revjwh

I hope you'll try as a wizard!

Obsidian promised two major cities.... what they delivered was one major city (Defiance) and one half-baked city..... they know in their hearts they didn't make good on their promise. I still love the game, but I was excited to have two large cities to explore and Defiance Bay felt well-developed in most respects (a little light on the random, smaller encounters and hidden secrets but overall good) but the second city? Pfah. Great game - but I'm not going to not call out Obsidian - especially if you hype this as a major selling point and then don't deliver.

There is no point to making an area non-rest. It simply forces me to fight/run back to inn and rest for free/return/fight/rinse/repeat. It's tedious and boring and serves no point..... it simply seems a poor design decision that serves no purpose other than to be annoying.

Overall I love PoE. It's an ambitious project - and I love your games, Obsidian (Fallout NV is my all time favorite). I appreciate the many details - maps on tables, overturned furniture, spilled food etc. I like how you created alternate ways into places; the scrolls that pop-up and flesh out a scene/event; the spare voice overs that allow much more depth of conversation. Great job ! I hope there is a PoE 2.... I will buy/support in a heart beat. I've already given PoE as a gift to help support your company - you are one of the best one's out there in my opinion. J

Normal or higher? If yes, please share build and tactics.

It's a cheesy retaliation build(retal will likely be nerfed anyway) that's mostly just a maybe viable alternative to rogue for soloing but is of no value on the actual difficult fights which are all side content. The people jumping the gun here are the ones just assuming it's amazing without actually playing it. It's a gimmicky niche build that will be weak up until certain items and spells are gained, and even then it's far from the best for that one particular niche. I went into the game, built this, tried the Sky Dragon and even some of the Burial Isle fights before the boss. I doubt you could even take the final boss with it as this thing died to an animat on hard difficulty because its reflex saves are so poor. Odd Hermit, You come across as an arrogant jerk. People are playing the build right now. It's no more gimmicky or whatever than any other build. Your pathetic attempts to always be right are tiring. No point in discussing it with you at least - you are merely a troll now. People have already finished the game with this build. Grow up.

You can't afford talents for both melee and ranged with this build. You could use an Arbalest perhaps, rather than Blunderbuss which is much more reliant on penetrating shot. But you're in plate with terrible dex so your output will be extremely poor. I would think taking decent dex + using weapon and shield style is better for this build. The reflex saves are way too poor with the OP's stat spread. There are some really strong 1h weapons including ones that drain endurance on hit. And with that set up I wouldn't use fire godlike, I'd use moon. A bonus is that frees you up to use some stronger unique armor + the retaliation shield. The issue with being a pseudo-tank in a party though is you just take too long to set-up and many fights it's just a tedious process to let your weirdo cipher build do his thing while a well optimized group can be done with most fights before the cipher has finished beefing himself up. And you have to have something beating on the cipher in the first place, which isn't always ideal as it'll never be durable as actual tank build. I'd sooner just send a regular old paladin tank - mine has retaliation shield + a 1h with marking - and let the rest of the party do their thing from a safe distance. And on tough fights - such as dragons - the cipher build is mostly dead weight as I found out immediately. Again, you are wrong. You are defining "tank" with one narrow definition. The point is this build deals incredible DPS and has a fair level of tanking ability. Does it mean your tactics with a dragon should be to "buff and charge" - no. You keep obsessively presenting one situation. The reality is that this is an incredibly flexible build that allows, with tactics, the ability to take down anything. Ranged is a non-issue. Fire an arbalest, then use spells, then clean up. With a dragon it will probably mean more hit and run tactics but that is beside the point. I "tank" in a lot of fights with this build with no buffing whatsoever..... I then unleash barrages of spells that clean house all while I can sustain enough damage to live. If you don't get it - you don't get it. For everyone else: if you want to have fun, challenge and flexibility - this is one of the best builds to go with in the game.

High DR doesn't reduce a 100+ fire breath attack enough. I'm sure you can down groups of your average mooks with it but that's not the real test of a build. Anybody can build a cheesy retaliate+drain tank for that purpose. A rogue is better for skipping the things such a build can't handle as well, if the purpose is solo. This build's reflex saves are too damned dire even with high DRs. This build doesn't add much to a party composition that any old cipher can't already. Odd Hermit - you are wrong. Sorry. But true. I'm playing this build (Moon race though) and doing it solo and it is destroying everything. Try any old cipher solo and see how you fare...... I think you are being obstinate and refusing to admit that you jumped the gun too quick in refuting this build. It rocks. I HIGHLY recommend this for someone who wants to solo. On normal it is more than doable.

I hired a Moon Godlike Cipher as an NPC and she doesn't heal like my character (also a Moon Godlike). Are other racial abilities off for hirelings? Bug or purposeful?

First, I meant with a full party - so if you are playing with less than 6 the difficulty will go up some. Here is how I always play overall (average style): My rogue sneaks and scouts out the opposition. Returns to party. I look for a place to funnel the opponents and position my party (when I played party and found it too easy) accordingly: 2 fighter-types ready to block chokehold, mage to the side ready to slam a quick area of effect damage spell and then retreat, priest in back ready to buff/heal, druid ready to either go offensive/debuff or opposite as needed. The rogue then places a trap if a tough opponent.... I go to the room and fire off a crossbow as a sneak attack and then run to the party. My mage fires off AoE spell of some sort and retreats behind fighters. Fighters block gap. Rogue stays behind them and deals with any teleporters to keep them off squishies. The rest debuff/heal/attack as needed. Using this basic combo I didn't really have any problems ..... esp. once I could summon - then I would drop a summon or two out in front of the fighters and the monsters would usually stop to deal with them allowing even more time to attack them. I replaced the druid or rogue with a cipher sometimes and that also upped damage output. I rested about every 3-4 battles? I remember being level 5 party of 6 and I took out the Ogre level of Cuad Nua (always forget name??) without resting until clearing the level (by then some characters were in the 'yellow' health range but overall ok). Don't know if that helps?? For some situations I set up tactically in creative ways. For example in Raedric's Hold I had a fighter stand to the south and my cipher cast Antipathetic Field (the ray that corrodes if I have name wrong) and I then used my other fighter and a summons to make them clump and then my cipher ran back and forth and mowed down about 50% of them. My one fighter went down but at the expense of about 1/2 Raedric's men...... Soul Shock (again, the wizard spell that jumps and is 1 or 2 level) was often enough to kill quite a few foes in one hit..... I pay attention to vulnerabilities/bestiary as well......

What do you mean by maxing the deviation? I don't understand that term?

Are you using a party? If so, you failed to read the thread. A party on hard and under is able to steamroll with a minimum of forethought.

Thanks dirigible... I did. I have no desire to see the actual people who make up Obsidian cave, fold or otherwise go away.....

Lol. I made one thread before the patch. One thread after. Then I made a sarcastic one without realizing it would make people all butthurt who have deemed themselves the forum watchdogs. I will remember to only post one thread at a time lest I run afoul of people like you I wouldn't want that..... it scares me. I'll just play a party of 5 or 6 on hard and walk into any room in the game and win because the devs don't know how to balance combat for a large party but insist we play that way anyway...... (although I realize it is hard for you on normal with a party of 6)

Sigh. Because easy is a cakewalk with any character.... one, two - doesn't matter it's a cakewalk. So then people played normal or higher - but suddenly the devs started reading the solo threads and nerfing anything that was helping play on the higher difficulties..... which is weird. If they were nerfing things across the board it would make sense. Then, if I choose to play solo, that's my choice and it's obviously much harder now. But they aren't. Changing mind blades, or the summon horn, or slicken, or ice fog or any of the other nerfs only primarily affects solo players.... it becomes irrelevant for large party players b/c there are still a ton of other options for people with a party that make them OP. My opening post was written in frustration and so it doesn't state well that it is only applicable to solo play (or with one other character). If you don't get it now, I don't know how to explain it any further. All I know is people are clearly noticing the devs doing it b/c people are joking that we should discuss solo play somewhere other than the forums so the devs can't keep nerfing tactics that only work solo while they seem content to let large parties steamroll the game......

Does that sound fun? That sounds like work. I just want to play and know that if I'm smart and careful and patient (all things a party of 5 or 6 doesn't require - the game becomes a cakewalk) I have a chance at doing well. Without spreadsheets, weird playing (like having two concurrent games) .... the devs seem to want it their way or the highway bc they are clearly focusing on nerfing things that only affect solo play.

Varana, you miss the point. Your logic is this: the devs want people to be able to steamroll the game on hard and lower difficulty. Because that's what I and others can do with a party..... it's not fun. I can have 6 characters and walk into a room and win. No tactics. No item management. No careful study of the terrain. Nothing. So, to compensate, I like to play with a small party or solo - also b/c I enjoy it as well... micromanagement is fun but not with 6 (which I don't have to micromanage b/c with 6 I can do all kinds of mistakes and still win).... if the game was hard - that's great. BUT the devs are clearly watching the solo threads and changing things just to make it harder for solo players - they don't seem to mind people steamrolling with a party. It's like they don't know how to balance large party combat so they punish people who can play through the game with one character as if that proves how hard and good the game is.... it doesn't.... it just forces people who were having fun with a harder form of play to give up b/c the devs have made it sadistic. It seems a very all or nothing way to approach allowing us to play the game instead of a curve.

So I just want to be clear here... The game is too hard for you, in your chosen playstyle... but you refuse to lower the difficulty. INSTEAD you want the devs to rebalance the game so that the game will be easier for you, but without you having to change difficulties. Is that about right? Nope - totally wrong. I want to know why the devs are nerfing things that are being discussed in the solo play threads and clearly leaving other things alone that are OP but seem ok to do as long as you are playing a party i.e. playing the way they want you to...... I don't want them to rebalance the game. I want them to leave it alone. It's clearly been hard for a lot of people on normal even with a party (I'm not one of them). So the balance is already there. What's weird is they clearly are reading the solo threads and then changing strategies/spells/items that work.... people are even joking about it on those threads. Doesn't make sense.... b/c it's easy to steamroll this game on hard and lower for most of us with a party. It's like they can't balance party combat so they want to punish people who can play without a large party......

Thanks for doing your part in keeping them at the forefront of the forum

Why would it drive me mad? Lol, although I liked Dirigibles comment about people arguing about pretty/ugly girl. It's not about feeling like an above average player (sigh) it's about having FUN doing it the way you want ..... i.e. if a PARTY can steamroll (which I can easily do with 4-6 characters on hard) then it makes sense that if you take a smaller party and use carefully selected tactics, spells etc. you should be fine .... but in this case, the devs seem to be watching whatever strategies people post in the solo threads and then they nerf it..... we aren't sure why.

Lol, that's not the point. The point is the devs aren't balancing the game for a party (mind blades op? please.... anyone with a party after level 5 has 20 other options that are equally op)..... it's like they want to force people to have a party instead of solo or even a 2 person party as they are focusing on changes that only affect solo/small parties. Taking away one or two resources that help make solo/small party play barely possible is rather sadistic ..... and people are noticing that the devs are doing it. Why say we have freedom to play the game if we don't? They are making a very narrow window in terms of what build you can play UNLESS you play with a full party..... I don't want to have to min/max one or two very specific classes with the perfectly chosen race just to solo...... that's not about roleplay or fun that's about "achievement"..... The devs clearly let people steamroll on normal with a party of 5-6 so why suddenly nerf the few things that benefit someone solo or small party???

To those who don't understand the opening post: take a class in reading comprehension. The issue is the desire to have the freedom to play with a small (1-3) member party without going insane or having to make spreadsheets/memorize the game..... but rather, use good tactics, patience, resources - these should allow victory since a 4-6 member party can basically walk into a room and win (if you can't you don't know how to play).

Nothing. There are those of us who are good with strategic combat and those of us who aren't. The ones crying just aren't, it's like the ugly girl wanting to be pretty, it just won't happen for them unless they go for plastic surgery (mods later to make it easier). RPG games these days have gotten way to easy for the casual gamers and when they don't the casual gamers ruin it by crying until the devs change it. Then those of us who like the challenge throw the game away in disgust of how easy it is and not worth playing anymore. I sure hope they keep the minor difficulty of this game where it is. Actually, dork, you are the ugly girl. I play solo or with a small party - it makes the game much harder and I don't save scum either - I use tactics and thought and patience. It's EASY to make a 5-6 person party and steamroll the game on normal or hard. EASY. You don't even have to think. You just put two tanks in front, then use spells and range and obliterate everything. If you CAN'T play the game on normal or hard with a party something is seriously wrong with you. So, join the grown ups in conversation. Some of us want the freedom to play with small parties without the devs getting butthurt that we aren't using a full party. Why are they butthurt? Because they are clearly watching the boards and only nerfing things that help small parties/solo play .... they seem to have a weird hangup with making people have a complete party.... or else. Get it? I doubt it. No one wants a cakewalk. We just don't understand why the devs insist on people steamrolling on hard with a party but won't let people make smaller groups without nerfing the few things that help. Changing, for example, mind blades has ZERO effect on someone with a party - there are tons of other over powered options to choose from....... but it affects someone solo/small party out of proportion. Same with nerf to animat horn. Same with other nerfs that are easily worked around by a party, but not so much a solo/small party.

Not troll bait at all. It's an opinion and presented with sarcasm. It's shared by others b/c I'm in discussion with them. You don't agree but that doesn't mean it's troll bait - although in this thread I hope you realize: you are the troll.

I have no desire to do all that.... I just want to have a fair chance that if I play carefully and with tactics I have the freedom to solo instead of making an uber party and steamrolling the game on normal or hard but with less thought and patience and roleplay......