Aron Times

I don't know if being firm and unwavering in your stance has worked for you well in real life, but it doesn't really work that well online. We can't see you, we can't hear you, and we don't know who or what you are, so your ideas and statements have to stand on their own merits if you want to convince people that you're right. What you're doing is pretty much the main tactic of certain kinds of online trolls, and that is to keep posting the same thing over and over again until someone agrees with you. Even then, there are people who you just can't persuade. Maybe their opinions and stances are radically different from yours, or maybe they're just trolls disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing. You don't seem to be a troll, just someone unused to how Internet discussions usually go.

Good contributions all around, but please leave save scumming out of this. We're trying to do TCS legimitately, and the journey matters as much as the destination. TCS is pretty much a bragging rights reward, and being able to do it without violating the spirit of the rules is a bragging rights award in and of itself. Anyway, I was wondering if a character built for avoiding combat but not necessarily through stealth would be viable. I'm not saying to ignore Stealth, but not to rely on it solely. I know that there are many parts of the game where having certains skills or attributes or even money allows you to bypass difficult fights but still give you lots of XP so you'll be stronger for the unavoidable fights. 1. For the dragon egg quest in Dyrford, if you have a high enough Resolve, you can make two of the mercenaries run away, making the fight a lot easier. If you have a lot of cash and maybe Resolve, you can pay them off and skip the fight altogether. 2. When trying to gain access to Heritage Hill, you can bypass a side quest by paying off the guards. IIRC, it cost 3000 to get them to let you pass. I haven't tried intimidating them with Might yet, though. 3. For Rymngrand's quest, Stealth will allow you to bypass fighting an entire army of pale elves. You can then talk to the head priest and, I can't remember what dialogue options I chose or which skills or attributes were needed, but you can give him the ice shard to seal the breach and resolve the quest peacefully. You can then go back to Rymngrand and try to persuade him that you did the right thing. It was much easier on my first playthrough, though, because Ondra intervened because I was a Merchant and she was impressed by my handling and rules lawyering of the situation, and she talked Rymngrand into accepting my peaceful solution. 4. For Hylea's quest, you can simply let the sky dragon live, and tell Hylea that the dragon was a winged creature and a mother to boot, and dragons create beauty in their own way. 5. For Berath's quest, if you have high enough Resolve, you can make the Golden Grove druid commit suicide (or rather, end the magical effects that were unnaturally prolonging her life). Unfortunately, you can't get the Ethik Nol druid willingly give up his immortality, and you have to kill him and then slaughter your way out of the building. 6. Galawain's quest is a bit tricky. If you're a Fighter, you can convince the bear side to go into the lion's den to attack. However, the bear attacks everything in its way, so unless you have some way of fleeing, you have to fight a BFB (big ****ing bear) to get out. I don't know if the lion side will go hostile to you if you convince them to give up their position and attack the bear in the open, though. 7. At various parts of the game, you can take the easy way out by paying off people who extort you or giving up people that one faction or another wants dead. Alternatively, you can take the moral high road by not turning in or promising not to turn i people who were forced into villainy, like that actor who was too scared out of his wits to turn Lumdala in for her snuff shows. Heck, you can even avoid a fight with Lumdala and her goons by promising to let her go (don't worry, the psychic cops arrest her anyway, so she doesn't get off the hook that easily).

Translation: Kickstarter backers get the dubious honor of alpha and beta testing the game. They get to experience a buggy, unpolished, and frustrating version of the game before the general public. It'll still be awesome, though. I used to envy those who got early access to the games that I liked, until I experienced one too many game-breaking bugs in the games I signed up to test. I get spoiled to the plot early but end up getting nowhere because of various bugs and glitches. It can also be really frustrating when the developer (*cough* Cryptic Studios/Perfect World *cough*) doesn't really give a damn about your testing feedback and is merely using early access to advertize the game and hook in addicts. Most people who sign up for the beta versions of upcoming Neverwinter Online expansions stopped bothering to report bugs and merely play the betas to find bugs to exploit for themselves because Cryptic/Perfect World doesn't give a fruit ninja. Slightly off-topic: In fact, the best way to get a bug fixed in Neverwinter Online is to exploit it so much that Perfect World's revenue is affected. Those who've played since the beginning remember the Caturday Cat-Astrophe, where exploiters were able to generate unlimited money. The exploit was brought up to the dev's attention multiple times, and was actually present and patched in their other MMOs (like Star Trek Online), but they ignored it until the exploiters used the unlimited in game money (astral diamonds) to buy out all the real money (zen).

Have some fish! +1 Intellect.

Yes, they are. Alright, here's more: Folk = Human Elves = Same Orlans = Halflings, Gnomes, and Catfolk combined (my tablet wants to autocorrect catfolk to Catholic, lololol) Dwarves = Same Aumaua = Merfolk (though closer to Magic: The Gathering versions than D&D versions) Godlike = Planetouched Now I want to play a Catholic paladin orlan named Orlando (SwiftKey kept trying to autocorrect orlan to Orlando). Nobody expects the Orlan Inquisition! Fampir = Vampire/Ghoul/Ghast (vampire in that they appear human, ghoul/ghast in that they need to feed on flesh) Dargul = Ghast Gul = Ghoul Revenant = Zombie (not the super powered undead with class levels in D&D, thankfully) Skeleton = Same The first time I ran into a revenant, I freaked out, as they are vengeful, intelligent undead with class levels in D&D. In 4e, they're even a playable race, an individual reincarnated into a half-alive body by the Raven Queen (goddess of death) to perform a task. They're kind of in between alive and undead, as while their bodies don't rot, they appear pale and lifeless. They're usually tasked with killing someone who has egregiously cheated death (those who unnaturally extend their lives, especially at the cost of others'). It turns out that revenants are the equivalent of zombies in D&D. Derp. Deathguard = Death Knight/Lich Wicht = Wight (though they're really just pre-teen zombies)

Well, the idea that race doesn't equal nationality is pretty old. The Romans weren't racist, but were quite prejudiced when it came to culture. What made a Roman a Roman was his culture, education, and language. A black African who spoke Latin and had a Roman education was a real Roman, but a blond, blue-eyed German who wore funny clothes and didn't speak a word of Latin was a savage barbarian. IIRC, the Romans had a practice of holding the children of their subject cultures prisoner and raising them in their households and sending them to Roman schools so they would be proper citizens. From what little I've read about the Aedyran Empire, it seems like it's a combination of Ancient Greece and Rome. Curiously, Old Vailia seems to be Ancient Rome, too, but with Ocean Folk (Africans). Both being based on Rome might explain their focus on culture over race. But we've gone way off topic already...

Let's start a PoE to D&D dictionary! A few notes... PoE feels like the D&D 4e game that Neverwinter Online should've been. The use of encounter/rest abilities is very similar to encounter powers and daily powers in D&D 4e, and everything being resolved by an attack roll vs. one of four defenses is exactly how it works in that edition. The idea of all classes being able to do cool things from level 1, and class balance in general are that edition's strong points. Still, there are elements from 3e and 2e, as well as 5e, though I doubt that PoE actually borrowed anything from 5e. More like 5e borrowed the best aspects of previous editions. Enchantments Fine: +1 Exceptional: +2 Superb: +3 Burning Lash: Weapon enchanted with fire damage. Corrosive Lash: Acid damage. Freezing Lash: Cold damage. Shocking Lash: Lightning damage. Defenses Deflection: Armor Class Armor: Damage Reduction/Resistance Fortitude/Reflex/Will: Same as D&D Attributes Might: Strength Dexterity: Same Constitution: Same Perception: Wisdom Intellect: Intelligence Resolve: Charisma Note that PoE stats don't directly translate to D&D stats, as Might is more than Strength, and also includes spiritual and magical power. Also, Intellect reflects critical thinking and analytical skills while Lore represents knowledge and education. Skills Stealth: Same Atheltics: Athletics and Acrobatics Lore: Knowledge skills and Use Magic Device Mechanics: Thievery, Perception Survival: Same Creatures Vessel: Corporeal Undead, Golems Spirit: Incorporeal Undead, Elementals Primordials: Oozes, Plants, Fey Beast: Animals, Dragons, Beasts Kith: Common Races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Merfolk, Planetouched) Wilder: Savage Humanoids (including ogres, xaurip, etc.) Your turn.

About Kana, if you have enough lore, or if you're Aumauan, you can point out his unusual skin color, which leads to him explaining how his parents moved to Rauatai. He's a first generation child of immigrants.

Starcraft, DotA, and LoL have very high skill ceilings, but the skill floor of Starcraft is much higher than the other two. You need to work harder to maintain a baseline skill level with Starcraft 2 compared to Dota 2 and LoL. Playing an hour of Starcraft 2 is much more mentally exhausting than playing an hour of DotA or LoL. Skill floor is the amount of skill needed to play "properly" (not floating money or getting supply blocked in SC2, getting last hits and chaining spells in DotA). Skill ceiling refers to the theoretical skill limit and the potential for skill differentiation between players of different skill levels. But the point I'm trying to make is that you can't make PoE harder if you don't find it challenging. Just because you find it easy doesn't mean that others do. Some people struggle on easy mode, as evidenced by a few posts in the spoiler forums. If you don't find it challenging enough, don't ruin it for others who do find it too challenging. That way lies the lonely road trod by games that are overly competitive (SC2).

Yes, you guys are probably right. I am stuck with the old D&D stereotypes. :D But I like to create "authentic" characters and the developers could have indicated the recommended skills in the game for each class. Now when I encounter a new character I always have to leave the game to check in the character generation which skills are recommended for that new class. The old D&D system was more comfortable for me because I usually play for the story and not for building the mathematically strongest characters like many hard core players do. Also if you think about these skills (or their equivalents) were always automatically upgraded in previous great cRPGs from Baldur's Gate through the Neverwinter Nights and the Dragon Age series to Wasteland 2. Anyway this is a new game with a new system so I have to learn... The reason why I believe that the developers sacrificed the realism of the world for the flexibility of the mechanics is related to to game world's lore. I can hardly imagine a world where the different races don't mix at all but otherwise they form mixed tribes (in Eir Glanfath for instance). Tribes are social units based on kinship. How can an orlan and an elf be in the same tribe if they can't be related? The Forgotten Realms universe was far more realistic in this sense. The different races had their own nations. Also the story writers of the game ignored the lore of the world a number of times. Kana Rua for instance is from Rauatai which is an Aumaua country on the northern hemisphere. He's also an Island Aumaua who originate from the Deadfire Archipelago (a region which is located deep in the south not far from the south pole). In reality he should be Coastal Aumaua because Coastal Aumauas supposed to live in the north. Rauatai is a country dominated by Coastal Aumauas. How did Kana Rua end up in the northern Aumaua nations? It's not explained at all. Thankfully at least Sagani is from the right place... How can a dark skinned person be an American citizen if his ancestors were from Africa/India/Australia/whatever place has naturally dark skinned people? How can an ethnic Chinese person who grew up in New Jersey have kinship with an ethnic German person who also grew up in New Jersey? Do you come from a country where race = nationality? Here in the USA, race has no connection with nationality. In fact, becoming an American citizen requires you to renounce all citizenship in other countries. I was born in the Philippines but for all intents and purposes here in the USA, I'm an American. My oath taking ceremony was on August 31, 2012. Some people ask me if turning my back on my country of birth was worth it, and they're usually surprised by my utter lack of regret. Obsidian is an American company, and while it's not set in the USA, elements of American culture and American values seep into it in some way, including the idea that race doesn't equal nationality.

The wiki says that you can have a maximum of 4 in a Disposition, so there are effective five levels (0 to 5). It's not clear of some Dispositions counter each other or if you can have conflicting Dispositions. I've heard reports of people failing the Wael scroll quest despite having Honest 2 because they also had Deceptive 2, which suggests that you can have both Honest and Deceptive at the same time.

1. I'm not talking about development costs, but rather the retail prices of video games. Basically, gamers back then had to pay more (proportionally) compared to gamers nowadays, despite increased development costs. This is mainly due to the rise and proliferation of digital distribution. 2. You're not disagreeing with me. E-sports is hardcore by definition, that is the 4s and 5s I was referring to. 3. Dark Souls is a niche game, and was specifically marketed as a hardcore game. Its popularity on the Internet (game forums, Twitch, etc.) doesn't reflect its lesser popularity offline. The difference between SC2 and DS is that people expected the fun social environment of Brood War Battle.net 1.0 but as you already know, we got treated to the very asocial Battle.net 0.2, while with DS, people got exactly what was advertised.

Games aren't what they used to. Back in the day, developers could get away with really hard games because 1. There were fewer games. 2. Games were more expensive proportionally back then (when you account for inflation and income over the years) and 3. Technological limitations prevented more elegant means of challenging players and extending content, so games had to be stupidly hard to keep players occupied. Today, games are much cheaper and more common thanks to Our Lord and Master, Gaben, so you have to get the difficulty level right. Too easy and players drop it too quickly, and too hard and people won't bother playing it. The last part is why Starcraft 2 is pretty much dead (by Blizzard standards) while DotA and League of Legends reign supreme. Starcraft 2 is very hard for most people, and even those who enjoy its difficulty (like myself) can't bring themselves to play it because their less hardcore friends have switched to DotA or LoL. Compared to SC2, DotA and LoL can be played by a wide range of players, and both games are much less punishing of mistakes. If you rank players on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is casual while 5 is hardcore, Starcraft 2 only really caters to 4 and 5 while DotA caters to the whole spectrum.

I noticed, during my first run, that Aloth's lower level spells started recharging after every battle, and this was confirmed when I read about wizards on the unofficial wiki. The question is, at which level do wizard spells become per encounter instead of per rest? Also, which spell level and which character level correspond to each other when it comes to per encounter casting? Thanks in advance for your replies!

My post isn't sarcasm or a troll post, if that's what you're wondering. If we're going to break away from D&D stereotypes completely, it's the wandering murderhobo that needs to go. Venturing away from D&D, one thing that drew me to the World of Darkness was that the vast majority of player characters had some ties to society. Vampires, werewolves, and mages (the three main races of both Old and New World of Darkness) live in both human society and in their own respective societies, and balancing the two is tricky but necessary. You tend to roleplay your character very differently when you have something to lose and cannot simply flee the jurisdiction without abandoning most of your assets.

Who says we are trying to let him live? Murdering the whole caravan on TCS for the lulz! :-D -- To Lasci - figurine isn't a valid tactic anymore since they jacked up the price, which was ridicilous tbh. TCS is hard enough as it is. Also to OP. That Madhmar bridge Xaurip Skirmisher isn't too bad - I lost a lot of toons to Xaurip Priests one shotting me for 80 burn damage - that's the worst. You can actaully outrun the xaurip with a chanter, if you take the movement speed chant, which is a tactic I use. I got to lvl5 without using potions/traps, just running around with the chanter and letting my phantom do the dirty work. I don't think fighter is a candidate for TCS due to the lack of DPS, unless you stash up an endless amount of potions and dont get stunlocked? I haven't used traps/potions yet. I'm trying to get through without. Probably impossible. The point is not that the xaurip skirmisher is an impossible challenge. It's that it's way too close to the spawn point, so anyone who doesn't have insane Stealth and wasn't already in scouting mode will end up aggroing it. This is the only area I can recall throughout my various playthroughs where a hostile starts so close to the spawn point. Even in the Endless Paths of Od Nua, you have to venture a screen or more before encountering any hostiles. The other game called PoE, Path of Exile, gives players entering a new area a grace period of 20 seconds where they are immune to everything as long as they don't take an action. This is to keep them from getting ganked by Duriel-type monsters who are too close to the spawn point. Furthermore, no monsters are present near the entrances/waypoints unless a player lures them there; the grace period of 20 seconds is there just in case.

I've had the game for almost a week now, and I must say that the lack of filler and grinding in this game to be very refreshing. There are just way too many games which try to artificially extend play time without adding real content. Nowhere in my playthroughs did I feel that I was just grinding through 198473947393 different mooks just to get to the end. The original Divine Divinity is probably the worst case that I've ever played. Most of the game gives you a tremendous amount of freedom to explore. However, the endgame is absolutely terrible. You gain a new set of awesome powers, but all of the mooks you encounter from this point forward are resistant or outright immune to them. I think Larian realized how crappy the endgame was and made Ghostform mandatory for finishing the game. Without it, you die instantly if you try to approach the bad guy's territory, but with it, you get to skip more than 90% of the endgame (not even exaggerating, you get to skip many tough mooks who give very little XP to you at this point). Divine Divinity's terrible endgame is the reason why I never picked up another Divinity game, despite hearing very good things about Divinity: Original Sin. I also almost stopped reading the Wheel of Time series due ot the sheer amount of filler. While I am grateful for Robert Jordan for creating Randland, I feel that Brandon Sanderson was the best thing that happened to WoT. Sanderson made the series fun to read again. And don't get me started on Neverwinter Online. The game used to be nowhere as grindy as other MMORPGs, but Perfect World learned early on that making the game frustratingly grindy and then selling ways to bypass the grind resulted in a lot of extra revenue. Anyway, thank you, Obisidian. And thank you, Kickstarter, for freeing Obsidian from the stifling influence of big name publishers.

I'd like to see an expansion based on Caed Nua. After my Watcher's epic journey, I think he'd deserve some time off for rest and relaxation. In this expansion, the action would take place mostly in Deep Space Nine, er... Caed Nua, and the various adventures, petitioners, visitors, encounters would have some actual dialogue and roleplaying tied to them. I mean, one of the bigger complaints about PoE is that the stronghold feels tacked on and irrelevant to the plot past Act 1. Why not make an expansion that truly fleshes it out? It'd be different from 99% of all RPGs out there, where the player character is a wandering murderhobo that goes into intelligent races' homes to kill them and take their stuff. Instead, you stay at home and protect it from other murderhobos who want to kill you and take your stuff. What do you think?

You seem to be stuck on traditional fantasy stereotypes, namely the big stupid fighter (barbarian) and the 98 lb. weakling mage. People are different in both real life and in fantasy, and people in professions normally thought of as intelligent can be really stupid. I've met my share of really stupid doctors, teachers, scientists as well as some really intelligent janitors, truck drivers, and handymen. The thing is, people are different, and they don't always optimize their "builds" for their "professions." Sometimes, people do what they are really horrible at because it's what they want to do. Sometimes, people forego more prestigious careers to do what they truly enjoy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hung

My name is Aron Times, and I approve of this post. Maerwald 2016!

So I've been trying to get Triple Crown Solo legitimately, and just lost my third toon. My first toon was a fighter who died to a shadow in the Temple of Eothas (stunlocked). My second toon was also a fighter, and died after defending a traveler from wolves (their DPS was too much for my regen and armor, plus their knockdowns didn't help). My third toon was a chanter who died after transitioning to Madhmar Bridge and getting stunlocked by the Xaurip Skirmisher who automatically attacks you when you transition (like the Duriel fight in Diablo 2). Anyway, I thought I'd start a thread to share notes on how to do TCS legitimately. This means no backing up saves or using the quitting while in combat exploit. 1. You can lure two groups of hostiles into each other and get them to kill each other. For example, in the Valewood, if you're fast enough, you can lure the bandits to the east and the wolves to the southeast to each other and get them to kill each other. Not sure if this will help you get the pacifist achievement, though (you didn't kill them directly, just got others to kill them). 2. Stealth and Mechanics are the two most useful skills for TCS. They allow you to bypass difficult fights and gain access to better loot. 3. Don't neglect your other skills! Obsidian went out of its way to make all skills usefull, and they can let you bypass several encounters (though not as much as Stealth and Mechanics). 4. Keep a large stock of tools. This means lockpicks, prybars, grappling hooks, flint and steel, etc. Again, these let you bypass several difficult encounters. 5. Near the beginning of the game, when the last Glanfathan raider is dead, quickly switch to a ranged weapon. This lets you save Heodan for free. If you don't have a ranged weapon on hand, you'd have to throw your melee weapon or have a high Dexterity to be able to save him. 6. Try to sell as much loot to Heodan at the start before clicking on the waterskin. He pays 375% the normal merchant price for goods. 7. Go for the least violent resolution to quests as possible. Only fight if you have no other choice. The XP you get from quests far oustrips the paltry amount you get from combat. 8. Avoid Madhmar Bridge early in the game unless you have insane Stealth and you transition into it in scouting mode. Otherwise, a Xaurip will instantly attack you and stunlock you to death if you don't have enough deflection and armor. I'll post more later. Please post your tips here as well!

tl;dr: Avoid Madhmar Bridge if you're trying to get Triple Crown Solo. So i'm on, er... I was on my third Triple Crown Solo attempt, and I just transitioned into Madhmar Bridge (the broken bridge that used to lead to Defiance Bay), and I spawned directly on top of a Xaurip Skirmisher. Even though I transitioned in scouting mode and had pretty good Stealth, because it was so close, it detected me immediately and stunlocked and killed me. Even if you had min/maxed stealth, if you didn't transition into Madhmar Bridge in scouting mode, it would detect you immediately and stunlock you to death if you didn't have enough armor or deflection. That's stupid. This reminds me of the Duriel boss fight in Diablo 2, where he spawns at the entrance of the bos chamber. What made it worse back in the day was that he could start attacking before you finished loading if you didn't have a decent rig, and many Hardcore characters died to him with no chance of fighting back. In fact, my first ever Diablo 2 death was to Duriel; my sorceress died before I finished loading (fortunately, she wasn't a hardcore character). IIRC, Blizzard moved him back a little bit from the entrance so he wouldn't start wailing on you the second you transitioned, making the fight a lot fairer (though still pretty tough). Please move the Xaurip a bit further away so it doesn't automatically aggro you.

There seems to be no way to resolve this without violence, as the two looters attack you right away. As in real life, people do stupid things that you have no control over, in this case, attacking a heavily armed and armored party that probably wasn't going to kill them in the first place.

From left to right: Companion 4 - Yuki Nagato. Actually an alien in a human shell. Stoic. Rational. Main Character - Kyon. Real name unknown, the only normal person in the main cast. Maybe. The sole viewpoint character of the novels, which are written entirely in first person perspective. Everything that happens in the books happens before him. Clever. Rational. Companion 1 - Haruhi Suzumiya. A teenage girl with literal godlike powers that she is completely unaware of (her human mind is willfully blind towards the weirdness that her powers causes). Essentially a Mary Sue. Reality revolves around her subconscious whims. Aggressive. Passionate. Before meeting Kyon, Cruel. Companion 2 - Itsuki Koizumi. A powerful psychic and founder of a grand conspiracy whose goal is to monitor Haruhi and keep her from destroying reality. Ambiguous age. Deceptive. Diplomatic. Companion 3 - Mikuru Asahina. A time traveler sent on a mission to the past (present day Japan). Unbeknownst to her, she is taking orders from her older self, who possibly brainwashed her into loyalty to keep her from revealing "Classified Information." "Present" Mikuru is Benevolent and Honest (maybe). "Future" Mikuru is Deceptive and Rational (maybe). Ambiguous age as well.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0727.html Tarquin: My ninth wife, Penelope, recently passed away. We held a state funeral for her last week. Elan: Oh, Dad, I'm so sorry. What was the cause of death? Tarquin: "Mysterious circumstances." Elan: Not another one! When will they find a cure?!?