Beovuk

-edit for context In multiplayer if a class is OP in PvE / PvP - thats it. Time to go to the forums and call for a nerf unless you are the one playing that class. For singleplayer - if your class is OP you can just bump up the difficulty slider for PvE if thats what you want to do. There is no PvP. People will go to the forums and just shrug that you're playing an OP class but they will not rage and demand your class is nerfed. Because your gameplay is not affecting them they don't care. So when a developer nerfs your class in singleplayer = you will be unsatisfied. People that play other classes will not care. When a developer nerfs your class in multiplayer = you will be unsatisfied. All other people will be satisfied. Buffing weak classes in singleplayer = everybody is satisfied. Fueled by multiplayer it's an industry standard to nerf classes soon as they are viewed as OP - with plethora of class balance updates which increase chances of making things worse instead. The solution here is simple - you could treat single player class balance differently then multiplayer and get more customer satisfaction in the process. They are different beasts and should be treated as such, especially when there is much to gain for both developers and customers (not to go into other factors that support this separation further like multiplayer characters being by design never ending, immersion, content/replayability and differences in support lifespan..) So..now with that in context "Instead of nerfing classes, buff the weak ones." - I say yes. Oh our obsidian overlords, yes.

Past experience tells me when they say "balance changes" they mean "nerfs galore". Rather than crippling existing characters, which people have invested time and effort in (including PotD, Iron mode etc.), by ruining their abilities that are somehow "imbalanced" (in a single-player game, yeah right), how about buffing classes that are currently made of suck and plainly uninspiring (looking at you, paladin)? TL;DR: instead of weakening good classes, how about strengthening bad classes? That way everyone wins! I agree with the general sentiment of buffing bad classes rather than nerfing good ones, but why is it illegitimate to balance in one way, based on the argument that it doesn't need balancing in a single-player game, yet legitimate to balance in another? Your argument makes no sense. If you said that balance didn't matter at all in a single-player game, you'd have a point - I'd disagree and argue against that point, but it'd be there - but first suggesting that imbalance isn't a thing in a single-player game and then call on balancing is nonsense. I think you missed his point entirely.. and he makes a good one. Instead of nitpicking what he said in parentheses, please read his post again and try to take it in context. Instead of nerfing classes, buff the weak ones. This can work for singleplayer games, since it's only YOU playing and other people playing other classes will not care as much as in multiplayer games (see guildwars 2 forum flooded at the moment with turret engineer nerf posts and everyone calling for a nerf except people playing a turret engineer). How many people are calling for class nerfs in singleplayer game forums? Sorry if I made this sound too simplistic, but this way it can be understood. Most importantly with 50+ hours in your character will not be gimped all of a sudden (especially in POTD). So I wholeheartedly agree that this approach is better. Don't nerf classes, buff the weak ones.

..ever made. Just wanted to drop that in here and this coming from a vet thats been gaming since late 90s. Congratulations to the team, you can sense the dedication and love that went into this project so lets have numbers speak for themselves. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/pillars-of-eternity

It's not a stylistic choice =) DPS Barb hands down. Go dual wield, take few points out of con (you're still gonna have a huge pool) and as per any dps might/dex/int. One of the best melee dps options in the game.

From the pillars wiki, creature types: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Creature?cookieSetup=true

This Sensuki vid shows scaling, watch after 50% https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs_0NV-x-2M&list=PLIRfCmyR7ijIX0znkN3yaW0JNVozkQE1R&index=5 I gotta say I'm having a blast with a high int dw barb on damned dif. Great game.