[Ranger Status - Pre Launch]

I just ran through the beta on PotD with a tank ranger (Weapon and Shield, Hold the Line, Cautious Attack, and Bloody Slaughter, with Stalker's Link, Marked Prey, Swift Aim, the +AoE defense ranger ability)  and a 2H fighter in plate with mixed tank/dps talents: defender, wary defender, confident aim, weapon spec soldier, weapon focus soldier, weapon mastery soldier, bloody slaughter. 

 

The ranger was miles ahead of the fighter at first. In the Meredith fight, the ranger did 600 damage while the highest anyone else did was 150. The gap narrowed quickly afterwards, though, and the ranger began to balance out with everyone. The fighter, however, was starting to rise ahead towards the end. With the damage boosting abilities and relying on the DR from the plate + regen from constant recovery, the fighter was very heroic in action, although almost entirely passive. Managing the pet with the ranger was more enjoyable than watching the fighter fight. 

 

My ranger ended with around 110 deflection. while the fighter had 60. There were some cases where the fighter was worthless (wurms, who target reflexes and not deflection), but for most fights the fighter was a perfectly adequate tank for PotD, and the ranger and wolf were always there, ready to take **** out as a duo or split to provide coverage if the fighter went down. The ranger also served as a better tank in situations where the fighter didn't, such as the wurms.

 

I have also ran a build with a boreal dwarf  ranger with a rifle and a bear. I partnered her with a chanter, but her crit rate was obscene with stalker's link and the reload speed was respectable enough that I could just let her be passively. Very effective as a ranged nuker, but you needed to direct her based on what the pet was targeting. If the pet can't get to the juicy target you want to kill, then too bad. This is a downside for most traditional ranged characters who tend to benefit from free target choice. Still, the pet is an "okay" tank 1v1, but worthless in 1v2+. If the pet goes down, your DPS vanishes.

 

Interesting note: If your pet dies, and you have a paladin use reviving exhortation, you will still have the bonded grief penalty applied. -20 accuracy is a huge penalty to damage, but if you're using stalker's link then you're really down -40. That's why you CANNOT risk your pet, you have to play it safe. Unlike a tank ranger, a ranged ranger is entirely reliant on their accuracy to function in the group. A tank ranger can still tank even with crap accuracy. A ranged ranger can do nothing with crap accuracy. 

 

Rangers are capable members of the party, they just have to be babied like the rogue, just in a very different way.

 

Sounds like a bug, maybe you should report it for post-release resolution?

[Ranger Status - Pre Launch]

Rangers should NOT be a predominantly ranged class. Rangers are folks that walk around across far "ranges." Every famous fantasy ranger worth a damn is a melee fighter.

 

Yeah, it looks like people are forgetting that Rangers were never restricted to being archers before. Not sure why that would be true now.

[My Pillars of Eternity Story]

Didn't watch and probably won't. Not at all surprised to see Sensuki trying to make this all about him again.

 

Wish there was a way to make it stop.

 

 

So, why bother posting? Easy way to make it stop is to ignore his posts, not comment on them.

 

I know it's the Internet, but please.  =/

[My Pillars of Eternity Story]

Nice video, Sensuki. As a fellow backer, I'm proud to see the amount of effort and passion you've shown for the game. Here's to hoping you can keep it going for any planned expansions.

[SLOWED RECOVERY WHILE MOVING - NO THANKS]

 

 

Suggesting that IE mod gets heavy promotion after release. At the very least, players will have the option to avoid some poor design decisions.

 

As it stands, I'll probably just wait until the IE mod gets released before I even start playing. There's some really basic functions in it that just shouldn't be missing from the base game. I won't be removing Engagement, for example, but fixing the moving recovery rate, autosave before transitions, cyan NPC circles (seriously, this has to be one of the dumbest things, having neutrals and allies in the same colour for no reason whatsoever), etc.

 

Before I even boot up the first game, the IE Mod will be there and I'll fix the Attributes myself if I can.

 

After playing POE with IE Mod i second this. So many simple things that should be in from the start...

Triple bow to Bester, Kakarov, Sensuki.

 

 

 

FTFY

[SLOWED RECOVERY WHILE MOVING - NO THANKS]

Suggesting that IE mod gets heavy promotion after release. At the very least, players will have the option to avoid some poor design decisions.

[We need your help: A Backer Beta Community Effort to produce a Primer Video Series for all gamers before Release!]

Good video Shevek. I think this could be useful for any interested in a POC based on the current beta, but it should definitely be updated once the release date arrives.

[SLOWED RECOVERY WHILE MOVING - NO THANKS]

Nice, we have an answer. Next question would be, how has this just been identified now? Was it confirmed to be removed in a build after August?

[SLOWED RECOVERY WHILE MOVING - NO THANKS]

So, this will be removed in the IE mod yes? Or details on which file/line has the code so we can comment it out manually?

 

I understand that "PoE != IE game" but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Just focus on fixing the main issue (poor AI) and stop applying band-aid solutions.

 

=/

[trigger dependant passive abilities need a clear activation vfx.]

You're right. It activates on a certain Endurance level. But it WILL activate, no matter what. What good does it do to acknowledge the fact visually? As I said, PoE is not a game where you actually have to react on such passives in a time-critical manner. As far as I know passives don't activate certain abilities you could then use or otherwise they wouldn't be passives. I understand the sentiment for vfx, but at the same time I would find it cluttering in a fight were enough magic effects are flying around anyway.

 

It's providing information to the player. I shouldn't have to assume that the ability has been activated, it should be made clear. As far as clutter is concerned, that's for the PoE team to figure out.

[@Sensuki & Other Vets - Request for latest impressions]

 

 

 

. And ultimately, my goal with my earlier post isn't to paint Hard mode as some kind of failure and travesty, but to tout "Normal" mode as an interesting option in its own right.

 

Is it though?  At this point I doubt it very much, since multiple videos have showcased Josh sleepwalking (and not using abilities) through 'Hard' mode with completely indifferent character builds.  While keeping most of his attention on talking to an audience. 

 

 

He uses parties that are over-leveled for the areas he runs through during demos, iirc.

[Fixing the armor min/maxing: an interesting new gameplay mechanic?]

All that being said, how difficult is it to mod the values related to armour types? It's beginning to sound like personal adjustments will need to be made to keep certain armour types relevant, imo.

[So rangers...]

It looks like Rogues are better at range than Rangers, so Rangers are bad even without the pet consideration. That's what I get from the beta discussions.

[Unity 5.0 release & it's exhaustive feature set]

 

 

I don't know what our plans are going forward but, I do know we are shipping with the version of Unity we are currently using (4.6).

 

Just for some insight, last time we upgraded Unity, Dyrford Crossing mouse collision handling broke on a lot of little plant containers (as is with beta version 435). It took us a few weeks to diagnose the problem and find a solution. But that's the kind of unknown mystery that can crop up from upgrading and why it would be dangerous as of right now to do so.

 

I agree with Sensuki. Could you consider this for the expansion?

Shadows Heretic Kingdoms is considering it for Ogre3D, I'm actually also helping

 

To be honest, I can't imagine doing this for the expansion. It would be a very large amount of work to do this and we would need to pour a bunch of resources back into the base game to make everything play nicely. I guess anything is possible, but there are many other things we would rather spend programming time on for the expansion.

 

I could see this for a sequel (if we do one).

 

 

Pretty understandable that you don't want to increase work to the base game.

[Petition : Make Looting functions optional.]

Hoping PoE devs never have to see foolishness like this. It's an ease of use function that makes life easier without being ridiculous (e.g. I can loot the entire map at once), what's the problem? PoE doesn't need to mimic IE games to this extent.

[Saving the Wizard Class]

But these two only beg the Obvious question: If #1 and #2 are true, then How the hell did Josh and Black Isle manage to develop Icewind Dale 2 in 10 months? you know, IWD2, the game with all the spells that are missing from PoE, plus the massive Feat and skill system for all the classes, plus the inclusion of the additional classes, and the whole multiclassing element, etc.

 

Lower standards from the main stream players means less effort?

[How to Fix the Attribute Design in Pillars of Eternity]

/aside Oh how I wish all the discussion about the beta was more like this. We would get somewhere and it'd be more fun.

 

Indeed. If this is what all discussion threads could turn into, I would have fewer worries about the end product.

[How to Fix the Attribute Design in Pillars of Eternity]

Josh and his team should definitely consider the changes proposed in this document. It has great structure, the proposed ideas are sound and supporting evidence is included. Great work Sensuki and Matt, I hope you get the recognition that you so clearly deserve.