3.05 Live on Steam

[Sking]

3.05 patch is now live on Steam (GoG, and Mac stores will be early next week.) This is a baby patch, just 2 changes (listed below.) I cannot confirm/deny this will be our last patch. We will still be checking in on the forums and making sure nothing serious comes up. 

 

Only one fix: 

• Stalwart auto-save no longer jumbles up creatures stats

Only one change:

• Dropped The Unlabored Blade 'Firebug' proc from 10% to 3%

 

Keep on, keeping on,

- Sking

[Guest]

Hey Sking,

 

Any word on the Lost shader issue? I hate to be a pest but multiple Obsidian folks have told me that it's being looked at and I never hear anything about it. If it can't be fixed, please just tell me so that I can move on.

 

Thanks!

[Phenomenum]

First patch that i don't want to install.

What's next item you planning to nerf? Share your plans)

[JerekKruger]

First patch that i don't want to install.

 

I feel the same. I'm actually really disappointed Obsidian implemented this change: not so much because of the change itself (although it has dashed my plans for building around the Unlabored Blade, and reduce the pool of good* soulbound weapons to three) but rather what it suggests I can expect from soulbound weapons in PoE2 i.e. not much.

 

@Sking: is there any chance you could explain the rationale for this nerf and at least pass on the fact that it doesn't seem to have been wanted (see your announcement thread). I don't particularly expect it to be rolled back (though I would be happy if it were) but at the least it would be good if the dev team for PoE2 would realise this multiplayer style balancing is neither wanted nor desirable in a single player CRPG and leads to unexciting items.

 

Don't get me wrong I appreciate how much work Obsidian have put into PoE after release compared to many (most?) developers. But this sort of change is not wanted (as far as I can tell at least).

 

*Not great, good.

[DiabolicallyRandom]

For a minor patch, you must have totally fubar'd steam. 1.3 GB download, and I'm not the only one. https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/5ef0ra/13_gb_update_today/

[JerekKruger]

For a minor patch, you must have totally fubar'd steam. 1.3 GB download, and I'm not the only one. https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/5ef0ra/13_gb_update_today/

 

As mentioned in that Reddit thread, Steam's patcher simply rewrites the entire game file that contains the change. I predict GOG's patch will be a few MB.

[Phenomenum]

What about this, freakin' balance tweakers?

Maybe, you should spent your time fixing bugs?

[Wagner235]

this multiplayer style balancing is neither wanted nor desirable in a single player CRPG

 

I agree with JerekKruger. In fact, this balance "cancer" leads to stupid ideas where magic is equal to bare fists and daggers.

So yes, balance in single RPGs is making me sad.

Edited November 23, 2016 by Wagner235

[InsaneCommander]

Thanks for the fix!

 

As for the change in the Unlabored Blade, I agree with the others. I remember taking a long time to develop that weapon and now it doesn't seen worth it.

[Fenixp]

I agree with JerekKruger. In fact, this balance "cancer" leads to stupid ideas where magic is equal to bare fists and daggers.

So yes, balance in single RPGs is making me sad.

Lack of balance leads to Dragon Age.

Dragon Age makes me sad.

[Phenomenum]

 

I agree with JerekKruger. In fact, this balance "cancer" leads to stupid ideas where magic is equal to bare fists and daggers.

So yes, balance in single RPGs is making me sad.

Lack of balance leads to Dragon Age.

Dragon Age makes me sad.

 

Some time ago, when sabres was nerfed, i've seen one comment on some site: "Leave game alone ffc, you f*** autists, spare your time and money for making new games" - i like it. Briefly and crearly.

[Wagner235]

 

I agree with JerekKruger. In fact, this balance "cancer" leads to stupid ideas where magic is equal to bare fists and daggers.

So yes, balance in single RPGs is making me sad.

Lack of balance leads to Dragon Age.

Dragon Age makes me sad.

 

But why? Yes, mechanic of that game was simple (just as in BG/IWD/Planescape and many other old school games), but at least some magic felt like something to fear of - Inferno, fireballs, tempest and few more. And now, all i can see are FIREWORKS, just because you can not make fireball stronger then rapier.

[Phenomenum]

"just because you can not make fireball stronger then rapier." - Hit the bull's eye.

Edited November 23, 2016 by Phenomenum

[Fenixp]

But why? Yes, mechanic of that game was simple (just as in BG/IWD/Planescape and many other old school games), but at least some magic felt like something to fear of - Inferno, fireballs, tempest and few more. And now, all i can see are FIREWORKS, just because you can not make fireball stronger then rapier.

Because in Dragon Age, you had to bring two mages to be effective, one as support and another as a damage dealer. In fact, it would be most effective to bring 4 as they were strictly more powerful than other classes, but I digress.

 

I can bring anybody I want to in Pillars of Eternity and my party'll probably work if I put some thought into it. Balanced system is a system which ensures that whatever you enjoy about the game, you can enjoy it without worrying about it being broken by design. If you enjoy punching people over magic, I don't see why the game should tell you "NO!" and make it more difficult just for the heck of it.

 

Pillars of Eternity is probably the most balanced SP RPG I have ever played, which means that when a build doesn't work, it's entirely my fault, not fault of the game. This, in turn, means I can have fun creating crazy builds without worrying that the game'll punch me in the face for literally no reason. The game got to this stage by not listening to people whine incessantly whenever a balance change was made - and Obsidian, I for one thank you for this.

 

"just because you can not make fireball stronger then rapier." - Hit the bull's eye.

You know what, you're right, I discussed this with David Copperfield and he ensured me that magical fireballs are, in fact, more powerful than rapiers. Can't argue with realism now can we? Edited November 23, 2016 by Fenixp

[Phenomenum]

"You know what, you're right, I discussed this with David Copperfield and he ensured me that magical fireballs are, in fact, more powerful than rapiers. Can't argue with realism now can we?" - you smoked?

[Fenixp]

"You know what, you're right, I discussed this with David Copperfield and he ensured me that magical fireballs are, in fact, more powerful than rapiers. Can't argue with realism now can we?" - you smoked?

I'm more interested in why are you worrying about power of fireballs vs rapiers and don't mind at all that majority of mages who get hit in their faces with a lead bullet would probably have to reconsider their career. Most would work well as a professional coffin fodder.

[Phenomenum]

"I'm more interested in why are you worrying about power of fireballs vs rapiers" - wait, it's was just figure of speach. And it's not my figure.
My mind was: "I don't know why Obsidian have engage in this nonsense - tweaking items and so on. Looks like there no any other problems in game, exept poor sabres and Unlabored blade - no trash abilities, no bugs... Every time, when community ask them to pay attention on сertain issues in game balance or bugs, they listen just what they want listen and skipping past huge amount of useful information, and tweaking things when nobody asked for.
Seems they live in somewhat parallel universe. I don't know how to explain their behavior line."

[Phenomenum]

Would you argue?

[Livegood118]

With a little bit of tinkering in the Unity Asset Bundle Extractor the game is perfectly tweakable according to your tastes – I wouldn't worry about little small things like this in the long run.

 

Like, with a small bit of know-how you should be able to open up the Unlaboured Blade and tweak it to how you want it. 

[wqewqe234]

Ugh, always random nerfs to things that don't really need nerfing...

[AndreaColombo]

Thanks for the fix.

 

The nerf to the Unlabored Blade was completely uncalled for, however. Durganized normal weapons were already ahead of soulbound weapons, and Unlabored Blade was one of the few that could be on par—not anymore. Now it's not worth all the effort required to unlock it.

[JerekKruger]

@Fenixp: I don't disagree that some balancing is desirable: as you say, it strongly detracts from a game when a class is essentially mandatory. However I don't think perfect balance is desirable either, since it can both be fun to put together the most powerful party combo you can imagine and also to take a weaker party combo for the challenge. For class balance I'd say that, by and large, PoE hits the sweet spot here. The only class I think could do with work in the Rogue, and that's more because their abilities are just not very interesting (to my mind at least) than that they are underpowered (though they are probably the weakest class).

 

However I feel the tweaking that has led to the nerf of the Unlabored Blade isn't a good thing. The UB was a powerful weapon once fully unlocked (no small feat) but not overpoweringly so, and given it was one of two mythic quality weapons in the game I feel it should be powerful. After this nerf I think it will under perform (outside of Barbarian use) compared to a White March Dagger enchanted with a flaming lash, legendary and durgan steel reinforcement. The latter however can be picked up (albeit without enchantments) at the end of Act I, and doesn't require a painful unlock process. Sure, you can't make the WM Dagger legendary straight away, but you can start get it to exceptional very soon, durganise it long before you get the UB, and make probably it legendary before you unlock the UB.

 

With a little bit of tinkering in the Unity Asset Bundle Extractor the game is perfectly tweakable according to your tastes – I wouldn't worry about little small things like this in the long run. 

 

Thanks, I've downloaded the extractor and will start playing around with it.

 

However it's not so much the particular change as what it indicates that bothers me.

[Livegood118]

 

With a little bit of tinkering in the Unity Asset Bundle Extractor the game is perfectly tweakable according to your tastes – I wouldn't worry about little small things like this in the long run. 

 

Thanks, I've downloaded the extractor and will start playing around with it.

 

However it's not so much the particular change as what it indicates that bothers me.

 

See my related thread here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90344-how-to-modify-spell-chance-on-hit-effects-in-uab-extractor/?do=findComment&comment=1862524

[JerekKruger]

See my related thread here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90344-how-to-modify-spell-chance-on-hit-effects-in-uab-extractor/?do=findComment&comment=1862524

 

 

That's absolutely great, thanks!

[SaruNi]

Wow. I wish they'd made the other soulbound items more powerful, rather than nerfing one of the few worth the trouble (and The Unlabored Blade is a lot more trouble than most of them). 

 

Why not have a separate mode for people who want "balanced" abilities?

 

And even aside from class balance, if a weapon is overpowered, people can just choose not to use it... PoE isn't well-suited to the tiny contingent of hardcore competitive gamers anyway (no real competition modes), and you could restrict the nerfs to a special new hard mode (everything cheesy or remotely OP nerfed for bragging rights, etc. etc.). 

 

I get that tweaking a value is easier than fixing a bug, but it's really irritating that serious bugs exist (+movement speed effects have completely stopped working on my current installation, and my playstyle was heavily dependent on them), but the staff spends time making the game less enjoyable. I won't be getting Pillars 2 or Tyranny unless there's significant evidence that they've improved.

 

(Instead of spending time obsessing over nerfs, why not add content---like character dialogue and lore? Or rewrite some of the dialogue and lore to make it better and more interesting? The lore is one of the weakest aspects of Pillars of Eternity which is a shame, since it has potential for world-building.)

Edited November 23, 2016 by SaruNi