Blades of Vanatar

Agreed. Which steers this toward playstyle. Larger parties allow for more playstyles. Maybe I'm not the type to want more powerful characters but prefers a more diverse set of skills. The extra character allows for that. Those who like to play with less characters can always just run with 5. But why eliminate the 6th charactrer when these boards are showing a strong voice for them?

Ranger. Pike/Arbalest or Hunting Bow/Quaterstaff.

Not a fan of the Wizzy-Monk label. What if you don't use scrolls?...

One problem with making subclasses is they will never satisfy the masses when it comes to which subclasses are implemented. Kits and prestige classes had their fans and their haters between 2nd and 3rd editions. I'm interested in seeing where this goes but ultimately I think I will feel this endeavor will be incomplete as there is no way they satisfy everyone's wants and desires for the gajillion types of subclasses we can brew in the cauldron of forums, let alone satisfy my own. And yet..... part of can't me wait for this to be released so I can both enjoy it immensely no matter what subclasses are chosen and at the same time bitch about how the made all the wrong choices. Sorry in advance for my bipolarism/advanced years 'manopause'.

Nice! Other Pally + Rogue options Undead Hunter (think Ravenloft) Holy Slayer

Nice! Other Pally + Rogue options Undead Hunter (think Ravenloft) Holy Slayer

Definitely after the story for me. WM was a decent balance but WMII made anything after it a cakewalk. Didn't make much sense to me in that regard. I would prefer a ToB type add-on.

I find it funny that the thread is about what we think would be optimum party size. Not about firing off **** remarks about those opinions. Gee.... Maybe I misread the title...

EotB had a 6 character limit (you could recruit up to 2 others. 5 from the get go. Six would of been better. The Co8 mod allowed for choosing up to 8 starting characters. That I liked.

Unplayable? Blasphemy! I just finished an Ultima 1-4 run. Next is the entire Wizardry series, for the upteenth time. There are so many mods for the IE games that I think I will never stop replaying them. Also like to revisit Darksun and the Goldbox games after 4-5 years or so. Can't wait to get my kids playing them!

PoE was the promoted as the heir apparent to the I.E. games where we had vancian casters which goes back to the AD&D games of old. It is mainly why I donated to its kickstarter. Where I don't expect a clone of the IE games I do expect something somewhat similar since vancian casting IMO was the best part of the IE style games in the first place. Taking it away moves PoE to another spectrum. That sucks for me.... and it's why I am on the fence of backing part 2.

I've found that I like the suggestion of many here to go no healer instead taking at least some Mig and Int and Veterans Recovery for all characters. Potions usually cover my healing needs in combat if in dire straits.

I'm all for a strong game engine, but I also don't want to be forced to micro every character. So I am on the fence over this feature. Unless of course AI scripting will use the empowerment like it did per encounter abilities in PoE1. Then I am all for it. So to me breaking it down to even more choices to make per combat would be a bit too much microing for my taste. BUT......If I had more free time to game I might have an opinion more leaning toward the OP.

I'm the opposite. I went from a mail carrier weighing 150lbs to sittings on my arse all day at a desk. I now weigh in at just under 200.

Sprinkles?! How dare you! They are called Jimmies!!!! Sheeesh people... please learn your ice cream facts. It's all fine and dandy to argue silly video game features but please keep it crisp when discussing important stuff like ice cream.

8 complete playthroughs or 8 restarts?

Take Kana, choose Dragons Thrashed, problem solved.

Remember there will be expansions so there will be more than 8 NPCs. Dwarven Skaldlike Chanter would be interesting. Possibly with a peg leg or hook that can act as a non-removable 2nd weapon.

In BG1there are a ton of NPCs each with some type of side story. I replayed thru with tons of Party composition combinations. Same with BG2 to a lesser degree. Plus Their dialogues with each other were priceless. Dynaheir-Edwin, Jaheira-Xzar, etc... it's that combo I'm looking for.

I like to equip Sagani with a Med armor that allows for a quick health reboot. Give her Eder' s armor. With all the patching PoE has rec'd enemies tend to bypass tanks for squishies. If they bypass your tanks to reach Sagani switch to a hatchet/shield setup. If she goes down they will turn back to your frontline or other squishy and she will rise back up where you can switch back to Persistence. But with a hatchet/shield setup she just might tank enough to hold the enemy while the rest of your party does their thing.

It is a no brainer that more companions would be nice to have, but you have a fixed amount of money to spend on writing. If you add one companion, you have a new story, and the dialog to support it, that lasts the length of the game. Also, if you have n companions, you have to write n(n-1) inter-companion interactions (so interactions grow proportional to the square of the number of companions). It's a choice between deep companions or more companions rather than between deep companions and more deep companions. I don't have a good sense of the cost of a companion relative to the cost of the game as a whole; I would be interested to know that if anybody with game development experience would like to say something about it. Deeper companions works if they get it right. I would prefer more as to me and my xp with CRPGs they miss on most of them. So I like the replay value. Plus more NPCs fuels my constant restart mode.

It is a no brainer that more companions would be nice to have, but you have a fixed amount of money to spend on writing. If you add one companion, you have a new story, and the dialog to support it, that lasts the length of the game. Also, if you have n companions, you have to write n(n-1) inter-companion interactions (so interactions grow proportional to the square of the number of companions). It's a choice between deep companions or more companions rather than between deep companions and more deep companions. I don't have a good sense of the cost of a companion relative to the cost of the game as a whole; I would be interested to know that if anybody with game development experience would like to say something about it. Deeper companions works if they get it right. I would prefer more as to me and my xp with CRPGs they miss on most of them. So I like the replay value. Plus more NPCs fuels my constant restart mode.

Apparently I have had my head buried in the sand and noticed the PoE2 forums only yesterday. So forgive my ignorance but less companions? Darn, Darn, Darn! I want more companion options. Lots of them. I Modded up BG2 because the lack of NPC options as opposed to BG1. More companions means more replay value. I thought this to be a no-brainer???

Though I enjoyed Toee and the Co8 mod I always wanted another character. I am old a School gold box player from the 80s. Six is perfect. Especially if bringing back a multi class option. I never enjoyed the dungeon crawls of EotB, the Ravenloft games, etc. because of the 4 character limit. Only Darksun did that right back then.

We should reserve a spot!