Grim Dawn Grim Misadventures #19 – #27

I’ve just come to the realization that Crate Entertainment has been busy providing us with more “grim misadventure” development updates for Grim Dawn, and while I’ve seemingly overlooked the last several, I figured it was better late than never to share updates #19 through #27. This latest entry takes us into item affix territory, as it applies to the changes being made in Build 12:

Magic Items (yellows)

Magical affixes are going to escape the balancing scythe unscathed.

The design intent for magic items is to provide you with not just low level gear, but also basic combinations of stats in significant quantities. Magic affixes are also used in conjunction with rare affixes to create green quality prefix + suffix combinations.

A yellow item will never have more than 5 stats on it, but most prefix + suffix combinations will have 2-3. Though yellow items do not offer many stats, the value of the stats they do provide should remain competitive throughout the game. Our yellows can provide some powerful bonuses that you do not usually expect from magic items in ARPGs. Players who want to maximize a specific stat (ex. % fire damage) may find that sometimes their best option may actually be a yellow item.

Rare Items (greens)

Rare affixes are going through the biggest changes in B12/13.

In B11, rare affixes had a very high stat budget, making them outclass yellows with ease. We also attempted to balance our itemization with just one tier of rare affixes that would handle the entire 1-50 span of the game. It became evident very early on that this was not going to work. Rare items became too powerful in the 1-30 range, but quickly lost their potency as we got closer to the level cap of 50 (greens were tuned as if they were level 35 affixes).

In the future, rare affixes are going to be split into 2-3 tiers, creating natural highs and lows. In addition, most rare affixes will lose at least one of their attributes at lower levels, which they will regain at higher levels. As for their balance, the budget for rare affixes is being cut significantly to bring them more in line with yellows. You will still find greens to be potent upgrades with unique on-hit effects and stat combinations you will not find on magic items, but the gap between yellows and greens is going to be significantly smaller, with magic affixes out-competing rare affixes in potency where they fall behind in quantity.

Double rare items will still represent some of the most potent collections of stats in the game, and their drop rates will remain extremely low. We intentionally did not place any restrictions on what rare prefixes and suffixes can be matched so that you can hunt for those immensely synergizing (and satisfying) combinations.