Ztirual

Hear yeay, hear yeay, I totally agree with that. I don't find the ranger's pet that much fun, probably because I've always played a petless (st)ranger which uses bows for distance and a one-handed blade when the gap is closed. It should be an auxiliary, the pet that is, not a demand.

Well, you try reasoning with a species that for fun and giggles put itself in oval arenas and fought amongst itself in staged battles; battles, that rarely, if ever, did not lead to a brutal and gory death, and often other animals too would partake... For fun and giggles. Which was not so long ago.

These two things are not mutually exclusive, though. But what is the goal of this discussion? What is it that we are trying to achieve with it?

What is the goal of this discussion? If you participate in it, are you actually trying to dissolve the issue, or are you merely juggling idiosyncrasies, opinions, and ideas back and forth? I mean, there is a difference between seriously examining conflict so as to understand and dissolve it, and being mentally excited by opinionated debates and speculation. I just wish to know where we are going with this because it seems to me that it is not going anywhere at all.

I see we are still raging about that poem incident? Well, isn't it interesting? How an externally projected conflict, conjured between thoughts put there by society and lingering solely within an individual's mind, emanates and creates further conflict within other individuals' minds, as if it is something different and independent from themselves? How the conflict jumps from one end to the other, being preserved and escalated in the momentum of the reaction made by the other individuals, furthering the conflict in the individual who firstly projected it - a response made, purely, between the friction of two ideas, thoughts, mere experiences, memories, which has no relation whatsoever to what is actually present? Simply fascinating, and, well, also quite absurd.

Oh my... How very frail most minds must be, with its illusory self feeling so hurt, making such a childish turmoil over trivial non-sense. It's a monkey show, soaked in the meaninglessness of ideas and opinions fighting to be fact.

What is up with implementing the feature of being able to use lockpicks from the stash? Makes little sense to me as it seems to take away the "emergency" of lockpicking. Now you don't need to worry about how many lockpicks you bring with you since they're now always available. Why should we not then be able to use potions or other auxiliary items directly from the stash? Correct me if I've understood this wrong, but it just seems a bit strange.

Great stuff, I've been holding off 'till the patch release so these are welcomed news.

Man, download is ready since yesterday, excitement is bursting through the roof, game is released in a few hours, and I just found out I can't play until tomorrow night... Well, here's a good luck and have fun to everybody getting to slay at release!

Go PoE!

Alright, so what exactly is the motive for this discussion, any way? I mean, are we discussing this to reach some clarification on the issue at hand, or are we just chasing our own tails?

I do think proof of source is quite essential, otherwise you are just telling me to accept the fact that horses can fly.

Downloading - and looking forward to it!

I have the same question myself. Don't know if I understand quite explicitly how the mechanics work with the two-handed, the dual wield or the singe wield.

Arrows would be very nice to have in - as someone stated earlier, they were a large part of the BG experience, and one of my favourite parts as well. Having arrows would not really mess up the inventory if there were (non-infinite, of course) arrow bags/quivers to store them in - just as well as potion and scroll bags. In fact, you could have different quivers with different bonuses or penalties, and equip that quiver with all your arrows in it. With a shortcut on the UI, this would enable you to quickly change what arrows to use - without messing up the current inventory (which is, as I see it, a little messy at the moment). There is no sense in removing arrows if resource management is a crucial centerpiece of the game, and arrows are too a crucial part of mechanics as well as roleplaying. I didn't find it tedious (in the IE games) having to manage or be watchful over my ranged character's arrows, it made me more keen to develop efficient ways to take down enemies, rather than just pump them full of infinite arrows.

Alright. Well, I use waypoints in these kinds of games where they are present, since they do add a layer of flexibility to your tactics. The more tools you have at your disposal for making elaborate tactics come through, the more difficult it will be for the NPCs to "adjust."

One of the things which I can't seem to find in the PoE Beta, are character waypoints - setting up a specific route for a PC to act upon. Waypoints, as I see it, is necessary in a tactical game, especially with RTwP, because it adds an essential strategic layer and flexibility to your tactics. Pausing the game, setting up waypoints, positioning, and plan ahead, taking into account what is supposed to happen and what can and can not happen, and then watch the action unfold, that is mightily satisfying, but not least, a way to create really powerful tactics. So, are PC waypoints something we are going to see in PoE? And what are your thoughts on this? Do you find waypoints useful, or just an unused function?

I agree to that. It does make sense to have peripheral awareness behind your back - but whether it is acute or sluggish determines how well one would be able to sense or hear presences beyond eyesight. Though, it should, nevertheless, be far greater in front as in back.

I like this idea. But instead of darkening the stealthed character or the screen, have the PC simply go into stealth animation, then use perception cones in the direction the NPC is facing - presuming this is possible with present mechanics? The cones can have different degrees/percentages of spotting hidden character, ranging from: close -> high possibility to spot, to; far -> low possibility to spot, to; outside of cone -> zero possibility to spot. This, taking into account use of lighting, line of sight, PCs stealth skills and NPCs perception. Of course, the same mechanic goes for NPCs sneaking as well, and perception becomes quite a useful attribute for the PC, as the higher the perception the wider and longer the cone plus upping the possibility or chance of spotting hidden characters.

In regards to giving up or being outraged by the Beta: The Beta is good, no doubt about it, even though there are bugs - and not few of them. But to expect of a beta to behave like a final product (which is actually the result of extensive Beta testing) is nothing short of delusion, I think that is something of a trap that is easily fallen into. This is what a Beta means - testing. Its priority doesn't lie in making us entertained but discontent, its purpose is that of critical questioning - not pleasure. My point is this, we cannot derive a stable idea or meaning of the game, if the game itself isn't stable - which it is not. That is what we signed up for when we agreed to do the Beta, though, isn't it? To play and look at the game in its current iteration and bring forth our feedback so that the game may become stable, yet more creative, and fun. And it is really only then, when the game is final and stable, that we can achieve a stable idea of it. At that point, it's quite justifiable to be outraged about it, to want to quit it, or to enjoy the hell of it - but, until then, we must work with unstable ideas and find out how they can become stable - which to me, is really the fun part of a Beta. Although, if people wish to give up on it already, that's quite alright too.

This happened in the Dracogen Inn as well - it occurred at some point when I alt-tabbed the game. Though I haven't been able to reproduce it.

I'd go for having corpse-duration an option in the GFX settings, other than that, corpses should be permanent, and after a reasonable amount of time (the next time you come across the same area) they have turned into skeletal remains. Or, at least till you leave the over-arching area.

Well, stuck or unstuck, just remember to gather your party before venturing forth...

I would definitely enjoy to be able to roll. Like they did in ToEE - you could roll, or you could have a static set.

Cool stuff, and great work by the way!