Luckmann

I'm not sure I agree, but at some point we're just comparing the shape of turds and I have to ask myself what kind of cognitive and developmental disability we're suffering from. It's like two naked downies in a mud-pit arguing over who has the prettier turd.

PoE would be a high fantasy game if you could walk on different planes of existence, like Mask of the Betrayer for example or Planescape Torment. IMHO PoE is a classic party adventure in a gameworld that is very similar to medieval earth with some magic thrown in. So you decided to cherry-pick an excerpt from the middle of the article. That's.. remarkably dishonest, considering that the articles themselves state right there in the beginning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_fantasy Does PoE take place in it's own completely fictional fantasy world setting with it's own set of rules and physical laws? Without spoiling anything, yeah, you're goddamn right it does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy

Afaik, they used to be affected.. no? I remember it being discussed extensively during BBv480, and how Dexterity favoured Firearms because the reduction got applied three times; fire, recovery, and reload, while everyone else just got their fire and recovery affected. I may be wrong, simply because I wasn't the one that did the crunching, but I wouldn't expect this to be "fixed". I think they did "fix" it already, into the opposite of what you (and me) wants. You say "omnipresent in the genre", but that's actually extremely far from the truth. Firearms may be somewhat ubiquitous now, but fantasy still usually doesn't include it, and certainly not two decades ago or less. To me, it's all about setting, and PoE pulls that off admirably. The firearms just fits. Whether pikes and full plates ever shared battlefields with firearms in the real world is completely irrelevant.

It matters because when I make an Argument, I expect people to respond to it, not to make up their own argument, attribute it to me, then respond to it. It matters because I love Baldurs Gate 2's combat more than 2nd Edition AD&D's. It matters because the devs did NOT promise us the tactical combat of AD&D, but rather, the tactical combat of Icewind Dale, and therefore, asking for Hard Counters and insta-kills is a VALID request, and very much within the scope of what they promised us. The sad thing is that I personally hate Save-or-Lose, although I think that a game without at least some degree of hard counters is idiotic, yet Gromnir would lump as all together into a single strawman instead of arguing the merits or lack thereof of either. Because, y'know, it's "D&D-like" or somesuch baloney.

I've had it happen a few times, but never consistently. Usually, I just need to restart the game when it happens. It appears at random, so it's hard to pin down.

I'm definitely going to have some characters that will be all about the murdering of Raedric, but from an in-universe perspective, offing his wife can be entirely understandable, and with the character I'm currently playing, a deathlike bleak walker aristocrat, a traditionalist that really hate it when people try to set him up to do things (just ask the vailian trader in Defiance Bay oh no wait he's dead), I'll probably end up working with Raedric, just like I'd probably end up working with the Doemenels if the game didn't insist on bugging out on me. My point being, that I don't really care as much as I think it's weird and inconsistent. It doesn't matter to you, because you're not siding with Raedric anyway, but it doesn't mean that there's no issue. I'd have a problem with any dialogue or quest that didn't offer a variety of solutions or approaches as appropriate to multiple different characters. Hell, I'm the kind of guy that feels physically ill when I do despicable things in games (such as hurling the child to the pavement, or stealing teddy bears in FO3), but I still love that I *could* do those things. And I think it's super-odd that there's no "organic" choice for my character in this instance. It's not a strange or out-of-place sequence of events; Kolsc approached me, I asked him what right he had to rebel against his rightful lord, he told me to consider it, I decided to consider it by seeking out Raedric and talk to him, I was stopped at the gate, told the guards to step aside or I'd spill their guts on the ground, then I spilled their guts on the ground, went inside to talk to the man, and was faced with this. It's not devastating, just.. kinda.. odd. It could be improved, so I brought it up. See, I don't even know who Osya is. I found some Berathian robes on another floor, but I didn't pursue it, because I'm a Bleak Walker, so I'm not going to skulk about anyway, and I had priorities - I'm going to talk to Raedric. Why would I run around the whole castle like some kind of rogue or mind-thief, before I face Raedric? I just wanted to talk. To immediately offer your services might be a bit odd, but there should at least be an option to tell him that you're there to talk about the situation and that you met someone named Kolsc. Or that you don't trust Kolsc. Or, as an Aristocrat, to tell him straight out that you support him, since he's the rightful heir. Or, if you're a Mercenary or Goldpact Knight, just offer your services. But this, as it is, is just kinda.. odd.

I'm drowning in rings, but not that many belts. Belts are probably best had from vendors, I'm not sure if I've found more than 1 or 2 "in the wild".

I... don't agree. Well. I do. But I don't agree with the conclusion that it's another problem altogether. I've said it before and I'm saying it again; PoE is all of these really good ideas and good mechanics that, each by it's own, would be considered good. But then when it all ties together, the resulting gestalt is.. not stellar. And that's true in this case too. The poor pathing, the lack of a "Hold Position"-command and the war on movement definitely contributes to this situation, just like the incredibly lopsided Attribute bonuses and the dichotomous armour system does.

This, coupled with the fact that so much other random loot is utterly useless. If I find another Ring of Minor Protection, Cloak of Minor Protection, or Ring of Deflection, I think I'm going to punch a baby.

It's pretty alright.

I didn't argue from a PotD perspective, though, in which case we'd be dealing with completely different assumptions. I always argue on the basis of Easy-to-Hard, because that's the baseline before the computer starts to pull blanket cheating in terms of stat inflation and artificial boosts. If we were talking about PotD, I wouldn't even consider Blunderbi or Pistols, I'd build the entire thing differently; but the OP set us up with some very clear boundries.

There is no such thing as a balanced Fighter/Tank; if you don't specialize, you're going to be an utterly terrible tank, and if you specialize, you'll have abysmal killing potential. I do not agree with the OP, though. Tanks do not need an overhaul. The system needs an overhaul to avoid this dichotomy. It's nothing that's fixable with tanks themselves. Offtank Eder endgame snapshot: Eddie da real MVP. The character screen records are bugged, though. They reset every time you switch someone out, except for your main character. I'm not saying it's relevant in this particular case, but it could be, which makes the screencap terrible for comparison. Also, "Endgame"? You're just level 10. You should be level 12 well before the end.

I liked having different ammunition types, but I am not missing having to manage stacks of generic ammunition. The issue of generic ammo comes up every time this is discussed, yet I've never seen anyone actually arguing for generic ammo to be added. I'd love for there to be loads of different special ammunition, different for each type of weapon (arrows, bolts, bullets), but I see no point in generic ammo either. This: Not on this thread there isn't. So that comment of yours is nothing more than a pathetic and dishonest attempt to spin our arguments into something they're not. Stun, why do you even bother? I can't even be bothered to trudge through his posts anymore, because they never even try to be constructive, just derisive and obtuse.

Luckmann, the problem with the WF groups as they are now is that there are 6 WF groups to cover all different weapon types with no overlap. What you suggest could be an entirely acceptable solution. Right now, the problem with the existing groups *IS* that they try to cover all weapon types. But if the devs stepped back, and created some reasonable WF groups that accepted the likelihood of overlaps, this could work. [...] This mirrors my own sentiments more or less exactly (one point is on weapon focus). It seems that they created the Weapon Focus Groups entirely based on each group having to fit a mould, covering each weapon type, a ranged weapon or two, and both one-handed and two-handed. And it's way too restrictive if you want to do themed characters. And let's face it, in a roleplaying game, we want to do themed characters. It's practically the point of the game. Instead, I'd like to see groups that covers both "a wide spread" and "a narrow focus". There's room for both, and from a balance perspective, even a single group that "covers all the bases" is really enough. Now, I see nothing wrong with most of the pre-existing ones, but there could definitely stand to be some more interesting additions. I used to think that Weapon Focus Groups shouldn't be allowed to stack, but I'm not so sure anymore. A Talent is a hefty investment and if you want to burn one for another +6 Accuracy on a weapon, I don't think it'd be very unbalanced. I realize it could be an issue though, but if I had to choose between my suggested changes and additions, or them begin able to make specific Talent-based bonuses mutually exclusive, I'd still take the former.

Additionally: Weapon Focus Swashbuckler: +6 Accuracy with Dagger, Stiletto, Rapier, Sabre, Pistol. Also, changed Mystic's Stiletto to Quarterstaff, for obvious reasons. Many of the Talents (at least mine) are probably quite easily added, if you really, really want to go through the hassle. PoE is moddable in some ways, it's just not a very pretty experience.

Yes, of course, I know you can support him, I just think that this dialogue is.. weird. Aristocrats are bestocrats.

I really like the Weapon Focus groups, I just think that there should be more and more diverse ones. There definitely needs to be a Swashbuckler one.

Already suggested that. I'd even go so far as to say that if you fear enemies getting into melee, just save those extra weapon slots for unloading three shots in a row into someone. I have no idea who'd survive that.

My next character is probably going to be a low-STR, low-CON Cipher with two Blunderbi (yes, I call them blunderbi instead of blunderbusses) and a Pistol, and a pathological liar with high-functioning selective tourettes. When a Clever or Deceptive dialogue choice shows up, I must select it, no matter the consequences, prioritizing Deceptive over Clever, and if there are no other Disposition Choices than Cruel, I must pick Cruel. It's gon be one hell of a ride. Really want to make it a Rogue, but I want to see all those unique dialogue choices Ciphers get.

When you face Raedric VII, this is what you see: Yes, I realize that once I've opposed him, you get the chance to join him. Hilariously, one of the options is to end the feud then and there, as a Bleak Walker Paladin, even though there's probably a thousand other situations where such a response would've been more warranted, and a Bleak Walker Paladin is probably one of the more likely ones to want to join Raedric, but.. I'm getting sidetracked. My point being there is no way to not initially oppose Raedric. When I went into the keep, it was with the intent to talk to Raedric. The guards outside were foolish and didn't stand aside, so I killed them, and then there were more and more people willing to throw themselves on my sword. These things happen. And then when I face Raedric, there is no Clever line about just wanting to see him, and even the most aggressive response isn't Aggressive, and forget about being Rational. My aim was to speak to Raedric on the issue, and see what he had to say for himself. I didn't agree to Kolsc's plan, when he talked to me, and I haven't vowed to kill Raedric, and I'm not really upset by the things he's done. I mean, c'mon, I'm a Deathlike Bleak Walker. But I'm also an Aristocrat, and a Paladin, and Raedric has a legitimate claim on the throne on which he sits. There's an Aristocrat line you can feed Kolsc when he meets you - it would've been appropriate to have one here, too. Yet the only way for me to join him is to.. change my mind? Before I even make it up? I have to tell him I'm there to stop him, or tell him that Kolsc didn't send me? Well, Kolsc did, I'm just not there to do his bidding. It's another quite weird conversation tree that seems to make very strong, very adamant assumptions about my motivations or goals.

This is probably because they were raging, and it's intentional. Raging enemies (such as Barbarians, etc) may momentarily obfuscate their health. It is the same if you are a Barbarian yourself, by the way; you can't see your own health. Now, it *could* still be a bug, but my bet is that it isn't. Also, I lol'd at "Tempelfanatiker". Same word as it would be in Swedish.

I personally never had a problem with it. To me, it always depends a lot on setting, and PoE overall does a pretty good job at evoking that not-quite-middle-ages proto-renaissance setting-thing, and the firearms do fit in there, and have a distinct role. Yes, it's arguable that they're not very balanced, but I don't blame that as much on the firearms themselves as I blame it on the game mechanics overall. And I must say that it really feels right when the firearms fire. Whomever did that, animated it, recorded it, etc, did a really good job. There's a sense of "punch". Take crossbows or bows to compare, and it just doesn't. Should've had some more *twaannggg* to it, or something. I don't know. The firearms just feels meaty and real, a gruesome shot in the face, and they have the damage to match up, it's noticeable when they hit. Yeah, they take forever to reload, but damn. Boom. Headshot. Yes, it's from BBv480, but still.

And while it's debatable what exactly constitutes "low-" vs. "high-" fantasy, I don't think anyone can argue that Pillars of Eternity is low-fantasy with a straight face, with the aforementioned in mind. PoE flies somewhere north of Middle-Earth.

The Damage Types themselves doesn't matter much, really. Whenever possible, I think weapons should have niches beyond the damage type itself, anyway. On the note of large clubs, I really want sledge-type hammers. Good ol' Diablo 2-style mauls that you swing overhead into your opponents, crushing their skulls. Two-Handed Crush weapons, Slow speed, +Crit.Dmg like Battle Axes or simply +Dmg á la Sabres. Probably the best explanation so far. +25% Barbarian Rage duration?

So, I realize that some of the threads I'm making lately basically amount to "Suggestion X and why Y should work Z" or something like that, but I've been playing quite a bit lately and instead of sitting on my thoughts forever, I thought I'd get it out there. Clubs, they are under-used, does not have a real niche, and I've never seen anyone say "Haaaave you tried clubs?". For whatever reason, they are considered Accurate. Discounting Fists, that means that 3 out of 6 Light weapons are Accurate, and gets +5 Accuracy. Alright, fair enough, it's a good bonus to have. I'm still taking Stilettos for the Penetration, and if I want Accuracy, I'll go with Rapiers, thanks. However, there is only a single weapon type in the entire game that gets +Interrupt. The two-handed, slow-ass Morning Stars. My suggestion? Make clubs +Interrupt instead of Accurate, thus bumping them up one bracket, from 0.35 to 0.5 or even 0.6. Is this major? Maybe not, no, but it is a meaningful difference and let's clubs fill a specific niche.