Next upon the design docket is a discussion of the design and development of Gems. Most notably, the thought process behind the most recently-introduced stone is researched.

As you might remember, nine new gems were added "including four wrought stone that concentrated on Necromancy", one of the PoE currency signature characteristics in War for the Atlas. Senior Game Designer Rory discusses moving from an overall discussion of skills that would be inserted and how gems could fit into that design matrix.

For instance, carrying the foundation ability of Detonate Dead and altering it with the accession of a stone was something that the team actively explored. Of course, some abilities worked better than others in this regard, but, as Rory says, all of that is part and parcel of game development. .

We had also prototyped a skill codenamed "Infernal Sweep" that was a fiery subject of effect sweep assault that burst nearby corpses. Early testing showed it felt bad to use, having to swing twice to first kill several enemies then again to click our page detonate their bodies to get bigger area damage.