Teioh_White

Can actually hit Dryford up as soon as you get your keep. I think if you stick to the road in stealth, you won't even run into any mobs. Then you can pick up Grieving Mother and the Chanter/Pally Aura boosters for cheap, and if saving pennies, buy one the nice weapons. Depending on how thorough you were in Act 1, you'll likely be about level 4 or 5 at that point in the game.

I agree with you that the priest doesn't really have anyone to challenge him for the role of buffer in a team. I guess Chante'rs supposed too, but we all know that class has a lot of issues with how the game's currently designed. Priests aren't mandatory though, I've done plenty of runs without them. Mostly because Durnance gets old, and they don't do a great deal without micro. A good class, go course, though. Also love interdiction, as it turns on Sneak Attack at the start of every fight for free, and is one of the few things the AI doesn't mess up doing. Just wish the AI could also use Radiance with it at the start.

Basically the old, 'Linear Warrior, Quadratic Wizard' thing. You'd think PoE starting from fresh, but clearly drawing from the old IE games, would've been very aware of that issue, seeing as we all know what casters could do in BG. But, here we are, same general issue, if not quite so broken. But yeah, I get what your saying. For a fully charged fight with all resources at disposal, per encounter does absolutely nothing to change the balance. That's always sorta been Wizards thing, in IE games, is that they can go Nova on a fight and just wreck it. And the cost for that was for all the other fights, they had to operate at a lower level of power, and here good old dumb warrior gets a little time to shine. And you're also right, even that advantage shrinks as the game goes on, and the Wizard gets more and more spells, they don't have to be so stingy with them, even if per rest. Which might just be it's casting system; Cipher, for example, doesn't have that issue. (Not that I think Cipher works perfectly or anything). Of course, with the only restraint on resting being ones tolerance for tedium, it makes you wonder what the system is even there for. I can only think of either just hewing to tradition, or giving the player a way to self police.

I use fighter's quite a bit, mostly because I like Eder, and I agree it's not the best idea to try and turtle them. Since the deflection nerf, they have a harder time reaching that critical mass of deflection which basically rendered them immune to auto attacks. It's just not worth the trouble, especially combined with mobs which are less inclined to all gang up on the first thing that enters their aggro range. I agree the best thing is to spend most of their general and class talents on damage feats, and send them into the fray. They'll hold up just fine against most odds, and if it's something that's too rough for them, well, the more broken class will be micro'd to deal with those. Of course, the issue with fighter is it does that job worse than say, a Barbarian or a Monk, but i'm sure Fighter will get some love at some point. Or not, as a homage to DnD, I suppose. Also agree with OP on Nightsthroud; it's a very meh weapon for Rogue. The additional effects aren't very good, it can't be boosted with Steel or have a Lash, and Mace's aren't great weapons for Rogues to begin with. I'd much rather just go Saber's for a higher base to work those multiplier with, which also come with +.5 crit damage, one of the better enchants end game. Or go for weapons with Speed on them, one of the best enchants.

I'd agree you don't really need to plan any of this out. Just explore all of the nooks and crannies of the maps/merchants/npcs, take the items as they come, and respec later if you found a new shiney you like that doesn't fit your focus. There a few items you might want to rush 'out of order', but not many. The only thing you might want to look up ahead is the 'RNG' loots that change on a daily basis, but that's a hassle and a pain, and I'd just take what the chests give you. Or if missing out on that gloves of mechanics or something which really bothers you, just console it in when you get to the right chest, and leave whatever was there in the chest.

Wizards really are set up to be really good auto attackers, and my first play through, I spent all 6 of my Wizards talents towards that goal. Only, at the end of the game, by the time he had his fancy rod and all the talents, I had no reason to auto attack, as I could be more effective by just firing off 14 spells each fight instead, and dip into the reserves if somehow it wasn't over with those. As for per rest things, it's never really been tuned well in any IE game. If folks are dead set on keeping (which I think it's a workable system), just leave minimal restrictions on lower difficulties, so folks can go at their own pace. On a higher difficulty, I don't know how to work it, but somehow try to group a dungeon into an 'adventure' or something, and you have to clear the place to keep any of the loot. If you leave the zone before whatever 'clearing' is, the mobs and traps will all be back, so you'll have to ration your resources to the end. It's not really a system you see much of in WRPG, outside of the Wizardy series. Another option is just go entirely per encounter, which is what most modern WRPG's seem to do. Downside to that is it depends entirely on the devs to have to design each encounter to be interseting, as otherwise with no restraints, you just use the same plan every time. Maybe sorta could take the current low level per encounter spells, per rest high spells system right now, and just for 'boss' fights, everyone gets some new, stronger skills to use, to make the fights more exciting, and open up new strategies for a fight? Either way, I think it's too much work for too little show for Devs to really be worried about.

I'm not sure if we're being needlessly pedantic, or if you really want me to through why combat rolls in a game with control over what influence those rolls is different from having a random loot system.

Well, the only real change for the game has been we now have some minimal AI (which has some trouble even being that at times). Beyond that, if you didn't like the game then, you won't like it now. Not trying to agree/disagree with how you feel the game, play what you like, but if you didn't like it then, you won't like it now. (but if you want my opinion, I think you complaints are off the mark, but aimed at the right target. Probably if you played the game more, you'd be better able to express why exactly you dislike it. But that's a bad idea, to play something just to better explain why it rubs you the wrong way, haha.)

On topic, yes, it's easy for anyone to see per encounter spells are out of balanced with the rest of the game. Even without per encounter spells, those classes would still likely be on the top of the power curve. If balance is a concern for devs, it's something to look into. I'll just mention again, while balance and tightly tuned gameplay is great for those of us who want to play a game for years, for the vast majority of folks buying the game, its not a big deal at all, so I couldn't recommend a ton of time spent on it. Of course, it's been mentioned a player can always just rest to refresh, and this just sorta is a compromise between that reality and trying to balance a rest system with the fact there is no real limitation on resting if a player wishes to spend the time to backtrack. Not much to do about that without a new system in place. In broader strokes, it's a poor argument to say the player can self police themselves to make gameplay better. It both and acknowledgement of a problem, but try to foist the solution on the player. It's a lot less fun to take a system, and you, as the player, cut parts off and keep choosing to ignore them as they ruin the game, compared to a finely tuned system when the player wants to try to eek every advantage out of the system possible. The latter is great, and makes interesting gameplay and discussions about the best plan. The former is tiresome, and while in small doess on minor issues is fine, the more and more the player has to ignore, the worse it gets and hurts the games longterm appeal. As for RPGs and balancing in general, the best solutions I've seen in the modern era come from Mass Effect 2 and Dragon age 2, where the highest difficulties actually changes the core mechanics of the game. So you can have the first 2-3 difficulties be for the majority who just want to roll through a game and have a good time, and the can real down and dirty with some more complex and punishining mechanics that more thorough and interesting gameplay for those who want to spend hours figuring it out. Edit: Never did respond to Pi2, which is pretty much what I thought it was. Resting only limited by how much the play wants to be inconvienced, so might as well give the lower level ones to play with so they aren't tempted to constantly run back to town/rest as much as they want. It's not a strong argument for tight gameplay, but is a good idea for the game, as most people don't want tight gameplay. Which is why I really liked the sort of thing with Bioware did in Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2, with pretty some pretty big shifts in gameplay mechanics on the highest difficulty, to appeal to both crowds. But if you have to choose one, you definitely go for the former.

Could it be because it sounds like the reason you don't like random drops and less than stellar equipment is because you only want all the best equipment all the time and from there it's not much of a leap at all to just provide it at the start? No, it's that RNG is poor design by and large. I love a game where you can't get everything, as you the player have to parcel out resources. It's part of the reason the gameplay is so horrible in games Skyrim. I only put in that post the option of a later merchant, just to try to solve another problem in this game, way too much money so you can buy everything you want. I don't -want- to be able to buy everything, get everything. I want to be able to plan and priortize. Shadowrun Hong Kong's a great example, strict money limitations limit what you can get, so you have to pick and choose. But you, the player, have that choice, not some dumb RNG process. I think I was underselling the bonus to leap those boots are giving ya.

I kinda like Dwarves, they get a free stat point, and the +15 acc talent to two enemy types ain't that bad a racial. As for the Godlikes, I always like me some Death Godlike. Not for performance reasons, of course. That passive is like, worth +1 might in the scheme of things, but love how well that portrait of the red helm and horns matches up with the character model. Shame WM actually has a nice helmet that makes me feel sad about not being able to wear them.

Well, I've had a ton of issues with both 2.00 and 2.01, but I hear 2.02 is coming soon, so I'd just wait for that. I myself have put any playthroughs on hold for awhile waiting for it too hit. You could just use patch 1.06, which is pretty stable, but also missing features. I really wouldn't want to play the game again without the basic AI for the team. As for reading old character builds and how they hold up now, I'd say Ciphers are probably the only one that might not hold up. They've recieved the most significant nerfs in the game so far of any class, and while still effective, if an old guide just mentions spamming Mental Binding, it's probably a bit out of date. Fighters didn't have a ton of direct nerfs, just the game tried to nudge a bit away from all mobs getting stuck on one unkillable tank, which was sorta their only niche. Without that, they're a pretty underwhelming class to play. I don't mind them in the team, as they don't require the player to do anything, and do a decent job of getting a few mobs on them and not dying super fast, so you can micro manage one of the broken classes that haven't been nerfed. Ranger is the opposite of Cipher, and has recieved the most buffs of any class. I would imagine an old guide would largely hold up, as mostly the numbers were just tuned up. Maybe the guide mentions not to take talents that benefit the animal companion, as they were quite weak back then, but they're pretty strong now and are worth a few talents tossed their way.

I'd back up rangers, for being excellent damage, decent CC, and all with very minimal micro needed. Great class, and't can't really ever have too many of them in the team. Also a lot of really good unique bows in the game, more than most weapons get. I haven't actually mathed out if it does more than a Rogue now though. Ranger still has a pretty low multiplier, but the pets hit very hard now, but I've never try to parse out exactly how effective it's being. (I mean, I see a 70 damage from the Fox in the combat logs every now and then, but I'm not often checking his attack speed and acc). Oh, one thing about ranger pets, at least in 2.0, is that they can change weapons....except the second weapon is some crush damage thing that does single digits. You'll not run into it very often, except when selecting the entire group and hitting change weapon, but just something to keep in mind if you see the pet constantly doing single digit crush damage. Took me a few min to figure out why my pets were borked.

Well, I suppose you can only have a limited number of potions, so couldn't hurt to have a few free hastes per rest. I guess the real question is what other feat are you missing out on if you take that? Off the top of my head, I seem to remember struggling on my Pld tank to come up with 7 class feats I really liked, so you likely have room for it. On a stacking note, I can tell you that Rangers Swift Aim and the Chanter ranged song's reload+ effects don't stack, but weirdly enough, the attack speed+ portions do stack.

I'm a big fan of doing away with random loot altogether. RNG is a terrible system, and a dev any game should try hard not lean on it. But kudos to taking 'I dont' like RNG' and going all the way to 'I want every item at the start.' Maybe those boots of evasion give a minor boost to leaps of logic as well.

Well, the nerf to Cautious Attack lends a little wait to minor nerfs to the immortal deflection tank that was going on in 1.0x. And pi2's point can also work, as it allows for smaller upgrades down the line, while still seeming a worthwhile upgrade, without getting deflection higher than they wish.

I'm still not understanding your argument at all pi2. Could you bullet point this for me? Right now, i'm just getting that fights that can be won soley with per encounter spells are just not worth our time, so the game might as well let us blow through them, rather then engange in resource management? It can't be that the fights themselves are trivial in a vacuum: it's the per-encounter spells that make that can lock down and wreck an entire 6m radius every single encounter that make it a joke. Would you rather the fights not be there at all? Is it that your convinced people would always just keep resting up, so this saves the player time, while still incentivizing them just enough to not only use the end powers? Is a fundamental disagreement with resource management based gameplay? Either way, if you look at it from a balance perspective, it's completley out of whack. Which isn't a big deal, for the devs. Balance is rarely why a single player game does well or not, as it has to be hilarious out of whack to turn off the average player. It only really matters to those of us who play the game multiple times, and we're not worth marketing too. The poor storytelling and excessivly micro focused gameplay are the reasons none of my friends could get through the game, and going one way or the other on any balance issue is uniliekly to make a blip in the sales.

No, not that the games hard, its just has multiple encounters set up for cheese tactics, rather than an active strategy. Multiple ways of spanking it easily, and they're all terrible. 'It's optional', while popular comeback for many design issues in all games, isn't really an argument, but an admission of a problem, but one that's minor enough to ignore. I can get behind that argument. The fights aren't deal breakers. Bad? Sure, but it won't make or break a sale.

I'd rather not have to send in a scout to engage a fight at range so I can buff my team up with potions/spells before pulls, then spread them out, then make sure to keep doing that throughout the fight, as they won't last near long enough. It's a ton of pointless micro in a game horribly riddled by it. And it's not even the best way of doing it All that stuff you mentioned doing? You don't have to bother, a Ciper and a Wizard and keep everything prone on the ground from the word go, so they'll never get a chance to do anything but die to your dps classes. Neither side should be able to just completely stun lock the other. And yes, there are quite a few fights where if you don't cheese (setting up the pull or spamming your own CC are both really cheese), you'll easily be stun locked till death. It's terrible design.

The only thing I really find annoying about the boots is that they can take the spot of a much better item, one that will last you the rest of the game, like Gauntlets of Accuracy or a Blunting Belt. And even then, that mostly bothers me, as if you don't try to game the 'random' loots, you can easily end the game with a team with some members slots having nothing or filler like boots of evasion, even as you approach the final dungeon. If it's taking the place of something like a minor ring of deflection, that you can pick a few up normally, and would later upgrade out of anyways, it's a fine booby prize. When it's taking the spot of something that you can get 0-1 of normally, and there's no non random way to get one, it's irksome. Ideally, I'd still keep the random system in place, but have some endgame merchant that has the rare items you 'whiffed' on with them for sale for very high prices, so you're not screwed entirely for not wanting to rest at the end a dozen times. By the time finish up Act 3 and move towards Act 4 (WM), i'm generally so overflowing with cash, it'd also be nice to have a cash sink at the end.

I'm still running 2.0 due to all the issues of 2.01, so I can't be a great deal of help there. But as for the stealing mod, in 2.0, after loading a game with a draining weapon, the mod would have been replaced by another mod that said it would steal 5 sec of buffs, and 10% attack speed from a mob on every hit. Sometimes it'd be on the weapon at the start, along with the draining mod, sometimes the draining mod wouldn't be there at the start, as well. Either way, after a load, it would settle with that mod on it. The problem was, the mod was either broken, or designed extremly OP, as the 10% speed steal would stack on every hit, making anyone with those weapons equipped having insane haste and eating through everything on the field. I hope 2.01 either fixed that mod, or just removed if from the game, as it made any weapon with that on it too good to actually use.

A good lesson in paying attention to how you initiate combat on trial of iron rather than a problem with paralyzation, surely. Eh, I don't know if it's a lesson one wants. The game has serious, horrible isssues with micro as is. 2.0 went someways to addressing that, but you still don't want your players having to position their team for an effective opener each pull. Granted, once you've played through the game a few times, you can recognize which pulls up coming are going to be particular dangerous, and you need to micro the pull, and which is a bunch of lions you can just run into. But that's only the hardcore who play a game multiple times through, and we really shouldn't be catered too, as we're such a small market.

The AI seems target the closest red circle too it. When hit by any of the mind control thins (confuse, charm, dominate), it turns the circle red, and the AI makes that its next target to munch on. They'll often keep attacking it even after the circle's gone back to green. It is rather annoying, having to constantly spam 'attack that' while someone's charmed. I think the yellow circle, for allies and enemies under mind control, is a good idea. Makes it take one target out of the fight, who does a little damage to their friends, but doesn't make everyone around them try to eat them.

I'm not really seeing the argument that if I can beat a fight entirely with per-encounter spells, it's a trivial fight, and it's not worth considering, so it's an argument to let us I have per-encounter spells. The only thing I can see is you're arguing the player is going to rest as much as they feel like they want too to enjoy the game, as there is no system to stop players from unlimited resting, so this is a nice compromise to give the players enough resistance to resting spam, and enough spells to play with, that the Devs can still have cool high level spells, without the player entirely abusing them? I think it's just a design philosophy between resource based and encounter based system, of which Pillars really shoulda just picked a side of the fence to be on.

Yeah, one of those Shade pulls in the dungeon for the Dozen's quest ended a Trials of Iron play through for me. Wasn't micro'n the pull, so we were still in traveling formation when spotted, immediate teleport to group and AoE para, his buddy comes, we sit there perma stunned while they slowly chew through the plate mail every character had been wearing for extra safety. Turns out it doesn't matter how much armor you have if you literally never get a move off.