wanderon

Has anyone done any calculations on what the ranger dps is when the companions damage is added and how that varies based on which companion is chosen?

I kind of like the info at the top myself - that's the most important information the description has to offer especialoly once the description has been read - the fluff is interesting but not everyone is interested in reading every one or re-reading it - they may just be checking to see what the specs of the weapon are - currently they don't have to scroll to the bottom to see that - I like this.

I've been fooling with a more rogue like ranger using both ranged and melee (two weapon plus blunderbuss) situationally and when you add the companion in (especially if they get a little better) I'm liking it pretty well. I do like the beastmaster idea where you could summon different animals but would probably want it limited to one per rest (and not allow you to swap them in battle). As for the whole ranger/cleric thing to me it was really just about the access to all priest spells instead of one or the other for F/D or F/C. The only downside was the weapon restrictions and that didn't matter in BG2 as some of the best weapons in the game were cleric weapons.

Based on the improvements we have seen already and the current state they are in I am fairly optimistic that the ranger will be viable at release - I have played with at least a couple of them in every build and the last one I played was pretty effective - they are never going to be the best choice ever but I can see myself choosing one perhaps as my first run. I certainly don't think they should be abandoned what possible use is that.

seems a bit odd that some sort of official requirements haven't been posted with less than 3 weeks to release doesn't it?

Has any info on system requirements been posted anywhere yet?

I think it's a bit lawyer-y to simply say "That's Sawyer's favorite!". He's talked about it many times, in detail, and always mentions specific things he likes a lot in it, while either thinking other things are "meh" or disliking them. What he likes and dislikes about it tells a lot more than "does he hate or like an entire ruleset revision?" Wait - you mean there can be variables between like and hate? It doesn't always have to be one or the other? Wow - who knew...

Will two weapon fighting apply to monks? (fists)

Didn't like much of anything about Witcher 1 gave it up entirely after a few days play - bought it to fill the gap while waiting for another game can't recall which one - suspected I would not like it from the start (even before purchasing it) not my style.

Nobody. And you don't have to gather your party in advance if nobody ventures forth. Jeez, it's not like rocket science or anything Who ever heard of adventuring with no venturing? Forth or otherwise...

Right, right. I just meant more that I doubt there will be a single item that's the "best sword" or the "best Blunderbuss" or whatever in the game. Like, Leadspitter is pretty inarguably the best weapon in the Backer Beta, but you could take a normal Blunderbuss and put a -5 DT enchantment on it and a x2 damage enchantment on it and get an equivalent weapon. I think most of the found & quest items follow the same "rules" that crafted ones do. I don't know about there being a "best" but there was mention in an article about how much optional content (not tied to main questline) there is in the game (2/3) that one of the reasons players may choose to partake of it was all the cool stuff they may find.

The wall of course...

How much simpler adventuring can be with no prebuffs tho - ahhh sweet freedom to just gather your party and venture forth!

Class would be classier with a classy talent!

It will be interesting to see how slowly/quickly we will be able to equip the group in the full game - I have the feeling it will be much slower than the BB and then of course the companions may be somewhat committed to certain weapons/styles when you meet them.

No ammo arrows or bolts yet - maybe some specialty ammo will appear in later editions

First thing I thought when I saw this was what about the Barbarian duel wielder - I'm thinking he/she comes down in the middle less micro and vulnerability than the rogue but not as tanky as the fighter type.

Just wanted to mention I've been fooling with some builds trying to decide on PC choices at release and have bumped the difficulty up to hard for the last half dozen teams which turned out to be - well not so hard compared to normal (which is what I have been playing all along). There's a few more creatures but I don't notice much beyond that and I have been backing off on the resting so even if the party is kind of beat up I just carry on (after a quick save) and for the most part have been able to finish fights anyway (often with some party members napping by the end) which kind of surprised me. Last two teams to meet the ogre for instance were both very beat up from the gazillion spiders but I thought - that's ok I'll finesse him into leaving except I screwed up the conversation and off to battle we went but managed to pull it off with almost no spells to work with and only a couple guys left standing at the end. I'm getting used to the combat chaos and finding myself able to mostly sort it out - which should get even better when the action que is fixed and I can assign 2 or 3 actions at once to the back line guys so I can micro the front liners a bit more. I am really getting hyped to start this game!

Why are Monks so good, I hate monks.. I like the diversity they offer in this game. They have good crowd control options and a lot of damage. I have disliked monks ever since they made their first appearance in IE games and have pretty much never played one and yet I have actually been toying with the idea of making a stealthy monk my PC for POE... I'll probably get over it tho...

If you don't need a rogue class but still need the rogue skills then what is YOUR problem - it's just a multiclass rogue under another name...

Say what? You get a pure thief right at the beginning. OP is right, in IE games thief was the only class with all rogue skills. There is no pure class thief in BG2. Imoen is a dual-class Thief/Mage and yoshimo is a Bounty Hunter kit, which isn't considered a pure Thief; neither of them are consistent party members anyway. Apart from those two are Nalia, a Thief/Mage, and Jan, an Illusionist/Thief. So, the point is that you don't need a pure thief in BG2, nor is one available. A kit isn't considered a class? By whom? Since when? In that case we only have 3 classes represented by NPC's (Ranger, Cleric and Fighter). Nobody argued about needing a pure thief, OP said that there was a need in IE games for a "rogue character". So it's either solo, multi or dualclassed. And all of those options are represented by NPC's. The point is if you don't have rogue you don't have the option to for example disarm trap. What? Yoshimo isn't an NPC? Not very useful for the Underdark...

Shift left click now moves item to stash - I kind of like that

I rarely ever succeed with dragon egg on any difficulty except easy (using BB fighter) unless I use a grappling hook which always succeeds no matter what difficulty (up to hard never played above that). Do you suppose that eliminates the skill checks or adds a bonus or what?

Weapon and shield style would only work while using both a weapon and a shield - one handed style is for using ONLY a one handed weapon (other hand empty) so no they do not stack but yes they would each work under the proper circumstances. Same for the second one handed means one hand only two weapon means a weapon in each both would work but not at the same time.

I have been giving everyone at least 3 levels of stealth for the BB which is enough to scout with the whole party and get off the opening salvo (mostly). It's also unclear (to me) how the search mechanic works - finding hidden items works off the stealth/search mechanic but what skill does it use for searching?