NeoSoul

So I ended up deciding to stick to the rogue for my first playthrough in hard difficulty and grab the companions that are already in the game (I had started a game with a rogue and one with a wizard where I hired some and they weren't very effective at lvl 2 and I possibly messed up the stats). I might go with Wizard on my 2nd playthrough as I'll have a better idea of which spells I like the most (although it depends on party composition, right now my Wizard is mostly doing CCs to let my rogue hit harder). I bought the magic stiletto from Gilded Vale and have upgraded it to ''Fine'' so far. I'm using a scimetar in my main hand that I upgraded dmg+1 (+15% dmg). I don't like switching weapons too much. I'm going with some sort of assassin build and I often open with a backstab (stay stealth, pull with the tank and land a backstab opener as the mobs start engaging). I just killed some fire mobs that gave me the last component I needed to make a +25% fire enchant on a weapon. I read that all weapons are basically the same at first and just some come with some enchants on them already. I'm wondering if I should put that burning enchant on my Offhand Stiletto or on my Sabre or just save it for an other weapon later on. How does the backstab work with Dual Wield? Is it only main hand damage (if so, then the main hand would benifit more from having a slower harder hitting sword)? Does it merge both weapons' damage and do an average with them? Does it alternate with MH/OH from one backstab to an other? I was unable to find the answer anywhere so far. I read that many people like to open with some ranged weapon for a bigger burst but I'm not too crazy about that for the moment (plus wasting time switching weapons, I don't feel like taking the talent to reduce the switching time). Is sabre a good MH weapon or are there some that are better for it? Some build went double Stilettos but I'm afraid my backstab damage and crits would be awful with two of those (the DR penetration seems nice though). I just don't want to use that fire enchant on the Sabre only to realize that it was a bad idea and wasted OR use it on my Stiletto and it not affect backstabs in any way making it so it would have been better on a MH weapon.

I think I'll try with the Wizard and see how it goes for a few levels (past lvl 3 as I understand lol) but am tempted by paladin as well (now that I think of it, I had the same hesitation with BG2 last year between a Sorcerer and an Inquisitor and my new playthrough for BG1 and the new expansion and heading into solo BG2 is a Monk). BG1 expansion was more or less expanding the world as well while the BG2 one was linear but thanks for clearing it out about PoE. They both need to be installed before I start my game right? I couldn't say get to lvl 4-5 and then add them to the game I believe? I'm just trying to make sure since I'm 95% sure that I'll like the game enough to get them but being busy with work and trying to work on a portfolio to become a level designer (I have other education background in teaching, hair dressing, etc. as well), that ends up making it so if I take out the time I spend testing games at work, trying to make maps or mods at home, that doesn't leave me as much time to actually play the games in the end. Having many good ones that I accumulated since last year, I rather avoid stockpiling them and buy them as I get to play them Yet, from what I've seen so far with PoE, Obsidian certainly caught my attention as being one of the most interesting game development teams I've seen recently.

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of the info I had was from this quick guide to picking a class here: http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/a-guide-to-choosing-your-class-in-pillars-of-eternity It's just that as I'm a hardcore gamer myself as well as being a QA video game tester for a living right now, I know that those guides often times are either outdated or flat out wrong (written by people who don't have extensive experience with the game) so that's why I asked in here. I think that I would enjoy about any class in the game but that Wizard and Paladin might be the most appealing to me after having read the comments. I also do not plan on trying to solo the game just yet, I'll probably try to do a full party run at least for a first playthrough in order to see how it feels like. Fighter also seems interesting. I might keep monk for once I'm more familiar with the game and encounters since his mechanic sounds harder to use if you're not soloing (if you solo, I'm guessing it's a non-issue). Cipher might be fun too but I dislike when my main character becomes weak on boss fights. As for the Wizard's strength, this game seemingly being strongly based off Baldur's Gate (D&D), I can see how some classes like the Wizard could start out very weak and become extremely powerful late game. One last thing, I haven't bought the 2 expansions yet. I wanted to go through the main game first. Will I be missing out on anything for right now by not having them? Are the expansions extra ''linear'' story that follows or is it more like side quests and expanding the current universe (if that's the case, then waiting to get them after I'm done completing the main game could be a mistake)? I'm almost certain that I will get the 2 expansions no matter what as the game looks amazing so far, I love the graphics, love the music, love the way the encounters happen like stories that you have to read, the combat feels very fluid after having been on Baldur's Gate for the last year when playing this type of RPG and so on but I'd still normally wait until I'm done the main story before buying it.

Hello, I bought PoE last year but I had so many games to finish that I just barely started it now (I played Baldur's Gate 1 again that I hadn't played since it came out before the year 2000 as well as Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced editions and just finished the new expansion for it Siege of Dragonspear). I'm somewhat familiar with a lot of the mechanics from PoE due to various RPGs I've played over the years but mostly Baldur's Gate that it seems to have been heavily influenced by (I think I read somewhere that some of the original Baldur's Gate crew made PoE but I couldn't find the info back so I'm not sure if that's true or not). So I'm really not far into the game, I only got past the first pillar that killed my 2 companions and into the next map with the bear cave and bandits. I always have a very hard time deciding what class I want my main PC to be in RPGs. I normally enjoy several different roles but I often mostly enjoy melee DPS and offensive spell casters (Wizard type classes often attrack me the most at first because I like the versatility, I like to AOE and enjoy the spell visual effects). 1- I'm not sure if the guides I found were outdated and if much has changed over time but it seemed like Wizards were very weak (near useless) according to those. Having many spells only refreshable through sleeping might be a bigger issue in this game than it was in Baldur's Gate where I could often get away with sleeping when needed. I believe that most of the Wizard's AOEs also have friendly fire making it much harder to use? Overall, what is the state of the Wizard ATM? Is the class truly this weak? What would be the pros and cons? Any guide for the spells (to pick which ones to take at first or at least, which ones synergize well together if ever it's possible to make different types of wizards)? 2- I started out as a Rogue as I read that it has the highest DPS in the game and it looks fun for that. I am realizing that I am indeed limited (at least early game) when solo fighting 2-3 enemies with the rogue as he can't quite take on the 3 bandits solo and can't handle the bears in the cave. I read that the rogue is extremely squishy and that the stealth mechanic is really poor in PoE. I don't mind micromanaging my characters, I'm just wondering if my points invested into stealth were a waste and how bad it truly is for the rogue. I don't really feel like having him used a ranged weapon much (I rather take a true ranged DPS if the rogue has to use ranged weapons a lot). I set the game difficulty on Hard so I don't know if this can have an impact with enemies being smarter and seeing through stealth more easily or not really. Is the rogue seriously in constant peril when he enters fights to backstab enemies? 3- Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian/Monk. I think that I read that the monk was horrible as he needs to get hit to be able to do anything so I don't think that I want to go with one of those or at least, not right away. The fighter female character you get early game looked solid and fun. I believe that the barbarian is a bit more fragile than the fighter but has more damage output (between rogue and fighter?). I'm not sure about the paladin but those are often even more defensive than fighters. Can I make one of these more DPS oriented or is their damage too far behind other ''true DPS classes'' for it to be a good idea? I guess that I would need to pick up a ''main tank'' if I were to do so, would this hurt my party composition later in the game (dmg being too low, too melee oriented and such)? What would you say are the pros and cons of each of those 4? 4- Cipher. I read that it is a very strong caster but it's not entirely clear to me what this class does. Would it be closer to a ''warlock/necromancer/mesmer'' type of class from other games (as in mostly debuffing the enemy, perhaps some damage over time)? Is the PC one you can find in the game good enough on stats for me not to regret too much not having made my main PC a cipher if it's such a good and important class? Could I have my main character be a Wizard and have a Cipher in the party (perhaps also a rogue and a priest) without my party being too squishy? Does the Cipher work best with just a solid party (say Paladin/Fighter/Barbarian/Priest/Cipher for example)? I believe that the other characters were mostly ranged DPS (non-casters) or healer/buffers which I wouldn't enjoy as much to have as my main PC. I'm basically trying to figure out what class to focus on at first without going too far into the game. Wizard is tempting but the reviews and comments about the class made it sound awful. Rogue is apparently a solid choice but I'm just wondering if I'll be stuck spending half of my time with ranged weapons or just trying to keep him alive with a weak stealth mechanic. An other melee oriented Fighter (or tank) might be more fun than the rogue in this case but I'm not familiar with the damage numbers and am unsure if I wouldn't just be trying to turn a high survivability/low damage class into something that it isn't meant to be with poor results. I would like for my main PC to be the main source of damage or control out of the members in my party ideally as I have more control over its customization. Otherwise, I guess that an optimized tank might also be good. If the wizard always feels like it's only half a PC cause it's missing half of its good spells in most encounters and the rogue just has to spend half of his time trying to stay alive or attacking from range instead of dealing high damage, I might prefer going with an other melee class. Cipher might be interesting as well but if that class is mostly about debuffing, I think that I rather not have it as my main PC.