Crucis

I noticed this too. Where did the Xaurips go?

A. Agility, aka DEX, is always going to be important in any rational system. That's just life. You can't avoid being hit by a sword if you're not agile. It's as simple as that. Yes, I'm sure that skill factors in there, but that's very adequately covered by DEFL bonuses as you level up, since I think that one can safely say that characters as they level up are becoming more skillful. B. I personally find the "consistency" to be rather jarring. And would find a supposed lack of consistency to be more rational. People aren't going to draw their power (in this case, the "power" to extend duration and AoE of spells and abilities) from the same source. Some will do it due to their intelligence. Some will do it due to their strength of will or belief. I personally find it jarring to see every well built barbarian being ridiculously intelligent. IMO, they should be drawing their power to enhance their abilities' durations and AoE's from their force of will, which would absolutely be a RES thing. Sometimes there is some value to consistency. But quite often, the old Emerson quote holds true. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." I think that this is one of those cases where excessive consistency is a negative, not a positive. C. Having fun matters. But having things be more rational in the game system, IMO, is a lot more "fun" than systems that are ridiculously irrational and annoying, in the name of game balance. The latter sentiment presupposes that it's not possible to produce a system that's both rational AND balanced, which I find to be a grossly flawed rationale.

While I understand this sentiment, I think that there are flaws across the board in how things are linked to various attributes. For example, I think the idea that all classes have INT affect the duration of spells/abilities and size of AoE of their spells and/or abilities is bad. It's too generic and creates some class builds that just plain look silly to me. IMO, the proper way to handle "duration and size of AoE" is that it should be linked to different attributes for different classes. Of course, some classes would properly continue to use INT for this, like Wizards and, I suppose, Chanters. OTOH, I'd think that a classes like Paladin and Priest should have this tied to RES, since it's the strength of their belief that should be enhancing their spells and powers. Come to think of it, it might come down to either INT (strength of intelligence) or RES (strength of willpower and/or belief) on this for most classes. Indeed, looked at this way, RES wouldn't seem to be a weak stat at all, at least if you value increased "duration or spells/abilities and size of AoE" for your characters. As for Deflection, I still think that it should be linked to DEX, since DEFL is about avoiding taking a hit and one's agility would seem to me to be the primary determining factor there. Of course, I also believe that the "weight" of one's armor should affect a character's deflection, and create a trade off between having a high DR and having a high DEFL. I would suggest that for every 5% points of recovery time lost you also lose 1 point of DEFL. Maybe 2 per. The point would be that the higher the DR of an armor is (ignoring enchantments), the more it hinders your ability to avoid taking hits. And visa-versa, the lighter an armor is, the lower its DR is (again, ignoring enchantments), the better your DEFL is. The result would be or seem to be that you'd very well protected but somewhat easier to hit guys wearing heavy armor. And you've have some characters wearing light armor who are nimble as heck and hard to hit, but easier to damage when you do hit them. And you might have some characters wearing medium armor who are trying to balance protection (DR) and agility (DEFL). Anyways, enough of this theorycrafting for now...

The problem with Azzurro is that his "random" items always seem to cycle through the same 2 or 3 items for me. In all the playthru's of PoE I've done, I don't think that I've EVER seen Hiro's Mantle being sold! I always see Wurmwull, over and over and over again, even when I've bought it in hopes of preventing it from being seen again. (Doesn't work.) The fix to this is simple. Like I said above, just attach a "store" to Azzurro with all of his items in that store. Problem solved. You get to see all of his items, and it should end the repeating of items that have already been bought.

The same thing happens with the Redeemer with its Divine Mark ability. Hits the wielder rather than the target. Ya know, the fact that this is happening to so many items is making me think that the problem isn't with the items themselves, but with code that handles "x% chance to cast (whatever spell) on a hit or a crit". That code doesn't seem to realize that it should be targeting the enemy target rather than the wielder. Indeed, perhaps part of the problem is related to the fact that sometimes the spells being proc'd by these x% chance on hit or crit are friendly ones that are MEANT to hit the user of the item. Thinking further on it.... I wonder of there are two separate function calls in the code for this. One for friendly spell effects (that affect the user) and one for unfriendly spell effects (that affect the targeted enemy). And maybe when some of these items were built, the wrong function call was used. Hmmm....

Azzurro is just plain annoying due to the random nature of the items he sells. Why, oh why, can't he just be treated as a character with a "store" attached to him with all the items he has available in that store???

Or was that the Watchertower?

Gromnir, that this sounds like is the versions of the Companions you get if you don't use the setting that allows you to get them at level 1 and level them up yourself. For example, IIRC, Eder's original release version came with WF Ruffian.

You need to get rid of the Frightened (or is it Terrified? Can never recall which one of the two the dragons cause) affliction from the dragon's Fear Aura. Use a Scroll of Protection Against Fear (or the namesake 1st-level Priest spell if you have a Priest in your party) at the beginning of the fight, and Suppress Affliction (2nd-level Priest spell, or from a Ring of Unshackling) if any of your characters are hit by the aura before the protection spell goes through. If you have a Priest in your party, generously drop Crowns for the Faithful, Devotions for the Faithful, and Champion's Boon on your party. Dire Blessing won't hurt afterward. Scroll of Valor and Scroll of Defense are your friends; use them like your life depended on it. I also advise shielding up one of your party members (the one with the best defenses), and send them in alone leaning against the leftmost rock wall. They'll eat up the dragon's breath while the rest of your party buffs before diving in. Make sure you keep an eye on the loner and have them sip potions of Major Endurance now and again to keep them alive. I also suggest having more than one character casting paralyze spells to increase the chances of getting at least one hit on the dragon. There are plenty of Paralyze scrolls to be purchased in stores. Also, Arcane Accuracy spells and potions are useful for casters to improve their chances of having offensive spells hit.

You guys haven't even mentioned the option I was able to use. I had gotten a truce with the Ogres who'd attack Stalwart at the start of WM1. And as a result, the Ogre Matron has made 3 of her best warriors available to me for the final battle against the Eyeless. So when it came time to select someone to stay behind, there was an option to have the ogres do it. Woo-hoo! I was thrilled because I'd sent in my best group of 6 characters for the final battle against the Eyeless. Not one of them was one of my backups whom I might consider sacrificing. I was so bummed about it that I'd stripped the character I'd intended to sacrifice of all his equipment, because I was afraid of losing it along with the character. But thankfully the ogre option came up unexpectedly, and all was good.

It's a bug? I thought that those were my adoring fans!

Duration doesn't matter for (bleep) if you can't hit what you're aiming at.

For a Wizard you want a good Perception so that you reliably hit. If you will be in melee range I would not dump any stat. Might and Intellect are also very useful, Dexterity loses some luster when you gain access to a permanent Alacrity when you Master level third spells, but until then it is very important. Just remember that you can't be great at everything. Think of a triangle with Damage, Accuracy, and Area/Duration - then pick two and build towards that goal. fighter seems to be the choice then , thanks for advice , what do you think would be a proper fighter build ( stats and talents ) for main tank ( hireling from the inn so can be min maxed ) who is using as much retaliation and engagement bonuses as he can to keep enemies on him and retaliate as much as he can ?Havent played fighters in poe yet always went with pala+chanter for tanks and i have no idea how to build one . For a tank you should really look at a Chanter, they bring a lot to a team while a Fighter does not really make a team better, there are no real synergies from a Fighter. For that reason I'd also take a Paladin over a Fighter in all cases. The ability for auras, heals, exhortations and massive AoE is just so far superior it is not even a question. Some thoughts in reply. A. On spell sword wizards, I wonder if melee wizards can't get away with a little less than super high INT. After all, if their primary goal is buffing themselves for melee combat, area of effect isn't going to be all that important. Duration might be important, but I think that if one checks out the various spells that might be important to a melee mage, it's possible that the durations would be sufficient even if your wizzy's INT was, say, 14 or so. But it does seem to me that perception is key to wizards, melee or otherwise. For all the value of greater damage that Might brings or the greater AoE and duration that INT brings, for offensive spells, none of that matters if you can't actually HIT the target! And that requires a good PER. Yes, you can boost PER with the Arcane Accuracy spell or potion, but I wouldn't build a wizard who was depending on those to make up for a bad PER score. IMO, Arcane Accuracy should be more for making certain that your Accuracy is high enough to make a hit nearly certain, not to cover up for a terrible PER score. B. On tanks, honestly I think that I prefer plain ol' fighters in this role. It doesn't matter that much to me that they can't do the things a pally can do, for example. What a fighter brings to the table is extreme competence in his role as the team's primary melee combatant. At high levels, the Fighter ability, into the fray, is great for pulling enemies right onto the fighter. And it's great when those enemies are squishies that want no part of melee with a nasty fighter. (It has been particularly amusing in my part with Eder and Pallegina in the front row when they both charge an enemy, and Eder pulls an enemy towards him, only to have that enemy stopped right on Pallegina's greatsword! Ouch! Now that's some team work!) That said, having a pally in the mix is a great idea, whether it's to stand beside the fighter as the #2 tank or perhaps in the second row as an off-tank, healer, debuffer, etc. IMO, Chanters actually may be slightly better in some ways as #2 tanks than pallies. Why? Because they're more low maintenance in combat. If you have your pally in the second row, it's easier for him to use his pally abilities with less risk of being interrupted, whereas chanters don't cast their invocations all that often in battle. And also by being in the second rank (but ready to move to the front), the pally should still be more than close enough for his auras to assist the front liners. In my own party, I've been switching between having Pallegina and Kana in these two roles (i.e. #2 tank and second line off tank). The reason is mostly due to what enemies were being faced in any given battle. When facing the Eyeless, I put Pallegina in the front row with her Redeemer, and kept Kana in support. But against more general enemies, Kana can be more than sufficient as a #2 tank next to Eder.

How do you do the abbey before the ambush? You get that quest in the tent? Redeemer doesn't work as pointed out in this thread, I tried, they are too high level. Ciphers are awesome for this because of Echo. OK, my bad. I guess that you can't find the Abbey until after finishing the Iron Flail quest. That said, my level 16 party didn't really have that much trouble taking down the 2 Eyeless Hammers without the nice shiny new toy that you can get when you complete the Abbey quest. And the Redeemer absolutely positively insta-kills Eyeless, because they're vessels, and the Redeemer can insta-kill vessels. It has a 25% chance to trigger the slay vessels ability, but apparently you need to be at the same level or above the level of the target. SO, the OP won't be able to use it right at the listed level of his party. (In my level 16 party, Pallegina was zapping Eyeless left and right with the Redeemer!) As for ciphers, I guess I might be one of the few who don't use those beam powers that require a friendly to run around the battlefield, dragging the beam along with him. I don't like that implementation. It also doesn't help that I don't have a monk or a ranger's pet to play the role of beam anchor/target.

I don't remember them exactly, and I don't have the game up with the dialogs I chose on screen. I can only go from memory. What it came down to is I picked whatever options seemed the most diplomatic (not necessarily meaning there was a [Diplomatic X] tag) and seeking a non-violent outcome. I think that the final one that worked was something along the lines of:

It looks to me like the OP's party is a little too low level at this point in WM2. Oh, a really good player might be able to get the job done with a mostly level 12 party. I'd suggest getting the party to a higher level. I'd also suggest completing the Abbey quest before dealing with the Eyeless, because there's an item there that will be VERY useful against them. But the thing about the Abbey is that it is a rather difficult area, and I expect that a mostly level 12 party might get its butt well and thoroughly kicked (and punched) by the Abbey's monks. And as been pointed out, the Redeemer greatsword is highly useful vs the Eyeless, because they're vessels and the Redeemer has a 25% chance to kill vessels on a hit, if you're of at least the same level as the target (I think). As for the OP's comment that ciphers are a "crap class", he's nuts. Ciphers are GREAT!!! Oh, there are times when a Wizard is more useful. OTOH, there are times when a Cipher is more useful. (And the same can be said for pretty much every class in the game.)

I was just able to get a non-violent resolution to the meeting, and without my PC being a wizard and having an INT below the requirement (my PCs' INT is only 10 with equipment buffs). I just needed to have a strongly Honest reputation and swear on my honor to keep secret something about Concelhaut. Gotta say, I was a little surprised. I wasn't expecting to to be able to avoid the fight with my PC Rogue's lowish INT. (I may still reload and try the fight for its own sake though.) In a way, it was nice to see that my PC's reputation for Honesty came in really handy for actually resolving a situation, beyond just opening up the occasionally interesting dialog option. And as I said above, when you really read what Llengrath says, she doesn't really come off as some nasty evil wizard who needs to be dealt with, having a non-violent solution in this situation seemed like a solid role playing decision for my character.

Moving on... I've seen very little talk about strats for winning this fight. SO, if you've fought and won this battle, what did you do? What worked for you? Who did you focus on first? And so on. And did you find that the party mix you first tried the battle with wasn't good enough and did you head back to Caed Nua to change your party's line up? At this instant (the save right before the battle), my party consists of: my PC rogue, Eder (wielding Abydon's Hammer or Tidefall), Pallegina, Kana (who has the anti-beast estoc, Drake's Bell), Durance, and Grieving Mother (Stormcaller is her weapon of choice). Does this party mix have the firepower to get the job done, or do I need to retreat to Caed Nua and add in my level 16 wizard (probably replacing Kana)?

Wonderful. Just wonderful. Calling people "cowards" for seeking a non-violent solution in a computer RPG? Seriously? How low can you go? I can absolutely see how RPG game writers could write up a part of their story so that the non-violent path was the better solution. Frankly, WM1/2 is full of cases where seeking a non-violent end to a problem pays off with benefits later. As for the fight against Llengrath and her 2 dragons, I've only fought the battle once and lost. But I have gone through the opening dialog. And from what I read, I'm not exactly seeing why Llengrath is such a major threat that requires the Watcher to have to take her out. I don't recall her talking about any nefarious evil schemes that need thwarting, etc. So if your PC meets the min requirements to seek out a non-violent solution, then it seems to me to that taking a non-violent solution in this case is NOT a bad choice. OTOH, if you just want to go for the fights, more power to you. But don't be so insulting towards those who actually want to (horrors!) role play a (computer) role playing game.

Yes, multiple options in a role-playing game is bad... Seriously guy, having options is what role playing games is all about. I'm quite pleased that there is a way to reason with Llengrath. And you don't get the same reward if you resolve it peacefully as if you do the fight. The peaceful solution gets you a unique bonus that can't be earned any other way, and two bog dragon scales. Doing the fight gets you four bog dragon scales and Llengrath's grimoire which contains unique spells that cannot be earned any other way. Whatever you choose you gain something and loose something. And I for one like it when we have a choice, and that choice is a REAL choice. And your assertion that 17 intelligence is pointless is just plain wrong, my wizard has 18 intelligence boosted to 20 with items, so his spells have wide radius and long duration, which is very useful for a debuff wizard like mine. I don't think that it's having multiple options that grinding Balthazar's gears. I think that he feels that you should get a bigger reward for fighting than not fighting because he seems to feel that there's no challenge to the not fighting option, and that if you want bigger rewards you should have to take bigger risks. I don't think that he's opposed to their being a reward for a non-violent solution. Just that it shouldn't be as good as the reward for winning a very tough battle.

You should get your terms right, Balthazar. Pen and paper role playing is still an RPG. PoE is a cRPG, i.e. a computer RPG.

You have to have completed White March pt.1 first, including the Crägholdt part. Then for me it was simply starting White March pt. 2, then doing the Iron Flail fort and returning to Stalwart. Then there should be a scene near the west entrance that starts the quest sending you to Mowrghek Ien. I've gone from the main game pre Twin Elms to Stalwart ... completed the White Forge quest ... then went directly to TWM2. Again in Stalwart, I immediately followed the main quest and skipped all the side-quests. I've never had an option to travel to Mowrghek len. After completing the main quest, I'm back in Stalwart and can start all the side-quests, of course, but nothing happens at the west village gate. Is it really depending on the Crägholdt quest ... ? Actually, how you trigger the Mowrghek Ien quest is to walk to the west side of Stalwart village near the west gate, and you'll come across a couple of locals watching over a dead body. Talk to them, and you'll eventually get the quest relating to the Mowrghek Ien area. This event probably appears and occurs only after you've completed the Cragholdt quest. I don't know this for a fact, but given the events and so on in the Mowrghek related quest, it seems highly likely. As for what Bathory said, you don't immediately know that this quest is related to the Cragholdt quest, but eventually you figure it out.

There are some keys to successful dragon hunting. (Some might say cheese.) 1. Learn the dragon hunting skill from Falanroed as part of the Adra Dragon "hunt". It reduces any dragon's defenses for a shortish but useful period of time. 2. Paralyze spell scrolls. It may seem cheesy, but dragons are so incredibly powerful with their breath attacks that can just about nuke an entire party, I'd call it the proverbial case of "fighting fire with fire". 2a. If you have a high enough level wizzy, Gaze of the Adragan for more paralyzing. A paralyzed dragon hurts no one. 3. Watch the dragon's DR's and immunities closely and use weapons, spells, chants, whatever that target the weak areas. Paralyze scrolls didn't work well for me even before the dragons were buffed, but I agree that, sadly, immobilizing them is the (only) way to go. I just don't know how to deal with 300 non-crit semi-ranged butt attacks otherwise. The tools now have to be tailored somewhat to the dragon, because of the immunities, but not the process itself. I find it, that despite them being resistant to prone, Concelhaut's Crushing Doom is still invaluable in these encounters, since it gives you multiple prone checks for the price of one spell (and damage's a nice bonus too). Dexterity's usually one of the lowest resistances on the dragons to begin with. The downside is, that you have to have already beaten Concelhaut to get it. Stun weapons are a good choice too. Stunned affliction also suspends prone lengthening the effect. Apparently, some dragons (the Alpine dragon, maybe) are immune to paralyze spells. But some are vulnerable to confusion. Some are vulnerable to prone attacks. All of this falls under point #3 about paying attention to a dragon's DRs and immunities. One thing about dragons who aren't immune to confusion spells. Getting a dragon confused isn't going to allow you to attack and damage it freely, like you could to a paralyzed target. The moment you strike a confused target, the confusion effect goes away. The benefits I can see of getting a dragon confused are: 1) Any adds the dragon has may attack him, and he may attack his adds. But watch out, I don't know if a dragon's breath weapon is foe-only or not. And if he were to make a breath (or wing buffet) attack on his adds, if not foe-only, those attacks may hit you as well. 2) Having a dragon confused may give you time to re-position or cast buffs or healing, etc on team mates. Note that this may not quite be the case in the battle where there are two dragons. And in any case, whether one or two dragons, the other enemies may choose to continue attacking you. And yes, stunning weapons may be nice, as long as that particular dragon isn't immune to being stunned. One of the things I've learned in playing this (and the older IE games) is that sometimes one should look at your first attempt to any given battle (the tough ones, in particular) can be seen as gathering intel on the enemy. Oh, at times you may win on your first attempt. But even if you don't, you've learned what their strengths and weaknesses are, if you were paying attention to your enemies' DR's and immunities. And then when you give it a second try, you should be more ready. On this same line of thinking, something else I've learned is that sometimes the class mix of characters you have in your party may not be effective against certain enemies or groups of enemies. I found fighting the monks in the Abbey very difficult with the first party I took into the Abbey (Rogue PC, Eder, Pallegina, Maneha, Durance, and a merc wizzy). So, I retreated from the Abbey and went all the way back to Caed Nua and replaced Maneha, the barbarian, with Kana, a chanter, and replaced the merc wizzy with GM, a cipher. And when I went back to the Abbey, things got a LOT easier. Kana was more durable and his chant that does flame damage to all enemies nearby was quite useful. And GM is more durable than a wizzy, and between her spells and her Stormcaller bow, she was very effective. So it seems to me that the lesson is that there's nothing wrong with changing up the roster of your party if it will help you more easily deal with certain enemies.

There are some +4 Might items. And even one +5 (for about 30 secs, I think) Might item (the right you take from the guy who tries to take Caed Nua from you).

I don't think you get it. You say that the low health triggers aren't bad. I think that they're utterly terrible for exactly the reason you think that they're not bad. You say that they're not bad if your character is tanky. THAT IS WHY THEY'RE BAD! The Fire GL ability is essentially useless unless you're playing a tanky character. Who in their right mind would play a Fire GL wizard except for RP reasons? I'm sorry, but these abilities that are triggered by low health drive me up a wall, I hate them so much. Every effing thing about them is wrong! And you say that you don't think that the point is to get injured but that it's a back up. I don't WANT abilities that are plan B! I want abilities that I can use ALL THE TIME!!! Furthermore, how can a "plan B" ability even be worth the cost of a lost equipment slot! The entire concept is a useless crock of you-know-what!