EbonKnight

@aweigh - Yes, since REMAKING THE MUSIC SCORE was something done in oh... not a single game in known memory in my 25+ years of playing video games. Great argument, bro. Sigh, look, we are not going to agree here, but please don't make non-sensical arguments and then accuse me of doing the same. Balance is important, I said as much, but it's not CRUCIAL that, in a game, with a billion different options, classes, talents, skills, builds, devs spend time and time and time on making sure that everything is just perfectly balanced according to your needs... in a single player game. If you think it's too good - don't use it - it really is that simple. Yes, if things are utterly broken, sure, they can and will get around it, but trying to make fun of me for saying that dev time is better spent on adding more content to the game than 'fixing' the balance between a billion different variables in a single player game - well, buddy, you know... I don't even know what to say to that, honestly, it's that dumb, imho. Again, I must draw your attention to the original PoE - it had a billion iterations of patches, a lot of this sort of stuff was done for balancing and STILL casters were so far ahead of anything else that they had to massively nerf them in the second part, because people were still bitching. That and ofc the fact that those not bitching about their OP-ness bitched about the per rest abilities, so once that was taken out, the balance hammer added annoying cast times, which rather effectively neutered a lot of the casters. And what's the story on release? A bunch of people complaining that melee classes are the only real way to go atm and that casters are too weak. Go figure.

I hate this argument against balance in single player games. It is the designer's responsibility to balance the game, not the player's. Avoiding content is not a solution to balance issues. Players who want to feel more powerful can lower the difficulty. Players who want a challenge should have access to that experience on the highest difficulty, regardless of what abilities they want to make use of. Thing is, on games of this scale there are ALWAYS going to be glaring balance issues. I dare you to name ONE Infinity-Engine style game that was balanced, even after a slew of patches. Heck, D&D itself was a horrible mess that was unbalanced, but people still enjoyed it. I'm not saying balance is not a good thing, I'm just saying that I get a bit annoyed when people go out of their way to come up with game-breaking things which lead to over-nerfs, and yet others still munchkin their way to ridiculous dump-stat builds (something I seriously could not bring myself to ever do, not even in Icewind Dale where it was basically mandatory) so that they would feel more empowered to tackle clearly ridiculous challenges such as PoTD solo. I mean, clearly, once you start wanting challenges that involve using one character on things that were supposed to be borderline impossible to beat with a party, then either the game is too easy still or you are breaking it with OP abilities/classes/glitches. And if so much of this community that enjoys that sort of play (heck, I myself often do, but I do draw the line at dump-stats) is able to pull off ridiculous feats with some classes/builds then clearly there's an inherent balancing problem, either with the game's difficulty or the fact that some classes and skills are just better than others and thus, by definition, OP. And I'm talking about PoE here. After a billion patches, including a ton of nerfs. Dunno, I guess the bottom line is, I don't see that much of a big deal in these things, as they take a **** ton of the devs' time post-release, players will always find new ways to break the game ANYWAY, -and- that dev time would have been much better spent on making new content, unless things are absolutely drastically game-stoppingly broken, which they are not.

I never understood the need to nerf things in a singleplayer game. So, some things are OP, and? It doesn't kill build diversity because a) there are a lot of OP things as of now b) more importantly: this is part of the game's challenge. Just like anything is ez mode on story, and almost everything is underpowered on PoTD solo, I look at this as just one more way to differentiate between players who want that godly feeling and those that want an easier time of it. I mean, I'm not saying that perfectly balanced classes (whatever that is) wouldn't be a noble ideal, but, really, who is suffering (other than your enemies) if you have something overpowered in a single player game? Your challenge? Well then, pick a class/skill combo with less immense results, problem solved xD

Yeah, I could have bet money on this, tbh. I mean, let's face it swords and greatswords are THE staple fantasy weapons, arguably. Sabres would also be a sure-fire bet, what with the pirate theme of the game and all. What does surprise me is that battle axes (another staple) are very poorly represented in both PoE's so far. But yeah, a Devoted/Shattered Pillar focused on sabres and dual-wielding just seems like a stupidly brutal choice for mince-meating through the game.

And then you add a chanter to the party (doesn't have to be the main character) for that sweet sweet chant and it's pain city for anyone getting into range.

Well it is not rocket science.. they could write code specifically to counter that one thing, while allowing respecs for everything else. I haven't looked at 2 yet, still finishing up my Pillars run, but I'm sure that companions will have stats just as tragic as they did in the first game, and with the inability to respec those -or- all of their talents, it's looking like no PoTD run for me on the first go, as I can't bring myself to use mercs.

Completely baffling decision. AND after we bitched about the inflexibility of no stat respec for companions, they not only skip on implementing that, but make respecs even worse than they were before. We need dem patches.

So, basically, a monk is literally THE best multiclass for Devoted, as you can easily pick a strong slash/pierce weapon like the GS or longsword and go to town with crushing (in more ways than one) unarmed damage. In fact, it makes most sense to go longswords, as both unarmed and longswords can benefit from the dual wield perk. Then add lightning strikes or whatever other op attack-speed-increasing-recovery-reducing stuff Monks have and I can fully see 10 dex characters wearing medium armor interrupting and critting like crazy.

Ooooh right. Yeah, my bad.. that's a whole lot better actually, thanks. Opens up other options, so I imagine a really boring mix of Devoted/Berserker is disgustingly powerful and has no issues with confusion still. Ah, man.. too many choices. :D If money's as ridiculously unimportant as it was in PoE, though, a drug-addled monk zerker still sounds the most fun, though xD

^Damn, what about that and that druggy monk class? That just sounds absolutely positively disgusting. A drunken master on steroids. I'm kinda annoyed at how good monk is cause I just kinda cannot get behind a monk Watcher, especially not in this setting, which SCREAMS some sorta swashbuckly character. However, a psychotic druggy drunk brawler might just be the ticket :D

When you say self int-buffs, though, you mean in a sense that buffs cancel out maluses right? So technically, you're not actually immune to the confusion, you're just mitigating that malus to INT, while still targeting at random (enemies or allies). Which would make it a worse option than being straight up immune to the effect, wouldn't it? Still, useful enough in certain scenarios, I guess. Paladin just seems too good to pass up in almost any multi-class combo, hah.

Hey guys, Pretty simple: the standard one that seems very effective is taking a Fanatic (Paladin mclass) and getting Mental Fortress. However, what are some of the other options? Can Monks, Fighters or Ciphers get a similar effect through a spell or ability, at this time? Druids, maybe? Wizards? I'm thinking one of the quick-buffing classes like Wizard or alpha strike classes like Cipher would do great with a zerker, but I'm just worried it won't be as easy/possible to get rid of the annoying confusion effect?

Devoted to pummeling your enemies' asses into the ground. Seems like a super powerful option for a Shattered Pillar, especially if it works with a fist AND another chosen weapon?

So guys, now that both assassin and Flames of Devotion have been nerfed, what are some other good combos for a melee rogue that won't be too squishy? Is Beguiler even a worthwhile class? (seems pretty weak to me, sure, a bit more focus on confusion spells, but everything else is a malus mostly, and the ranged buff is useless if you're going to be a melee character). Also, how about a Priest of Wael? Seems like a silly powerful class whatever you pair it with, but would especially rule with a monk or paladin orrrr assassin maybe? Still struggling to not make the obvious power-choice of Devoted/Soulblade cause Devoted is just damned boring as hell and I have no idea what weapons I'd be missing out on. Rogue still seems the most fun but I want an all round effective and fun to play melee character, so I'm open for any suggestions

Yeah, ditto, that's what scares me most. Still, yeah, it's probably a safe bet that there will be some awesome sabres, so with dw you can counter a lower dex and focus on a **** ton of strength and perception. Or just get a big ass greatsword and call it a day, there's no way gs's won't have some of the best choices, that'd be a travesty :D

Thanks man, that sounds cool! Would be worried about squishiness, but pallys DO add a lot of tankiness to the proceedings. Yeah, shame about it being only at level 10, but I guess that's only fair, zerkers are too damned powerful to have the only drawback cancelled out too easily, I guess. Lots of stuff to think about before the 8th, but it definitely seems like evil-themed dps builds are gonna be very fun this time around.

Hey guys, So this multiclass system seems pretty darned cool so far. I'm looking for some advice on a bleakwalker build. Off the top of my head, it would seem that a fanatic would be insanely strong, especially if we could somehow mitigate the confusion (is there a perk for the paladin or an ability or something to that extent?). Next up, I'm thinking a rogue/assassin type, or even a priest of skaen combo for mad sneak attacks. Then there's the Soulblade. But perhaps the most powerful combo in my mind, and one that also seems to gel well RP-wise would be Shattered Pillar/Bleak Walker? Can anyone elaborate on how these work in practice and what would (with the current balance in mind) be some of the most fun/powerful of these combos? Cheers :D

Thanks man, I checked out that link though I do dislike how min-maxy everything is, I tend to like not ever going below 10 in a stat, 8 at the worst Yeah, seems from the perspective of getting the most out of the story content and companions AND out of the perspective of being an effective melee glass cannon a Rogue does a lot better than Cipher.. still, going to experiment a bit see what I can come up with, Cipher's too fun to give up on. I just wish they didn't give Wood Elves such an obvious advantage for any ranged class as I'd never roll a wood elf (never was a fan in D&D, at best sun elves if I have to be an elf) but the bonus is damn tempting. Amazing how they almost always screw over Humans, but at least here it's not as bad as in the Shadowrun universe x)

Hey guys, new here! So, I've finally with White March decided to make my plunge into PoE.. old vet of Baldur's and Icewind, but this new system in Pillars seems like a whole new bag of tricks to get your head around.. anyhow, after a lot of thought, I decided the coolest build to start off for my PC would be a melee cipher.. quite simply, I don't really dig the idea of running around with a bow, blunderbuss even less so.. thing is, this seems to be a fairly challenging build from what I understand. Now I'm getting mixed messages about the importance of stats, so if anyone could just straight up point me to a good stat allocation with some reasoning behind it that'd be great (spell recommendations etc I think I can figure out x) My basic idea is generating a lot of focus with dual wielding sabres, being kinda sneaky so -I- don't take the attacks but let the tanks sort that out, but still be able to take a hit or two or at least disable dudes.. so from what I figure resolve might not be all that important, ditto with con. However, I'm completely lost as to the importance of might vs perception and dex + it would be great to have as many possibilities for conversations as possible, so I guess int/per are better than dex. Anyways, not to rant on, that's just the basic framework, but I'm totally open to any and all build ideas as long as it's cool, melee and effective (and a cipher.. but eeehh could be persuaded into a wizard too I guess, kensai-style x))