Sensuki

I believe Dimitri Berman did all, or almost all of the updates since the first BB by himself as well

I actually don't really pay attention to damage types hahah, even on Hard it makes almost no difference at all. What matters are damage multiplier stacking, damage stacking enchantments and DR bypass and disables/debuffs. After that it's all alpha strike and positioning, if you get that right and don't play like a doofus - combat is over. In the Infinity Engine games, I did NOT remotely play like this at all. Character building is fun, but combat isn't really fun at the moment.

Regardless of whether or not I agree with anything in the OP, the bug forums isn't the place for this discussion - should be moved to Gameplay Mechanics or Backer Beta general.

The current idles just need the stance altered so characters hold their weapons and shields up, and then that idle needs to play when a unit is in recovery time, and the default idle used for idle in combat.

I am referring to stuff like Vocalize dispelling Silence, and things like that. PE's systems don't really offer this kind of thing. There's one spell - Suppress Affliction, and the Paladin has a single-target exhortation and the Monk has a self-targeting one. That's it. I'm also not 100% sure if they're working correctly, OR how they are supposed to work. I need to test them. But for future titles I am really going to push for more counter-style mechanics.

I think my fix list is more comprehensive I'll be making sure to go through my report list and check which ones have and haven't been addressed.

My casual work concludes today. Good timing.

come on bros. BAdler reply to my pm!

If you get hit like twice by an Elder Bear, that character is KO'd. Also, surviving 3 hits as opposed to 2 isn't really a 'fun' difference. I have played several maximum defense characters and they did survive noticeably longer in many encounters, but there were several encounters where their defense didn't help them or the party, and they were pretty much a liability. Quite possibly. I advocated for the removal of crits from the formula and to make them occur on natural rolls but Josh Sawyer was against it.

All classes have spells in Pillars of Eternity. They are called active abilities.

Yep, I'll make a video about it tonight

Defenses and mixed builds being viable are a problem but it's not defenses that make the combat feel that way - it's a combination of things, including the lack of 'counter' mechanics and things like that. Engagement also makes most tactical movement in combat not worth pursuing. Gotta go to work now - but it is something that needs to be more thoroughly examined after release. Nothing's going to change between now and then, and the full game.

*Fistbump* How did you solve the problem? Did you have to manually position it or did you find some magic way to make it automatic ?

Stop trolling. There are actually people out there that want the system to meet it's goals, not fail at them. You often come into threads holding the flag of people from the Codex who make complaints about the system based off maybe 10 minutes played in the game (eg. felipepe or whoever), but I don't believe you even hold those opinions yourself. Why do you even bother? Personally I couldn't care less about those opinions. This, although it's not 100% caused by the defense issue.

Yeah equipping plate on a Priest or a Wizard, or even a Cipher is not going to do much at all for their survivability. It's just not worth it.

Answer:

IMO it is a waste to do that with a Fighter. Paladins and Chanters are two classes that suit that role the best because their main class feature are passive auras. Max Deflection and Plate armored Paladins and Chanters are tanky with good defenses, and against trash mobs and low level scum - you will notice a difference in their survivability. It may even be optimal to have one of these types of characters in every party. However, when you stack Deflection and armor - you do no damage. You are terrible at doing anything except standing there and taking hits. Against foes with high Accuracy and high damage - defense will not save you, in those cases it is actually WORSE to have one of these characters because they cannot contribute with accurate crowd control or king hits to win the encounter. The problem is not that you can't find a use for maximum defense. The problem is that it has limited applicability, and the middle ground absolutely stinks.

I have played 300 hours of the game and Odd Hertmit and co have valid concerns that they have demised through playing the game. You don't wear armor on anyone that isn't going to get attacked, because it's suboptimal and reduces their DPS and you don't invest in defensive attributes or passively defensive abilities/talents unless you're going to make a pure defensive build that you specifically use to take hits, while everyone else pours on the DPS. Armor Class in Baldur's Gate and the Icewind Dale games actually meant something because it was one defense that protected you from all physical attacks. In general, hit chance, or change to actually deal damage on a melee attack was lower, so having more AC made that low number even lower and it didn't cost you any offense. In this game offense is better than defense and defense makes you WORSE at fighting in most cases and it's offense that wins you encounters.

Spell FX are still way over the top. I may have to manually remove FX files in a mod or something.

The problem is - where the cape needs to attach depends on whether the character is wearing armor or not and what suit of armor they are wearing - it changes per suit. They probably have to manually position it for every suit of armor or something lol x_x

You'll find out in the next Backer/KS update.

It seems normal? The cape is positioned above the shoulders like it is in the current BB

use the IE mod to summon them. In the current version they are BUGGY, but they may have fixed them by now http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70600-435-summoned-creature-bugs/?hl=figurine

The floating cape on the 3D model. If they don't fix that before release, it's probably going to feature in every review.