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This too. It's a well known fact that a dwarf isn't a dwarf unless they (a) wield an axe or, at a push, a hammer, (b) wear heavy armour, (c) have a great big bushy beard, (c2) are male or at least appear male and (d) are always drunk. Bonus points if they hate/are scared of trees for some reason.

Spring Training is already underway. The Cactus & Grapefruit leagues are in full swing. Minor League camps open today. It is a beautiful thing! To quote Bullet Bob Feller "Baseball is life! Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is." After a turbulent and very active off season it's time to put the past behind us. Everyone is a contender now. It's time to talk hardball!

Dedicated to the discussion in the BG3 thread about Dwarves in crpgs: Dark Elf: "You are nothing but drunkard comic relieves with fake Scottish accents." Tungdil Goldhand: "Everything dark elves say is a lie, so..." "... I'll just go find dwarf on dwarf romance." Boïndil: "Kids..."

Some good news for Pallegina (and my child dream since game release). Need to tweak to avoid too much exploits, but still... nice! Ability was in game since release, but not used (maybe due to possible exploits, maybe because "Balance"). Waiting for suggestions for fine tuning.

The MLB season is 162 games. It starts in the last week of March/first week of April and runs through September. They play 2-4 game series against every other team in their league with a handful of series against the other league. Those are called interleague games. There are two leagues in MLB, the National League and the American League. Each has 15 teams. Each league has three divisions. The idea is to win enough games to win your division and make the playoffs. In addition to the three division winners the next two teams with the best record make the playoffs as wildcards. Spring training starts for pitchers and catchers in The last week of February. The whole team reports 10 days later. The teams all report to team facilities in Florida and Arizona to get into shape and practice for the season. The play a 28 game exhibition season with other teams that have camps nearby. For the Florida based teams it's called The Grapefruit League. In Arizona it's the Cactus League. The games don't count and most players don't play every day. Spring training is also where players try to win jobs on major league rosters. If they fail they are sent down to the minor leagues or are just released. So even though it's exhibition it's still competitive. That is where we are right now

You shut your mouth, Sagani was cool. A little boring mayhap, but still cool. P.S.: And Khelgar Ironfist was great!

I will give Larian a pass. NWN2 has been one of my fav post IE games RPG. it wasn’t a successor to what NWN was, but it was what I wanted NWN to be. BG3 might not be a successor to BG1&2, and it might not be what I like the most... but as long as it’s good in what it aims to achieve, and doesn’t mess with the original... what’s the harm?

I suspect they'll stick with the name Baldur's Gate because it would honestly be a bit weird to do otherwise when the D&D game you've just released is no more a Baldur's Gate game than the one you're proposing not to call Baldur's Gate. Instead I suspect BG will simply come to be a series of D&D CRPGs by Larian. I do hope they're successful. Even if I end up not enjoying BG3, I think it's good for CRPGs as a whole to have as many successful dedicated CRPG developers around. Whether it be borrowing a cool new idea, or simply the confidence that CRPGs can be commercially viable, it's a good thing imo.

I'm currently playing Beautiful Desolation, which I also backed on kickstarter. Very cool game that feels quite unique, which is always a plus in my mind. Interesting setting too. The gameplay is basically top down point and click with just a hint of RPG spice to it. It's also interspersed with some fun CG cutscenes which are super well made given the very small development team. Not perfect but definitely enjoying it.

1) grimdark fantasy is overrated - it's just fad that got elevated because of vocal snobs 2) sci-fi setting is very niche 3) real time with pause isn't turn based - I like both and if you can't play real time with pause like turn based here's tip -> let your toon do stuff real time, don't press pause way too often - hence the name real time with pause 4) the long game development means nothing in terms of squishing bugs or improved quality 5) saying classless system offer myriad of classes is stupidest thing ever - classless system is system without classes 6) cartoon graphic are my favorite graphics and definitely wish there's more of that in gaming industry edit: 7) bard class, with proper setup, rocks. No, seriously, BG series dropped a ball here, NWN2 and even NWN 1 bards were better than BG2 bards.

The truth of the Painted Masks was a revelation that shook Aloth to the core. As he continued on his journey with the Watcher of Caed Nua, he found himself questioning his effectiveness of his work regarding the Leaden Key, and doubting in his own ability to see his cause through. But then the Defiant landed on the Black Isle, and the party arrived at the Halls Obscured. Although the Elf was as shocked as anyone else in the party at the horrors witnessed in the Collections, the seed of a whole new scheme was planted in Aloth's mind when he saw the Archives. And by the time they were done with everything they had come to accomplish and were making to leave, that seed germinated and bore fruit. After all, he may have spent much effort to little avail over the last few years trying to track down each and every cell of the Leaden Key... but if there were ever any records on where in all Eora they could be found, would they not be located somewhere in the Central Stacks? On top of that, the Watcher had just so conveniently disposed of the Oracle, the Halls' erstwhile caretaker. Plus, with the passing of Fyonlecg, there was a gap in the leadership of the Hand Occult, and the accoutrements of the Weyc were right there for his taking... With that in mind, Aloth resolved to seize the opportunity which had presented itself. In the aftermath of their encounter with Eothas at Ukaizo, Aloth claimed what he needed for his next task, bade farewell to the Watcher, and chartered a ship to his next destination. So see nothing of Weyc Engferth, for she watches you still. =================================== The Weyc Engferth, Ultimate Edition =================================== Difficulty: PotD v5.0.0.0040 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Wizard -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wood Elf -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Aedyr (Gentry) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings): MIG: 12 CON: 10 DEX: 15 PER: 15 INT: 16 RES: 10 -------------------------------------------------------------- Active Skill: Any Passive Skill: Any -------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon Proficiencies: Rapier (a) Scepter (a) Small Shield ® Wand ® Sword ® Battle Axe Quarterstaff -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) PL1 Wizard Minoletta's Minor Missiles (a) (!) Thrust of Tattered Veils (!) PL2 Wizard Mirrored Images ® Infuse with Vital Essence Combusting Wounds (!) PL3 Wizard Deleterious Alacrity of Motion Llengrath's Displaced Image Arcane Dampener (!) PL4 Wizard Minor Arcane Reflection ® Flame Shield Pull of Eora ® PL5 Wizard Blast of Frost Ryngrim's Enervating Terror Llengrath's Safeguard ® PL6 Wizard Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst Chain Lightning Common Spell Resistance PL7 Wizard Wall of Draining (!) Tayn's Chaotic Orb Common Penetrating Empower ® Potent Empower ® PL8 Wall of Many Colors ® Kalakoth's Freezing Rake Temporal Cocoon Common Great Soul (!) PL9 Wizard Minoletta's Missile Salvo (!) Petrification Common Prestige (!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: The Weyc's Wand (soulbound, Wael's Sight!) (!), The Weyc's Oracular Focus (Strengthened Enlarge Shield, Lasting Channeled Shield ®) Weapon set 2: Magran's Favor (Blazing Core, Enduring Flame), Griffin's Blade (Hound's Courage*®) ® Chest: Robes of the Weyc (soulbound, Mirrored Empower®, Omnipotence!) (!) Helmet: The Mask of the Weyc ® Amulet: The Third Eye ® Grimore/Trinket: Ninagauth's Teachings (!)/Iron-clasped Grimoire (!) Cloak: Shroud of the Phantasm (!) Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves ® Ring: Kuaru's Prize ® Ring: Ring of Boundless Stars Belt: Least Unstable Coil (!) Boots: Vithrack Silk Slippers ® ----------------------------------------------------------------- When I theorycraft in Deadfire, I usually prefer to work on multi-class builds. That's because I enjoy finding synergies between the skills of both classes, and putting together something that works better than the sum of its parts. But Aloth is the only exception to that rule to date, because the Wizard's PL8 and PL9 spells are just that good, and I've yet to figure out any synergies that can match their power in either of his multiclass options. On top of that, Aloth is the only one amongst the Companions and Sidekicks who can be a single-class pure Wizard (Fassina doesn't count). Because of this, I had to search for synergies that work with him through equipment, and I eventually found that the Weyc set from the Forgotten Sanctum DLC offers a truly powerful synergy with Aloth like nothing else I've seen so far. Therefore, while Aloth is always an asset to the party throughout (because Wizard), he becomes practically indispensable after FS, especially for the toughest encounters in the entire game. (Note on “Ultimate Edition” builds: With the release of the Ultimate Edition on PS4 and XBox, there will be many first-time players of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire who will be searching for builds online, only to find that most available builds were created for earlier versions of the game. While many of those are still viable even in the final version of Deadfire, this would not be apparent to new players; thus, builds such as this will be tagged as “Ultimate Edition” to indicate that they’ve been tested for version 5.0.0 of Deadfire, including all DLCs.) The Wrath of the Weyc And it all stems from a couple of simple interactions; when soulbound to a Wizard like Aloth, The Weyc's Wand offers the Wael's Sight enchantment, which converts 100% of Misses into Grazes on an Empowered attack. Which doesn't sound all that powerful, to be sure. But here's the thing; it applies to every single missile that's produced by the PL9 Wizard spell Minoletta's Missile Salvo. That means it doesn't matter how high an enemy's defenses are, Aloth... Just... Can't... ****ing... ...Miss. Of course, Aloth can only pull this off once per encounter, so even that isn't enough to take out the Megabosses by itself. But while the sheer damage that a laser-guided Missile Salvo can do is spectacular in its own right, the true value lies in its synergy with the Least Unstable Coil; the Empowered Being enchantment that's also activated with the Empowerment of Minoletta's Missile Salvo gives a random Tier 3 Inspiration with every hit scored by a spell. And apparently not only do Grazes count for proccing it, but Empowered Being activates for every single laser-guided missile produced by the Salvo. This means that after the Wael-Empowered Minoletta's Missile Salvo hits, Aloth will achieve demigod mode with all six Tier 3 Inspirations active on his person. And giving Aloth the Robes of the Weyc means his Empowerment of Minoletta's Missile Salvo also activates the Omnipotence enchantment on the armor, which gives the Brilliant Inspiration to all nearby party members as well. So keep a Priest nearby Aloth when he fires it off, and you can spam Salvation of Time to extend Aloth's demigod-hood until the end of the encounter, no matter how long it lasts. At this point, the only question left is; how well can you make use of all that power while it lasts? Final Thoughts Pros: Empowerment gives a single use of Minoletta's Missile Salvo that can bypass all defenses, even that of the Megabosses. It also gives Aloth Energized, Robust, Swift, Intuitive, Brilliant, and Courageous in one go. It even gives nearby allies Brilliant as well, so a Priest can keep all his Inspirations going with Salvation of Time spam. For the cherry on the cake, this build can be replicated by any Watcher or hireling Wizard with better-optimised Races and Attributes. Cons: Cannot be replicated with Wizard multiclasses (no access to PL9 Wizard spells), Conjurors and Transmuters (no access to Evocation), or Blood Mages (no access to Empowerment). Doesn't do anything to help with the stick up Aloth's arse, unfortunately.

OK, next lesson. Reading the standings These were the AL standings from sometime in June 2012. W = Wins L = Losses PCT = winning percentage GB = Games back. This is a big one. This is how many games a team not in first place has to win to catch the first place team. So look at the AL Central. The White Sox have a two game lead on the Indians. So for the Indians to catch up they need to win two more games than the white sox do over the coming schedule. Now if the Indians are playing the White Sox it's easy. But the schedule is what it is. So if the White Sox lose the next game and the Indians win the Indians will only be one game back. If you notice in the AL East the Orioles are 1.5 games back of the Yankees. The .5 means the Yankees have played more games at this point in the schedule than the Orioles have. It's just the way the schedule worked out. So that .5 represents what they call "a game in hand" for the Orioles. So if Baltimore plays the next day and the Yankees have a day off they will be caught up. If the Orioles win they will be 1 game back. If they lose they will be 2 games back. Home = Teams won loss record at home so far Road = record for games on the road. These are also called home/road splits. They also track that for players which we'll get into an a little bit RS = Runs Scored. The total number of runs scored by that team so far that season RA = Runs allowed. The total number of runs they have given up. This is just a way to gauge the offensive and defensive effectiveness of each team. DIFF = The differential between RS & RA Streak = How has the team been performing lately. In this example the New York Yankees have won 9 in a row L10 = The teams record over the last 10 games.

South Carolina is notable because it's the first primary Biden has won in 3 decades of running for president.

I did actually like Sagani, but notice how her ending had no influence on Deadfire. It's like they want you to believe she never existed! Khelgar is from before this cabal formed so...

I also thought Sagani was very good, but she's generally overlooked as a dwarf companion because she isn't another Gimli clone.

Thank you! This is all very comprehensive and the same time very accessible. Thanks a lot for the taking the time to write it all out and explain stuff to a noobie like me, I appreciate it!

This is a basic baseball score line: As you can see it has a box for each of the nine innings for each team (top half & bottom half). The numbers in those boxes are runs scored (points) A run is scored when a batter reaches home plate after crossing all three bases. So in this game Detroit scored one run in the 2nd inning, two in the 3rd, and one in the 8th for a total of 4. That is the number in the R box at the end. The last three boxes are R-=Runs H=Hits: How many times a batter for that team hit the ball into play and it was not a fly out or put out before reaching base E=Errors: how many times a player for that team made a mistake that allowed a batter to reach base when they probably would not have. I'll go more into why this stat is kept in a little bit. It's actually important for the pitcher. They keep track of hits even though it does not affect who won or lost to give you an idea how active the offenses were in each game. How much action their was and how effective the pitching and defense was. It tells you a little about what that game was played even if you didn't see it. The two names on the bottom are the winning and losing pitcher for this game. Adam Wainright was the winner because he was pitching when St. Louis scored the go-ahead run in the 7th inning. More in a bit

You recruit the first dwarf at a tavern because they are all drunkards.

I'll let the best Starfleet CO explain the next part. He also agrees that baseball is life!

The rules are the game are simple Skazz, the details are where it gets complex. The pitcher throws the ball to the catcher. In front of the catcher the batter for the opposing team tries to strike the ball into play (between 1st & 3rd base). The defenders pictured in the field here will try to catch the ball in the air (in which case the batter is out) or, if they can't throw it to the base the batter is running towards before he gets there. The batter's objective is to get to Home but he's got to cross all three bases to do it. So when he hits the ball into play he's going to try and get to as many bases as he can. If he can't then he's relying on the next batter to hit the ball and move him along. If the next batters are unable to do so the runner on base is said to be stranded. The game is divided into innings. Nine innings is a regulation game. Each inning is dived into two called the top and bottom. The top of the first inning is the beginning of the game. The home team is in the field (on defense) the visiting team is batting (on offense). Once three batters are out the inning ends for the offensive team and they reverse, the home team goes to bat and the visiting team takes the field. \ Batters can be put out by hitting the ball in the air and the defense catches it (fly out) they can be thrown out before reaching whatever base they are running to (put out), the can be caught off base in between plays or while trying to steal a base (picked off. More on stealing in a bit). Or they can fail to hit the ball in three attempts (strike out) The pitcher and catcher are working together to throw the ball in such a way that it's hard for the batter to hit the ball (called make contact). Pitchers will vary their throwing styles, speed, etc and catchers will shift position and instruct the defense how to set up for each batter, More in a bit

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/112610-armchair-theories-on-why-poe2-didnt-sell-super-well/ Here you get 13 pages of speculation what other people think about it.

Obviously, Joshua Eric Sawyer is their president.

It's not about modding, it is about how the data of this very game is structured. Changing an ability is easy, adding an ability too, but removing an ability or changing it's place in the ability tree is a mess. You have to copy and override the whole tree of a given class which will mess with any other mod doing so... There might be some ways but I don't know them.

I wanted to do this from start but this is... technically complicated. I'll keep in mind, but don't want to make any promises.

I thought the greatest game sound track of all time was Bubble Bobble??? No, not going to post a video here Must be a German thing.... rock band performs with 1002 musicians

I would rather that it stick with RTwP and remain a party based, single player RPG. There are some things I wish that they'd massage around the game mechanics (classes, in particular), though I doubt that they'd listen to me. Personally, I wish that they'd avoid anything to do with the Deadfire region and get back to a more traditional setting. Perhaps in the Living Lands (because of the wide variety of environments). Perhaps in "Rekke land" (I keep forgetting the name of Rekke's home region.) I'd suggest avoiding The White That Wends. These people (i.e. the developers of the old BG and IWD games plus the PoE games) have done enough arctic centric games or expansions, between IWD1/2, the White Marches, and the arctic PoE2 expansion. I'd rather see a PoE3 in a more temperate environment, though, let's say if they did the Living Lands, I wouldn't mind one of the valleys being a cold one, as long as it was one of many and not the entire game. I think that it's a fair point that the devs might have to try to figure out why PoE2 didn't sell so well. Was it a case of the old BG/IWD veteran players had had their taste of nostalgia and weren't interested in a sequel? Or did the pirate motif turn off some potential customers? or something else. I have no idea. I bought both PoE 1 and 2, and would buy a PoE3 if it stayed true to the basic concept.

I was speaking specifically about Larian. Other devs probably feel like most players wouldn't want to play as an NPC instead of a custom char.

Imagine beating Irenicus by turning the puddle he's standing in into ice so that he slips and drops down the Tree of Life to his death.

I didn't think the interaction with the environment in D:OS2 benefited the game experience in any way. Being able to move stuff around was meaningless to me. Also, the fact that you couldn't highlight things with TAB was annoying in the extreme. But thanks! I see where you're coming from. We just disagree.

D:OS2 engine and scale is amazing. I just wish they would do something more structured for BG3. I found D:OS2 to be too free-form - you can do anything, anywhere with vague objectives meaning I didn’t care or remember about anything I did. Apparently there are about 350 people working on BG3. It shows. In many ways that’s a kind of game I wished for Bioware to pursue - invest in systems and interactions, rather then presentation. What I didn’t wish was for it to be so multiplayer focused.

These are making it worth watching Picard.

I'd disagree, but it doesn't really matter if it is or isn't anyway. Obviously a lot of people enjoy it, and if they enjoy it that's fine with me whatever I think of its quality. But even though it wasn't me making the original comparison I'd say that a comparison of obsessive Twilight fans to obsessive Bioware fans is certainly a comparison that has merit, because a lot of those fans get the same type of enjoyment out of both. There was a fair bit of crazy around before ME2, though that is definitely the high water mark and the time at which it became the (stereotypical) Bioware fan's distinctive trait. It's very much a result of Bioware's development system of NPCs up to ME2 which culminated in a game which was, essentially, NPC recruitment and loyalty missions stitched together by a haphazard main plot which ended up with you fighting a ludicrous Terminator Reaper hybrid made of soylent greened people. There wasn't much crazy at all for BG1 because the NPCs were very basic cyphers with a dozen lines each, a bit for BG2 as the NPCs developed more and so on as the system progressed and especially as the idea of romances progressed. They're not so much nerd porn as variable quality relationship simulator porn. Bioware definitely played for this, indeed they actively developed character archetypes that were the same through multiple games because of it- the Anomen (Carth/ Sky/ notAshley) archetype of whiny damaged love interest, the Korgan (Canderous/ Black Whirlwind/ Wrex) amoral mercenary, the vulnerable love interest, the tough love interest etc etc. I liked DAO a lot, but there was definitely some obsessive behaviour around Morrigan/ Leliana/ Alastair even though they'd toned down the biostereotypes a bit. OTOH, Inquisition and Andromeda both came across as if they'd written their characters based on a list of traits written on a whiteboard that they thought would appeal to different subsets of fans instead of writing them as 'real' people.

This is so awesome! This is what I worked on in my NASA-funded master's thesis project way back in the early 90s: understanding how the transfer of liquid rocket fuel from one spacecraft to another would work.

I like new BG3. I like DOS2 DE I like art direction of Original Sin games

Yeah, i remember my PoE 1 Rogue with Firebrand - massacre!

Heresy detected!

It's typical capitalist hogwash. Shifting the blame to consumers lets businesses elude any responsibility in failure and allows them to continue as before. An example: plastics. Consumer‑side habits changing is laughably insufficient to save us from being buried under veritable megatons of plastic garbage. But there's a disproportionate emphasis on that, instead of legislating plastics away where possible. Now, be a dear and buy these microtransactions. You don't want to make the board sad, do you?

No. The number of choices is irrelevant to validity of choices: New Vegas, Caesars Legions slaughters people, tortures people, enslaves people. The NCR collects taxes and has nepotism and a certain level of corruption. Obsidian wants you to accept in that game that slavery = taxes as similar evil. Or that slaughtering whole villages because you can is the same as a politician pulling strings not to have their kid send to the front lines. The third option (Mr House), joining neither side does not make Caesar's Legion more valid as a moral choice. The CIA funded and trained death squads during the Greek civil war. It is recorded as "successful anti-communist operation" or something like that. The people they trained and armed though were the Nazi collaborators. I grew up in Thessaloniki where 46 thousand people were send to Auschwitz. The people who aided in that were then given arms and funds by the US. No even remotely decent human being would accept that. Therefor the myth needs to be created that there is no black and white, only gray, and two opposite sides in a war are both valid. And because we are getting bombarded with that in popular media - be it tv series, movies, comics, literature, or gaming - for decades now, the generation creating content now is propagating this without an agenda, instead believing this to be how they show open-mindedness. Of course for US dominated entertainment, the argument could also be made that it is the unhealed scars of the Vietnam War that had divided the country, which makes US entertainment pathologically try to make both sides in an argument acceptable. Again though, as we are now dealing with generations who have no clue what the Vietnam War was, we would be dealing with content creators not knowing why it is they create how and what they create.

So does not listening to fans. In the end: devs just make crap games.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a great game.

Well, one is enough to start some serious outrage jRPGs have much better and deeper storytelling than wRPGs

The whole PC model is waste of time, we need floating gun without body. Oldschool. Why: It is using same assets as NPC, they are already there. Mirrors. Cutscenes. Suspension of disbelief. We know about the FACE, it is there, watching what we see with our eyes. Attachment. It is my beard bird girl with tattoos and sideburns.

Just wanted to say that this game is seriously incredible. I've played all the crpgs, thousands of hours probably. And I think PoE2 is right up there with BG2 for me. Just unbelievable. Well done Obsidian!

Of course we'll have to play the Ascension of the Watcher to godhood!

Okay, I found the relevant statements on Josh's tumblr. So the Word of God is: *shrugs* I dunno, maybe this is what comes from writing too much lore and history and then based a convoluted story over it. I liked some aspects, but ultimately, a more pedestrian 80s video game plot like "defeat the big bad" might have left players feeling more satisfied at the end of the day.

1. If Od Nua lived and ruled before the creation of the gods, then we can assume there was a cycle, just not a very reliable one. If he's post-creation, then I imagine life and death worked like they do in any world/setting without reincarnation, gods, and an afterlife: life is created by mortals, and their bodies and souls fade upon death. A soul can be destroyed, as seen with Thaos. The biggest question is whether or not the In-Between was a thing prior to the gods, or if it was a creation of theirs or Thaos'. If it was present, it would be another piece of evidence to support a reincarnation cycle being around before the gods. 2. Maybe. Waidwen's Legacy was caused by the trapping of souls, and Berath (I believe) says that Eothas' actions would cause some of the souls to be stuck in the In-Between. However, since life was clearly a thing before The Wheel, it might be that without the gods' meddling - the "natural" cycle will once more take place. This might mean that souls will be reincarnated, but in a more unpredictable manner. Alternatively, it might mean that new souls are formed and the old ones simply disappear/die out - thus ending reincarnation, but not necessarily life itself. The worst-case scenario is that the gods buggered the cycle beyond natural repair. There might've been a system in place, but if they took over and changed it - now that they're gone, the old one might not be able to resume. If this is the case, then it's even more important for Animancers to take control of the cycle, since they'll basically be the only hope left assuming new souls can't be created. If the old cycle is done for, and the new one disappears, then that might be it for Eora. However, I don't think that's the case... Eothas gives you the option to sway him, and among those options - the two biggest ones are (paraphrasing): "Give us a head start" and "I want you to end it all". Since you can convince Eothas to help and one of the endings is him raising Engwithan ruins for all to explore and learn from, there must be a way to "fix" the cycle - or continue it via Animancy; thus, Waidwen's Legacy 2.0 shouldn't be a thing. 3. Some of them like challenges and trials - so they can't help themselves, while others care for kith and might give 'em the benefit of the doubt. Kith created the gods and The Wheel once, no reason why they can't do it again. Dyrwood was a lot less progressive and highly superstitious. It also had an ancient, immortal narcissist screwing them over at every turn and feeding the flames of suspicion. Without him and the Leaden Key (and Ondra), kith could've and probably would've reached and perhaps even surpassed Engwithan-level Animancy. The VTC under Castol seem especially keen on advancing the field, and with the Deadfire being more open to it - and now with the Engwithan ruins being uncovered - Animancy might advance quicker than ever before. The rate of advancement is obviously dependent on a lot of stuff, and if the kith races/factions don't make peace they might destroy themselves before solving the puzzle. This task becomes even more difficult if new souls can't be created, 'cause that would mean - like you've said - that they'd have to solve the issue before the last of them died. However, we've seen a number of characters that defied death and extended their lives via magic and other means (but mostly magic), so their cooperation could go a long way in aiding the survival of the kith. Obviously a lot of this is speculation and interpretation, but to be fair - we don't have a whole lot to go on. If anything, Deadfire has made things even more confusing. That's why I kind of like the "end it all" ending; it's dark and gloomy, but at least it makes sense and leads to a lot less headaches. That being said, I really enjoy PoE lore - mainly the PoE1 stuff. Not a giant fan of the representation of the gods in Deadfire; I much preferred their mystique, even after the big reveal.

This is how i view it, though there've been plenty of discussions on the topic already. Reincarnation existed before the gods and engwithans, as the reason Od Nua built his statue was "so his son would reincarnate properly". Meaning there was reincarnation, but it was kind of shoddy. Here is where we get into speculation: Since there was already a reincarnation system, the engwithans looked at it and thought " not only can we improve it, we can make a religion out of this". They made it so reincarnation was neatly ordered thanks to the interference of the gods they created, who now decided where and how souls reincarnated, Berath being the main overseer of the process. This is possible thanks to the wheel. I'd say the process is comparable to developing an important river: you deepen it and broaden it a little, make it so ships/souls can pass through easier, quicker, and less hindered, and add some sluces and dams to control the flow. Eothas goes in and destroys it all, wrecking the rebirth cycle. Which must have been quite transcendent for him, since it's the god of rebirth rebirthing the rebirth cycle. Anyway, the original, natural system may still be in place, but now it's also connected to the wreckage of the machinery the engwithans added to control and manipulate the flow of souls, meaning the entire control system is in shambles: Sluces are stuck, dams can't be regulated anymore, and the flow of the "river" is clogged beyond reason. Souls are stuck in the In-Between, and they don't seem to be going anywhere for now. How exactly this will affect Eora is a mystery, since we're never told except that supposedly "IT WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING", which isn't that informative. As for the gods, they're simply acting according to the ideal they embody: Magran and Galawain like the trial, Wael likes the mystery of it, and so on. Not all of them like it, but there's little they can do without ruining themselves in the process. However, Rymrgand could technically try to ruin Kith's chances to rebuild the wheel, in order reach his end goal of ending everything. Considering the first DLC'll be called 'Beast of Winter', I'm hoping for this particular possibility.