) if you can get the base skill to 26 to get 3 at once.

I swear there was only a 1 summon limit when I conceived this build, or I was blind when reading the description, I would've pumped it up had I known you could summon more. I tried Vindictive Flame for a while, but it's not very good in this context, as it requires you to be hit to work and I don't get hit a lot due to the mobile nature of this build.

I think the extra ones only appear when you get it over 16 (one at 17, one at 26).

 

[LESS T_T]

Steam page for the expansion:

Ashes of Malmouth picks up where Grim Dawn leaves off, expanding the world and story with two new chapters in the epic struggle to free humankind from the horrors of the Aetherials. Deep within the fallen city of Malmouth, the Shaper of Flesh crafts grotesque living weapons that could deal a final blow to the human resistance. You must forge new alliances as you push forward through deep forest, the void and into the city itself in a heroic effort to end the Aetherial terror. Venture into dangerous new parts of the world as you discover unique items, empower your characters and make difficult choices that have a lasting impact on the people of Cairn.

Key Features:

• Level Cap Increased to 100 - Reach for ever greater power with an increased level cap of 100 and an increased Devotion cap of 55!
  
• Two New Class Masteries – Unleash your vengeance upon the enemies of humanity with two new Masteries: the Inquisitor and the Necromancer, both of which can be combined with the base game’s Masteries, nearly doubling the possible combinations!
  
• Two Story Chapters - Confront the devious Aetherials and their twisted abominations in the fallen city of Malmouth as you push forward alongside the Black Legion and Inquisitor Creed in two epic Chapters!
  
• Transform Your Appearance – A brand-new Illusionist Service NPC enables you to transform the appearance of your equipment and customize your ideal look! Draw upon every item in your collection across all characters!
  
• New Environments - Explore new parts of Cairn to the north of Burrwitch and beyond! Traverse the treacherous forest of Gloomwald and the murky Ugdenbog as you seek passage to the fallen city of Malmouth.
  
• Four Factions - New Factions provide more opportunities to make allies…and enemies. Earn their favor to unlock unique rewards, or become a nemesis to spawn powerful foes.
  
• 14 Constellations - Unleash the might of the Arkovian Gods with 14 new Devotion Constellations that open up even more combinations in Grim Dawn’s massive constellation map.
  
• Collect Hundreds of New Items - Dozens of new Monster Infrequents and Hundreds of Epic and Legendary items are waiting to be added to your collection! Combine them with the new Illusion System to create a look unique to you!
  
• Item Skill Modifiers - Transmute and empower your Mastery skills using new modifiers found exclusively on equipment.
  
• New Nemesis and Super Bosses - Tackle all-new vicious threats and earn their unique loot. Discover Cairn’s secrets to summon supremely powerful foes.
  
• A New Rogue-Like Dungeon - A fourth Rogue-Like dungeon is coming in a free update, shortly after release, featuring the corrupting presence of the Aetherials and the Chthonians upon the beasts of Cairn.
  
• Expanded Stash - Stow away precious treasure with a vastly expanded Personal Stash and an additional Shared Stash Tab.
  
• Reset Your Attributes and Mastery Bar - Find a new type of potion that allows you reset your Attribute Points. Speak to a Spirit Guide to unlearn the Mastery Bar down to one point.

 

[udm]

• Two New Class Masteries – Unleash your vengeance upon the enemies of humanity with two new Masteries: the Inquisitor and the Necromancer, both of which can be combined with the base game’s Masteries, nearly doubling the possible combinations!
  
• 14 Constellations - Unleash the might of the Arkovian Gods with 14 new Devotion Constellations that open up even more combinations in Grim Dawn’s massive constellation map.
• Collect Hundreds of New Items - Dozens of new Monster Infrequents and Hundreds of Epic and Legendary items are waiting to be added to your collection! Combine them with the new Illusion System to create a look unique to you!
  
• Item Skill Modifiers - Transmute and empower your Mastery skills using new modifiers found exclusively on equipment.

This gives the munchkin in me such a hard on

 

[Haba]

Yay, my complete equipment set is about to become obsolete again.

 

[Luckmann]

The expansion content is up on Grimtools now, including the Skill Trees and the Devotions:

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/

The devotions looks so fucking dense now, didn't expect it to be expanded upon that much.

Also, just looking at the Inquisitor class makes me drool over my future Purifier.

 

[Lacrymas]

The Devotions are starting to look like Path of Exile's skill tree, but better.

 

[udm]

The devotions looks so fucking dense now, didn't expect it to be expanded upon that much.

The Order side of things looks a bit strange though. Everywhere else is stuffed to a corner, and you've got like this gap on the right side of the map.

 

[deama]

The reality is that both games are great in their own way. We're all arguing about complete nonsense.

I've continued playing PoE after deleting all my old characters without even looking at them (RIP), and the thing that's annoying me now is something I'd forgotten: The camera's maximum zoom is a lot closer to the character than any other ARPG in history. Most, if not all of the rendered true 3D ARPGs (that's virtually all of them post-D2) have suffered from the minor issue of reduced line of sight toward the camera, and extended line of sight away from it due to the quasi-isometric viewpoint.

Diablo, Diablo 2, Divine Divinity, Nox and so on employed orthographic projection, a concept in drafting and 3D modeling in which subjects appear to be 3D, but are actually 2D and distorted to present clean, angular views (of a car or ship design, for example). Orthographic projection allows for equal lines of sight both toward and away from the camera, because there's not a proper vanishing point nor any horizon line.

In PoE, not only is it 3D quasi-isometric, but the camera is practically up your ass. So if that necromancer boss is to your south, you won't see him until he's close enough to shake hands. I presume this was done A.) to show off armor more clearly and encourage microtransactions; B.) to make terrain modeling easier/reduce rendering overhead (the more the player can see, the more must be modeled/rendered); or C.) both.

I'm sure you get used to it eventually (I obviously did before), but being able to zoom out further and also rotate the camera 360 degrees freely as in GD is pretty much objectively superior, in my view... no pun intended, heh heh. View, get it? Fuck off.

I've hacked the game's viewport at some point. There's no performance impact whatsoever; I even went 2x as far and still no impact. I did however notice some bugs like ghost bodies getting stuck in mid-air after killing them.
I also found some interesting values to do with the field of view of the viewport; at one point I ended up making my character look like he's climbing a mountain.

It's kind of a shame that they aren't trying to make more interesting viewports with the game, perhaps make some sort of keystone that doubles your view but you can only see 1 colour? That'd be cool (I tried that one out too, ended up making the whole screen red).

 

[tripedal]

Inquisitor looks boring as hell, necro looks promising though.

 

[udm]

Update #57 from Grim Dawn
Oct 7 2017

Grim Dawn Expansion and Physical Goods

Greetings Backers,

Today I bring tidings of the Grim Dawn expansion "Ashes of Malmouth" and a sneak peak at the boxed copy and extras.

Ashes of Malmouth will be released on Oct 11th at 1pm EST. I'm very excited to hear people's reactions as I believe (and this seems supported by tester feedback) that we really hit a new quality level on the content for Ashes of Malmouth. I'm really pleased with the way the environments and flow of the story turned out and I think you all will be too. The Inquisitor and Necromancer also turned out to be really fun and make great additions, with all the new mastery combinations they bring.

We're working on getting expansion backer keys set up on Humble to go live for the 11th.

As for physical goods - we mentioned previously that we'd decided to add some extra items to the boxed copy. We settled on a patch, Devil's Crossing faction themed keychain and a Black Legion bottle opener. We had to go through some iterations on the items as the colors were off on the proofs and the bottle opener didn't work as well as I thought it should. I just got the latest versions, which look good, plus the proofs for the game boxes. Seeing them in person, I think the game boxes look smaller than I'd like; so we might up the size but otherwise everything will soon be ready to run the full production and ship out.

That leaves the last item, which is the Crate Story. This I've been chipping away at but it was hard to find much time for between Grim Dawn and Ashes of Malmouth. With the expansion finally complete, finishing the story is my next priority and I plan to set aside time this month to wrap it up.

Here's a sneak peak at the current run of the goods (note that the chain is missing from the keychain because my kids were using it as a weapon) :

Grim Dawn Physical Goods

 

[pomenitul]

Grim Dawn Version 1.0.2.0 Preview

With GrimTools updated now, not much sense hiding what's in store for you with the upcoming expansion patch. This update will be released in conjunction with the release of Ashes of Malmouth on the 11th and applies to the base game.

V1.0.2.0

[Major New Features]

• The game engine has received a major overhaul to its renderer, allowing the game to run on DirectX11. While results will vary from system to system, this will generally result in improved performance.

[Game]

• Rare Crafting Materials (ex. Blood of Ch'thon) can now be placed in the Transfer Stash.
• Adjusted overall loot tables scaling with level. They now drop significantly less Common and Single Affix items as player level increases. This change also applies to the Crucible.
• Increased drop rate of Rare items at all levels, scaling with game difficulty. This works in conjunction with above. Not only will less Single Affix items drop, but more of the Double Affix items will have at least one Affix of Rare Quality. Rare item drop rates remain unchanged in the Crucible.
• Improved results from Random Crafting Blueprints. They will no longer generate single affix items. Items that roll a Rare affix will instead roll a Rare Affix + Magic Affix. In addition, the chance of generating a double Rare item from crafting has been increased. Increased chance of rolling a Rare Affix on Single-Affix Rare quality blueprints.
• Increased drop rate of Ectoplasm from Ghosts
• Increased drop rate of Frozen Hearts and Mutated Scales from Slith
• Increased drop rate of Components from Chthonic Cultists, particularly of Consecrated Wrappings
• Updated many spell and damage effects with more efficient particle counts and less bright spots, reducing the intensity of these effects when multiple overlap and marginally improving performance.
• Inquisitor Creed and Kasparov have received new VO

The rest is here.

 

[ArchAngel]

I will need to try out that new patch. I never liked how the game ran on my computer.

 

[Lacrymas]

Demolitionist

• Mortar Trap: increased rate of fire by 15%

Is this a nerf or a buff lol?

 

[Luckmann]

Inquisitor looks boring as hell, necro looks promising though.

Fuck you, Heretic, prepare to be purified!

 

[ArchAngel]

I am just leveling a necro summoner in PoE. Unless this new class also lets me have 4 revenants, 7 zombies, 9 skeletons and 1 golem (+ summons I get from my weapon) I see no reason to play it over PoE version.

 

[Lacrymas]

You can have a lot of skeletons, an abomination, a hellhound, a raven, a wraith spirit, the revenant from the book that keeps refusing to drop *twitch*, the prawn-like creatures from the amulet and they are probably adding a bunch more summons. I tried the necro in PoE, but eh, I don't like the game itself for some reason.