Path of Exile News

This next installment of our Divination Card Stories series comes from kx10yf, creator of Rebirth and Renewal. Discover the tale behind their card in today's post!



Hello,

I'd like to share my story behind the design of the divination card: "Rebirth and Renewal". I have played Path of Exile on and off since its Beta release in 2013. I love this game because of its depth in gear crafting and its endless build possibilities. Every season is a brand new experience for me.

Since the significant buff of the summoner class in 3.8, I have started to play some builds like spectre, zombie, and raging spirits. I always love playing summoner classes in other Action RPGs, and this buff gave me the opportunity. Unfortunately, the summoner class has been balanced several times along the way after 3.8, but it is still lots of fun. Inspired by some forum patrons (Kay, for example), it is exciting to find some new feasible spectres, to incorporate new uniques into the builds, and to refine the builds by delving into major seasonal contents.

I have purchased several supporter packs, including the Exalted supporter pack released way back in 2013. Yet I never considered designing a divination card, as this is expensive for me. During the pandemic, I had more time to play video games, thus I decided to support and involve myself in the development of the game that I love and have played for so many years.

The name of the card, "Rebirth and Renewal", mirrors my playstyle as a summoner, which brings the undead army back to life that fights for me. While I designed this card, I thought of Gandhi's enlightening words: "Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn." Every day is new to us, we should embrace life with enthusiasm and passion.

Scarabs are an important item in-game to modify maps, and in ancient Egyptian myths, it is also a significant symbol for resurrection. The name, the flavor text, the reward, and the art all match the theme of a summoner build. This pandemic has had some adverse impacts on people's daily lives. I hope everyone sleeping in misery could wake up without pain and grief.

I believe we will come across each other in-game in due course, and I hope that this new card would give you some joy and help you find some good items in maps. Stay healthy and prosper, Exiles!

During the livestream reveal of our upcoming Lake of Kalandra expansion on August 11th PDT, you'll be able to earn the Wrangler Wings with Twitch Drops, so don't forget to link your Path of Exile account with your Twitch account!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]How to Participate[/h2]

Just simply link your Path of Exile account to Twitch (see below) and watch the Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra Livestream at www.twitch.tv/pathofexile, or any Path of Exile stream* for 45 minutes on Thursday August 11th. Drops will be enabled from 1pm PDT until 10pm PDT.

You will get the Wrangler Wings after 45 minutes of accumulated watch time on any channel streaming Path of Exile during the event. This means that the drop is guaranteed for everyone who has watched any Path of Exile stream for this amount of time. This promotion is available for all accounts.

*If you're planning to stream Path of Exile during our livestream and want to enable Twitch Drops for your viewers, you can do it via your Twitch Creator Dashboard here.

[h2]Linking your Path of Exile Account to Twitch[/h2]

Visit your Twitch Settings page while logged in. If your account isn't connected, click the "Connect" button for Twitch under "Other Connections". Complete the process on Twitch and you will be redirected back to your Twitch Settings page. If your account is already connected, this page should say "Your Path of Exile account is currently linked to your Twitch account."

After you've accumulated enough watch time to earn your Wrangler Wings, you must redeem them from your Twitch Inventory before the promotional period ends. Then they will be available in your microtransactions list in Path of Exile.

We can't wait to share the details of our latest expansion with you! To stay up to date in the lead up to the livestream, make sure to check out our Twitter, Facebook and Forums. We'll see you at the reveal at www.twitch.tv/pathofexile!

There's plenty of time before our new expansion to redecorate your lake-side hideout or add a sea-faring friend to your collection, so this weekend we're holding a massive sale on Hideouts and Pets! You can view the full range of discounted microtransactions by pressing 'M' while in-game to access the store. The sale ends at Aug 01, 6:00PM PDT.

If you're going for a lake theme, the All at Sea Hideout can provide a great base to work with (also featuring the Blue Land Crab Pet, the Coconut Crab Pet, and the Corsair Monkey Pet):



For more inspiration, feel free to check out some of the amazing hideouts in our Hideout Showcase Forum, a few of which we recently highlighted in a Hideout Showcase news post.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
If you'd like to fill up on points to take advantage of this sale, be sure to check out the Sentinel and Archnemesis Supporter Packs before they leave the store forever!

Thank you for all of your support!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Path of Exile Livestream Announcement

Find out all about our next expansion at 1PM on August 11th (PDT) at twitch.tv/pathofexile!

In the livestream, you'll learn all about the new challenge league and other content of the expansion. We also have a small additional announcement we'll be making at the start of the livestream. After the stream, Chris Wilson will answer your questions live in a Q&A session with ZiggyD.

Twitch Drops will be enabled for the livestream. We'll announce the reward next week. Co-streaming is welcomed!

Path of Exile's Expansion Launch Date

You'll be able to experience the new Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra expansion for free on August 19th (PDT) on PC and on August 24th (PDT) on Xbox and PlayStation.

We can't wait to show you what we've been working on!

We're happy to introduce Michael, who's been a member of our sound design team for over a year and recently became a supporting composer for Path of Exile! We took a moment to interview Michael about his music background and new role at Grinding Gear Games.

[h3]Hi Michael! Thanks for participating in the interview! Could you please introduce yourself?[/h3]
Hey, I’m Michael and I’ve been in the audio team for around a year and a half now! I started in sound design just before Ultimatum, and began the switch to music a little after Archnemesis. I have a little over 3000 hours in PoE, and have played on and off since beta.

[h3]What is your musical background?[/h3]

I’ve been playing music since I was about 9 years old. At school I was classically trained in Piano, Guitar and Voice. I studied Composition at University for a couple of years, but didn’t really enjoy the Classical degree so I moved on to the popular music degree where I learned about working in a studio environment, and how to use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) which gave me the tools to work in a modern composers workflow.

[h3]How long have you been creating music for? Did you always want to be a composer?[/h3]
The idea of being a composer had been in my head since I was about 10, but I didn’t really start seriously writing my own music till I was about 15. At some point I had a falling out with my Piano teacher so I wrote a piece of music instead of preparing for my exams. That piece evolved into a three part sonata, and ended up winning me a few awards. I think that gave me the confidence to start pursuing writing instead of just performing music, so after that I spent more time writing than just about anything else, which annoyed my teachers… I can’t even remember how many times I was asked what my ‘real’ job would be. But it all worked out in the end I guess!

[h3]Have you created music for other video games?[/h3]
I had tried a few times to get some writing gigs for games, but it can be pretty tough to connect and get a chance with studio’s or indie developers without ‘experience’. Most of my previous work has been for TV and Film, or producing music for various NZ artists. I did manage to pick up a job for an in development MMO just before Covid, but unfortunately that got shut down during the extended lockdowns.


[h3]How did you end up working at Grinding Gear Games? [/h3]
I’d applied for a job in sound design a few times and had almost given up on trying, but right after covid it popped up again so I messaged the audio team lead directly and ended up getting an interview.

Fast forward 9 months, Kamil had seen that I use a lot of the same tools as he does for my own work and with things picking up speed on PoE2, it was getting a bit tough to keep up with writing for marketing material and the live game on top of scoring a whole new one, so he gave me a few art tests to see if I might be a fit for the music and eventually agreed to take me on as a supporting composer.

[h3]Can you describe the process of becoming familiar with your role here? Are there any guidelines for Path of Exile music that you need to follow in order to fit the composition into the game world?[/h3]
Besides getting some fancy new equipment, I’d already been working with the audio team for a while so It’s really more of the same, just with a bit of an extended timeline. The main differences are probably that you have to get as much info out of the writing team and directors as early as possible so you can start to build references and plan out core instruments for the pieces of music ahead of time which can help kickstart the creative process.

For guidelines, it’s similar to most other types of scoring. The best music is the music you don’t realise is there until it’s gone. It’s not really about taking centre stage, but enhancing what you’re seeing on screen.

Other than that, it’s making sure the mixing and general feel of the orchestration and arrangements are in line with Kamil’s work cause I don’t think a JRPG style emotional piano piece would quite fit as you’re tossing fireballs at some primordial old gods.

[h3]You're currently working on a soundtrack for the upcoming 3.19 expansion. Would you be able to give us an overview of this process?[/h3]
Since it’s my first expansion as a composer it’s been a chance to follow the progress of the league right from the initial concepts. It mostly starts with private messaging people every couple days on discord until there’s some more concrete themes, or art concepts that can influence where I might start with the piece of music.

The first step would ideally be to come up with a theme for the league which can then be developed into in-game music, then something for the teasers and trailers. I kind of made my way there in a more roundabout way than I might in the future, but I got there in the end!

After you have the theme, you can start with the most epic moment in the piece and then work backwards to create small chunks of music that can be dynamically changed based on what is happening on the screen. For example, seamlessly going from overworld music, to boss music and back. Or varying intensities of music in that boss fight based on boss health or mechanics.

[h3]What hobbies or interests do you have outside of creating music?[/h3]
Well, gaming of course! But other than that.. Mostly watching films, binge watching anime here and there, and going to the gym.

[h3]Who are your favourite composers? [/h3]
I never know how to answer this question so I’ll just name the first big ones which were Beethoven and Nobuo Uematsu. I played a lot of their music on the piano while growing up which in turn influenced my beginnings in composing my own music.

[h3]What inspires you?[/h3]
Fame, crippling self doubt, and the fear of death.

[h3]Are there any particular instruments you most enjoy composing for?[/h3]
Piano mostly, just cause it’s my original instrument. Which is funny, cause I almost never write on it anymore… Other than that would be string arrangements.


Thanks for the interview! We can't wait to enjoy Michael's soundtrack in the upcoming 3.19 expansion very soon!