Vaneglorious

Guess I'll have to make due. I hope they'll balance it out more in PoE 2.

Hi. Just wanted to talk about the game's apparent issue with intermixing role playing elements and stat bonuses as rewards. Gift of the Machine, the Blood Pool (idk if that's the name, been a while), Merciless Hand from the Doemenels. These are all quite impressive stat boosts to your MC, which are completely avoided if you choose to be a 'good guy'. Once long ago I read a person's post on reddit, claiming he chose the 'evil path', because it's a ton more challenging. I was intrigued by it, so I went down that path myself on my 1st playthrough, only to find out the amazing bonuses 'evil' characters can receive. Am I missing something? Or is it really the case? I really want to play as a 'good' MC for once, but I feel like I'm being quite restricted if I want to be a damage dealer of any sort. I don't know how to feel about playing as a tank, definitely don't want to be a supporting type on my MC. Can you guys give some insight whether a 'good' character can get any decent bonuses stat-wise?

I personally prefer 2-handers with Barb. I use Tall Grass because of obvious reasons and either Hours of St. Rumbalt or St. Ydwen's Redeemer as secondary weapon. I've been having trouble getting close with melee dps that are kinda squishy (Rogue, Barb), so almost every time I'm using a pike for reach. Having reach also enables better carnage attacks.

While I was waiting for answers, I went ahead and made a chanter tank to test it out on PotD. While it's definitely harder to tank with it than a Pal or Fighter, I managed to reach Defiance Bay with all possible content completed before Act ll with only the MC, Aloth and Durance. There were some challenging fights and I had to reload, especially when there were no chokes to abuse, but I really don't see how the Chanter would be weak. I hope the tanking potential will increase later on. Would you guys say it'd be alright to use Shatterstar (+0.5 crit mult., +1 enemy engaged) or Measured Restraint (+5 default acc is nice and +1 engaged) instead of a hatchet? The unique hatchets aren't really good imo, at least they don't give the +1 engage I'm looking for. With either of those weapons and the defensive talent, my Chanter could engage 3 enemies, so "leaking" wouldn't happen so often as it does. My base stats atm are: 18 mig 10 con 3 dex 17 per 18 int 10 res I took high might because I was expecting to have nice dps with Winds and Dragon Thrashed later on and also be able to heal some with AM, but maybe I should lower it in favor of resolve and con, and respec later when I get that chant? Anyway, think I'm gonna add GM and Hiravias to the party soon. I might also need Edér or Pallegina to help out on the front.

Thanks for the reply. One thing, though. Yes. I believe the option will come up when you are about to jump into the hole (point of no return). You seem to have misunderstood my question. I was wondering that if I visited WM 1 at low levels for let's say Stormcaller and whatnot, then returned to vanilla game and leveled up to 13+, would the game give me the option to upscale the WM 1 content? Or would I need to continue against low level scaled enemies?

Hi. So I've been playing this game for a while every now and then, I've beaten the OC on hard multiple times, and only did like 10% of WM 1. I have a fair bit of knowledge and experience, but I'm far from a pro at the game. I still want to finally defeat the Adra Dragon and not p**** out every time for free xp lol. I want to do a full playthrough on PotD, however, and I'd be grateful for some general advice. My specific questions: - If I go to WM1/2 to get some early items that are needed, then go back to OC (original campaign/vanilla game) and only return after high levels before dealing with Thaos, will I get an option to upscale the content? - Are there any user-friendly mods that re-enable achievements? Because I'd really want to roleplay as a good character (benevolent, honest), but I have this thing that I want my MC to be a hardcore dps every time, and getting that amazing +0.3crit damage is only possible through the Doemenel faction. And if I'd choose to be more of a tank or cc monkey, I'd be forced to hire mercs, but I want to play with the fixed companions. - I usually go with 5 people, would I need 6 (probably not, but asking anyway) for PotD? Onto the matter at hand. As I mentioned, MC is preferably high-end dps. I'm thinking about Barb/Rogue/Cipher or maybe even Priest (mainly for RP reasons, I noticed there are a ton of dialogue options for the Magran faith). Must be physical (as in utilizing weapon) dps, as I prefer using a really nice weapon to do the main source of damage for me. This is why I like to dps with items like Stormcaller (Ranger), Tall Grass, etc.. high physical (+ lash & nice on-hits ) dps with a badass, highly enchanted weapon. Just my prefered playstyle. Can be melee or ranged, any suggestion (talents, stats and items) is welcome for those classes. Now, I was thinking the usual: Edér as main tank, Aloth for mainly cc, Durance for them epic buffs and heals, maybe Hiravias for amazing aoe potential and the strong shapeshift to reserve per-rest uses, Kana as support (really liked his ranged attack speed boost chant, along with the +25% flame lash chant with my Stormcaller Ranger, don't know if he could be equally useful with a melee dps MC) and maybe GM as a support/cc Cipher. I found Barb to be very fun with Tall Grass/Hours of St. Rumbalt combo, while the tank is holding down a choke or simply letting everything sorround him if no chokepoint. I also enjoyed a dual-wielding Rogue with 2 stilettos/2 sabres. However, that one proved to be extremely squishy, even when I was maneuvering with a lot of care. Not sure if they'd work on PotD. I'd be very much interested in a dps-centric Cipher, as well, and I'm pretty sure you can still use some cc like Whispers and Puppet Master despite being a main dps. That's all that comes to mind, sorry for the fairly long post, I hope somebody with a lot of experience finds the time and patience to read this mess of a thread and reply. For that, thanks in advance!