New players shouldn’t have had to be clueless about the Aetherials if they watch the opening cutscene. The Aetherials’ motivation is very clearly stated in the opening cinematic. (that they were abandoned/exiled by the gods in favor of humans, instead).
Older players before the cutscene was added had no in-game way of finding out the Aetherials’ motivations, though, to my knowledge. At least until Act 3 came out and even then it’s just an offhanded mention.
The in-game background behind C’thon is a bit more out of the way. It’s in Devotions when you check out the “Dying God” constellation description, where it basically states all that the above poster stated (that C’Thon was betrayed by the other gods and used to make mortals, etc. Also seems to imply the ohter gods were his offspring, as it refers to them as “his children”). Alas, I doubt most people would bother to read most of those devotion descriptions, especially when the vast majority of them don’t seem to serve much bigger plot purpose. As the dying god constellation is out on the far edge of the devotion system, most new players probably would have stopped reading long before then
Both the C’thonian motivations and the Aetherial motivations can also be found in a note that drops (at a 100% rate the first time, I think?) from the Act 3 boss, although it’s rather late in the game by then (although again, new players really can’t miss the Aetherial motivation unless they skip the opening cut scene)
…basically the gods were apparently jerks and now humanity is paying for the sins of their creators. (but that’s not humanity’s fault, which is a nice touch, as it allows you to still see yourself as the protagonist even if the Aetherials and C’Thonians have their own justifications)
when asking when the release date is people say when mod tools come out so when Does mod tools come out and has it already been released in other formats ?
to help clarify, 1.0.0.3 with the devotion proc changes IS coming with the modding tools later this week, but The Hidden Path content update is coming at a later date.
Yeah i am really exited for this content update. I do wonder if current area’s are being updated or that it will just be new area’s. Perhaps in the upcoming misadventures we might seem some screenhots