[Classes with no companions]

There at one point intended to be a monk companion named Forton who was for whatever reason cut out, and a female Priest of Magran who specialized in firearms. Not sure why Forton was cut, but Ican understand why they removed the other character.

[[SPOILERS] Eothas didn't die... he was reincarnated... as YOU]

I'm pretty sure NOONE is Eothas, even Waidwen. Waidwen was just the Eothas equivalent of Thaos, an agent of their god's will, minus all the body surfing.

[Eldritch Knight equivalent?]

Well, if you're going for extra defense, I'm a fan of the Moon and Nature Godlike racials. I also don't see a reason to skimp on armor.

[Eldritch Knight equivalent?]

Well, I haven't test driven it on higher difficulties, but there are several wizard spells that summon armor and weaponry, and Might and Dexterity are recommended stats at character creation.

 

I ran a 18/8/18/6/18/7 build just fine, though like all wizard builds, the early levels are always a challenge.

[General tweaks and improvements]

My only real complaint is that we seriously need more character portraits. There are too few except for humans and elves, and some of the portraits are flat-out impossible to replicate with character design. The Godlikes, dwarves, Aumaua, and Orlans suffer horrendously during character customization for it.

[Best stats/class for a Conversationalist build?]

Resolve is still THE Convo stat, as far as actually convincing people you're right.

[PotD optimization queries/discussion.]

I want to point out that that the game can be divided into three types of activities.

 

Main Quest: Not too difficult, though the final boss may be the hardest in the game.

 

Side Quest: These are often much more intimidating than what you may be doing in the MQ. Raedric's Hold and the Temple of Eothas are much more difficult than what you'll see in Caed Nua or the Defiance Bay catacombs. 

 

Tasks: Like Side Quests, but typically much less elaborate and difficult. I suggest doing these first for easy XP.

[Wizards Get Better?]

In most D&D settings, (not 4e) wizards are always frustratingly useless in early levels and always inconcievably overpowered in higher levels. PoE is simply following suit.

 

In this game, Aloth may seem useless at first, but if you just invest time in him, he'll make everyone else redundant.

[Is there anything random in the game? (In terms of encounters and so on)]

None of the enemies are random, since their strength AND numbers are determined by difficulty. Loot is PROBABLY random. And no, I have never heard of any random encounters.

[Plot analysis [Spoiler]]

I agree with you on many points, though I think that that Thaos's name derives as much from 'Thanatos' (Greek God of death, who is often associated with Orcus, god of oaths) and 'Chaos', which is what Thaos foments throughout the Dyrwood.

[Quest Question "Never far from the Queen"]

Wow, I... never thought of that. Hmm... I'll have to come back to this thread after I make it through with my Godlike Paladin.

[Did you start with Endless Paths?]

I would say I had far more trouble with Raedric's Hold or the Temple of Eothas than the Endless Paths, since the Endless Paths actually start with very easy enemies and slowly builds to much tougher enemies, while providing useful loot all the while. Those other two sections start off with paladins and spellcasters and shadows who teleport straight to your spellcaster.

[Dreams & Visions Missing?]

It's important to understand the journal is distinguishing visions by quest. The main plot has several key visions which are only listed under the Visions header. Everything else goes under their respective quests.

 

It actually makes more sense once you start having the major Visions, and understand why they needed a separate lore section.

[Too much VO]

I actually rather liked the voice actors, especially Maerwald. The villain was fine, and gave the right sense of dignity without going Doctor Doom. I kind of think Durance is a bit hammy for his character, though. 

[Companions - who wrote what?]

I immediately knew Durance was an Avellone creation. None of the others are half as over-the-top.

[Appropriate names for character?]

Named my Fire Godlike Bleak Walker Adahn. 

[Boreal Dwarf: Bonus v. Primordial/Wilder not applied]

Yes, unfortunately, the ability is broken for now. The patch is almost out though, which is good because I personally think that 15% accuracy against a third of the game's enemies is pretty damn good.

[So, the plot.]

I'm actually very curious whether Waidwen was a) directly possessed by Eothas as most assume or b) was Eothas's own Thaos, i.e. a superpowered enforcer interpreting his god's will as well he could. I'm also supportive of the notion Eothas was attempting to stop the Hollowborn crisis before it started, but I'm afraid I don't have any direct evidence.