Rabain

I thought I'd bring this up here so that it doesn't get lost from the Fig comments. Someone asked if the Collector's Edition box dimensions would be the same as the PoE1 Collector's Edition and one of the developers replied that the 149 tier would be the same while the 199 tier (containing the statue) would be larger. Feargus replied it was still under discussion. I would like say that I'm for the boxed Collector's Edition having the exact same dimensions as the PoE1 box. Imagine how big that box would need to be to fit a 10 inch statue and everything else that will be in it! The Collector's Edition box was large to begin with, an even larger one will have trouble finding room and looking appropriate beside anything else especially its PoE1 counterpart. Hopefully the Collector's Edition box will be the same dimensions and the statue can be boxed separately and both shipped together. Transcript of Fig comments:

I like the idea of the watercolour portraits. I appreciate the desire to add more faces to the game. However I can't help but feel that what a lot of these portraits lack is a background colour. Even if it was just a green or blue smudge it would help a lot to place the face in the picture. Currently the pictures are a little too much like mugshots. A background colour would give them depth.

Agreed, this is exactly how it was for me. Love PST still, just can't buy into TToN because of turn based. If PoE went turn based I'd be out so no thanks to OP's request.

Agreed, though I would prefer a matte finish rather than gloss; something that looks like it belongs in the game world. Either is fine with me, I was just reminded at the time of the BG1 paper map that came in the box. That thing has gotten a lot of value over the past 15+ years. But yeah something that might look like it was of use to someone in the game world would be good too.

Moat of the things asked about in the survey are unnecessary for a Collectors Edition. Cool, if you want to throw them in because you have them as add-ons in the next crowdfunding campaign then fine. For a Collectors Edition I expect the basics (physical box / disc, map, guide/source book, art, tshirt) and personally rarity and quality is what makes the physical goods more attractive. The cost itself kind of imposes a rarity as not everyone has $100+ to shell out. For the PoE kickstarter it was purely the signed box and expansion key that pushed me from the $140 to the $250 tier. As for quality that is hard to define in the first campaign I guess simply because most the work isn't done until after the campaign. However with a second campaign I would expect the experience and the existing materials would give you a very good idea of what quality you can expect or improve upon. The box itself was very nice and much larger than I expected so that was great. Personally I feel like I would have been better served by a larger glossy paper map than the cloth map that was included. Also the tshirt turned out to be too small even though only like 5% of medium tshirts I find are too small for me. That's a knowledge / communication issue though so I can't really blame Obsidian for it. The things that would attract me to a higher Collectors Edition tier are usually the non-physical things because most of the physical things I intend to keep in the box. So things like expansion keys, beta access, additional game keys are more attractive to me than keyrings etc.

It would be nice to get an update about the future of Pillars setting, if any is planned within Obsidian. I know White March 2 is still fresh but even ideas floating around i'd be interested in hearing about.

It's not a sequel, it's an expansion. It makes the game bigger, in itself if is not big enough to continue the storyline. I bet if they said it would continue the story people would be disappointed that it was too short to do so effectively. I'm just happy they decided to split it up in order to get some extra content out faster.

Agreed, I think it is going to be a very basic, choose a tactic script: Melee, Ranged, Ranged Spell Aggressive / Defensive, Healing / Buffing Focused or a simple class specific naming convention with Aggressive / Defensive option. Hopefully modding these scripts should be doable.

A metallic skinned Death Godlike or a robot? If it turns out to be a robot will it be clockwork or something? A more advanced Animat? An experiment to produce a better animat goes wrong but the test subject survives...Captain America. I can easily see the justification for metallic Death Godlike but not for any kind of automaton. The Animats are just mindless, even if they are soul powered.

Durlag's Tower meets Ice Island: Tales of the Sword Coast v2.0. If it is as good as TotSC was it will be great. Dwarves are always good, even if they are ghosts.

We've already be told to expect the expansion to be similar to Tales of the Sword Coast, so maybe 10-15 areas including indoor areas, same number of quests. Maybe a mini village like Ulgoth's Beard maybe not. What I'd prefer is to see the city / town content expanded, Gilded Vale, Defiance Bay, Twin Elms and Dyrford could all do with a smattering of extra quests / dialogue with townsfolk. I'd like to see more quests where the quest giver seeks me out for help instead of standing idly somewhere while their world falls apart waiting for someone to ask whats wrong. Remember arriving somewhere and having someone run up to you and initiate dialogue, I liked that. I don't expect to see anywhere outside of the Dyrwood, I don't think the expansion will be that big. About the best we could hope for in that respect might be a trip to the Deadfire Archipelago to visit Sagani's home and maybe solve some minor problem. A small village, some snow maps, job done. It's unrealistic to expect a Valian city or Old Valia etc, they would not be able to do the locations justice unless the expansion is much bigger than expected, which I doubt.

The correct solution would be to implement a stat called Style and have dual wielding same weapon add +5 style. Hats with feathers would also add style, as would shirts with big collars. I'm not sure if being able to kill opponents with Style should be implemented but I'm not completely against the idea.

For me it feels like the two functions are at odds from a roleplay perspective. Scouting is a word that can describe both stealth and searching, so on the surface it looks suitable. But if you think about it you can't really do both at the same time (at least not with respect to finding hidden objects). If you are sneaking, it implies you are suspicious there might be enemies nearby that you wan't to catch unawares or avoid altogether. Therefore you need to apply a certain amount of concentration to specifically searching for people and avoiding them, staying in cover, in shadow etc. This is not the same kind of concentration you apply to finding a hidden bauble under a rock. In fact trying to locate such a thing would occupy so much of your attention that an elephant could probably sneak up on you. While you stealth you tend to use a more peripheral sense, widening your sphere of attention to be aware of everything so as not to be surprised. When you search for hidden objects you apply a very focused attention, looking at details, oddities in the vicinity that might clue you into a hidden recess etc. It would make more sense to detach search from Scouting. But I would be fine with adding a dual requirement of Mechanics and Perception so that from a roleplay perspective the person who understands how devices and hidden compartments etc work (mechanics) is also the kind of person who has a natural affinity for understanding their placement in the environment (perception). This would mean that from a game perspective that there is an additional cost to finding these hidden bonuses and it is not just a by-product of high mechanics for trap location and disarm.

I'd agree, 3 should not include the "didn't enjoy it" bit. That kind of pushes people to choose 4 or say they didn't like the game.

Got my signed CE today (Ireland, EU), just had to open it: Inside the package but not inside the actual CE box (mouse pad, tshirt and postcard): The CE box and its contents, a bright image and a not so bright one. Left to right: CE Box, CE Slip Case (signed), Hardcover Guidebook Bottom Row: Letter about Discs, Notepad, cloth patches, Game Manual, Cloth Map.