Next upon the design docket is a discussion of the PoE currency design and advancement of Gems. Most notably, the thought process behind the most recently-introduced gems is researched. As you might remember, nine new jewels were added "including four wrought stone that focused on Necromancy", one of the signature features in War for the Atlas.

Senior Game Designer Rory discusses moving from an overall discussion of abilities that would be inserted and how gems could fit in that design matrix. For instance, carrying the base ability of Detonate Dead and changing it with the accession of a stone was something the team. Of course, some skills worked better than many others in this regard, however, as Rory says, all of this is a part and parcel of sport development. .

We had prototyped a skill codenamed "Infernal Sweep" that was a fiery area of effect sweep attack that exploded nearby corpses. Early testing showed it felt bad to get from us use, having to swing two to first kill some enemies then again to detonate their bodies to get larger area harm.

The ability was visually spectacular, but did not play well unless it was boosted in both beginning area and damage to the point where it both invalidated the roles of Sweep and Infernal Blow. This skill went back to the drawing board and we'll likely see it in future with added mechanics or without the reliance on corpses.

The article further goes into specifics about Support Gems and how design iterates in concept to completed job. You can check it out here.