Sable Phoenix

I read everything, literally everything in the game that's presented before me, not just all the dialog, every book, every bestiary entry, everything. I had no idea I was joining the Crucible Knights when I started working with them. I just kept going on what felt like a sidequest thread. Now you're saying I've actually joined the Crucible Knights as what, a member? I don't recall ever agreeing to that, or getting any sort of ceremony or anything indicating that was now the case. And I know it's certainly not because of my reading comprehension. I haven't really seen it impact the game so far, though. It's all very muddy.

This is just an idea that struck me, like a thrown tomato. What if camping supplies, instead of being completely consumed as soon as you use them (I don't know anyone who throws away their bedroll and pots after one use), actually allowed you to set up an actual campsite? The campsite would remain at that map permanently, and could be treated like a makeshift inn, although without the bonuses, obviously. Also, only one allowed per map. You would have to severely reduce the number of camping supplies available throughout the game, of course, otherwise every map would wind up with its own campsite. But it could also add a new strategic element to when and where you used camping supplies. Do you use it now, on level 7 of the Endless Paths of Od Nua, when your party is all beat up and has only a few spells left, or do you take a chance in pressing through to level 8, where you know the grand staircase intersects? Alternatively, make campsites time limited, say three days, before they disappear again and you'd have to make another one. That would allow the current amounts of camping supplies to be retained.

I'd also like to see the lab, fountain and kitchen in the lower floor of Brighthollow be something besides just cosmetic.

That... ... is brilliant.

I too agree that each class needs some kind of resource. The best classes are the ones that are built around unique mechanics: Cipher and Chanter rule the heap, with the ability to alter the entire battlefield with a single cast, but which require buildup (either generated by hitting, with the Cipher, or over time, with the Chanter) to use those abilities. Monk is also a great idea, once again being based on a resource built up through gameplay. Barbarian is almost there, with a very well-defined role, but no particular mechanic unique to it. They could give the Wizard a mana resource, a slowly but constantly regenerating resource necessary to cast spells, rather than having a hard cap of spells-per-rest. It would make the Wizard a sort of reverse-Chanter, able to blow its entire load at the start of a fight but then having to wait until that mana regenerates, while the Chanter requires time to build up after the start of the battle until it can pull out those devastating summons... there would be some nice overlap there, using your Wizard to open the battle and your Chanter to wrap it up. That's just one idea, possibly the easiest, but every class could be built on some unique resource that would make them stand out from the other classes and appeal to different players' individual styles. Then you could have the Druid, which has a static pool of Nature's Favor or something (the name is immaterial) which would start at 0 every encounter. In order to regenerate the Nature's Favor the druid needs to spiritshift into animal form, the Nature's Favor would charge up to 100 on the same timer that the spiritshift form lasts. Nature's Favor is required to cast Druid spells. You could cancel the spiritshift at any time, but of course the Nature's Favor pool wouldn't have charged to full, so you couldn't cast as many spells before bottoming out, and you also can't spiritshift unless the pool is at 0. It would give the class a lot of dynamic back-and-forth that meshes with their signature power. Priests could have Faith (again the name's immaterial), a static pool of per-enconter spellcasting power. Once it's depleted, that's it, no more casting for the rest of the encounter. This would require you to ration the Priest's spells and only use what you really need them to use when you need them to use it, rather than blowing all your buffs and smites at the start of the fight. Hey, this is fun! I don't have ideas for the rest of the classes, yet, but it's obviously possible to do this with all of them.

Hopefully we see this in an upcoming patch...

I thought the same thing. I expected those bonuses from repairing all those buildings to stack. "Oh cool," I thought, as I shelled out thousands of copper and waited weeks (of in-game time) to put up several buildings with bonuses I particularly wanted, "once I get the whole placed fixed up, I can rest there and get a +1 to everything." ... except no. The hedge maze or woodland paths or whatever it is gives you a +1 to, um, might and survival, I think? It's the only multi-bonus in the entire stronghold, everything else is piecemeal single stat buffs. For Woedica's sake, spending the night with a whore at the Salty Mast gives you more bonuses than that. Considering the fact that you'll have spent tens of thousands of copper by the time you get the whole keep upgraded, and that you'd have to travel all the way from wherever you are to the keep, then back after resting, I don't think it's too much to ask to have those bonuses to Brighthollow be cumulative.

Quoted for being the unvarnished truth.

Give me a few days' time and I can make one. Been planning to make a fire godlike portrait anyway. What base race? Can't tell if he's an aumaua or human.

I think you should just play the game. I've encountered no bugs that were game-breaking or, frankly, even noticeable.

^Faulty English. Assumes present tense. And misses the point. Edit: And ends with a lie (I seriously doubt you're curious, since your first post on this thread was a blanket dismissal of all the critics, and their viewpoints, and their experiences) Berath's balls, you are a pedant aren't you. Also, you'll notice I never made any personal attacks in my posts, the way you just did. Argumentum ad hominem is useful in one way, though; it publicly demonstrates whom to ignore in the future.

So how did you do fights like the first level of the lighthouse in Ondra's Gift? Or any fight then? How do you 'tank and spank' when enemies come at you from different directions and don't attack the 'tank'? I'm really curious because I find quite a few fights challenging and satisfying when I eventually win. What are these people who complain the game is too easy etc doing differently, or just doing, that makes it so easy? What am I not doing that I should be? I'm with you, philby. I find the game enjoyable, and fairly often challenging as well. You and I must be playing it wrong.

If it's so awful, why are you even playing it? Just curious.

No, my stance is not "It's not D&D, therefore it's awesome", that's just an advantage to having an original IP. If PoE were a D&D game, I'm sure I'd enjoy it, since I enjoyed Planescape:Torment so much it's still my favorite computer game ever made. My point was that not being tied to an existing (and fairly kludgy) RPG system is an advantage, because it allows Obsidian to come up with something new and original. That people can't seem to separate themselves from the old games that PoE pays homage to but is not based on is not Obsidian's fault. I accept the game for what it is... a brand new IP with a brand new ruleset that I'm going to have to learn and adapt to in order to succeed. I have no problem with that; apparently, other people do, incredible as that seems. The Engagement argument absolutely falls into this stance. The Engagement mechanic doesn't go against tactical combat. It's just going against a particular type of tactical combat that you desire. Michel de Certeau differentiated strategy from tactics by stating that strategy occurs in its own created environment, while tactics occurs as a response to the requirements of an existing environment. Tactics are absolutely possible in the environment of PoE (that is, the maps and rules set up in the game), they're just not the tactics you would like see. You can either accept the tactical environment presented by PoE, and enjoy the game, or you can constantly be thinking about how a different tactical environment would operate (which is, as far as I can tell, Baldur's Gate for most people in this thread), which obviously will make the game less enjoyable. I've done the former; I can't imagine why anyone would choose the latter.

Engagement is not "the entire problem with this combat system". I agree it's not utilized to its full effect, but at the same time, it's a core mechanic of this game's combat system. If you feel like Engagement fundamentally breaks the combat in this game, it's because you're trying to play another game, not this one. Free your mind and let go of the past, accept the mechanics and figure out ways to use them, and things will get a lot more enjoyable.