Elerond

I would guess that means that Obsidian/Paradox/Both are participate in Microsoft's ID@Xbox program and Pillars of Eternity will work on Windows 10 when it is released and all parties involved use this opportunity to market their products and services.

They would need to drop damage bonus that backstap gives, or rise level when you get those abilities. Now backstap works somewhat similarly that it worked in BG, with that exception that you need to start combat with backstap attack as stealth ends when combat starts, but that is somewhat compensated by rogues sneak attack, which consistently give them damage boost. Shadowing Beyond is it own ability that has great synergy with backstap. In my opinion rogues don't need boost, given that they fix stealth.

Encounters are build around normal difficulty level, and dropping difficulty to easy changes some enemies in encounter to ones that should be easier to deal with, and hard difficulty changes some enemies to ones that should be harder to deal with. Path of damned difficulty puts all enemies from every difficulty settings to map. Enemies have levels, but they are all predetermined and they don't change during game, so encounter with level 2 monsters have level 2 monsters even if you come across it in late game. There are some ways to determine how difficult monsters are in game One classification that they seem to use is to have terms that go from soft to hard or maybe from cheap to expensive wood beetle, stone beetle and andra beetle Another classification is to give adjective that gives you indication is monster easier or harder than its default version young wolf, wolf, elder wolf Another classification is use 'known' specie evolution chains wurm, drake, dragon Then they have monsters with Eora specific names, which gives indication that they are more special enemies Also they seem to go with size matters design, meaning that smaller ones are easier than bigger enemies

You could say that rangers are woodsmen or wanderers, but main concept I think is that they are bit rootless solitary people. Which is something that it heavily romanticized in fantasy books (and even non-fantasy books) as there is something in man versus nature (and themself) ideology. But of course it is something which is difficult to actually portrayal in game like PoE.

None of that has to do with the ranger's fundamental kit though. The only thing preventing the ranger from doing more damage is some numbers tweaks. Also Deep Wounds is terrible and doesn't stack (if it's giving 5 stacks on blunderbuss shots that seems like a bug?), Dirty Fighting is worse than terrible, finishing blow is... I don't know what this ability does or is supposed to do, and I haven't seen the other abilities, I guess they're level 9+? Also, a lot of that is not sustain. I think in an 'ideal' world rogues would do more burst with their higher damage abilities but less sustained damage and rangers would do more damage with their better ranged modals. Right now that balance isn't quite there, but it seems like it's visible. I guess that's why I don't understand why everyone thinks the ranger is in so much trouble. They're like 1 patch away from not being bad at all. Meanwhile druids have no worthwhile class abilities, no worthwhile class talents, and extremely limited neutral talents to improve their spellcasting abilities. Wizards best role role is 'guy who is good at attacking with wands'. And Barbarians lose out in melee dps to rogues in exactly the same way that rangers lose out in ranged dps except much worse. Barbarians aren't meant to be dps class, but front line class, they can't take damage and weaken enemy so that others can finish them of, but they are in my opinion weakest of three (fighter, monk and barbarian) front line classes. Druids have good spell which make them good in crowd control and dealing damage also, they are in this role much better than their counter part wizard, but wizards is much more flexible class. Druid's spiritshift is currently about useless, but in PAX video they seemed to have gotten boost. I would argue that dirty fighting is not useless especially on wild orlan rogue, but as hit to critical change don't work now as it should it is hard to say for sure how useful it is. Deep wounds is not terrible even if it don't stack (which it in my opinion should do) as raw damage don't get modified by armor or any other protection. Ranger isn't bad class but currently they lose in their main role to other classes as both rogue and cipher can do more dps in both ranged and close combat. And ranger don't have flexibility play any other role than ranged dps. Archetype roles for classes, if I have understood correctly, are following DPS classes Rogue: Melee dps Cipher: Spell casting dps that is mix of ranged and melee dps Ranger: Ranged dps, with animal companion that should work as melee extra Support classes Priest: Active supporter with wide spell selection Paladin: Passive supporter with modal auras, best support in direct combat Chanter: Mix of passive and active supporter, with their chants and invocations, weakest support in direct combat Crowd control Wizard: Widest range of spells of all classes, which are meant to give them flexibility to do other roles. Without buffing weakest class in direct combat Druid: Combat oriented crowd controller Front line Barbarian: Melee AoE that can reach most vulnerable enemies Fighter: Passive melee tank class that can block most dangerous enemies Monk: Most active melee class that is something from between barbarian and fighter From all classes ranger fares worst in their archetypal role when compared how well other classes can do that role, in my opinion.

Rogue's Sneak Attack (passive damage bonus against enemies with status effect or if they hit target withing 2 seconds before combat starts), Crippling Strike (extra damage and causes hobble effect, twice per encounter), Blinding Strike(Blinds target and causes extra damage, once per encounter), Dirty Fighting(passive, 10% of hits become critical ), Finishing Blow (gives accuracy bonus against wounded enemies, 3 times per rest), Deep Wounds(passive, Slash, Pierce and Crush damage caused by the rogue to also do Raw Damage over time, this combined with Blunderbuss (Lead Splitter) is quite devastating), Deathblows(passive, sneak attacks become more powerful when enemy has two or more status effects), Withering Strike (extra damage and weakens enemy, 1 time per encounter) and Fearsome Strike (extra damage, enemy become hobbled and weakened, 1 time per rest) abilities work with ranged weapons, which make them quite superior ranged class.

Only good point to be made about this subject right here. It still amazes me that anyone would want to play with less than a full party. It is like going to build a house and when you get there and open your tool box you throw out everything except the hammer. Sure you might be able to get it done but it would have been a lot easier and more effective if you just used all your tools. According to BAdler there will reward you with at least one achievement if you do so in expert mode and trial of iron switched on and play on Path of Damned difficulty level. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70785-steam-achievements/?p=1577988 "There is one achievement that I am not sure is really possible (without using some sort of exploit). It is called the Triple Crown Solo and requires that the player play the entire game solo, on expert mode, with trial of iron (party wipe deletes save), with Path of the Damned difficulty."

All the character's in the party were in level 7 and they run around maps that you can access on first half of the game and they also played on normal.

I have had enemies teleport in couple times. Usually so that their path is blocked and but when I pause and unpause the game they teleport next to their target. If I remember correctly it is always happened in those tunnels under town that are full of cultists.

My experience with beta say that best solo classes are Chanter, Fighter, Monk, Wizard Chanter: Has summons that give them quite edge in hard fights without risking own health, their chants are quite flexible as you can de/buff or even do raw damage depending on your needs and addition to summons their invocations over all are very powerful. Fighter: Can take hits and is able to give them back, and they also have ability knock down enemies in every fight which helps them against badder enemies. Monk: Their Wound mechanic lets them take insane amount damage if used right and their active abilities are quite useful when fighting solo. Wizard: They are most flexible class in game which means that you can make them work in any situation.

Also beta's quests and dialogs have content cut from them and some content is modified, so going through them don't mean that you will experience areas in beta same way in final game.

They have 11 classes and they were able to make only 8 companions.

Yeah it works only against people that aren't hostile towards you at the moment.

Backstap gives rogues good initial strike bonus, when they attack from stealth (from close range), so it isn't useless ability in level 2, but I think ability's description should be bit more specific about its nature and usage.

Backer Beta is different steam app https://steamdb.info/app/317120/subs/

But it is quite unlikely that those higher priced version will sell that much that they have major influence how much PoE will bring money for Obsidian and they also have goods from which they need to pay part of money to companies that produced those goods like Prima strategy guide and Dark Horse's Guidebook (meaning that even though they will bring more money than normal version will they probably don't bring double like price tag would indicate) I don't know, man. These "special" editions probably sell like hot butter to select demographics, and probably make a noticeable difference, or they wouldn't have them to begin with. It should remembered that many people from these selected demographics are already backers of this game and who already receive all additions and in many cases more that come with those editions. In my knowledge special editions usually sell about 1-2% of what normal version of game sells. So they bring money in (like 1 million sold normal copies would mean 10-20k sold special editions which, in this case, would mean 300k-1M dollars, which is not meaningless which is why companies do them), but if normal version of game is not popular then those special editions will probably not sell that well either.

But it is quite unlikely that those higher priced version will sell that much that they have major influence how much PoE will bring money for Obsidian and they also have goods from which they need to pay part of money to companies that produced those goods like Prima strategy guide and Dark Horse's Guidebook (meaning that even though they will bring more money than normal version will they probably don't bring double like price tag would indicate)

I'm willing to bet my testicles they'll easily clear that much in the first week At $40 per copy, PoE would only need to sell about 100,000 copies to generate $4 million. Personally, I'm betting PoE will sell about one million copies (which is less than what D:OS did, and Larian is a name hardly anyone has ever heard of.) And at 1 million in sales, that's.... $40 Million...which would mean that they don't need to kickstart PoE2. Obsidian don't get $40 per copy, but about half of that (steam cut, paradox cut, transaction fees, taxes, etc.). to get $4 million they need to sell somewhere 160k-200k copies with launch price. Paradox's CEO estimates in one interview that well received KS game will sell ten times of copies of what it had backers. Larian's Divinity Original Sin , which was one of most successful KS games sold bit over 500k copies in three months, inXile's Wasteland 2 was also successful but didn't reach D:OS's numbers (in my understanding, inXlie has not been most forthcoming with their sales numbers) even though they had more KS backers. Of course Obsidian has three things that probably increase their sales compared to D:OS and Wasteland 2, first Obsidian is most known of three studios, second their publishing partner Paradox has loyal fan following that buys most of their games, third their game claims to be spiritual successor for IE games, which have legendary reputation with in gamers. Although there is also some factor that probably play against them compared to D:OS, like their release date isn't in time frame where there is no big and well marketed releases.

Gog don't currently have achievements as they currently deliver all games with independent installers without steam like client, although they are currently developing similar client (except that using it is optional) named GOG Galaxy which is promised to bring achievements among other things for games that are bought from GOG.

Yes Royal edition has following extras Royal Edition Wallpapers Campaign Almanac Hi-Res Game Map Digital Strategy Guide (Prima Guide) Original Soundtrack Ringtones Making of Documentary Digital Novella by Chris Avellone Digital Collector's Book PDF Hi Res Concept Art Pieces Pre-Order Bonus Item #1: Giant Miniature Space Piglet Pre-Order Bonus Item #2: Gaun's Pledge

inXile estimates that it takes them over 3 months to port Wasteland 2 to Unity 5 (given that they plan to add features and polish too) gives some indication that 2-4 weeks isn't necessary enough time to port and test PoE to Unity 5.

I apologize, as I did not mean to suggest that it was your argument. I was carelessly unspecific with my wording. And I see what you're saying. But, the point is, you think something, until you know it. If you don't know it, there's never a reason to conclude anything. My whole point is that, there are two possibilities here: 1) That Obsidian spent some of their own money in this project, beyond the Kickstarter funding. 2) That Obsidian did not spend any of their own money in this project. If we know neither, then they're both equally questionable. One isn't any more conclusive than the other, so there's exactly equal "necessity" for proof on both sides. Any parties involved can wager a guess, if they'd like, but, as the saying goes, "Your guess is as good as mine." The "No, YOU are the one who has to prove otherwise" argument is not sound. If I THINK someone committed a crime, but have no proof they did so, it's not on just me to prove they did it, OR just them to prove they didn't. If either side cannot prove anything, then they should just be set free. The two are mutually exclusive, so as long as both are possible, neither is conclusive. So, it isn't that "Hah, I believe they spent some of their own money, and that's a better conclusion than that they didn't." It's that both are arbitrary conclusions until actually proven. Will Obsidian give you compensation for your money that has monetary value? If they do then they have put their own money in the game as money that you gave them wasn't a gift. If case is that money that you gave them was gift then your point has some merit.

Dragons look fantastic

Hate speech is in law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. The law may identify a protected individual or a protected group by certain characteristics. Hate speech is outside the law, speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation. Even with all poor judgement that Tim uses in his speech I am not sure that it any way constitutes as hate speech, especially if speak here against 'SJWs' and other groups is not considered as such.

If you look pre-order prices bit more you will see that Obsidian probably will not even make that $25 per sold copy that they got from KS backers, as steam takes 30%, which leaves max $31,5 for Obsidian and Paradox to split and Paradox would need take less than 20% that Obsidian gets even that $25 (this calculation don't take into account taxes and etc. fees, which are probably higher than what they are for Kickstarter money). Feargus said during KS campaign that Obsidian didn't pitch PoE to any Publisher, but they have in past pitched similar games to publishers and have got zero interest from them. And if as general advice that is already mentioned here several times, if you think that game or any other product is too expensive/not worth of it price then just don't buy the product and if you are interested to have product still then just wait until price drops or buy used copy or second hand version, which we come in my commercial pitch, where I tell that I will sell couple PoE keys with price of 20-25 euros, when I get my keys, as I bought quite lot keys but some people in my friend circle aren't interest of them.