Wormerine

Absolutely not. Even if the balance will be way off, adding those weird constrains just goes against the multiclassing. They should work and it and make is as best as they can. While not great, even if it’s a bit broken it won’t hurt the game all that much - it ain’t multiplayer. If it won’t be good enough for release, they will still be able to do some work on it with expansions.

But seriously PoE is a first game in ages for which I had to dust off my English dictionary. Once again I could use learning English as an excuse to play games.

Yeah, my friend likes to say that you need a degree in math to figure out how Pillars works. While i feel you get enough info to make some basic decisions the system is really difficult to figure out in-depth. % based modifications a probably the reason for those confusing ways of calculating results.

Wait. Summoned weapons don't scale with power level? Why? That makes no sense at all. Probably to help in creating better melee/wizard combo when multiclassing. Same with ranger pet.

In game there is no link between soul strength and might. I don’t know where this idea came from but it never made into the game. Might is clearly described as a measure of both physical and spiritual strength and in dialogues it was treated as strength. Deadfire already solved the problem of using might as strength check in dialogues by moving most of the checks to skills, with athletics replacing might in that instance. Not ideal, as it further separates different mechanics, but it does address this particular problem.

Well but they are! Long sword, saber, rapier, estoc, katana, morningstar are all weapon which were used historically, however due to being more used in popular culture people are more familiar with them. I know that I had to expend my knowledge of white weaponary when I started to play RPGs. I have little interest in firearms but I imagine that firearms used in 17th century existed before “guns” were created. I imagine that if we would continue to use swords to this day new terms and types of swords would be created. As it is now new guns were developed, while white weaponary remained mostly the same (beside combat knives etc. Used as a tool or support weapon, rather than main one).

That’s really odd, it doesn’t happen to me. Try contacting: support@obsidian.net

What a wonderful occasion to self-educate! It is simpler and clearer, but in a fantasy setting, which one of the main purposes is crafting a world with certain atmosphere and technology it would be damaging. Weapon not being used in a medium is hardly a reason to avoid using it.

That’s odd. Just to be sure, we are talking about backer portal, right? https://eternity.obsidian.net/backer

Wizards, Priests and Druids can cast 2 spells per spell level every combat. They pick one talent (spell) on lvl up. With recent update priests gain additionally one free spell when reaching new power level (every few levels) based on their subclass. Wizards carry Grimoires which can hold up to two additional spells per level. Grimoires can’t be edited, so they can contain spells you already know or ones you can’t use due to subclass restrictions. Overall less spells to choose from. Personal note: with various Grimoires wizards are quite flexible, though remembering what Grimoires have which spells is tricky and I usually tend to stick to one or two I actually use. Priests feel much better with extra spell per powerlevel. Druids probably suffer the most right now, especially with the split of resolve and strength hurting their melee or spells. I might be completely wrong as those above are my impressions after playthrough with each in my party, no actual data or numbers to back those up. They kinda tend to do the same thing over and over again, but I won’t lie, I was doing the same thing in PoE so it might be just me applying the same solution to every problem. Being able to cast Returning Storm every fight is a bit too good.

The tread is named “SJW integration in Deadfire”, which considering Obs doesn’t have a history of pushing political agendas, was never a danger. It’s a thread about pink unicorns and if they will cross our flight path. They might, but there is no reason to suspect that they will. PS. Apologies in advance for attempted humor.

They need to really decide on mechanics first though, right? Working on UI and presentation of mechanics/results for system which is in constant flux might not be the most effective use of time. At a same time it might be difficult to test and provide feedback on a system, which we might not use properly due to not understanding mechanics. PoE got better with patches, but it is still a system which give migraine if you try to wrap your head around it.

While I like str/res in order to make it work some serious rebalancing and redesigning of classes is needed. A choice between weapon and ability effectiveness couldn’t have been interesting but right now it’s not supported by class design. I would like to see this design explored (more variety in how weapons are calculated, more skills and passives etc.) but I doubt there is enough time before release to really sunk the teeth in. I expect we will see another experiment with next beta release. I would be cautious with adding completely new mechanics - game is quite convoluted as it is already - but tying resolve to concentration might work.

Well, and that’s why I am not a comedian. Satire is not my forte. I am trying though, goddammit. On the contrary I laughed out loud. Really funny post. https://goo.gl/images/FsgXYz Thank you.

Yeah, transparency in mechanics is a must. It should be hight on their for-release list.

Well, strictly speaking, the two events may not have been completely independent because they both had to take place near Glanfathan ruins. They were very connected though, right? Biawac’s were an effect of using the machine to harvest the souls. You running into both a Baiwac and Leade Key was not unusual. Not getting your soul sucked out was.

From my casual, no-number-crunching yeah, it works fine. At least I more or less recreated my character from PoE and it worked pretty much the same (ranged focused on CC spells). Though now when you mention this I wonder if hybrid class like cipher becomes irrelevant with multiclassing. You can probably create a much more effective cipher-like character by combining physical and magical class, while in PoE they were a useful weapon&spells pick.

Well, and that’s why I am not a comedian. Satire is not my forte. I am trying though, goddammit.

Except it didn’t. One particular purely DPS focused cipher build got nerfed (not crippled). Ciphers are still work just fine. I would argue that they didn’t get broken but became a gold standard of how each class should ideally work - all attributes are valuable, increasing/decreasing an attribute will buff/debuff certain aspect of the class. Perception might be the only one really hurting if you dump it because than you can’t hit&you can’t cast spells. At the same time, every class needs perception.

What do you mean my “SJW”? Is it enough to have characters with more liberal sexuality or is it: “women in out society has always been treated as equals because it is GOOD. We also embrace gay people. Arent we GREAT? Isn’t it NORMAL? I don’t understand how someone could OPPRESS those poor buggers. Oh look here comes Lady Cathrine. She is a warrior but she is also a WOMAN. She kicks men’s butt all the time. Even though she is a WOMAN. It’s so NORMAL I don’t even know why I am pointing it out sooo hard”. Second one won’t happen because Obsidian hires actual writers.

Sure, but how many times have you been fooled by those before? I have. Went to see a movie because trailer looked really really cool (cough Watchmen cough), got exited for games based on scripted trailer or promises. Once one generation gets wiser, the new one will follow. If some tricks will become obsolete, someone will come up with new ones. There is no doubt marketing works. Just being familiarised with a product ties you to it. When offered to go to a movie, will you choose to see one you never heard about or something more familiar? Probably the 2nd one.

I'm sorry, but I just had to pick this one up. Which planet do you live on exactly? I mean, here on Earth, among our species who are called humans, enough marketing and manipulation of audience can make you a ****ing dictator A right marketing, of a right product, at a right time yeah. Better to make noise than not. It is a factor and an important one but not the only or main factor. I am opposing to the idea that people like “bad” things just because they are widely marketed or popular but that they provide something they want.

True. This is why we have horrible games which are successful in gaming, same reason why horrid movies make millions or dreadful music makes billions. There are hundreds of examples of this, if we are being honest, as it's the same medium (entertainment) which stimulates the same portion of the human brain (the prefrontal cortex). Not really that important to discussion but I have to disagree. Certainly, there is an element of social pressure and exposure but I really don’t believe it’s as simple as that. Many people will like movies, music and games, which are hated by people actually interested in them. Yes, they can like them because someone they like likes it, or they pretend to like it, or they grew up with it. However, that would suggest that enough marketing and manipulation of audience should lead to success. And while marketing is important not many products really stick. Also solving the issue of people liking “bad stuff” should be as simple as introducing them to the “good” stuff. But it doesn’t work that way. Media can fill different roles in peoples lifes. While complete lack of balls in AssCreed games bores me to death, another individual, which treats the medium more casually and doesn’t put much thought into it finds it a nice, relaxed way to spend an evening. Nice graphic, animation, easy combat, boxes to be ticked off. I can try to introduce to people films with great characters, cinematography and scripts but they will get annoyed, because they don’t know what is happening after spending 10 minutes of the run time on a phone. I can talk all I want about brilliance of Beethoven or Mahler symphonies, how personal they are, how innovative, how elegant but complain “I can’t dance (aka. move my butt back and forth while being drunk) to it”... is valid. Some people don’t look for complexity, or difficult choice or to be stimulated emotionally when playing a game. They watch transformers movies for some explosions, noise and Something more might break movie for them. Hey, I don’t have much appreciation for food. Put a really fancy dish in front of me, and I probably won’t appreciate it, as I want my food to be convinent and quick&easy to consume. It’s just not something, which holds my value to me.

Still, humans have a history of reacting badly to thing they are not used to. There are plenty examples of works that after some time passed were universally accepted as good or brilliant, while at the time of creation turned people off, because its not what they used to, and yeah, more often than not it was a majority that reacted negatively - both plebs and educated in the subject. Of course, it also works the other way - you can make something and think world of it, and even gain acclaim, while in really it its kinda s***. World is weird that way. Whenever fans are right and wrong in their feedback, such feedback should be provided and it is on devs to analyze said feedback and decide whenever it is valid; if fans are complaining about symptoms, while their issue actually comes from much deeper; or if they are plain dumb and want something they are used to, and will in time get converted (or a product will reach its actual audience). I feel that once again we focus on individual words, while actually arguing for the same thing. I don't think Gromnir ever said that Obs should ignore fans' opinions (though to be honest with his prose, I am never 100% sure) but that they shouldn't change things only because people complained. Similarly, I don't think other people would want Deadfire's design to be purely based on results of a survey. I have been wrong before though... so let the fight go on. I am entertained.

I am just really irritated that when we say "enemy scaling" Bethesda RPGs are constantly brought up from the opposition. I never asked for Bethesda scaling. You could use Bethesda RPGs and use them as an argument to not use open world design, put writing and voiceacting in your game, don't create action/RPGs hybrid etc. etc. Scaling in those game really really does't work.