Slapstick87

The problem is not that the elf racial is so good. The problem is that many other racials suck. We don't need to water down everything with nerfs to make it all bland. I'd rather have every race have an ability that is "OP" - and the decision becomes which amazing ability you really want, rather than "nothing really maters, just pick the character model you like".

So there's a talent good enough to warrant real consideration of taking it? GOOD. Please don't nerf everything to the point of uselessness.

I'm still seing lots of bug reports on the tech thread though. Hopefully they're closed and the forum just isn't updated. Well, time to make a batlle mage I guess :D

I have to say, "Hale and Hardy" seems like the most lackluster racial perk of all time. Is +20 def against poison and disease really of any use? I can't see it would be usefull at all; these attack are rather fringe concerns, aren't they? There are few dangerous enemies that use poison and I haven't really noticed being very bothered by diseases.

Just curious, did it ever work? I only played after the 1.04 patch

It stacks?! I've been ignoring that weapon because I thought it didn't stack by default - never bothered to check. Cool.

Allthough I'm very happy that there's no romance, and I hope it stays that way in PoE 2, I'd probably roll a female and romance Edér. He's by far the most likable character and he deserves a bit of happiness in his life! If going for comic relief, maybe roll an Aumaua - DEATH BY SNU SNU!

In regards to weapons a) I would go two-handed on hard and potd and b) I greatly prefer the Soldier route rather than the Estoc. There's a massively nice Pike which prones on crit. Pikes are good as they allow your barbarian to remain safely behind the tanks while dishing out that Carnage (carnage AOE is centered from your target, not yourself) and there's a greatsword with drain in the same group! Two-for-one. Beats the 5 DR IMO. INT is important, but I'm not sure you really need to max it to 19. I had mine at 15 and was satisfied. Frenzy is massively good. Generally speaking in terms of talents and abilities, always go for damage > survivability. You are a glass-cannon, don't try not to be I suggest using light or no armor. You'll kill things before they kill you anyway.

I see games doing this with surprising frequency. "Okay, so we all agree this thing needs a tweak? Fine, we'll do it, even though it's not what we originally had agreed upon internally during game development. HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS?! HUH? NOW IT'S IN THE GROUND! ARE YOU HAPPY YET, PUNK!?" I know that's not how it goes down of course, but I'm just so surprised by the lack of gradual tweaking of damage numbers, focus points, etc. that happens, not only here, but in many games. It makes me question how much math, testing and finesse goes into the design in the first place.

So I've always liked the offensive fighter who doesn't shy away from the front lines. However, I don't really seem able to build one in this game that is awesome in the end-game. This is only theory-craft (so I don't know if the talents would line up like this), but I think an offensive fighter would look roughly like this: Level 1: Knockdown Level 2: Weapon focus: Knight Level 3: Confident Aim Level 4: Two Handed Style Level 5: Weapon Specialization: Knight Level 6: Savage Attack Level 7: Armored Grace Level 8: Weapon Mastery: Knight Level 9: Vigorous Defense? Level 10: Superior Deflection/Vulnerable Attack/Some Defense Talent/? Level 11: Unbroken Level 12: Superior Deflection/Vulnerable Attack/Some Defense Talent/? The last 4 levels is just void of any good damage talents to take. I can't see anything on par with rogues, barbarians and monks abilities. Now I'm not saying they should be as good, I'm just saying there should be something. I'm guessing a dps fighter would be decent up to mid-game, and then just fade into sub-par-land. Am I missing something?

At least we all belong to the PC master race

This made me really sad and a bit angry. Sanguine Armor was the one item in the game that allowed me to build an (off-)tank for something outside of the "min might/dex, max deflection and HP" meta that currently rules the tanking game. Currently, the most efficient tank is nothing outside of a engagement field placement, that for all other purposes might as well not even be there. The Sanguine armor on the other hand, allowed me to build an at least somewhat usefull (off-)tank with a decent might and either Tidefall or The Rose of Salthollow, which could hold his own (somewhat) and be usefull in the fight (somewhat) outside of being a static engagement field placement. It allowed me to do something slightly more creative, not to mention immersive. A tank that hits like a leaf in a calm wind, and is awesome at his job while doing so, reminds me way to much about mmo's and breaks immersion for me. I have not seen a single person complaining about Sanguine armor being OP or needing a nerf. It's certainly popular, but that because you've actually managed to give us a good unique item that we enjoy using. Why on earth would you remove it? I see absolutely no reason whatsoever for this change. I also don't see who would actually use it now. If you want to slap Frenzy on something, then it should be a light or medium armor. I am deeply dissapointed. I agree. Well, just don't install patch like I won't . Nobody force us to do this Really? I don't see how I can choose not to. In Steam the only update options are "Always keep this game up to date" "Only update when I launch it" or "High Priority - update first"

This made me really sad and a bit angry. Sanguine Armor was the one item in the game that allowed me to build an (off-)tank for something outside of the "min might/dex, max deflection and HP" meta that currently rules the tanking game. Currently, the most efficient tank is nothing outside of a engagement field placement, that for all other purposes might as well not even be there. The Sanguine armor on the other hand, allowed me to build an at least somewhat usefull (off-)tank with a decent might and either Tidefall or The Rose of Salthollow, which could hold his own (somewhat) and be usefull in the fight (somewhat) outside of being a static engagement field placement. It allowed me to do something slightly more creative, not to mention immersive. A tank that hits like a leaf in a calm wind, and is awesome at his job while doing so, reminds me way to much about mmo's and breaks immersion for me. I have not seen a single person complaining about Sanguine armor being OP or needing a nerf. It's certainly popular, but that's because you've actually managed to give us a good unique item that we enjoy using. Why on earth would you remove it? I see absolutely no reason whatsoever for this change. I also don't see who would actually use it now. If you want to slap Frenzy on something, then it should be a light or medium armor. I am deeply dissapointed.

Short answer? Yeah, a bit Basically, you have 4 low damage characters (Edér, Pallegina, Kana, Durance), 1 mostly Crowd Control (Aloth) and 1 high damage potential character. That is not going to offer much offensive punch, and the enemies will just out-damage you. I played my first playthrough as a Cipher as well. I'd definitively switch out Kana. You'll have two very good tanks with Edér and Pallegina (who I gave a two-handed sword with Draining and the Sanguine armor for more punchiness), which is all you need in terms of tanks. Kana is, imo, utterly worthless (I know opinions differ though). I suggest picking up Hiravias (druid). You could also hire a rogue to go well with your ciphering, or simply add Grieving Mother. Two ciphers is twice the fun. Sagani is also "ok" from what I've heard, though I haven't had the pleasure of running with her yet. I picked Hiravias which was simply amazing. I'd also stick firearms on your casters. Wands and rods are fine in the beginning when enemies have few hitpoints and low DR. At the end of the game, firearms really start to be more useful.

Some good ideas, I agree with some, others I can take it or leave it, however I must comment on: "- In my opinion the Stash is the worst part of this game " If I where playing table-top RPG, I would of course be limited by encumberance. However at the end of the dungeon, we'd all go "allright, we're done! Cool! We spend the next 3 days dragging all the loot back to town and selling it". This takes 10 seconds to say. I do NOT want to do it ingame. For the love of all that is holy, this would be the worst waste of my time since... well since I did it in BG1&2! It doesn't stretch my imagination very much to think they have a stash somewhere, where they put all their loot while catching their breath and tending their wounds. I don't really need to roleplay it. "- Enemies should not just line up behind each other at a blocked doorway if there are other available paths to the blocked room." Agreed! They shouldn't even do this IF there is no other way out. Giving all enemy types a ranged attack option, even if it's weak, could be a way to go. For instance, why aren't Trolls hurling giant rocks at me? "- There should be a way to deposit pets in the stronghold, so that they can wander around." Would be neat "Some sort of pet fighting mini-game would be rather interesting." What? Seriously? What... no.. just no... "Hell, an NPC that allowed you to sacrifice all the available pets and choose one to turn into a figurine that would summon a giant version of that pet would be incredible." I don't see the lore supporting this, but it's not a terrible idea as such

But... but... Durance is the coolest character IMO. In addition, a priest makes life a lot easier, while Chanters can go dig their own graves slowly while whistling their own funeral song for all I care.

Need? Nah... Want? Oh please God yes!

poorly - more often than not The biggest issue is most of the time the rest of my players going mental about killing him/her though. I also hate that I can't heal a dominated character. WHY NOT? Is my god suddenly telling me I can't heal my friend who's temporarily enslaved under a flying insect? However, for no apparent reason whatsoever, I CAN and WILL heal the Troll that I've temporarily confused, which will turn back to it's previous favourite passtime of dwarf-kicking in an instant. Why... whyyyyyy *sob*

I'm on the opposite side of the fence. I like (permanent) immunities exactly because they render specific builds completely ineffective (allright, I'll give you that sneak attack in NWN and the plethora of undead was a nuisance. But it was a GOOD nuisance). The way it is now, you can just find "the build" that will "stomp everything" and make a one-trick-pony that works against everything. No need to change approach, figure out if maybe some other spells are good, etc. It all just becomes a game of cookie-cutter builds, single item/weapon usage throughout the whole game, one-trick-ponies, etc. No variation, and a lot of min-maxing. On the other hand, if the game had mind immune mobs every now and then, I might actually have to switch from my CC grimoire to my damage grimoire on my wizard. If I encountered physically immune enemies, then I can't just lean back and rely on my rogue being the physical incarnation of the Reaper anymore. Where is my rustmonster, the most unholy dreaded fear of all fighters, which turns anything metal into dust? I could go on, but I hope my point is clear. Unique and weird enemies makes you think, try new spells, weapons and tactics. Now all monsters and all combat is quite like every other enemy and fight in the entire game.

Well a rogue would definitively have a higher damage output, but would also be extremely squishy. If you're aiming for a tough'n rough fighter (which is what I envision, perhaps inaccurately, when I hear "Cossack"), it might be possible to go with an idea I've been fiddling with for a bit: Fighter Boreal Dwarf from "The White that Wends" (or Human in paranthesis). You can move the stats a bit depending on culture of origin. Might: 20 (19) Con: 8 (8 ) Dex: 17 (18) Per: 15 (15) Int: 3 (3) Res: 15 (15) I'm not *really* sure if the talent progress would actually play out like this (probably something I've missed), but I've been thinking along these lines: Level 1: Knockdown Level 2: Weapon focus: Ruffian Level 3: Confident Aim Level 4: Two Weapon Style Level 5: Weapon Specialization: Ruffian Level 6: Savage Attack Level 7: Armored Grace Level 8: Weapon Mastery: Ruffian Level 9: Vigorous Defense? Level 10: Superior Deflection/Vulnerable Attack/Some Defense Talent/? Level 11: Unbroken Level 12: Superior Deflection/Vulnerable Attack/Some Defense Talent/? This would be, IMO, one tough damage dealer that can pretty much ignore whether or not he's tanking, dive into the fray, and deal out some damage. High might and dex gives you the damage output Low int is of no consequence as you won't rely on abilities to do your damage Constant Recovery + some armor (after armored grace a medium armor will look good) + decent defense stats means you will close to tankish Weapon specialization + mastery + savage attack should give (I belive) +1.45 damge bonus, which is decent Unbroken gives you a free 2nd chance if you die, something a rogue or barbarian won't get A barbarian or rogue would have a higher damage output, but they'd have nowhere close to the survivability. As a disclaimer: I haven't actually TRIED this build, but I reckon it would do fairly well on Hard. PotD would depend a bit more on itemization and what you do with your +deflection items.

What he said

First time I've heard about it. I would presume a bug.

I would like this as well actually, if they found a very non-intrusive way of making it available. I've often thought that the combats are incredibly short in real-time, but very long in play-time with all the pausing. It's one of my very minor annoyances with the game. The combat loses so much fluidity because you can't just watch the combat happen and react accordingly "while the game is playing". Which again, makes me not "feel" the combat as well as I'd like.

Really? I've put in a good 140 hours and still haven't encountered a single bug. Not one. As in 0. Maybe I'm just really lucky.

I like it that way though. Makes that +10 deflection ring *really* worth something, or that blunting belt *really* awesome. I don't want to be flooded in shiny baubles.