Grim Dawn Arcanist Mastery revealed – Multiplayer soon

Grim Dawn

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Crate Entertainment unveil the next class for their ARPG Grim Dawn.

Development on the ARPG is progressing at a steady pace ahead and the team are in the final stages of ironing out any issues with the multiplayer before it’s launched on Steam. In a lengthy update today Crate explain where they are currently at with the multiplayer.

Last update it looked like we were getting close to a releasable state on multiplayer but had some balancing and code issues with the new skill transmuters that we expected to take longer. Now the skill transmuters are essentially done, all problems resolved and some reasonable level of first-pass balancing. However, additional significant multiplayer bugs were revealed as testing continued and some of the original problems proved difficult to fix.

We have made significant progress since the last update though and only have a couple more issues that we feel need to be resolved before we can debut it to the public. We are not trying to make it perfect prior to release and it will be rolled out with the caveat that it is “play at your own risk”. It is quite fun though and people have occasionally been able to play for an hour or so without a crash. There are still a number of crash bugs though and one of the big show-stoppers is that quest NPCs can stop responding to players and another where destructible objects, like the outlaw barricade in Act 2, can be destroyed for the host but remain for the clients.

We are actually getting ready to test fixes for both of those issues as I write this and we are hoping to knock off a couple more crash bugs in the next day or two. The plan then is a few days of testing to ensure no other major problems have been introduced with the fixes and then release. So currently I think we are looking at a release in 1-2 weeks.

Why have we run weeks past our original estimate? Well, multiplayer is about as complex as it gets. It is almost like releasing alpha again. There are just so many different things involved that can potentially not work right together and it is also much harder to test than singleplayer issues. We thought there would be less work since we were building off the network code for TQ but we have made so many changes to the game (new path engine, new physics, destructible objects, new quest system, quest choices, etc.) that a lot had to be rewritten and it took significant effort to get all those things behaving in a multiplayer environment. We are nearing a releasable state though and everyone who is brave enough to venture into multiplayer testing can help us take it the rest of the way.

The big news today is the reveal of the Arcanist Mastery which is due to arrive in the next six weeks.

“To Arcanists, the manifestation of magic is not some unexplainable mystery or the will of the gods, but a science meant to be unraveled. This pursuit of knowledge drives all Arcanists, always eager to discover a new technique to make their namesake. Arcanists warp Aetherial and elemental energy to their will, creating devastating demonstrations of power that rival small armies. However, such raw force leaves little in terms of defense.”

Arcanists are masters of the elements as well as the raw force of magic that forms the mysterious Aether. They manifest this power through anything ranging from trivial weapon enchantments to rays of pure destructive energy. Though Arcanists may have a few tricks up their sleeves to ensure their survival, the primary focus of their spell-work is in obliterating their enemies before they even need to resort to such tactics.

Included in the update are details of some of the skills that will be available to the Arcanist. If this is a class you want to check out take a look at the update on the official forums. Another Arcanist update is expected on 1 September.

 


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