ISC

Is it just me or should something be done about the idle stance in the future? This is supposedly the relaxed non-combat stance, but it looks unnatural and not very relaxed at all. One thing is the wide leg stance, as few stand around with half a meter between their feet, but what bothers me more is the unnatural position of the arms. This looks like a very forced and uncomfortable position, especially when unarmed. Light shields and weapons kind of work imo, but heavy weapons would get incredibly straining on the shoulders and the stance would be impossible to hold for very long. The solution? Simply move the arms and legs slightly closer and it would look much better and more natural.

I wish hope you guys were will be given time to playtest those changes!

Who didnt? I think its pretty safe to say that PoE, with or without IE mod, has captured enough of the feels to be highly enjoyable even if it is flawed. Given that BG 2 was flawed here and there, and we could happily ignore that. I mean, we pretty much know that the game is large, beautiful, has great music, IE-like classes, races, stats, inventory etc, has really good writing etc. It is known. And yeah, combat is wonky, that is also known, but it is far from unplayable.

Looks very good this far!

That's about it, if you are attacking someone you are engaging them, that's how I've understood it at least. Engagement can run one way or both ways (in your scenario B isn't engaging anyone, but is engaged). If B moves as much as an inch, both A and C get an instant, automatic, disengagement attack against B.

I would like to see SB as a 1/encounter. Luckmann, if I understand you correct you're saying that (ranged) backstab is NOT viable without SB? Why is this, because you have to be so close to the enemy for it to work? If so, and if that's intended and shouldn't be fixed, I rest my case and fully agree on that SB should come prior to BS in the progression.

These things depend so much on your style of play though. Will you carefully read all the dialogue everywhere or just click through it? Will you be pausing a lot and consider tactics in every encounter?

Actually, I dont think we are missing anything, we are just thinking a bit differently about the value of and relationship between the two talents. From what I've heard I strongly disagree with (1) that you are forced to take shadowing beyond at level 4, (2) that not taking it will gimp your build and (3) that backstab is much more useful with it. Why? Well, mainly because it is 2/rest, which means that you will NOT be re-stealthing a lot in combat but at rare occasions. I dont know about you, but I dont plan to rest after every second encounter. If so, you will be using backstab more without shadowing than with it. I personally have no plans of taking shadowing beyond despite being a compulsive power-gamer (rather because of it). Now, if shadowing beyond would be a 2/encounter ability, or even 1/encounter, it would be an entirely different thing. But right now shadowing is a special one hit wonder ability and not your standard backstab ability. It is one way of doing it, the abilities work well together, but they are by no means necessarily used together. If you think its worth a talent to have 2 extra backstabs /rest, however, go ahead. I see the two as abilities that are useful on their own but has more potential together.

Yeah, I know that after 4e D&D people get a bad taste in their mouths when someone makes comparisons to MMO classes, but I feel like PoE didn't learn enough from the the trials and tribulations experienced by vanilla World of Warcraft Hunters, who were considered strong solo characters but weren't invited to raids. That's because ranged attacks don't really have magic bullet synergy with tanking and other mixed group tactics all on their own. Unless the enemy has point blank AoE effects there is little difference between damaging a tanked enemy from up close or from far away. Thus, if you want to contribute equally while at range you need to be dealing comparable damage to melee heavy hitters or provide enough utility that you're making up for it in other ways. Just being a strong kiter with a disposable pet doesn't count for much when the group isn't pursuing that strategy in the first place. I dont think that (heavy) ranged weapons are significantly weaker in PoE (please correct me if I'm wrong!). And if so the rogue would have the same problem, but everyone is happy with ranged rogues.

I consider it immersion-breaking to be the only person in the world who can't walk, and runs around in inns. Actually, you are not the only person. You are a group of six people madly running around in synchronization in inns, shops and throne rooms. That actually makes it worse, and a bit difficult to take your characters seriously. But hey, I'll live with it until its modded.

Yeah, they are prob the best bet. I'm thinking that the shine from the loot, which is giving me MMO-vibes, might require some kind of replacement to highlight the loot though.. Do tab highlight stuff on the ground?

I am a bit bothered with stuff like the loot-shine and glowing enchanted weapons, not simply because it is non-IE but because it is a bit immersion breaking to me. Would it be difficult to change or remove some such effects yourself?

I dont understand peoples obsessions with strongholds. That said, I will do everything of everything myself, except any mutually exclusive content.

Still thinking about party composition ... I wish the premade companions could be customized though. Not by default perhaps, but some kind of editor or whatever.

Because its nowhere near as problematic when you can use backstab from normal mundane stealth rather than having to use it together with a special talent that makes you magically invisible. Backstab is apparently far from useless on its own.

I don't think that ranged weapons are weak in PoE, quite the opposite if we're talking about the heavier firearms/crossbows. Furthermore, there is as of yet no penalty for using ranged weapons when engaged in melee (which could have been a drawback) The monk's abilities are apparently melee only, and perhaps more importantly the monk is about taking damage, which is not what you will be doing in the back. A ranged paladin is... doable, due to decent accuracy. I don't know if flames of devotion can be used with firearms? However, the paladin's auras might be of limited use in the back, and there are certainly classes that are way better (maybe a ranged fighter would do if you're allergic to rogues?) I dont know if I would consider the cipher to be a support class rather than a damage dealer. That said, ciphers will definitely benefit from using ranged weapons because they are squishy but have decent accuracy and gain some damage bonus from their soul whip. If you're interested in the cipher it might be what you're looking for.

+ There's your problem(s). The basic formula for people to bond without spending years of small-talk together is to show weakness+receiving acceptance. However, this can of course be done in many different ways, and perhaps creativity is sometimes lacking. There are many different kinds of weaknesses (not only regrets), they may be shown in many different ways (not only through dialogue), often unintentionally. The part where the player is always the listener is also problematic, but I guess it is more difficult to remedy since you would have to have a pretty huge amount of dialogue options to allow the player to tell whatever backstory he or she wants.

We really really need the occasional crickets and other such environmental stuff. It does so much for immersion

Uhm, what about rogues?

Yeah, but complaing about it being a challenge (or maybe not fun) is not really reasonable. I agree, I was commenting on why "anyone would want to play with less than a full party" The game has plenty of tools to make it challenging without having to create false self enforced limitations. If that is what the "soloist" is after there are still better ways of doing it. False self enforced limitations you say? I think that's irrelevant to the point, because some people sometimes like to create false self enforced limitations simply because they enjoy the specific challenge or is tired of the regular challenges, and it is actually quite common in RPGs. I don't see why that is amazing, but I agree that the efforts of the developers should be focused on a full or nearly full party.

Only good point to be made about this subject right here. It still amazes me that anyone would want to play with less than a full party. It is like going to build a house and when you get there and open your tool box you throw out everything except the hammer. Sure you might be able to get it done but it would have been a lot easier and more effective if you just used all your tools. There you have at least one reason - soloing is a challenge.

About this, I understood is as if the items offered were truly one-time-unique-offers, so that the item would be entirely removed from the game for all future if you missed a purchase. That slightly bothers me in itself, but I was wondering how many items the merchant actually has to potentially offer. I mean, there is a limited number of unique items in the game, and most of them are probably (hopefully) spread out in the game world, so I presume that the list is rather short? It might even be scripted and not randomized? If so, it sounds like an underwhelming mechanism that could have been more interesting (some excitement about what wondrous trinket the merchant will bring next time, some unpredictability).

1. No scaling plz 2. I think that one way to make side content meaningful yet limit its impact on the crit path is to have unique/magical items that are just slightly better than whatever you had before. A bit like the situation in BG1 where a +3 weapon would be incredibly rare and worth a lot more than a +2. Of course it should be in an interesting way, but I presume that the side content is interesting enough itself anyway. I dont think the marginal effect is a problem in terms of reward weight either, because for someone who is only doing some side content, the difference between items will be greater, and for completionists its probably worthwhile to get slightly better stuff (I know I would go for it, as a min/maxer). Yes, the crit path would be somewhat easier with that +3 weapon, or +10% burn damage or whatever, but your party will still not be walking Gods. And the crit path actually has to get at least slightly easier by doing side quests for the rewards of those to be meaningful, so thats kind of unavoidable anyhow.

I dont think modding the cap itself is very meaningful since there is no additional content beyond level 12 yet (e.g. spells and abilities). Multiclassing sounds pretty difficult to mod, but who knows (well, bester/sensuki)

By the way, shouldnt tool tips and weapon descriptions etc say "x1.3 base damage"? or perhaps even "+30% base damage". The point being that it would make the damage system a fair bit more obvious, because +50% damage from a crit sounds like much more than it is.