daver

I agree 100% that it is hard for developers to balance a crafting system with the rest of the game. If it's useless (or nearly so), why spend the time on it, other than to say, "hey, we've got crafting in our game". And if it becomes so dominant that it takes you out of the story and/or flow of the game, then it's gone too far (that was a problem I had with the crafting system in DA:I, I found myself trying to create the "perfect" armor or weapon, and 2 hours later I would have to check my journal as to what quest I was actually working on. While I enjoyed the crafting itself, it just left me feeling that the balance of gameplay to crafting wasn't all it could be).

Love it or hate it, a crafting system exists in POE. I'm starting this poll mainly to find out how everyone (those that still cruise the polls anyway) feels about it going forward into POE2. Granted, POE2 hasn't been announced, but eventually it will based on the success of POE. Having wandered these forums the past couple months, it seems that several of you, or at least the most vocal, seem to dislike the crafting system in POE. That's fine. We all have our playing styles and preferences, so all I ask is, that regardless of your opinion, we keep this poll/discussion civil. I'd really like to know why you love it, or why you hate it, or if you don't care one way or another. I've tried to include as many options as I could think of. My opinions: I love crafting in rpgs. I've probably spent hundreds of hours in Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, and Dragon Age Inquisition just crafting. I understand that these are different types of rpgs, especially Skyrim and FONV, where crafting is almost essential to a characters success. I also like it in POE, though I can't say that I actually love it. I will support/buy/play POE2 whether it has crafting or not. Why don't I love it in POE? If I've gathered plants, creature parts, and rocks/gems, I shouldn't have to spend gold to modify weapons/armor, or to create a scroll or potion. Scrolls and potions I've found have limited use, and I didn't find them nearly as critical as I did in say BG1 & 2, so I very seldom waste my resources on creating them. Food creating I found useful in my early levels, but less so later on. Modifying weapons/armor I liked, but since certain resources are rare, I found myself hording those resources to only modify unique weapons armor. After my first few levels I never bothered modifying mundane or even fine items. I liked being able to tweak a unique piece to be more useful my character or someone in my party. Then again, should a unique be truly unique and therefore unchangeable? I'm still on the fence about that question. So I'd like to see crafting exist in POE2, but I feel the current system needs modified. But that takes developer time, time that could be spent on other areas, like party AI. So if I had a choice between crafting and more interaction within my party, such as further fleshed out companion quests, I would take the latter. But I'd really like both, greedy bastard that I am. I've put this in the spoilers section because your comments or mine may eventually include a spoiler. But I'm really interested on how players really feel about crafting going forward.

Personally, I like the challenge of knowing that the bonuses will expire in 3 rests. I know I'll need a certain buff, say the +2 mechanics bonus, to disarm some traps in a given area, so I have to time my travel to keep that bonus. When it wears out I look for other ways to buff up a certain bonus, such as equipment or those rare scrolls that buff up a stat by 3. Forgot the name of that type of scroll, but I believe the effect lasts for 120 sec. Other than that, I check at the inns if I'm in a town to see what sleeping bonuses they offer. They may not offer exactly what I'm looking for, but for me, it's part of the challenge to my party to be able to adapt. I only purposely travel back to the keep to change characters, defend the stronghold from an attack, collect on a bounty, or to tackle a couple more levels of the Endless Paths dungeon. My biggest complaint about the stronghold is the merchants the player can add with the construction upgrades. They, the merchants, have almost nothing worthwhile for sale.

I tend to leave the AI off 98% of the time, as my companions rarely do what I want them to. Also, I'm a micro-manager, and like to direct each member of my party. But I know what you're saying about "holding the line". Even with the AI off, characters tend to charge off into AOE affects. There have been some battles that I have done more damage to my party than the enemy did. Holding the Line was one of my biggest tactics back in BG1 & 2, especially in dungeons guarding a doorway or narrow passage. That tactic works most of the time in POE with the AI off (or at least I find that it does), but it doesn't seem to be consistent.

I'll second that request, as I also play at 3840x2160. When zooming in it would be nice to get just a couple notches closer. I hardly ever zoom out, as everything is so tiny. But the detail is awesome at this resolution, and I haven't noticed any slowdowns when multiple things, like spell effects, are happening. I imagine it's not a big priority for the developers as 4k resolution in games is still in it's infancy. But it would be nice if they could get to it eventually.

You're right of course, it's been awhile since I played it. The story and "feel" of D:0S is different than POE, but the two best RPGs in years, and absolutely the two best isometric RPGs I've played since the Baulders Gate/Neverwinter Nights 2 and Divine Divinity days.

Divinity Origninal Sin had the best RTwP combat I've ever played. I'm not degrading POE's combat at all, I love it too, but D:0S was just awesome. Cast a grease spell and hit it with a fire ball and the entire area covered in grease catches on fire. Cast a chain lightning spell with everyone standing in water, and electrocute everyone (including your party). The Enhanced Edition of D:OS is out 10/27 and free to all PC owners of the original game. Many changes, including full voice overs. If you haven't played it yet, wait a couple weeks for the EE.

Hate to bust you on this one but the avatar could have sex as early as Ultima 6: The False Prophet. There is a gypsy lady who takes money for that sort of thing. If you have Dupre in the party he will even go on a rant at you over it. Unfortunately for Luzarius.... it was a fade to black My memory didn't go back far enough, thanks for that, I really thought that Ultima 7.5 was the first. For the life of me, I can't remember that encounter, even though Dupre was almost always in my party.

Thank-you, it makes more sense now. Because there were some adventures listed in turns that seemed to be completed rather quickly, and others that just seemed to take forever to finally complete. I never associated it with my character/party completing quests.

When I have companions back at the keep and send one out on an adventure, my journal list's the time as "1 turn" or "2 turns" ect. What length of time is a turn? Sometimes they go out on an escort mission, which is usually just listed in days. Is a "turn" a certain number of days, like a week or a month?

I'm in a similar position with my new character, and don't want to finish the game until I've played part 2 of WM. But if part 2 raises the level cap another 2 levels, won't that seriously imbalance the final battles of the main game? That would put me, conceivably, at level 16, and originally the main game was balanced to level 12. Do you think the option will exist to "scale up" the last of the main game after completing the WM part 2?

A ranger is also a good choice for mechanics/stealth/perception, they also give you a solid ranged character with bows and/or guns. I'm on my 2nd ranger build and at level 9 his natural mechanics is at 9, buffed with the right accessories he's up to an 11 in mechanics. Also good for scouting ahead in new areas to see what you will be up against. Haven't played a rouge yet, so I imagine they are similar, except in the skills they can take, the ranger having the better ranged skills. They also get an animal companion which gives you a party of 7 instead of 6. Kana, or any chanter, is also a good choice, their chants can give you decent buffs while your priest casts other buffs. Just be aware that a chanters spells take awhile to become available during combat. Many combats are short, and he never reaches that 3rd or 4th chant in time to cast. Also, in addition to his summoning spells, he has some others that are cast in a cone with very short range. His positioning in combat, I've found, is very crucial to his success.

In the options menu, you can change all your auto-pause options so that the game never auto-pauses. Then just strictly use the current pause button (space bar). Tapping the space bar with your thumb really doesn't require lightning reflexes, I find it pretty instinctive.

Slightly off-topic, but a bit of nostalgia about "sexual encounters" in isometric rpgs. Do you guys/girls remember the first isometric rpg that had a sex scene? Ultima 7.5, also known as Ultima 7 part 2: Serpent Isle, published in 1992. My memory of the details of a game over 22 years ago is somewhat faded, but there was a scene you could get near the end of the game where the Avatar (your character) could have sex with a female mage in New Magincia that you had been flirting with most of the game. It was a short animated cut scene of the Avatar getting naked and jumping into bed with the mage. I don't remember anything beyond that, it was just so shocking & funny at the time. All gloriously depicted on a 15" crt monitor. I believe that to be the first depiction of a "sexual encounter" of the first kind.

I don't go back to the stronghold very often either, but when I do the "spoils" of any minor/major quests completed are in the chest in the small room to the right of the main hall. It's always highlighted in blue, denoting content within. This is for items as well as coin. Haven't run into an empty chest after a quest completion notification. Patch 2.01 seems to have introduced some minor bugs from what I've read, don't know if it's related to your situation or not, haven't seen anything about this issue before. BTW, the icon art by Kaela Croft is awesome, very talented.

It would be nice to have that same pop-up box for traps that you get with locks. My level 10 ranger, who has a mechanics skill of 10, found some traps he couldn't disarm. It would be nice to know how many more points in mechanics I need to disarm them. I know there are several accessories you can find (hats, rings, belts, ect) that up the mechanics skill, so I'm on the lookout for those. I left this particular area (I won't mention where, as that would be considered a spoiler) and will return with a higher mechanics skill. It would just save some time to know how high I need to get the skill before I can disarm the traps.

This happened to me one time after patch 2.01, with the continue & load buttons greyed out. I exited the game, restarted and everything was fine, I could use the load and/or continue buttons. Since it only happened once to me, I put it down to a glitch in Windows 7. Never happened again, and its been about 7-10 days.

I had the same problem when I first started playing and picked up Kana as a companion. Until I finally figured out how to edit chants and when he could cast spells. Extremely useful during long battles, as a chanters spells take awhile to become available. I also agree with globalCooldown that the positioning of the chanter is crucial to the type of spell they cast.

Does anyone know the release time-line of part 2? I don't need a specific date, just wondering if it will be this year. I'm assuming that it will be mid-November. I'm just trying to gauge my play time to complete the main quest and both parts of the white march without having to stop for a few weeks and then go back.

I must be in the minority then, as I love crafting in all types of RPGs. I've spent many hours crafting in Skyrim/Fallout 3 & New Vegas and DA:Inquisition. But I enjoy it, I like exploring the creation part. But I respect those players that don't want to be bothered with it. The POE system is light enough, that you can completely ignore it if it's not your thing. You don't need it to complete the game or to become uber-powerful. It won't consume hours of your game anyway as there are only limited things to create anyway. I generally save my weapon/armor enchantments for unique items that have some enchantment space left. I agree that enchanting mundane items is a waste of materials, as the rarer materials are indeed rare. I also craft food & some potions. Scroll crafting I found to be a waste of gold for a one-shot item.

I agree, the story is what drives this game. This is not a level-grinder where you reach level 60 and can kill anything that moves. Each level up counts, and you can really weaken your character by not putting thought into what abilities you choose. I like the fact that you only get a small amount of exp for the first few kills of a creature type, and then nothing. And I don't believe you get any exp for killing Kith. It's not a game about killing as much as it is about solving quests. It's a radical departure from most rpgs, and I think it works well. And some of the decisions you have to make really take some thought, as there is seldom a true "good" or "evil" choice as in a lot of the earlier D&D games.

I completed this on my first play through, have yet to do it on my current play through, as I'm only level 5 and in Defiance Bay. I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but if I remember correctly, when I placed the sabre in the statues hand, I could hear the grinding of a door opening behind me (I think). But I do know that it opens a door just outside of the room with the statue, to another smaller room. The outline of that door is pretty obvious early on before you place the sabre. I don't think there are any other steps involved.

I just finished the catacombs yesterday, and my party is level 5 with about 200 points to go before level 6. When I started a new game after getting the White March, my plan was similar to yours, I wanted to access the new areas to find the soul bound weapons and meet the 2 new characters. But from what I've read in the forums, recommendations are to be any where from a minimum of level 6 to a level 10, depending upon the opinion of the poster. Personally, I think I will clean up the majority of my side quests, some of the main ones, and maybe a few levels of Caed Nua dungeon, and get up to about level 7-8 before I head to the White March.

I dual-wielded my first character, a ranger, and found there aren't may one-handed "fast" weapons. Tons of "average speed" weapons. If you do dual-wield, have at least 3 sets of weapons: one each for slash/pierce/crush. After the v2.0 patch, I've found several enemies that are now immune to at least one type of weapon damage so you need to be prepared. In most cases I was forced to have 1 fast speed and 1 average speed weapons equipped. The only "slashing" one I can remember is the hand axe. Rapier/stiletto/dagger for piercing. Club, and maybe flail for crushing. Can't remember for certain if the flail is fast or average.

Is it possible, or is it supposed to be possible, for a character to place multiple traps? I tried this once with my ranger, and when I placed the 2nd trap, the 1st one disappeared, gone forever. I find traps useful for getting past the first wave of a large battle, especially in interior sections. I got around this limitation somewhat, by having a high enough mechanics skill on three of my party members. Each of those members are able to set one trap each. Just wondering if the "one trap per character" is intentional.