Grim Dawn – Upcoming Changes to the Shattered Realm

The upcoming v1.1.9.0 patch for Crate Entertainment’s action-RPG Grim Dawn will be changing certain boss behaviors in order to address some camera exploits without drastically altering how the game is actually played. This post on the official forums outlines the issue and the team’s thoughts on it. Check it out:

To make sure that nobody is caught by complete surprise with Grim Dawn’s upcoming major update, we’d like to outline some significant changes we are making with v1.1.9.0, especially as it pertains to the community’s recent efforts to come up with a rating system for build performance.

With Forgotten Gods, the Shattered Realm offered an alternative endgame progression. As it scales effectively forever, the intent had always been that eventually a character would not be able to progress any further. Where this stopping point should be is up to some debate and everybody has their own opinion on that.

However, a style of play has become prevalent in the community that we feel is detrimental to this game mode and to creating a fair environment for everyone playing. For those not in the know of what we are referring to, in the current version of the game it is possible to alter boss aggro behavior by rotating the game camera and zooming in.

This “camera abuse” has allowed players to work around the intended design of fighting the boss spawns in unison and effectively pull them one at a time, even if the bosses stood right on top of each other. However, it is a finnicky method that can backfire and some consider it to be a display of skill to pull bosses this way. It is also not something the average player is even aware of.

We are calling this behavior exactly what it is: exploiting game mechanics.

With all that said, it has also become apparent that the community has settled on a certain way of playing in the Shattered Realm game mode that is not exactly how it was originally envisioned, but nevertheless seems to be popular as it allows for builds to clear higher shards than they otherwise would.

To address this issue, with v1.1.9.0, we are going to make three major changes:

• Boss spawn locations, particularly at high shards, will be updated. Bosses at endgame shards will spawn in a 1-2-1 pattern, meaning there will be 3 groups of 1 Boss, 2 Bosses, 1 Boss.
• Boss aggro behavior will be changed. Bosses will have a much smaller aggro radius, allowing you to pull them with more control without having to rely on gimmicky exploits. However, the 2 boss pack will almost always aggro together (those guys like to wander about, we certify our bosses are 100% free-range).
• The camera abuse behavior will be fixed. Rotating the camera or zooming in will have no impact on aggro behavior within the Shattered Guardian Domains.

Combined, we feel that these changes will make for a more predictable experience in the Shattered Realm that is accessible for all players rather than requiring insider knowledge on abusing a game mechanic while also maintaining the style of play in the Shattered Realm that has been popularized by the community.

In addition, without the ability to hamper boss aggro mechanics with an exploit, proper position and execution of the boss encounters while avoiding aggroing additional nearby bosses will help elevate and exemplify player skill when climbing Shards.

Along with new Shattered Guardian Domains in v1.1.9.0, we hope that these changes will lead to an improved experience for everyone enjoying the Shattered Realm. :slight_smile: