Headbomb

Quoted! But no worries, if the whole production process doesn't allow for it, then it doesn't allow for it. I'll chime in with the other guys saying that having an additional 2D artist would be awesome (especially if it allows for IE-style 2D item portraits). But when the expansion comes out, a backport of the portraits would be nice. I'm one of the ones that paid for the expansion already, so it doesn't really matter to me, but some others might appreciate it. I know seeing the expanded list of portraits in b480 made me pretty happy. More portraits is always good. Especially on Aumaua/Godlike/Orlans since we can't really rely on existing portrait packs for those. Either way, cheerio. Have this Bugbane Keyboard +3 in the meantime. And this 24-pack of Redbull. And also steak. Steak is awesome. Unless you prefer lasagna. Lasagna is also awesome.

Going to bump this one again.

I'm fine with a circumstancial bonus, but I can't see myself ever liking +stats if you're losing a fight. Nature godlike gets the my worst bonus award, and I'd pick the human side bonus as a second worse. I quite love the moon godlike bonus though. The aura of healing when you're losing... that's something that legimitely affects how the fight is going.

Should be pretty self explanatory. Only select one race in the second part of the poll, it couldn't support 13 options, so I had to break it down in two.

There are some hooded male portraits that aren't in the build yet as well as a few additional portrait archetypes that are not in the recent BB build. These will get in for the launch patch. There is also some clean up work that will be taking place on a select number of existing portraits. I created a list a few months ago of the portraits we wanted to get done (it was huge) and Kaz and company have been burning the midnight oil to get as many done as possible for the launch. Anything that gets tabled will go in for the expansion. We'll also listen to feedback for what you all would like to see. My focus for post launch/expansion portraits will be more orlans, godlike, savanah-folk (especially female), dwarves and amaua. Instead of waiting for the expansion, might I suggest you release them with patches (at least those that aren't major NPC-specific)? Clearly this is above my paygrade as a backer, but this doesn't seem like something that'd be very expansion-specific, or cost much time to review internally when building patches. I know for a fact that getting new portraits would draw me back in to create new characters I couldn't do the first time around. Plus it's something shiny to go with the patch notes that a bit sexier than "Clipping in HELM2 worn by Orlan Chanters has been fixed."

Not sure if this is a bug or working as designed, but if you press tab, you can highlight items and other interactables that are beyond your party's line sight. This is particularly jarring in Dyrwood, where you can see what's happening on the other side of town without ever having been there. This was done in build 435, but I don't recall the behaviour being any different in b480. Edit: Confirmed in 480 too.

See how item name in the 5th entry in store UI (The Dyrwood, Part 1: Early Colonial History) overlap with the price (some unknown ammount of cp, because you can't make it out). Long item names should either be truncated, or rendered in smaller font.

All other diacritics seem rendered correctly, but this w isn't. It's common accross bestiary entries.

Not really. Most classes benefit from most stats (save Charisma, which is the dump stat of choice for nearly every class). An intelligent fighter? Opens up the combat expertise tree of feats. Dwarven Wizard? +2 CON with +2 on spell saves? Adds a ton of survivability. Halfing Wizard? +2 DEX with size bonus is nice, especially if you'll be in the back. Makes for a good ranged touch-based wizard. Half-orc rogue? Say hi to increased damage and heavier armor. Racial stats in D&D increases build variety, both if you point-buy (with a triangular progression) and if you roll. You can minmax certain situations sure, but you can do that in any system. Half orc fighters are viable. But so are dwarven, elven, halfing and human fighers. The racial bonus just play to different strengths, and can turn crappy rolls into something decent (or good one into great ones). Here the racial bonus play to literally nothing because a 14 CON Human is just as likely as a 14 CON Dwarf, given they cost the exact same thing to make.

Best solution would be to get rid of Lock/Trap XP. There really is no point in those except favouring parties with rogues, and pointless similarities with IE games (which is normally good, but not in this case). But if for some reason Lock/Trap XP is kept (please remove it), then yes, using a key should give the same XP as disarming the trap. Otherwise you run into the Deus Ex HR problem of never using passwords because hacking gives you more XP. Or here you'll drop your keys because using lockpics/skills is more rewarding. But really just kill lock/trap XP. Everything else is fine about XP except this.

Except they don't. Aumua are a mighty race? Meaningless, unless you're trying to make someone with 19/20 might. If we're comparing to D&D, rogues can use CON (survivability). Rogues can use INT (skills). Rogues can use STR (attack/damage, esp at low levels). Elven/Dwarven/Human/Halfing/Half-orcish rogues are all viable and all have their flavours, with racial bonuses that support those flavours. Here however, the racial stat bonuses doesn't even come into play unless you're min/maxing like crazy, on a very specific build. Know what happens when I make a Human <class>? I remove the extra might, and then remove two extra resolve (one from Human, the other from Aedyr culture). Then I decide how I spend the extra 3 stat points. For 99% of builds, that's what racial/cultural stats bonus are. 3 more points to spend. At this point you're better off giving everyone 3 more points to spend on stats, and make the racial bonus actually meaningful (i.e. skill bonuses, or something unique like Moon Godlike's healing auras).

It should be meaningless. Ideally, they should only have affected character and world interactions, maybe some distinct class neutral abilities. It it's designed as meaningless, then it should be taken out entirely.

As for engagements/disengagements, there seems to be a fairly easy way to keep it and not have it cheesy/exploitable. 1) Engagement does not provoke attacks, unless you have a reach weapon. I.e. I move next to you the first time = No attack. Unless you've got a poleax or something. 2) Include a "grace zone" / 5ft rule. Minor movement should not provoke attacks. Adjusting your position should not provoke attacks. Withdrawing should be what provokes the attack. The logic could be as simple as "Are you within reach of your opponent? Are you moving by more than 5 ft in a duration that is less than your opponent's attack rate?" If you answered yes to both, you get the attack. If not, you don't get attacked. Sensuki can probably review the above two rules, given he's the one that raged the most about engagement.

The racial/culture stat bonus being meaningless is one of the major mechanics that needs to be addressed.

Still an issue.

It's very hard to tell if taking something from a container is considered stealing or not. For instance, the urn in the Temple of Berath, is being observed by the local priest. If you hover the container with the cursor, the hand cursor is tinted red. If you open it and take what's inside, you lose reputation in Dyrford for stealing. Makes sense. Now if you go in Winfrith's shop, or the Mill next to the bridge, there are some containers lying around with nearby NPCs. If you hover the container with the cursor, the hand cursor is tinted red. If you open it and take what's inside, you do not lose reputation in Dyrford for stealing. Some consistency here would be greatly appreciated. Possible solutions depending on what the game logic is 1] If the container is un-owned, the hand should not be tinted red. 2] If you don't want to highlight the owned/unowned distinction in the UI, then the hand cursor should not be in a redish hue. That's just misleading. 3] If the condition for a reputation loss is that you steal from an owned container, then this should be universally enforced. This likely means reviewing every area/container to see if they are owned or not. Likewise if the condition is that you steal from an owned container AND get caught by being in the owner's visual range (or from someone belonging to the same faction as the owner), which I hope is employed by the game's logic.

Overall impressions is that the party finally isn't made of glass anymore. Adventuring day is fairly long. Combat overall more solid, with some minor annoyances related to pause conditions (autopause cancelled movement also cancels attack orders). Wizards are now killing machines, and I'm generally having the most fun of all the builds! Not perfect by any means, but this is shaping up very nicely. Talent/feat description still a convoluted mess though.

It's happened to me several times tonight. Can't find the cause of it though. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Disabling/enabling the cage sometimes fixes the issues, but sometimes doesn't. Very frustrating in all cases.

Going to play the crap out of this over the next few days / weekend.

Reviewer patch being a patch sent to reviewers for the pre-release review version?

Awwww yisss!

I'd like another backer beta so people can playtest things and give feedback on the (near) final systems and mechanics. I know there'll be quest blockers, infinite conversations loops, broken feats/combat features, etc. like there are in every RPG ever (especially in the non-backer beta portions of the game). But everyone benefits when there's hundreds of playtesters trying to find bugs and annoyances with fresh eyes, instead of only 10 or so (or however many Obsidian has) that have played it so much that they forgot how it is to approach it from a fresh start. This is how you catch things like the racial stat bonus meaning diddly squat in the current build. Why should I care that my dwarf has +2 might? I can remove 2 might and spend the points elsewhere. There's mechanically nothing different about a dwarf with +2 might, and any character with an additional 2 points to spend on stats. This is also how you catch the annoying of selecting culture after having assigned stats, because the stats assume the default culture, which has its own bonuses. And since you can always redistribute points, the culture bonus on stats is also meaningless. So that's some things I hope the final game addresses. Because right now these are mostly empty and non-meaningful mechanics, with an annoying order in the character creation.

I like NPC fighters more than rogues. Rogues are rarely spec'd like I want them to be anyway, and they tend to be really annoying/clichés. The only reason why I bring any along is to deal with locks and traps. Now that the skill is seperate from the class, screw rogues. Fighters also tend to be boring and cliché. It'd be nice to have the semi-dark witty snark in a fighter for a change. Plus I tend to roleplay somewhere around the neutral good alignments, and rogues tend to be either unbelievable from a roleplay perspective. Sure they'll decline the reward. And they won't pickpocket the party and leave them high and dry at the first opportunity. That being said, one of the most enjoyable and memorable characters I made in D&D was a LG Dwarven rogue.

New icons for buffs and afflictions inside character portraits -- Not a super huge fan of this. Icons stands out less, and they get in the way of the art. Satin drapes adorning the weapons sets. -- Again not a super huge fan of this. This with the I/II/III/IV triangle just makes too much decoration on that area of the UI. Maybe if each drape was aligned with the triangles, instead of being placed in between, but even then I feel like that would probably be too much clutter. New design for active chants indicators. -- Works for me. That location and design (going upwards and to the right) was my favourite. Ten spells tiers buttons, the same as the grimoire. -- That's a yup.

My bet is it's POE's version of the surprise round / flat-footedness.