sapientNode

This tightly designed game worked for the old school days. We had a very small number of magical items. (a +2 magical dagger was the best thing you might find for a character) Encounters were never trivial. (There was no such thing as trash mob. Wolves ate you for breakfast) Stats/Attributes were much lower and restrictive (to disallow becoming godlike) And the overall story was balanced and much more linear with less quests to do. Also if I am remembering correctly at least one title BG or IWD you didn't even have the enemies to hit cap so a spawn encounter was modded in. Level caps today simply do not work because you have none of the above parameters and you do not have the designers able to really refine the balance of the tight design. E6 rule sets or some derivative would work fantastic in the current iteration of this style of game. this way a level cap is maintained but certain progression elements continue on potentially infinitely. Having a level cap in a game that tosses magic items at you like candy and has a large amount of trash fights that feel trivial doesn't make much sense because we already have been overpowered by level 6+ Sure there are a few battles that take a certain level of finesse and strategy but most are a lot of auto attacking or quasi AI usage with 1 or 2 micro manage sessions during the fight. Its like they wanted to adhere to old school BG and IWD but they forgot about the other elements and forgot that you need to spend a inordinate amount of time plotting the trajectories and courses of players to strike that perfect balance with a cap. With PoE if I do not use a exp nerf like iemod I hit cap before Twin Elms or very soon after getting there and I definitely cap out even with the new cap with White March. Since the battles are trivial there is no feeling of accomplishment and with the loss of a potential skill up or talent increase the game gets blah after cap. At least it does for me. Thankfully I have iemod and use it for the exp nerf amongst other things. I am sure the cap will be removed in some addition to this mod in the future as well.

Thanks. I made a Generic Monk since it seemed fitting a Monk would go on Adventures alone.

Level cap today in a game is bad. I recall level caps in BG and IWD and you met them not very far from the end game which you see here. With non linearity and the increase over time of content level caps (and the removal of a feeling of character progression) is not making a lot of sense. As it is the base game with or without a cap is way ez mode compared to the days of BG and IWD. If it was simply a matter of balance then they should have rewarded the players doing all content not dropped the hammer as you enter the last town (if you clear everything) I use iemod 25/50% increase for exp gain for this reason. However level cap remover would be extraordinarily welcome or a system that once we reach cap it is a soft cap where we still are able to gain talents or skills and a decreased amount of hp/endurance and spell access. If they are going to attempt a tight weave design where expansions and such are factored into the cap then they seriously need to sit down and plot out the different methods of play. And it shouldn't be in favor of those who blow through content so they can hit cap and ignore side quests. That is counter intuitive in even making the content. In the current game before I started using iemod I was literally micro managing my quest completions to make sure I stayed within a range so I did not exceed level cap too early. WHich meant forgoing many completions and also took a lot of math calculations to try to foresee where I would be by act 3. It also took me completing the game or very near completing the game so I could chart my progress so I wouldn't overlevel. Ultimately I attached a balancing system to my own game through my own discipline. If I wanted to see what occurred from the completion of a quest I turned it in and then reverted to a previous save. This type of playing is just annoying and not fun. Thankfully with iemod and a 50% initial and 25% at about level 6 or 7 I feel I will gain cap in White March near the end game so I wont be left feeling like I am not progressing anymore. I absolutely love the story and the characters and the overall world. And White March exceeded that a lot for me. However balancing and itemization is seriously needing work and there is no reason these systems could not adapt some already balanced styles in other games. I know there is an attempt here to adhere to the good ole days but there is no reason why the good ole days with the awesome story characters and incredible feeling of a unique world can merge with the evolved progression of the new genre of games which are in this category. Level caps for me are just all around bad. In order for them to work well you have to plot out every possible pathway of players and strike a balance so people continue to feel progress throughout the game. Although many will says they just are into the combat or story a large aspect of these games is a continued sense of progression and a gain of power through time and effort spent. With finite enemies and quests there is already a system in place to block progression past a certain point. to add another layer to it is unnecessarily restrictive.

I am frakin lost in this regard. The last time I did the same as you I installed the DLC patch then the main game patch because I was getting the pink mess in Stalwart. It did not load properly until I did the base game. This time I did the same thing but it borked horrendously and I had to go back to 2.01 until we get an official statement. My DLC patch installed just fine. Which is the second patch for White March from GoG. However the main game when I patched it I loaded the game and it crashed. I had an extensive error list in the patch log too. What it appeared to be doing is looking for the assets from patch 2.4.0.9 which correlates to just the 2.0 patch of the base game. This manual GoG thing is a nightmare. I have 0 understanding why they have 2 patches and simply not one that checks for the assets and installs/overwrites accordingly. And with no official install instructions its like flying blind if we are installing them correctly and if they are overwriting or replacing what they need to. Another post in here had a dev state they were looking into it so potentially in the near future we will get some clarity. I am not interested in Galaxy or Steam or any other bloody client to play games. to my mind the manual installations should be less problematic but since these bloody clients get priority starting with steam I am think they have to reverse engineer to get back to the simpler method of distribution. Totally inverted efficiency models... I am waiting to see what they say officially at which point it is likely they will have another manual download for us to grab and optimally some direct install instructions and clear directions for future updates.

My opinion is that in normal game I would go for the accuracy hit modal. While from Hard to PoTD I would take the Defensive one. That is if there is a choice with just one Paladin. Deflection and DR is king with the increase of mob density on higher difficulty. But with a Normal difficulty I would go with accuracy and hit just because the battles would be over faster and defenses are not coming into play as much.

I also have had this issue and ended up back with 2.01 because it is totally wacked once I patch the main game after White March patch number 2. To clarify what I did I am copying what I wrote elsewhere since a dev commented here and perhaps will see it and it will help. I am using the GoG version and when I Patch White March it seemed to be fine with only 2 errors for 2 files I modded anyway. Both files are veterans recovery. However when patching the base game with GoG version 2.5.0.11 I get a lot of errors Then the game loads and my cursor is the ground walk cursor and then it crashes when I try to load a save game I have a huge list of patch errors. In the patch log it states it is trying to upgrade from version 2.4.0.9 but in order to not have a pink mess in White March I had to patch the Base game to version 2.4.1.10 These numbers correlate to GoG versions 2.4.0.9 was patch 2.0 and 2.4.1.10 patched it to 2.01 However the patch 2.5.0.11 which is supposed to be from 2.01 to 2.02 is looking for version 2 which is 2.4.0.9 It seems impossible to patch this manually with 2.5.0.11. Potentially I could go back and install 2.4.0.9 and see if I can use 2.5.0.11 from that but it is incredibly time consuming. As it is the install process unless I do it from safe mode is arduous and lengthy. What patch for GoG am I supposed to use to go from 2.01 with White March installed? Do I only use White March Patch for 2.02 Totally confused at this point. As I have written elsewhere I would suggest creating some method of communication that is more direct or something to handle this GoG mess. I think that install instructions are imperative as is cross platform patch notes and direct communications from the main developer which in this case would be Obsidian. A shared news feed would be awesome. As would requiring them to add install notes and known issues in a readme and visibly on their website under the PoE forum space.

That is fantastic to hear!!

When I equip Lilith's Shawl on my main character who is also a Paladin everyone in my party gains a buff icon with +1 sneak which is labeled Lilith's Shawl.

As the title states... I am curious if the level or class of the adventurer you send on adventures factors into the reward at all? Also is the exp rewarded from adventures rewarded to my whole team or just the adventurer who went on the adventure itself?

Like Flix said. However sometimes a step doesn't seem to push it ahead. But then sometimes a step or completion bumps it ahead 2 or 3 turns. I am not sure if it is because it does not register the turns accurately or it calculates them only certain intervals. All I know is my Legendary Adventures have moved multiple turns on one step and not at all on other quest steps.

Thanks. I might try it as a last resort. So far this is the only game that has even close to this many problems. And I am not thinking that is only because of GoG. I think Obsidian is doing some very odd things with patches.

Logging in or using that much bandwidth is not an option for some. Especially since I already re-installed once already. The entire reason I go with GoG is to not join a system like Steam. I could care less about competing with others over achievements or sharing them or having my entire library tracked and eventually have game ads and other things pushed to me based on demographics they keep on me. I just want to download a game and play it. If there is a patch I want a patch that just works. Having to basically re-install with each patch is a nightmare. I have no idea why they can not run a single patch that checks files that are outdated and overwrites them as needed. This is honestly the sloppiest I have seen both a developer and a distributor handle a game. There is no installation instructions. No information or official comments. We have 2 patches which makes no sense. Never before whether I had a expansion or not did I have to install 2 patches. These issues have been on my mind for a while as we move to an era of gaming that we will no longer even be playing our games locally and likely be leasing systems somewhere in the cloud where we play our games from. Then we will have a new GoG system that will have to grab the info from the cloud systems and recompile it just so we can then have our games locally. Which will be fairly essential for modding or any for of tweaks or control. Which leads to the crux of my problem with joining the Galaxy or Steam or others. I want to control where I install my game. I want to know what is coming and where its going. I want to be able to modify as I wish certain settings and different aspects for the game to be as I want it to be. We are basically leasing games today. It is just a loose form of it and these types of systems are only exacerbating certain problems. And although the problem is stated as fixed if I use Galaxy. It does not solve the problem with the manual patches which are supposed to be a viable way for us to get the game without dealing with the social network game platform.

I already re-installed once. My bandwidth is not that great and its limited. I am just confused why we do not have installation instructions anywhere.

I am using the GoG version and when I Patch White March it seemed to be fine with only 2 errors for 2 files I modded anyway. However when patching the base game with GoG version 2.5.0.11 I get a lot of errors Then the game loads and my cursor is the ground walk cursor and then it crashes when I try to load a save game I have a huge list of patch errors. In the patch log it states it is trying to upgrade from version 2.4.0.9 but in order to not have a pink mess in White March I had to patch the Base game to version 2.4.1.10 These numbers correlate to GoG versions 2.4.0.9 was patch 2 and 2.4.1.10 patched it to 2.01 However the patch 2.5.0.11 which is supposed to be from 2.01 to 2.02 is looking for version 2 which is 2.4.0.9 I have no freakin idea what to do and this is is a nightmare to figure out. What patch for GoG am I supposed to use? Totally confused at this point.

I would like some clarification myself. The official post was indeed vague. What specifically is the switch to universal weapons allowing? My assumption is that the summoned weapons now benefit from talents where they did not before?

I just dislike all these distribution methods today. I know it has added a focal area for people in the Steam Clan. However it has also added in times like these 2 or 3 more times the work and frustration because the communication back and forth is not happening. I seriously do not understand the need for multiple patches though. One patch and it checks for an expansion is how I have seen past games do something like this when they were patching the main game as well as the expansion. It doesn't make much sense the way it is being handled.

Yah I already re-downloaded once because I had a big pink mess in Stalwart. When I did it I installed the base game then White March. Then White March Patch and and the version did not change nor would my saves load. Then I decided to use the Base Game patch and the version updated and my save games loaded and the version showed. But it was just guess work so I wanted to see if anyone has anymore clarity.

I am unsure why Obsidian cant just make a patch that checks for expansion installation and then patches accordingly. This double patching on top of not knowing what the hell number correlates to what is so sloppy. Yes been following that post but I am not able to find anything concrete relating to 2.02 just 2.01. I would think its probably the same strange double patch process but I want to make sure. I realize that GoG has to keep their own version numbers since they are wrapping it but they could add a suffix or prefix with the actual game number to their versions.

The OP is a bit comical. Then all the people defending Obsidian about their budget which is 2x more than Larian D:OS is also comical. Then there is the whole generational comments about wanting everything handed to us (again comical) OP it would of been better to actual (if your not just trolling) to post a statement of what you are having issues with so perhaps people could help you or you could send it to the tech forum and they could work on resolving the issue. I do not even know what the hell the OP is saying to be honest. The game should continue to updated and there are definitely some bugs that seem strange that they passed through even a modicum of testing. But we also know they are likely pushing away at the next expansion and whoever prioritizes things in a company is going to put the priority on what can make money in the future. Patching bugs makes them no money. Unless you look at it from the loyal fan base. I am in no way justifying this. Truth is the system for making games is absurdly broken from the top down. Luckily we have kickstarters today so companies have more leeway to create something that is not fully controlled by a producer rather than a creator. Regardless we should hold a flame to them in some way to make sure they don't just dump games on us with no support. On the other hand I think it is good to look at the overall picture here and to understand that they are likely busted their ass on multiple levels to get things through QA and to be doing the next expansion. Of course they did raise 4 million which like I said is 4x more than D:OS and 2x more than what D:OS 2 got so they have enough money. But there are people inside Obsidian that have a much higher pay from their length of experience in the industry likely. I just wish all Games today were built more openly to allow for community fixes or they utilized the community in a organized manner to help test and resolve bugs. Random bitch fests and back and forth nonsense never really gets the attention of anyone who matters. A logical person would look at this post and just say I guess the OP is having a bad day today.

Before I patch I want to get some clear info so I do not run into pink messes like I did with last patch. I am on version 2.01 (GoG) I want to get to the current version 2.02 I have Base Game Patch 2.5.0.11 (GoG) The previous one was 2.4.1.10 I have White March Patch 2.1.0.11 (GoG) The previous one was 2.0.1.10 For those who are on GoG you already know the patch version numbers they use have no correlation to the actual official game patch number (except for in house I guess) My questions: Are these the correct patches for GoG to get to 2.0.2? Do I install them both and in what order?

So I am a bit confused. You are looking for a button that does not toggle pause but simply just pauses the game? So you can go away from the game? Or you are accidentally pressing the space bar again and unpausing and that is causing frustration? I myself have 0 auto pause features set because they are way too annoying for me. You could take a look autohotkey where you can make a script function. Perhaps a script that locks the pause button from being used for some seconds after you hit it the first time I use this awesome script from nexus: http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/89/? If you have a 5 button mouse you put pause to one of the side buttons. I do not have one so I use my middle mouse button as pause. It lets me hold mouse button to toggle interactives in the environment and when I double click I can go into scout mode

I had same issue with Redeemer I am glad 2.02 fixes the issue. Now for iemod to update. Even then I will likely have to spawn in certain enemies via console or just console level the weapon for all the enemies I killed with my Redeemer

is this fixed in 2.02?

At this point I am a little perplexed by some of the common issues that seemed to escaped testing phase. My redeemer is not registering kills now. And the proc issue well that is as easy as force proccing and reading a log to test.

I just got Zahua and loosely used different parts of the strategies here. I myself took Stunning Blows and it has been amazing with constructs and as a starter for a fight. I also use long stride though so my Monk goes in and can get to an enemy and stun them immediately. this has allowed me to break the main fight into two packs and has added a lot more freedom in open space battles. Rogue is still my favorite class but Monk using a lot of these strategies is absolutely phenom. Kick punch stun knockdown kick punch stun!!! freakin awesome mode Unfortunately even with an extremely high DR the eternal mechanics which we can't see still has my Monk taking a much greater beating than my fighter. I dislike those hidden mechanics a lot. I mean the Monks deflection alone hits almost 20 more than the fighter but his endurance gets blasted away while the fighter is just sitting there yawning it off. Never the less the monk is still absurdly awesome and when I send the Rogue and Monk at an enemy they just mow right through them while my paladin and fighter havent even chipped away a 1/3 of their enemy. Thanks for the strategies in this thread everyone and thanks for the OP for starting it and giving a really good base to go off.