higo

Oh, okay, I completely misunderstood. Carry on, then. You're doing exactly what you should. And your party seems just fine as is. Man, work and life has really been getting in the way of playing. It's been a while since I've even fired it up. Maybe I'll just start over when I get back into it. Kinda regretting wizard mostly cause that's what I usually go for. I think I want to try something new. A melee class with some spells possibly? Not sure yet

Will you be starting over for the white march?

I don't see the issue though. Even the way you go about it is 'in character', as you go to a tavern to 'hire' a mercenary (yeah, you have to pay for them). So create one if you're finding you need to round your party out, then just drop him off at your stronghold when you find another companion that you want to keep in the party. There's no effect on the game, other than the XP effect (slightly less XPs per character with bigger parties), but you don't strike me as someone that worries about that - and you have to deal with that when you add NPCs to your party anyway. Sorry, not trying to be argumentative, I just wanted to point out that it's a viable option if you're having troubles with the combat difficulty, and there's no real reason to not do it if needed. But I'm not having combat difficulties If anything, I'm afraid it will become too easy if I build an "ideal" party. Also I want to save my copper coins because it's my first play through and I don't know if I'll need an absurd amount of money for something cool later on. (Don't answer that question please. I will learn the hard way, ha) I enjoy running into people in the world and being pleasantly surprised when he/she turns out to be a potential companion... And I know I can just get rid of my generic companions if this happens but combat is just not that difficult at the moment so as I mentioned earlier, I don't feel a need to spend my copper. I will definitely hire adventurers if I ever play it on hard/PoTD and build a better party because I'm assuming it will be necessary to have an actual proper party. Right now I'm at 2 wizards, a 2h wep fighter, a priest, and a chanter that I don't know what to do with just yet. It feels more authentic at the moment because I'm just a rag tag group of random adventurers that are just traveling together because it's convenient and safe. I'll definitely hire my own adventurers on my next play through though! I'm barely getting through act 1 and I'm already planning my next play through

I don't really want to create my own party members just yet... definitely on my next play through though! The last thing I did was recruit him before closing the game. I haven't really messed around with the chanter class so I'm excited to try it out. Any tips? You can retrain in tavern anybody PC or companion, so if you make a mistake at build a hand full of gold will fix you. Chanters song work no matter recovery (armour) so you can strap in the heaviest you have and still sing a song. From same reason you may go for all heavy shield and tanky talents, but it could be more fun to wield a rusty greatweapon. I'll try heavy armor/2h wep with him and see how it goes

The last thing I did was recruit him before closing the game. I haven't really messed around with the chanter class so I'm excited to try it out. Any tips?

Ohhhhhhh that makes a huge difference. I bet when I recruited Durance he was automatically leveled up already. Damn. Oh well. I'll definitely turn it off next time I get on to play. Thanks for the tip!

Tip To avoid a bug affecting the expansion-less game: in Options->Difficulty disable auto level companions. Hmm.. my companions have already leveled about two times and it wasn't done automatically so I think it's already disabled. However, I'll check it again when I get on later tonight just in case.

I don't really have a least favorite class, but if I did I suppose the combat/mechanics would be a reason that I don't like the class. (Boring combat) Combat and mechanics are also the reason I enjoy my favorite class so much - the wizard/sorcerer type. It's always rough at first but mid-late game wizard on this style game is so fun for me. The pretty colors and lights also make it fun When it comes to lore, I don't mind pretending to be any class. It's about how you RP as that class... It's about being creative and not sticking to the same thing over and over! Like playing the same class every time but having a different background. And the best part about Pillars is that your stats don't restrict you. No longer do I have to RP as the weak and frail wizard because which wizard wants to waste points in strength? Now I can invest in might and not feel like I'm wasting stats. (This is just one example of PoE's flexible stat system) I like that all the stats benefit all the classes one way or another It opens up a lot of RP options and you can still kick ass in combat.

Thanks for the warm welcome, friends. Yea, chances are I'll finish one playthrough without any help then we'll see how my second playthrough goes. (It's already so hard to play with limited free time. Finishing an epic game like this just one time is already such a great accomplishment for me so I really don't know how realistic a second play through is. Not any time soon, anyway) As for the expansions? I regret not buying them with this recent steam sale I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy pillars so I didn't buy the expansions. Big mistake. I like that you can experience the expansions halfway through the main campaign. I assumed it would all be end game stuff so I figured I wouldn't even get to expansion content for a while. I guess I should have read up on it sooner rather than later. Oh well. I just finished Raedric's quest line so I'm really not that deep into the game. If I buy the expansions now and keep going with my current file, will it be a problem? Normal's been OKAY so far. I've been 4 manning it for a while and have to be pretty tactical for some of the harder fights. I'd like another tanky party member but I refuse to make my own adventurer. I want to run into other party members organically. We'll see how the next few areas go. If I feel like I really need another tank then I'll just go ahead and make a custom one. Damn, I really should have bought the expansions too. I'm loving the game. Feels just like the old infinite engine games with just enough changes to keep it interesting and fresh feeling.

Hello friends, Long time CRPG fanboy here (I've played BG, BG2, IWD, and NWN1,2) Holy **** I'm literally at work just browsing the forums and watching PoE videos on youtube. Needless to say, I'm having a ton of fun with the game and can't wait to get home to my wizard. I love the game and I feel like I started playing it at a really good time (new patch and expansions available ) When I was younger I would obsess way more over good builds(min/maxing), exploring EVERYTHING, grabbing the best items/party members, reading guides like a madman, etc. and to be honest it kind of ruined these games for me... It felt more like a chore than a game. Now at the tender age of 27 I've definitely gotten over this (I have mild OCD but it's gotten easier to control with age) and I'm just going in balls deep, no guides; picking and choosing spells that I think just sound awesome and fun and not necessarily the "best" in that level and I gotta say it's been really fun so far. I'm barely like 5 hours into the game and I can't wait to see what else it will hold for me. I've always loved this style of game mainly because of the immersion factor (life sucked as a kid) and so far this game doesn't feel any less immersive than the other games I mentioned. I remember playing these games as a kid and I swear I could feel my IQ and vocabulary getting bigger because of all the reading! The worst part for me is that I really enjoy many different play styles. My first time through is almost always a wizard/sorcerer type but man I'm already hyped for the next character I'll make which would be a................... ****, I DON'T KNOW YET EVERYTHING SEEMS FUN! TL;DR: HELLO, I LOVE PoE