TheC

Looks like you need to make your own game and show us all how its suppose to be done. Just a simple 8bit game showcasing your... uh... expertise in gameplay design. I mean, that is an AWFUL lot of criticism their buddy.

I must admit that this fight was hard enough on standard difficulty. I cant imagine hard. I usually win just by blocking the greater sand with summons to buy time to take them out. Doubt this would work on hard.

I think that single class characters desperately needed this buff. But if the late tier abilities are too powerful, players will be mightily upset that they get the same amount of abilities AND no access to these great high tier abilities as a multiclass character. The whole point originally was slower progression, power lvl and no access to high tier abilities at all, in exchange for more abilities of a lower tier with 2 classes to pick from, and most importantly, often 2 different resources for those abilities. (And lets be honest, sometimes you have to pick so many abilities of the same low tier, you end up having to select pure trash.) If single class ends up with more viable abilities, higher power lvl (meaning the same abilities will be more powerful, access to all the higher tier abilities AND the higher tier abilities are insanely powerful... there will be no reason to pick multiclass except that you can. Also, it seems that some of the base scores (deflection in particular) start higher for single class characters now. I hope multiclassing doesnt end up being fluff and any real min/max will require single classing for late/mid game.

In my opinion, I believe the balance between multiclass and single will be made at high level. Its impossible to see if it is balanced until we see a single classes performance with its later abilities that a multiclass character will not have.

You can MAKE companions from scratch for replay factor, or even 1 or 2 for your first run through...

Looks to me like you just have 45 points of added stats lol

Well ya. There are 2 things that are OP beyond doubt so far in Beta. Devoted and any multiclass combination/Soul Blade and any multiclass combination.

I doubt they would change the mechanic of a class just because you went multiclass. Devoted gets the benefit of a single weapon type and penalties to the rest. Kinda of easy and simple to understand. That is a great step forward for POE2 across the board.

Cast time for a spell that potentially hits tons of enemies with added effects- 3-6 seconds with 1.5 sec recovery. = 4.5 - 7.5 seconds. (But of course, there are also .5 second cast time spells and some spells with 0 recovery time. Time to hit with a 2hander on a typical warrior- .7 seconds swing time, 3 seconds recovery + 50% armor penalty = 5.2 seconds. (worse for heavier armor) (worse for weapon model) The issue with spellcasting is NOT the time but the accuracy and penetration. When they tweak the gains for power levels and spell levels... mages will be fine.

I am sure that during your real campaign, your party would have much better equipment than what we start with for the beta. That will make a big diff.

Try not coming straight at the enemy or wait until your target is engaged. With 8 stealth, you should not be having a problem though honestly. Maybe you cannot do abilities?

Does anyone else agree with this or am I just looking at things wrong?

Not all of us feel the same way. I already feel PoE2 is superior to the first one. Did you actually play Tyranny? PoE2 is not similar to it at all. The combat system is once again its own thing, just as POE1 was. I am not referring to the combat system being like Tyranny. I am referring to the rest of the game. Particularly travel, the layout and how encounters are made/found. Flags on the map representing encounters/areas of exploration with a picture of your flag/face moving about are EXACTLY like Tyranny and NOTHING like POE1. There is nothing wrong with this. But it is like Tyranny. I happened to prefer POE. IMO they did not need to change this as POE was A-OK.

I'm curious. What are the mechanics of Soul Annihilation? It adds raw dmg to your attack, expending all your focus reserves. It can be used as often as you have focus, gaining dmg for each point of Focus. If you miss, however, all your focus is wasted. You also have a lower Max focus and less starting focus compared to the other Cypher builds. Even with these negatives, they will probably have to nerf the dmg on it. Having your focus about 70% filled adds over 100dmg at lvl 6. That is borderline OP to be honest.

The new system is definitely growing on me. My first impression has risen quite a bit now that I understand more about the classes and combat mechanics. Character creation is a blast. Multi-classing is a great addition to POE2. The different combinations can make for some unique and powerful characters indeed. I have had at least as much fun making characters as I have had playing the game lol. The graphics are beautiful all around. The player models are gorgeous. The scenery is lush and vivid. The weather effects are nothing short of breathtaking. I give credit where credit is due... your art team knows their stuff. Overall I love the game so far. You have made a lot of changes and I get a strong Tyranny feel coming through. Very strong actually. Tyranny was a great game. But here is the thing... POE > Tyranny. And not even close. You struck gold with the POE combat mechanic. I mean it really shined. I cannot state this enough. I don't think you all at the Obsidian team understand just how great of a job you did in the creation of that game. It obviously had flaws, but as a whole, it shone so brightly as to blind the player to them. I think we all, as die-hard POE fans, expected you to just smoothe out a few of those flaws while adding upgrades like graphics, abilities, the strides you have made with dialogue and storytelling, the vast improvements you also made with weapons, etc. Instead, you have given us nearly an entirely new game and it was honestly a mistake, because... 1. You will be hard-pressed to do better than a near perfect masterpiece. 2. You leave a raw, uncut diamond that was the old system collecting dust in a corner somewhere. The game is great. I would rush to buy a game of this quality regardless, but it feels like I am beta testing Tyranny 2, not POE 2.

All of the other casters have much fewer casts-per-combat than they did in PoE1, which actually makes Ciphers look all the more attractive in PoE2. All caster classes (Wizard, Druid...) can now use ALL of their spell per combat. They can use all spells in a battle and all those spells are refunded when combat ends in POE2. That is why I was saying that Cypher has lost much of what made the class, well OP, to be perfectly honest about it.

You aren't. I just checked while making a melee Stalker an cheating getting to level 9 (you can't go higher). 8 of the 13 passives aren't ranged weapon based all at. It's a mix of pet and defensive passives. I tested Stalker Link it works with melee ranger by the way. 10 of the 15 actives (I'm counting upgrades) do not require a ranged weapon. Only Wounded shot tree and Concussive shot do. Evasive Roll do not, but based on the description Evasive Fire do. Ranged ranger are more DPS-oriented, Melee ranger are more defensive oriented (and pick Stalker for the +5 deflection and + 1 AR bonus). That is good to know. Always nice to have options.

Cypher is BY FAR my favorite class in POE so I have tested it thoroughly. Pretty much a multiclass class without multiclassing. Has lost MUCH with the new system now that all caster classes use their spells per encounter instead of per rest. Obsidian will probably have to make a couple changes if they keep Penetracion such an important aspect of combat because if you cannot do decent dmg with this class, the spells fall apart and therefore the entire class falls apart. (This is the problem you are having with not being able to build focus despite soul whip now granting +50%/+70% upgrades to focus gain with Ascendant subclass you chose) Ascendant- needs love. The 5 seconds at max is far too short. Should be raised to 10 seconds at the very least. The least viable of the 4 options overall even with the tweaked soul whip. Beguiler- Average. Should only use if you are a veteran. Takes planning and strategy in combat to get the most out of this subclass but can shine. Not viable as melee option. Soul Blade- decent solo, Borderline OP multiclass with any melee focused class. No subclass- Weak melee character overall. Average ranged character.

There is one thing everyone seems to be forgetting about the Ranger class. You are pigeon-holed into ranged, sure, that is generally what a Ranger is, but the fact is, the class is EXTREMELY powerful because of the pet and overall raw dmg output. Because of this, Obsidian must be very careful in how they implement the ability to melee effectively without multi-classing. After all, why would you pick a fighter or a barbarian if you can melee effectively with a single class Ranger (utilizing Marked Target and such) AND get a Pet nearly as powerful as another player character that allows you to tank/flank/distract? Basically, I am saying that the class is strong at what it does. Making it as strong in another part of combat would make it OP. You CAN melee with a ranger if you multi-class and therefore suffer the penalties of doing so for the sake balance.

I have to agree that Penetration is FAR too important a stat right now. Perhaps -20% dmg for every point lower up to say -80% and maybe +5% for each point above capped at the same 30% All-or-nothing with something this important causes a lot of builds and weapons to become almost completely useless.

You have to remember that you can use other Gregoire/spell books you find so you are not limited to the spells you pick at lvl up. Also in POE1, most magic users were basically extremely weak party members most of the time as you needed to conserve spells. (which is why I loved Cypher) There are also other aspects to Spells that they added that I am looking forward to testing. The sound/volume rating of spells seems very interesting in particular. If enemies target/notices the spell caster more/less depending on how loud the incantation and distance from the enemy, it would add SOOOO much to combat and spellcraft in general. I am very optimistic about the direction they are taking.

Just doing the math and testing it in combat, 2 handed weapons are inferior to both 1 handed and dual wield options. The overall DPS for 2 handed weapons is MUCH lower. I have yet to find a scenario where using a 2 handed weapon would be more advantageous overall. Either 1 hand/dual wield styles need to have their respective recovery times doubled or the recovery time for 2 handed weapons needs to be halved or the dmg of each individual 2 handed weapon needs to be raised by 50%. Yes, that's right... as of now, there is that much disparity in their overall dmg output. lowering the recovery time for 2 handed weapons by 50% would probably be the best option because of the faster combat in POE2. Watching a character just stand there motionless for extended periods while all other characters and enemies around them are moving in frantic combat appears odd and out of place.

I must concur that POE2 is MUCH faster than POE1. The game is crisp and beautiful with its fluid and quick animation but it is also a bit frantic at times. There definitely should be a slower mode available because as of now, I have to pause the game often just to see what has transpired. + options like this never hurt a game considering if someone is comfortable with the faster speed, they do not have to use the slower setting.

Let us be honest... Fighter Devout is a very strong subclass because Penetration is HUGE so far in POE2. Too important really. This is balanced by only being able to be proficient in a single weapon. But when multiclassing, you can learn more weapons and still retain the huge bonus you get as if you have only selected a single weapon. While I have been using this build myself, I must be honest in saying that it is extremely OP and should be removed. If you choose the 'Devout Subclass,' you should not receive more weapon proficiencies from your second class.

While I definitely DO NOT want 'baby' versions of class moves for all classes, there need to be 'general' talents that any class can take (Bonus ranged accuracy/beast slayer). There should never be a Rogue or a Barbarian doing moves like 'Flames of Devotion' or 'Prayers' unless they multiclass to those specific classes. But while focusing classes more is a good thing, the classes right now feel TOO focused. This leads to sometimes not even caring that you lvled up with some classes because there is nothing interesting to take.