Boeroer

I don't look into the PoE code. I'm looking into code all day and don't want to do it in my free time. I just like to try out things, mostly weird ideas. I also did that when I played Pen & Paper RPGs since I was 16 or so. A lot of times a description sounds meh or a talent or ability seems to be underpowered - but with the right circumstances it can turn into game breaking stuff. One example is the cipher/retaliation combo (nerfed now) that turned out to be OP once you were able to stack multiple retaliations. There was no need to attack by yourself anymore and could spam cipher powers all the time without the need to regain focus with your weapon. Another example (it's still in the game) is Spelltongue + carnage + buffs. I don't think you can find a lot of such things if you're looking into code. But sure as hell I don't know what's really going on half of the time - because I don't check the code how it works. I only know it works somehow in the game and that it's fun. I know MaxQuest and Loren Tyr (sad he isn't around any more) have insight into the code and know in depth what's going on under the hood. They also made some very useful suggestions how to fix certain bugs and so on. And OBS should really listen to AndreaColombo's style consulting. And put a reference to the LoP into PoE2!

Nay - nobody expects you to do that. Well - at least I don't. I'm the master of typos and am surely not able nor willing to correct them all. So don't bother about that. It wasn't my intention to criticize your spelling or something like that.

I can totally understand why it can be disappointing to find and assemble that weapon and then find out it's not superoutstanding (it's one of the best weapons, but it is no no-brainer pick for every melee char). It's not how I feel about it, but I can understand this. And maybe I also had a bit of that feeling when I did my first playthrough but maybe forgot about it. But this can be solved in another way: give such weapons really good enchantments that you can't do yourself. For example: St. Ydwen's Redeemer has that vessel destroying property which is truely unique and very powerful in the right situations. So what I say is: make those weapons more powerful - not in terms of ACC and damage (= quality enchantment) but in terms of awesomeness given by great side effects and such. That way you will enable "style victims (hello AndreaColombo )" to play the game with their fancy fiddlestick because they still can hit stuff (ACC is so important) but at the same time make sure players can say "Wow" when they finally put together that ancient piece of weaponary. In my opinion, it all comes down to good enchantments (other than lashes and quality). I mean look at the soulbounds. Not all of them are consideres inferior to self enchanted uniques with lash + durgan steel. Stormcaller is a great pick because of Returning Storm and the -6 shock DR. THis is a very powerful enchantment and the bow is cnsidered to be top nth even though it can't have a lash nor durgan steel. Acuan Giamas is one of the latest weapons in the game and few people realize how powerful this thing is just because of it's spell stealing. It's just bad that it comes so late. Bittercut is one of the best weapons simply because it has corrode/slash and works with Spirit of Decay. Then the Redeemer as I mentioned. All those weapons are considered to be good or best because of their special properties, not because they come superior or legendary. I'd say elaborate more on such awesome features for late (or later) game weapons and keep the quality enchantments through rare resources. That way we could all be happy.

Good news! In summer our family will move to Bukarest for three years and we were given the (great) infos around that new job position. So I was able to convince my wife (while she was going into paroxysms of delight) that it's totally necessary to spend more money on "BIB crew". "Whooohoo... What? Pipcrew? Yeah-yeah whatever... wheeeezee!". Expect some more coins - sooner or later.

It's not about that (and maybe I do misunderstand you). It's about your statement that you "hate" that the player is able (just being able, it's no must and there surely are better option in terms of power) to choose an item which is aesthetically appealing to him and being able to carry this through the whole game without gimping his char too much. Since you don't have to do this (and can totally throw the good looking stuff in the trashbin if you want - even if upgraded it won't be as good as the late game stuff) I don't get how you can hate that. As I said: it sounds like the broccoli stuff. And that makes me a bit angry. I'm still controlling it though.

You mean Godzilla vs. Megaeothas?

That was in another (earlier) Q&A stream.

I have no real problem with your first statement. I just think it's not true, but that's not bothering me. What really upsets me is that you "hate" something which gives a lot of players joy and is totally optional for you: that one could choose a stylish weapon and keep it in a playthrough. It's not gonna be the best weapon by far, it just keeps to be viable. But you hate that option although it doesn't touch your gaming. It sounds a bit like "I hate it when dudes love each other because I am straight" or "I hate that they sell broccolis because I dislike broccoli and so nobody should have it". I don't know if it just came out the wrong way (then no offense - I know it can be tricky to express yourself properly with all nuances and connotations if you're not using your mother tongue) or if you really mean it the way I described it. Because I really loathe totalitarian attitudes. And of course you can state any opinion - may it be weird or offensive or whatever - but you have to be prepared to meet with (sometimes furious) resistance.

Did you read the thread? In which game was it possible to have all weapons fully upgraded? In PoE you could only upgrade two weapons to legendary at max. That's not too many for a whole party. And how on earth does that kill the joy of finding new equipment? You second statement is so unbelievable that I can't comment on it politely, seriously. So please don't elaborate.

Well, the maps are hand drawn stuff and all - nothing you can put together with a toolbox. You can see it in one of the fig videos. Maybe that's why.

She is either cipher or rogue. Like Edér is fighter or rogue. She doesn't start as a multiclass character but you have to pick rogue or cipher as her base class and then you can multiclass into any other class (if you wish). I think what blotter meant was that even she has no spells at all (like the examples I mentioned above) when she is a pure rogue she still can be an animancer. So spellpower of any kind is not needed to practice animancy. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as I know, PoE mechanics changed quite a bit from beta to release. There were some things which didn't work out as intended. But that's what a beta is for.

Yes - Sworn Enemy + scrolls is also a good approach. I did my kills via kill stealing mostly. Because I flanked most of the time with this paladin it was easy to deliver the killing blow while the other party member went on to another enemy.

Was this supposed to sound ambiguous?

Everybody can make stupid decisions no matter brains or skills. Our trust doesn't prevent that. It's constructive criticism that prevents that.

Wymund is a priest of Skaen and an animancer. Thaos is a priest of Woedica and an animancer. Helig is a wizard and an animancer. Galvino is a cipher and an animancer. Caedman Azo is a wizard and an animancer. It's clear that animancy is not tied to a class and thus doesn't work as a subclass. It could be a type of prestige class - which we don't have.

Huh? What are you talking about Kickstarter?

Awesome in terms of fun (for me). For example: Priest of Berath, focus on highest MIG possible (aumaua or dwarf, Aggrandizing + Inspiring Radiance, Champions Boon/Minor Avatar, Maegfolc Skull and so on), pick up Tidefall and combine it with Runner's Wounding Shot and Envenomed Strike. Pick WF soldier, Two Handed Style, berathian talent andso on. Cast Cleansing Flame on a boss while wounding, Runner's Wounding and Envenomed Strike are working and see the boss collapse in no time. COmbine it with Veteran's Recovery which is very strong with high MIG, INT and things like Belt of Bountiful Healing + survival healing bonus. The autoattacks are also pretty neat with very high MIG. Wounding profits from MIG bonuses twice - priests are the calss with the highest possible MIG. You can reach 40+ MIG easily and the slaps with Tidefall do a lot of damage through wounding - even against high DR foes. Same works with priest of Eothas + the Acuan Giamas morning star - but since that weapon comes so late it's not worth it - and the other unique morning stars are a bit meh. I never tried a priest of Eothas with shield + flail or even dual flails, but I could imagine that Starcaller + Unforgiven are a nice combo. Or even Starcaller + Badgradr's Barricade. A priest can reach very high ACC with Inspiring Radiance + Devotions + WF + talent + Minor Avatar. It should lead to a lot of stuns + Thrust of Tattered Veils with buffed MIG. Priest of Skaen, played like a rogue: Schemer's Needler It's an old build, but I guess the idea is obvious. Priest of Wael, Llengrath's Staff, Rayment of Wael's Eyes, focus on attack speed, attack from second row. This one is not a melee powerhouse, but still fun. Edit: Forgot the priest of Magran with Scion of Flame and Firebrand. Lots of MIG and ACC, Minor Avatar and Scion of Flame lead to good damage with that sword due to high base damage and Annihilation. Firebrand works with the magran talent, too. You could also add Fire Godlike to the mix for a bit of retaliation if things get rough. All priests end up casting a lot and attacking less in the late game. But until then those build ideas are quite fun and a different approach to the priest class.

I'd say if you give your priest a small shield, weapon & shield style and use him as part-time offtank you're totally fine with your party composition. It looks good. If you want, consider a monk as offtank. Just to try something different than a fighter, barb or paladin. In my opinion monks make the best offtanks. They also work great with the spell holding approach. You don't want them to have too high deflection anyway. All melee (or heavy melee) parties work well. Generally the game gets easier for me that way. Fights take a little longer, but there are less knockouts. I like melee wizards, druids are part-time melee anyway and also some priest builds are really awesome in melee. A cipher gets more focus in melee, too (in theory).

Yupp - exactly. Just travel to Twin Elms and the problem is solved. You don't even need to enter the city itself.

Those talents work, yes. But only for melee weapons. Although ranged weapons, including implements, are wielded with two hands, Two Handed Style and Savage Attack do not work with them. So, to be precise: Firebrand, Citzal's Spirit Lance, Concelhaut's Staff and Llengrath's Warding Staff work with the talents you mentioned. Things like Kalakoth's Minor Blights don't. But that works with Dangerous Implement and the other talents for ranged weapons (Marksman and so on).

Maybe another reason behind this is that it will boost soulbound weapons' usefulness. Since those will improve their quality automatically through the binding process, they don't have the restriction of "enchant it to +1 quality at max". Remember: a lot of players complained that the new fancy souldbound weapons where in fact inferior to gear that you excessively enchanted yourself. Mainly because elemental lashes and durgan steel are so powerful and you can't put that neat stuff on soulbound weapons. But instead of giving soulbounds similar powerful bonuses in the later stages they now decided to limit the gear that could surpass them. Concerning lashes, it's totally ok for me. Not every weapon has to have a fancy elemental effect and it might indeed make things more interesting if enchantments are restricted in a way so that they fit to the weapon and it's unique features. But limiting the quality enchantmens to tier +1 is just wrong. It takes away options and severely punishes people who fancy style and appearance over power. Thus it punishes roleplayers most, not the powergamers. To avoid boredom in the late game when it comes to choice of weapons/shields/armors and so on, OBS will have to place a LOT of different high quality weapons. But I don't think they will go this way. A way out of this would be an enchantment that turns any normal weapon/shield/armor into a soulbound with individual binding steps that you can create. Basically a class build for a weapon. You could limit this enchantment to 1/playthrough like Cladhaliath was. That would be a cool feature... Or just allow to enchant ONE weapon/shield/armor to the max tier with cool enchantments through some scripted interaction. That way you could have it all. You could drag one or two low level items from start to finish and at the same time prevent that all the low level stuff may surpass soulbounds. Think about it: you could share character builds AND custom item builds. Awesome!

It was said somewhere that you can pick from all the beasts in the game. With some restrictions of course. Too big ones are out obviously. But we already had an animat, a lagufaeth, a wyrm, a spider and so on. Concelhaut's Skull is a superpet for example. So - a lot seems to be possible. May I plant the idea of a wicht that has a mild frenzy aura and a mini-heart-of-fury into your mind? Thanks!

It needs balance and that's difficult. Sometimes it's pure fun to obliterate some ****y bandits and stuff - but if it's too much it's just boring & tedious. A good example are those fampyrs in lvl 8 of the EPs. All the encounters are the same. The first one is OK, the second... why not? And then it starts to get annoying. Same with some Lagufaeth encounters. In the late game a lot of people just put the game on fast mode, select the whole party and point & click on each enemy - one after the other - until all are dead. No buffing, no casting, just run and hit. That's not the optimal approach, but it's the fastest way (in real time) to success. That's a clear sign that those encounters are de trop.

However, they said that they would store game objects and savegames and other stuff in a more readable format so that modders may edit them more easily. That's something.