Elric Galad

I wanted to create this thread after debating of rogues once more under following thread : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90814-pleading-for-rogue-buff-once-more/ Basically, the current problems of the Rogue are : - Rogue is the least liked class : http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/88890-class-popularity/ - Rogue is usually seen as the least powerful class : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/88395-what-are-the-most-powerful-classes-in-303/ - Rogue might be a bit single-trick pony, and a bit bland. There are 2 parts in the poll, one for minor tweak for PoE1 content, and one for bigger changes for future PoE2 evolutions. Feel free to express your wishes. You should choose to prioritarize some tweaks or changes over some others. Minor Tweaks : At this phase of the game, it is unlikely to have big changes to current balances. I still believe that a bit of balance to Core rules would be a good thing for the future PoE2, so there still might bit a chance for minor tweaks to happen. I explained why they would be suitable for me in the original thread. Big Changes and Evolutions : For bigger changes, I think they are not likely to happen before PoE2. But there were a lot of nice ideas from the original thread, so I tried to gather them here. I have voluntary separated them from the minor tweaks. The idea behind most of these suggestions (except "Even more Single Target DPS at High level” of course) is also to make rogue a bit more interesting than just a girl/guy that deals big single target damages. So, here are these ideas : --- Even more Single Target DPS at High level: Such as scaling sneak attacks. Single Target DPS is rogue speciality. Let's give him more. This one is pretty straightforward. Some Area of Effect damages: I really could see a rogue using tricks like grenades, even if I feel AoE damages shouldn't be Rogue Speciality. But you may disagree. Specialization toward temporary Single Target DPS Burst: Rogue currently has some very high Single Target DPS for very short time, such as Final Blow and Backstab. You may think future improvement should stress even more this aspect, could it would emphasize rogue's assassin role. Backstab rework for better effects for small weapons: Due to how Backstab mechanism work, it I currently better with big weapons, and even more with firearms. You may think it is unfair, and daggers and stylettos should be the weapon of choice for backstab. This would require a rework on how backstab work, such as better damage multiplicator for small weapons. More ugly and dishonorable tactics : Rogue should be more than brute force. There should have more dirty tricks such as per encounter traps, feints, or more backstab possibility. Dirty tricks should be based on risk & reward mechanism, and should have very powerful effects when you meet their conditions, that could be hard to trigger. More defensive tricks: Rogue should never be tank, but I could see them specialized in temporary or conditional defense. They could be specialized in defense against a single target (THEIR target). They could get bonus defense from ennemies with active status (mirroring sneak attack). I could totally see a swashbucker sub-class being able to execute single-target parry, dodge, and various evasions. More interesting Strikes mechanism: Strikes are currently a bit simple. In many games, Rogue-like class have some kind of combo points or chained strike. Why rogue couldn't have common pool of ressource to manage their strike ? Why can't they have a kind of more interesting mechanism for their attacks ? Special skill with consumable items: Due to their high accuracy, bonus crits and deep wound, rogue are currently one of the top (probably the top) item users. Rogues have always been very good item users in similar games. Therfore, I think they could get a couple of bonus to their item uses, such as trap throwing, bonus with scrolls, fast potion, or “deep pockets” by default… In PoE, all classes already have a kind of “Use Any Items” ability.

"What is the point of being a priest of Wael ?" is a very waelish question for a priest of Wael.

Upgrade the pet and use a bow if you want to optimize your ranger. Your group is quite balanced overall, so there's no obvious choice. Ranger are really good, but pets tend to die against hard bosses, and their awesome DPS drops a bit against high DR. Monks are really balanced. Even an almost naked monk is quite tanky, they have great DPS especially if built for it and they really shine in hard battle. So why not Zahua ?

Heart of Reaping Fury

Torment, Baldur's Gate 2, Pillars of Eternity It's really hard for me to say in which order I would put this trio. Torment is an incredible experience, but does not have the same level of replayability as its pairs. Fantastic musics. BG2 was a great story, had many nice builds, incredibly epic magical items and overall good everything Pillars is just a more modern version of BG2. More balanced, more mature and more convenient. A couple of things were not perfect in the original game, but White March is already a better version of it. Pillars of Eternity 2 might be incredible on this basis. I guess isometric 3D party game is really my thing. I never felt such an appeal for real 3D, mostly because you have less a feeling of tactical RTS-like battles. Lots of honourable mentions such as Skyrim, FFVII, FFX, Chrono Trigger, Arcanum, Hordes of the Underdark (NWN was not so good overall), Earthbound (Mother 2) and my old beloved Secret of Mana... Special mention to Icewind Dale 2, great entertainement with surprisingly good writing, exceptional epic musics and my all-time favorite antagonists in RPG, Isair and Madea. And Tides of Numenera is going to be released this month

Also consider that if you don't have a reliable source of DoT (such as endgame chanter) persistence is unvaluable to trigger Predator's Sense. If you have a druid, lowering electrical DR (of several target eith Driving Flight) is really great. If you're low on Upgrading Component (kraken eyes and Durgan Steel) in your endgame weapon planning, Stormcaller is great to save some. So I would say the choice is a bit circonstancial, but both are great.

High level paladins (13+, you need White March) have a strong auto heal effect on one of their powers (sacred immolation).

Maybe Brynlod and his crew...

20% hit to crit conversion. I wanted to keep the mystery ;-)

Durgan Steel is a component. Once you get it, you can improve any non-soulbound non summoned weapon. (or armor or shield). This component is limited in number but provides major benefits.

Enchanted weapon acc bonus applying to special attacks ? Are you sure ? I thought special attack secondary roll applied a spell-like accuracy (+1xLvl bonus).

The fact that they managed to use mature themes with, among others, a talking skull is something I would count as a merit. PS:T is the best written RPG I've played in my opinion. Pillars was good but the characters seemed a bit distant, sometimes unrelated to the present. More books than people. My favorite character was Durance, the way he changes along the game..., so yeah, another MCA fan over here. He'll be missed on Obsidian.I didn't mean that the writing was better than Planescape. I agree that PS:T has probably the edge as "best written RPG ever". Not to mention the musics. But talking to a living skull does not make me as empathic as talking with Sagani who gave birth to five children and lost a couples. Planescape has serious themes but it is still more "Pop" in a certain way. Different styles, I guess. By the way, the best NPC ever created was Dak'kon

So, I'm eventually able to post this portrait. It took me a long time to find a suitable female Valian/Old Valian knight portrait, so I'm happy to share it. In my opinion, this is a perfect picture for a Paladin (even if I used her as a chanter)

True story !

Seems like not that far from truth ^^

Double post.

I already used the attachment option (found it recentlt), but would it display the photo in the post or just make in downloadable ?

An official map of Eora would be a very good teaser for PoE2

No no, its the new companion Kanonn Feesh I'm telling you! He's an Aumaua pirate holding a cannon barell underarm. Fo real. Yeah, and why not Foxy Icebreaker, the new boreal dwarf female companion with a fox

That's why I favor Dex on classes who already gets big %damages bonus, like Rogues and Ciphers and, to a lesser extand, fighters. And also a bit on priest, because is the only stats apart INT that matters for Buffbots is DEX.

Dexterity is better for 2 handed swords than for daggers. At least dexterity does not suffer from diminushing returns WHEN SUMMED WITH ANY OTHER DAMAGE BOOST (only intresic diminushing return). Dexterity has still the advantages to work with about any type of actions, except movement. But it does not work well with limited ressources.

OK, that might be the most stupid question ever, but I never managed to put an image on a Post on this forum. When I click on image, the site ask me an URL. Does that mean only online image can be added ? I have a nice portrait on my disk, but I can't remember where I found it...

Ancient High Priest : check Fighting 2 dragons at a time : check Gods have bodies. These bodies can die. God can die. They are apparently weak to divine hammers... I really found that lore and narration improved greatly in WM. That moment speaking to Ondra was epic. I'm eager to know what Berath and Rymrgand would say when facing their death...

I always plan my characters around endgame, and around endgame items. Simply because I like the feeling of continuous empowerement. Fortunately, that doesn't mean they are total jerks before this. In addition, most of the hardest battles are endgame ones, except for Caed Nua and Raedric (if you fight him act I), so for me it is usually better to consider what I could beat endgame. So balanced start and powergaming ending is my way to play.

It wasn't exactly my wish, but it seems that PoE2 is really going to be an epic-level campaign. Easy questions : What is even stronger than Archmages ? So who can be a challlenge now ?