Monte Carlo

I too used to be a 're-roller' when you could roll virtual dice. But with point-buy type systems I don't feel the same urge. I can still be bad. With Pillars I haven't. I've rolled two characters. My first was a dandy paladin. I wanted a dual-wielding, floppy-hat wearing Vailian. Maybe this build can work as a paladin but I suspect it's one for the person who has a good understanding of the mechanics. Basically I wanted a fighter / rogue with a paladin vibe. This didn't happen so I started again. Next I rolled a barbarian. This was my attempt to make a sort of Conan semi-tank. Heavy armour was a biyatch so I went naked two-handed swordsman with high DEX. As I got better gear I put him in Eder's armour with some enchantments and he's OK-ish. I decided to stick with him because frankly I'd gotten about fifteen hours in and couldn't be arsed to start again. He's reasonably good fun in that the tanks pin the enemy and I dance about chopping the feck out of everything. He's still fairly vulnerable but that's PoE I suppose. Another reason I think re-rolling is mitigated for me is I can create my own henchmen and leave them tooling about in my keep. I've made another death-like fighter and a rogue. I'm going to create a druid next. The henchman system rocks - I think I would have re-started had I not been able to make other characters to fill in at different points in the game for certain tasks (for example I've got a Deep Paths expedition crue who are quite different from my 'critical path' team).

Noam Chomsky epic fail.

You can thank modders for that one, namely Wes Weimer, not Bioware.

I get bored when after an epic battle with an army of tough, wizard chasing enemies, I get nothing back except some trash items and crafting material. My team are battered and bruised, abilities used up, consumables taken. Not even any XP after I've 'discovered' everything about that enemy.

Indeed, I schlep my AW about in a Tactical 5.11 field bag, it fits nicely but it's not exactly what I'd call portable. But when I get the beast out and boot it up people usually come and take a look because it's awesome in every way.

It's actually a complete headache but that's just my opinion.

PrimeJunta I thought you'd made your last post on this topic about fifty posts back?

The MSI G80, btw, does have a sensible keyboard configuration situated at the leading edge of the case but it is simply too... over the top for my requirements.

I'm with Stun. Because there's more going on here, and at stake in the wider picture, than point 'x' or 'y' about Pillars of Eternity (which, one day, I am confident will be patched to the point where I'll genuinely enjoy the combat). I think we'll see games, maybe smaller, maybe bigger, inspired by what Obz has achieved with Pillars. That's one of the reasons I don't regret backing it at all.

I really like the look of that, 17.3" monitor an' all. Edit - my only issue with some gaming laptops is the rear-positioned keyboard... it seems squished too far back or is it just a trick of the angle the machine is photographed? I do a *lot* of typing.

Yes, definitely needs a slap-down for his domination of the hierarchy of knowledge.

Excellent spot, Shady, but that's a bit too much of a lairy, dragon-emblazoned monster-truck type machine.

we saw what they (obsidian) were doing. did you expect to get a blow-by-blow account o' what every team member were doing? am not recalling that as a kickstarter pledge. *quickly reviews kickstarter page* nope. nothing such as what mc suggests is on kickstarter page. HA! Good Fun! Yes, a lawyer's answer indeed.

Another competitor in the #firstworldproblems competition, and a strong one to boot!

Many years ago (five, actually) I asked a question here about gaming laptops, which led to me getting an Alienware MX-series laptop. Five years on it's still working just fine. It was a great buy, it's now at the point in it's life-cycle where it will either become a back-up machine / spare or be donated to a nephew. I'd recommend Alienware, FWIW, crap battery-life (comes with the territory) and it'll give you a hernia to carry around but man what a great machine in terms of build quality, reliability and coolness. Now I want a 17" desktop replacement laptop for my study. I'll mainly be writing on it, and surfing and maybe some light gaming. My main gaming rig lives elsewhere in the Schloss. I want to try something else other than Alienware this time, just because there's so much out there, so am looking for recommendations. The brief, ladies and gentlemen: I require a fast, stylish, big-screen multimedia laptop that isn't Apple and I'm not really bothered about price. Am happy to drop two grand UK on it if I have to. A mechanical keyboard would be epic too, can you get a laptop with one? Any ideas?

It's easier, and more fun, than getting into bar fights.

Whoah hold on. I thought, as a Kickstarter, this project would have a unique, transparent system of updates where we would see inside the development process and see who did what. Didn't we?

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-being-offended-doesnt-matter-anymore/ Turns out being offended is a hobby for Millennials, but now they're getting bored of it.

Got mine today.

'Tank' and (more commonly) 'meat-shield' have been around since BG1 at least, yeah.

I didn't think they asked about that either, but TBH I didn't read the whole thread.

Er, yes it is. The Kickstarter 'making of' doc explicitly features employees discussing the prospect of closing the company if something didn't turn up. They made the commercial realities behind the project part of the story. Not us. Um, well yeah. Budget, finances are a part of any development story. Individual pay, though? Oh, yeah, I'm with you on that.

Me too. The box is huge. I wondered if PoE comes as a '78.

This. It's painfully clear that the developers were playing favorites with the classes. Cipher got all the love cause they invented it. Wizard and Paladin clearly received quite a bit of neglect, comparatively. How's that Kool Aid? Of course it would be equally valid to toss that question, like a grenade, right back at you.

Er, yes it is. The Kickstarter 'making of' doc explicitly features employees discussing the prospect of closing the company if something didn't turn up. They made the commercial realities behind the project part of the story. Not us. Now I'm extremely happy something did turn up and folks at Obsidian have jobs. So, it seems, do most people in this thread. People are vicariously enjoying the success of a project they backed by a company they admire. So chill out. It must get saddle sore, up on that high horse sometimes.