How We Approach Console Development

Thanks, GiGiGi. I believe in you.

Fucking sad you have to explain so much because of the vocal minority who live in their basement and have autism.

YOU'RE WELCOME for performance improvements POE PC PLAYERS - LOVE XBOX ONE.

I liked this announcement and any fears I had have been put to rest. I believe what Chris is saying and will continue to support when and where I can because I love this game and the direction it is heading. Kudos GGG and well done.

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Black_Gun wrote:

so, say you're in the dev meeting and one guy proposes a cool mechanic for the act 6 bossfight that would be really cool on the pc, but could never work on the console due to control restrictions - in this hypothetical situation, does

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"The development and direction of the PC version has not and will not change due to the existence of the console version"

mean that you will nonetheless bring the cool boss mechanic to the pc version, even if it doubles the required effort and production cost of this bossfight? do you really want us to believe that you would't just dismiss the cool idea in that situation and try to look for another mechanic that works for both pc and console?

as others have said: for very simple and very basic reasons, you cannot and will not have two versions of the game that take on completely divergent paths. therefore, it is simply impossible for the existence of the console version to not impose a "glass ceiling" for the game design of both versions. although I absolutely believe in your best intentions, I see absolutely no way for the console version to not affect the monster, bossfight and skill design of the pc version in a negative way.

Please give an example of this hypothetical mechanic. I for one feel that I will be more precise on moving with a control stick due to playing consoles scince I was 7. Aiming movment skill probably not but other than that I can hardly see playing with a controller being that crippling to anyone who uses them regularly. Maybe if you go from mouse to controller, but not the other way around like I do to play this game. Atziri farming is gonna be fun and I might actually get to challenge the gaurdians and shaper now that I will have a stable frame rate that won't dip to below twenty constantly.

Awesome news!!

The amount of people unwilling to question GGG and turn a blind eye to the problems this could introduce is disconcerting. Got some real sheeple over here.

The way I see it, it's like Trump. This is happening wether we like it or not. So we just got to hope this doesn't impact QoL, development, or support too badly. I don't see how it won't, but let's hope it's to a minimum.

But being entirely honest, I don't know how I feel about all money that I gave GGG with MTX and tabs going into a platform I didn't ask for for the past two years. They should have said something back in 2015. That lack of transparency is more of a concern than anything else.

No controller support on PC? this sucks

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BearsOnUnicycles wrote:

No controller support on PC? this sucks

I'm surprised you'd even consider using a controller for an ARPG. Even if I was considering playing on a console, not having keyboard/mouse support would be a dealbreaker. I can't imagine what inventory management or skills like Lightning Warp or Flameblast would be like without a mouse.

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Lantis02 wrote:

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BearsOnUnicycles wrote:

No controller support on PC? this sucks

I'm surprised you'd even consider using a controller for an ARPG. Even if I was considering playing on a console, not having keyboard/mouse support would be a dealbreaker. I can't imagine what inventory management or skills like Lightning Warp or Flameblast would be like without a mouse.

Try playing diablo 3 on playstation 4 to get a better understanding

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BokkoTheBunny wrote:

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Black_Gun wrote:

so, say you're in the dev meeting and one guy proposes a cool mechanic for the act 6 bossfight that would be really cool on the pc, but could never work on the console due to control restrictions - in this hypothetical situation, does

"

"The development and direction of the PC version has not and will not change due to the existence of the console version"

mean that you will nonetheless bring the cool boss mechanic to the pc version, even if it doubles the required effort and production cost of this bossfight? do you really want us to believe that you would't just dismiss the cool idea in that situation and try to look for another mechanic that works for both pc and console?

as others have said: for very simple and very basic reasons, you cannot and will not have two versions of the game that take on completely divergent paths. therefore, it is simply impossible for the existence of the console version to not impose a "glass ceiling" for the game design of both versions. although I absolutely believe in your best intentions, I see absolutely no way for the console version to not affect the monster, bossfight and skill design of the pc version in a negative way.

Please give an example of this hypothetical mechanic. I for one feel that I will be more precise on moving with a control stick due to playing consoles scince I was 7. Aiming movment skill probably not but other than that I can hardly see playing with a controller being that crippling to anyone who uses them regularly. Maybe if you go from mouse to controller, but not the other way around like I do to play this game. Atziri farming is gonna be fun and I might actually get to challenge the gaurdians and shaper now that I will have a stable frame rate that won't dip to below twenty constantly.

malachai phase 2: a strong boss with lots of very dangerous aoe attacks that you MUST dodge on almost all characters; but the arena is also filled with fire traps on the ground. so you have to dodge malachai himself, but also play the arena. the traps force you to be considerate and precise with your movement while dodging malachai himself. the combination of those two aspects is what makes the malachai fight so great: the intensity, the hecticness, feeling like a little chicken that has to run away from the big bad guy for once (instead of feeling like an unstoppable wrecking crew throughout most of the rest of the game), the feeling of urgency and fighting the clock.

both the ground traps and the hearts which must be specifically targeted are what makes the malachai fight - but they are also things that work very badly with console controllers where your movement and damage skills only allow for directional targeting instead of point-targeting. I seriously doubt GGG would make a similar bossfight again once the console version is released or close to release.

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another example is the lab: yes, small sidesteps will be easier on the console, but particularly in the uber lab, you often times must use your movement skills with pinpoint precision. not possible with directional targeting, not quick enough with some console-based point-targeting (using the second joystick).

another example: the old, pre-nerf pathfinder class. on the pc, you could move, attack and constantly use flasks at virtually the same time. on the console, you would have needed one hand to control the movement joystick, one hand to use the flasks and one hand to use the skill buttons. so essentially, the old pathfinder playstyle would not work with console controls. guess what, they changed it. just like all the recently introduced active skill gems use directional targeting and big aoe. just like the nerf to not only the admittedly over-the-board coc discharge but to ALL coc builds really helps them stay within the performance limitations of the xbox.