Luckmann

Why would you use the weapon summons, though? If we're comparing Attributes, we're obviously comparing them from an optimization standpoint, and from that point of view, you shouldn't be doing anything other than long-to-mid-range DPS. No Wizard should ever get into the thick of it. A better argument for Dex is probably Clothing Wizards (because for some reason Robes does not count as Clothing) built around the Blast Talent and Implements. I loathe to build a character around mere auto-attack, but Wizards can actually do really respectable damage with it. I still say that Int is way, way, way better because it boosts core functionality and the key feature(s) of the Wizard, though. And considering that we've got a limited amount of points to work with, once we've taken Intellect, it's really between Strength Might and Dexterity. And then Strength Might wins because it's better for blasting and spellcasting. 9 times out of 10, Dexterity should be considered a tertiary attribute at best. Luckily, Wizards are free to dump Resolve and Perception fairly freely.

Unfortunately, no.

I'd prefer it if PotD was a toggle, and Difficulty only ever affected encounter design. I loathe the Difficulty-by-stat-bloat approach to "balancing", and would not want to see a separate "difficulty"-slider dealing with across-the-board buffs or debuffs to in-game stats. The game should only ever be balanced around one set of stats and only ever take those default assumptions into consideration when it comes to balancing mechanics or tailoring gameplay content of any kind, with difficulty as a concept revolving around encounter design. Turn PotD into a toggle independent of Difficulty, and done.

For the first time, I'm going to say to wait. There's rumors that they're finally taking a look at the Attribute bonuses.

I get the feeling that Raedric goes nowhere without his loyal entourage. He's likely got guards posted on both sides of the door to his chambers.

Why dump stats? Becuase you're not getting any meaningful use out of them, naturally. Now, in general, overall, in PoE, you usually don't want to dump Attributes below 10. But there are definitely cases when you do. For example, any dedicated tank can just up and forget about Dexterity, because your attack speed is going to be abysmal either way. The same largely goes for Resolve for dedicated (ranged, obviously) DPS.

Use the IEMod and the console to remove the Talent and give you the proper one.

Spellcaster? Int, Int, Int, Int, Int, Int, Int. After that, Str vs. Dex is debatable, but Int vs. anything? Int. Intellect's got two primary caster-centric bonuses condensed into a single attribute, +AoE and +Duration. It's no contest. Casting faster is ultimately of very little value by comparison, since you will almost never be chain-casting spells anyway - but I can see it's use for blasting out fast successions of certain spells. But Intellect is consistently useful.

I hope not. There's tremendous pote3ntial for a real wilderness/mountain campaign that isn't just one long dungeon crawl.

If they finally change the Attribute Bonuses in 1.07 (which would be a shocking turn, and just plain odd; you'd think such a change would've been an ASAP issue) I hope they go back and un-screw the changes they made to the CNPC:s, since they'd hopefully be able to stand on their own, with their original, thematically-based Attributes, rather than the ones they were given due to the screwy nature of the lopsided attribute bonuses (also known as teh suck, for most CNPC:s at the time). I agree. I always thought the reason there is no stat for accuracy was because it was the one thing that pretty much everyone needed and as much of it as possible. Now, if they split accuracy, with a separate scores for melee, missile and magic, and assigned them to separate stats, it might make for more interesting choices. Suggestion: Perception for ranged accuracy, Int for magic (including spell like abilities and wand/rod/sceptre) accuracy, Dex for melee accuracy. Make deflection depend on Con and Resolve, move spell durations to Resolve. By the argument, changing +Acc based on Attribute would only shift the problem around and create supposed "no-brainer" choices based on build; Dex for Melee, Per for Ranged, Int for Spellcasters, and in no way incentivize "hedging" or alternative builds, which is completely counter-intuitive to the goals of the system as presented, nevermind the fact that it'd convolute the Attribute bonuses needlessly. That being said, I don't agree at all that any amount of +Accuracy results in a "no-brainer" choice, depending on the bonuses of other Attributes (as I have written on extensively). Even if we push it to the extremes, assuming Perception-based Accuracy of +1 (fractional bonuses would actually have been preferable, but you'd have to go through the entire game and rebalance things around that) we're only talking about +/- 13 - and that's assuming that you play a very specific character, a White That Wends Orlan, and actually decide to specialize to the point of detrimental, and pass on things you might actually need more. Especially relevant when talking about the builds that would benefit the most from this change, namely spellcasters (that arguably does not need as high Accuracy, but have troubles getting +Accuracy, making it more valuable overall) - this assuming that the "One attribute to rule them all" of Intellect is finally split in twain (separation of +AoE and +Duration; preferable the former Resolve and the latter remaining on Intellect, for thematic reasons - mechanically it ultimately does not matter who gets what overly much). Sure, it can be disabled. And it is not implemented yet but choosing what version you want will also be an option for those that disable auto update. So even if you update to the latest version you will be able to roll back with a few clicks once that is implemented. We are talking about GoG after all... I've heard some mumble that GOG is going to make basically every version of whatever they have freely available to the consumer. Want to run Launch PoE? You can do that. Want to just roll back to the patch before last, because there's an issue that needs to be hotfixed in the next couple of days, but you want to play now? You can do that. Want to just always stay fully updated? Boom, headshot. I'm not sure how it'll actually turn out, and as I said, it's just mumble, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound interesting. I just wish that GOG could snag some of the big stuff from Steam, like Firaxis stuff and Gearbox Software. It annoys the hell out of me that I have to put up with Steam for some favourite titles for virtually no reason except blind dogmatism and DRM dollarsigns in the eyes of marketing teams. Not that Galaxy itself appeals to me, as such - I like the current GOG format. Download installers, have full control over everything, done. Taking away some of their BS arguments like "But muh achievements!" and "But much matchmaking!" and "Muh community overlay!" makes me feel fine.

That particular joke is about the obsession with balance, not the successful implementation of it.

My own solution may be less elegant, but the conclusion we reached is the same - the experience growth out of whack.

Oh god, why would you send a box in a padded envelope? I'm not affected (since I'm not getting a box, obviously) but that sounds like someone really dropped the ball or have never tried to ship anything ever.

I agree that a lot of modernist games have taught us to take things at face value (See: everything Bethesda) but I don't think that Raedric is being disingenuous in this. If there's one thing that seems to define Raedric's arguable madness, it's probably his obsession with resolving the hollowborn crisis. Also, if I remember correctly, there is evidence in the bedroom that she's been praying to or holding on to Eothas. This suggest to me that while yes, he was probably vengeful and felt that she betrayed him by birthing a hollowborn - since they believe it to be a spiritual disease, a divine judgement. Dogmatically, she must've betrayed him in some capacity to even birth a hollowborn, and according to that dogma, she must've broken the law to do so. That's the thing - even birthing a hollowborn suggests that a crime was committed. The fact that she'd at the very least kept Eothas paraphernalia around corroborated the suspicion and drove the obsessed and extremely dogmatic, extremely lawful Raedric to punish her accordingly. But ultimately, it is of course impossible to tell for sure. For all we know, she ate the last slice of pizza in the fridge and he killed her in a drunken rage, swinging the hollowborn child as a flail.

It always bothered me that his quarterstaff wasn't just a unique arquebus instead.

Yes.

Wow the butthurt. Also: irony, calling the review weak by posting weak sauce drivel. (not kidding) He isn't kidding. It's not butthurt. The review exists solely to defend the game. Like. Really.

Do you know of any (recent) game where the story was not average off the stock material? Shadowrun: Dragonfall had a perfectly serviceable story. Yeah, but that's more of a murder mystery than a real RPG. Although it has strong RPG elements it doesn't have real side quests and party management to the extent of a real RPG. You're thinking of Dead Man's Switch. Dragonfall is a completely different campaign (which surpasses its predecessor in every possible way and is probably the best CRPG since Alpha Protocol). Yeah, Dead Man's Switch was pretty.. bad. I didn't try Dragonfall for a long time, because I lost interest after Dead Man's Switch. Dragonfall - Director's Cut is amazing. It's got a great story, and almost all the mechanical pieces I want is there. Now I just want more control over the CNPC:s, some unique stuff for the PC (like CNPC:s get), and a better inventory (so.. an inventory).

Being better than Bioware when it comes to storylines and storytelling is a bit like writing a better love story than Twilight. I mean, yeah, sure, but like you said, irrelevant.

Yea, I blame Drizzt and WoW Rogues. But mostly Drizzt :tongue: That's also why scimitars sabres are one of the most damaging weapons in-game. Also this thread needs a group hug... xD Nerf Sabres, make their special a DoT. Again.

Clearly I'm the first person who pointed out that your fuel is whining. You can't breathe when you don't whine, can you? I'm trying to solve your whining problem, just relax for a moment, forget the whine and let me help you. I'm not sure if this is a matter of you just not knowing what whining is, or what. It's getting pretty sad though.

That's not an itemization issue, though. I don't think anyone has called for more powerful items, just meaningfully diverse ones. I think the enchanting system greatly undermines the itemization, and makes everything feel lackluster. Items are a lot less special when you can do the same thing. For example, imagine if any of the iconic weapons in the IE games could be easily replicated with enchanting. Wouldn't be so iconic anymore, would they? I think that enchanting should've been harder, and offered general, key-but-weak upgrades applicable to almost all items, and the vast majority of items found being much more unique. I also think that the Normal/Fine/Exceptional/Superb should be a function of creation, not just enchantments slapped on in a linear upgrade-style(s). It further undermines itemization and the feeling of a lot of things you can find. "Oh, I found X. Looks nice, but.. eh, it's really just a Sabre with enchantments Y and Z, and I can't even use enchanting on it because those enchants it already has locks it out. Eh. Vendor it."

There's been plenty of observations, pretty much in every thread I've seen this brought up, but I don't think there's been any real complaints, simply because I don't think it's really registered as an issue. Which is also why it took so long to fix. Even so, what you're calling for is essentially argumentum ad populum, but fair enough. And really, Strawnir, I've gone through what strawmans are with you in detail, multiple times, and how you've repeatedly tried to address arguments that no-one ever made. Everyone knows this. I know it. You know it. Everyone that reads your posts know it. It's not a secret. The only one that needs to accept that you have a problem is you. The sad fact is that I'm pretty sure you don't do it on purpose, and most times this comes up, you misunderstanding could be solved with a simple apology. But you just keep on' truckin'. If it's not strawmanning, it's deflecting, or attempts at ridicule.

People are ambidextrous in PoE because when you put a weapon in your right hand and a weapon in your left hand neither gets a penalty. ...No, not mechanically differentiating between left- and right-handedness does not mean that everyone on Eora is ambidextrous. Not that it'd matter much anyway.

There's nothing random about it. There are 3 prerequisites. It's as "random" as the D&D penalty to AB if you wield a medium weapon in your off-hand. Also, if you want to discuss realism instead; sure! It's easier to be accurate when your brain doesn't have to account for the differences between the weapon in your right hand and the weapon in your left hand; size, length, weight, optimal trajectory. It's easier when it's mirrored. Except it's not. The only time this'd be remotely true would be if you're literally ambidextrous, which is a pretty rare trait. Also, this would in no way account for the fact that there is no reason two swords or two clubs would be equal in how they handle in terms of size, weight, distribution of mass, and shape. This makes no sense. Not conceptually, not realistically, not mechanically. It's not brilliant, it's stupid. But hon, you surely noticed that in this game a dagger looks more like *gasp* another dagger than.. a club or rapier? It is established that in Eora both hands are equally accurate (source: dual wielding). People are ambidextrous by default... not that I particularly like it. I am fascinated that you still have energy for whining and having fits, even over something that's not actually in the game. No-one is whining or having fits, but you seem considerably irritated over the fact that virtually no-one liked your "brilliant" idea. The goal of the forum is to discuss things - if no-one would point out why this is a terrible idea, there's invariably going to be people that thinks it'd be good.. And I have no idea where you got the idea that everyone is ambidextrous from. I'd like a real source on that, because I think you're pullin' that one out of your hat. And yeah, a sword is more like another sword than a club, but a sabre is also more like a sword than a club, and a stiletto is more like a dagger than a flail. Are you going to call for modifiers for that too, based on (largely unrealistic) "realism", too? Because that sounds like the FATAL school of roleplaying. Don't forget the historical accuracy.