Merina

My heroes put on heavy armor when fighting spirits. Aloth concentrates on the Shades with his Ray of Fire and other burning spells.

As explained, the issue is it should be possible to ask about it. Either Osric or other "residents" or when reputation increases... in the same way as one can ask some people very early about the Dozens, there whereabouts and about what to expect in the several city districts. There's a hint that a Lady Webb and her spies are centered in Brackenbury district, but the person does not mention Dunryd Row or ciphers. The first time I can ask "What's Dunryd Row?" is when the messenger from Dunryd Row intercepts my party. Before that, there is no connection between Dunryd Row and Hadret House. From a role-playing perspective, not everyone breaks into every house to explore them from the inside.

Lady Webb adds the missing pieces of this puzzle. Not only does explain who Thaos is ... she also tells the background about Dunryd Row. Strange order of happenings...

That doesn't answer the questions: How/where could I have learned about Dunryd Row before entering Hadret House? I've followed the story's events when entering Defiance Bay ... obviously I entered the Expedition Hall before travelling to Brackenbury district. In the hall I meet Osric, who mentions Dunryd Row ... without explaining who/what that is. Meanwhile Lady Webb has told me all the missing pieces ... also solved the riddle about Thaos: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/76429-who-is-this-thaos-character/

Any news or insight here? While within Defiance Bay, Thaos even spoke to me, and the answers I could choose didn't make much sense to me. Where's the connection? Next I'm entering Hadret House ... maybe things will clear up...

Osric referred to "Dunryd Row" when talking to him about the quest he offers. I didn't get a chance to ask "What's Dunryd Row?". I could ask that question much much later when it no longer matters ... since it's the messenger from Dunryd Row that approaches my party. I ran around within Defiance Bay in search of Dunryd Row. Did I read anything not carefully enough? The journal about Osric's quest tells: ... a document from Dunryd Row ... and a cipher from Dunryd Row ... It made me scratch my head. What is it? A person? A place? Within the city or outside? Have I skipped anything important? Where would I have heard/read about Dunryd Row for the first time to not be so clueless before the messenger talks to me upon leaving the Sanitarium?

LOL ... this is just crap! Auto-resolve? It doesn't tell me anything about what I've done wrong or how I could improve. Lost the two walls in a single attack by Leaden Key agents... no numbers on that attack given to me. Number of attackers? No idea. Status messages are not sorted. Bugs in the stronghold. 14 Tarprima, 2823 about a brutish warrior that arrived 15 Tarprima, 2823 brutish warrior left already - 23 hours only!!! 16 Tarprima, 2823 payday 17 Tarprima, 2823 west wall completed 17 Tarprima, 2823 agents attack in 3 days 15 Tarprima, 2823 attack!!! lost two walls 16 Tarprima, 2823 agents attack in 5 days Those agents used a time machine ... or what?

At Defiance Bay - Copperlane - inside Scriveners' Dormitory, there's a scrivener in the backrooms doing something in the air (or on the ground) with his/her hands. The animation looks much like the person should be moved directly next to the fireplace.

Eeeewwww.... This stronghold thingy interrupts my current game so much ... I was in Defiance Bay catacombs when I received notification about a major adventure. No way I could do anything about it or travel back. The hirelings cannot do anything either. My single hired adventure was busy escorting an earlier visitor ... no hints about what that is about and why it needs to be done... uh? I was still in Defiance Bay when I hear about another visitor with a name colored in green who wants to be hired. No other details about him? Am I too dumb to find them? What can he do? Why hire a stranger? I was on the way out into the wilderness when I hear about an attack of the great hall. Shadows and Forest Lurkers. WTF? I hear about those things, via invisible one-way pigeons or what? Why can't I send back a pigeon or messenger to deliver my commands? The two options about how to resolve the attack, I need to find out in trial and error. How many attackers? No info? So, I travel back with my party, have just 22 hours left and choose to resolve the attack "manually". A larger group of Shades and 2-3 forest lurkers finished off the hirelings ... no idea whether the hired priest even did anything .. he stood kinda hidden near the right wall with a talk symbol when moving the mouse over him. How to find out how many hirelings I need to let them defend automatically? I feel I'm being forced into this stronghold stuff too early ... how can I continue with my explorations in and around Defiance Bay without having to wait at the stronghold to counter attacks?

Looks like it's the Hearth Harvest hatchet. Same here.

I got this with 1.0.3.0530 -steam upon pressing F8 somewhere below Caed Nua. *NameError*: 3 hits It's been a new game started with that version. Pressing F8 a second time reloaded the game without such error.

Role-playing often requires that it's not you who develops interest in a quest but your heroes ... you need to put yourself in your hero's position. Not just for the story and interactions... also for the equipment you choose. That's part of the fun ... creating something that's not you. For many years, the early known goal of many RPGs has been to track down one or more artefacts of power prior to confronting the big enemy at the end. Is that more interesting? Side-quests (or optional tasks) are the sugar and spice! This is the no-spoilers forum. Which companions have you met so far? And what do you find boring about their introduction or why that want to travel with you?

It's a missing feature ... that makes me wonder whether the developers considered it unnecessary and whether it hasn't come up during the beta...? Perhaps it's expected to add some difficulty? (hehe) Eventually, after saving more than once on the same map, you've got multiple saves with the same name and just a different time. Even an option to add brief notes would have been great ... in BG I like adding a comment such as "before level up".

Made me scratch my head ...thought I had read some of the texts too quickly.

Some testing: I uninstalled PoE and reinstalled the Steam library backup of 1.03. I started it .. thought I could compare with that older release ... and was forced to fetch the current patch. Game now is 1.0.3.0530. In the test tutorial I had started and save earlier today, when loading it, Calisca and my personal character are not affected by movement speed issues anymore ... and that's really obvious when toggling Fast Mode. Really! Loading my last savegame, Fast Mode works again, too... meaning I could continue there at the risk of running into movement issues later ... but all that doesn't fix vinni's savegame as attached in this thread.

Let's hope those sales numbers will encourage the developers to keep fixing those bugs that spoil the fun so far.

It's not 100 hours for me, ... and with more patience I will return to this game. My disappointment so far is easy to explain: * stopped playing and started a New Game multiple times, because I learned that the included PDF manual is out-of-date and doesn't match the game * had the game crash in the first long animation sequence upon leaving the tutorial ruins - only decreasing resolution without fullscreen is a work-around * had Eder with abnormally high deflection, although I think I've never knowingly double-clicked an item to equip it * was "imprisoned" in Raedric's Keep, with the game crashing upon using stairs ... and me not knowing anything I could have done differently to avoid that * was happy about patch 1.03 and all the stuff it promised to fix ... restarted with a fun Monk and more careful playing ... was about to enter Defiance Bay Copperlane for the first time when the second hotfix after 1.03 broke movement speed of my party

DEX doesn't influence accuracy at all ... as I've found out the hard way by reading the rather short manual only to learn that it is out-of-date compared with the game. Rely on the in-game info boxes.

Engagement is reported in the combat status window, too. What does it say about your rogue and its foes?

After today's hotfix breakage, I tend to agree. I'm simply too scared to continue playing ... only to have to restart some time later because of bugs. Perhaps bugs that crept into my character's abilities, skills, talents, ... whatever ... like a disease with no Cure Disease spell ... and with me noticing only when it's too late. That's unfortunate ... because the game is promising, ... if it were less flawed.

vinni, I can reproduce that with your savegame here as well. And with that I'm back to IWDEE once more. These new bugs introduced by PoE hotfixes ruin the game for me. I've yet to enter Defiance Bay after several restarts and game-breaking issues.

I agree ... it leaves much to be desired. The fan boys like it, because for them it belongs to the nostalgia.

Let's agree on that the developers somehow broke movement speed in their latest hotfix. It has been fine until today for me. Then after applying the update that arrived at Steam, my latest savegame is affected. Speed in a new game feels strange, too.

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73112-player-character-slowed-movement-speed/

*sigh* I just replied in a different topic, because I didn't find this one ... I'm facing issues with Fast Mode not working or not making a difference anymore. It's supposed to be double-speed, but it used to be really visible and audible also in Stealth Mode. Could it be that the updated game fails at loading old savegames? Does anyone know whether newly started games will also be affected.