[Gorecci Street is the hardest fight in the game.]

That fight is bloody and deadly...

 

The front line thugs hit very hard and effectively block the path to their back line ranged attackers. 

[Patch 1.2 Paladins]

 

 

See, the thing is with defenses, each new point is more valuable than the last point. I actually have a thread about attack versus defense in the character builds forum.  Even though it looks like only 10% of his defense is from being a paladin, the fact that there isn't any other passive that does the exact same thing so that it can stack with wizard double is why there is so much value to those 21 points.

 

Those 21 points of deflection are arguably worth more than any other deflection he gets.  if you lose those 21 points he becomes quite able to be hit (grazed) which quickly loses the points from wizard's double. Everyone gets deflection from their class and level. Before you can even begin to analyze the relative value of that buff, you MUST take the base class and level deflection points out of your consideration. Accuracy and deflection are subtracted in the attack roll. That means that the baseline stuff is just a character level gateway. Essentially, the first 77 points of deflection make you a max level character. At lower levels both you and your enemies get less of those points making it a zero sum! He has a deflection of 212 with that build. 77 of those points have little to do with how you actually build your character (most classes have a base deflection of 20). That leaves 135 points from attributes, gear, consumables, and abilities. 

 

Abilities comprise about half of those 135 points. 40 from wizard's double, 21 from deep faith, and 6 from weapon and shield style. That is 67 points from his ability selections. The other 68 are from his gear selection, attributes and consumables. Wizard's double is very unreliable if you don't hit that 70 point deflection advantage cap. Putting that build aside for a second, go and browse deflection buffs on the various character classes. 21 is a tremendous amount for a passive. Its even more than some of the active abilities without actually having to use an ability. Oh... and it stacks with those active abilities (thus his build )

 

 

 

This multi classed Arcane Knight should be compared with the myriad of other multi class builds that one can build focused on defense. I am focused here  on addressing the issues with the single classed Paladin 

[Patch 1.2 Paladins]

This build is from two major patches ago; however, it should give you some ideas of how to stack defenses for insanely good effect:

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100521-class-build-solo-arcane-knight-what-happens-when-you-have-210-deflection/

 

Less than half of the character deflection score is attributable to Paladin defenses.

[Disappearing Saves]

Does anyone have the same issue I am encountering where saves are simply disappearing?

 

I have encountered this on multiple occasions now and wondering how to resolve

[Patch 1.2 Paladins]

Folks

 

Paladins have been nerfed and nerfed and nerfed to the extent that the class can no longer be recognized for what it should be.

 

Paladins should be a fully standalone martial class with extraordinary defensive capabilities of divine origin. That was why backers specifically demanded the class during the PoE 1 Kickstarter.

 

What we see now is a watered down wannabe priest..

 

• Their base deflection was nerfed beyond recognition. 
• You cant touch sacred immolation unless you want to commit suicide
• Their exhortation have such a shortened base duration that there is no point using them
• Players really are better off picking a fighter 

 

This is what happens when nerfing is the primary mechanism used to balance a game. Classes get completely hollowed out. I have no idea whose lot at Obsidian it is to carry out this kind of task, but the results are poor indeed.

 

 

On  another note, We backers also have to accept blame for some of these undesired outcomes. There are folks in this community who constantly show up to whine whenever a class features an ability that actually works. For them the game must always be a grind. No room for smart character design, or synergy between abilities in a party. Anything that works is overpowered. It is terrible. 

 

As a result these selfish people ruin the game for everyone. The funny thing is when you call these people out on their nonsense, you discover they are not even playing the game...their noise is coming from paper calculations of what they think is happening in the game.

 

The only solution as I see it is for the devs to reduce their reliance on nerfing as a means of balancing the game. The focus should be more on tuning encounters to meet the desired level of challenge

[[1.2b0009] Bugged UI]

Level up icons continue to flash even after leveling up has been completed

[Garsten's Last Interview (?) plus Mikey Dowling - PCGamer]

She left Obsidian a while ago right?

[The Consolidated Pillars of Eternity 2 Wishlists Thread]

Here is my wish list for PoE 2.  (A few updates to my original post...)

 

 

The Talent System needs to be revamped. PoE featured too many awful talents that made little or no difference after you took them. The worst part of this problem is that some of these talents were then rendered worthless by gear. For instance why take Graceful Retreat (12 disengage defense) when there is in-game gear that will provide way more.

 

 

PoTD implementation is a problem. PoTD should emphasize more enemy variety per encounter instead of loading up bosses with infinite HP and one-shot damage. This poor implementation led to Dragons that cannot be killed. Can the developers please play the game on PoTD - or at least try.

 

 

No more random addition of immunities that unbalance the game. If you are going to implement immunities please balance the other talents in the game to accommodate them. Immunities rendered classes like the Barbarian (Threatening presence) and the Rogue weaker than intended in the original game. Immunities were a disaster in PoE

 

 

Players should be rewarded for designing good character builds. Remove the over dependence of classes on gear to be viable. (Forgemaster Gloves I am looking at you). There is something fundamentally wrong with gear overshadowing good character creation. It takes away the pay-off players get from constructing characters

 

 

After a trap is detected, there is no reason for companions to run into them. Bonus against traps should increase upon detection

 

 

A single attribute like Resolve should not dominate when it comes to dialog options. A resolve of 18 in PoE was enough to get the PC through most of the dialog options. Dialog options should be distributed better among the attributes

 

 

Six party members are too many in my opinion. Others may disagree

 

 

There should be more opportunities for people to gain attribute points through questing. The three in PoE (heritage hill, Council of Stars, Skaen Temple) were not enough

 

 

 

Per rest attribute bonuses are immersion breaking and frustrating. No one should have to trace their way out of a dungeon to reinstate attribute bonuses. Resting should give other benefits, but not attribute bonuses

 

 

I personally like min maxing. i like to see what I can squeeze out of a build. There are those who do not like to play that way and that is fine as well. PoE 2 should pay off for both types of play style

 

 

Let us customize companions from the start of the game. Do not give us random stat distribution NPCs to salvage from their miserable attributes (Sorry Pallegina...)

 

 

Please figure out how I can spend my money as it accumulates. 200,000 pands and nothing to spend it on is insane. 

 

 

All classes should have natural regeneration of health, even if some classes have more than others. Natural regeneration should be upgrade-able with talents

 

 

Be brave...let us experience some Divine level or epic gameplay. (Motb did just fine)

 

 

Plan for expansions from the start including the maximum level cap and talents. Scaling an area up because the player's level is too high  breaks the flow of the game and really is an odd way to implement an expansion

 

 

The bounties seemed 'tacked on' to me. the XP gain for those missions did not match overall game balance

 

 

I would like the level cap removed...but that's just my opinion

 

[Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions]

Updates to my original post included here for continuity...

 

 

The Talent System needs to be revamped. PoE featured too many awful talents that made little or no difference after you took them. The worst part of this problem is that some of these talents were then rendered worthless by gear. For instance why take Graceful Retreat (12 disengage defense) when there is in-game gear that will provide way more.

 

 

PoTD implementation is a problem. PoTD should emphasize more enemy variety per encounter instead of loading up bosses with infinite HP and one-shot damage. This poor implementation led to Dragons that cannot be killed. Can the developers please play the game on PoTD - or at least try.

 

 

No more random addition of immunities that unbalance the game. If you are going to implement immunities please balance the other talents in the game to accommodate them. Immunities rendered classes like the Barbarian (Threatening presence) and the Rogue weaker than intended in the original game. Immunities were a disaster in PoE

 

 

Players should be rewarded for designing good character builds. Remove the over dependence of classes on gear to be viable. (Forgemaster Gloves I am looking at you). There is something fundamentally wrong with gear overshadowing good character creation. It takes away the pay-off players get from constructing characters

 

 

After a trap is detected, there is no reason for companions to run into them. Bonus against traps should increase upon detection

 

 

A single attribute like Resolve should not dominate when it comes to dialog options. A resolve of 18 in PoE was enough to get the PC through most of the dialog options. Dialog options should be distributed better among the attributes

 

 

Six party members are too many in my opinion. Others may disagree

 

 

There should be more opportunities for people to gain attribute points through questing. The three in PoE (heritage hill, Council of Stars, Skaen Temple) were not enough

 

 

 

Per rest attribute bonuses are immersion breaking and frustrating. No one should have to trace their way out of a dungeon to reinstate attribute bonuses. Resting should give other benefits, but not attribute bonuses

 

 

I personally like min maxing. i like to see what I can squeeze out of a build. There are those who do not like to play that way and that is fine as well. PoE 2 should pay off for both types of play style

 

 

Let us customize companions from the start of the game. Do not give us random stat distribution NPCs to salvage from their miserable attributes (Sorry Pallegina...)

 

 

Please figure out how I can spend my money as it accumulates. 200,000 pands and nothing to spend it on is insane. 

 

 

All classes should have natural regeneration of health, even if some classes have more than others. Natural regeneration should be upgrade-able with talents

 

 

Be brave...let us experience some Divine level or epic gameplay. (Motb did just fine)

 

 

Plan for expansions from the start including the maximum level cap and talents. Scaling an area up because the player's level is too high  breaks the flow of the game and really is an odd way to implement an expansion

 

 

The bounties seemed 'tacked on' to me. the XP gain for those missions did not match overall game balance

 

 

I would like the level cap removed...but that's just my opinion

[What's next for Obsidian?]

Tyranny was absolutely awesome

[Justin Bell]

I am taking a moment from my day to pay tribute to the Epic music Justin Bell laid out for Tyranny...

 

The music at the top of the Mountain Spire was so moving, I stopped playing for a while just to listen.

 

Justin Bell as a composer has indeed bloomed...

 

 

I salute his work!

[3.04 Hotfix]

I don't know why Obsidian have engage in this nonsense - tweaking items and so on. Looks like there no any other problems in game, exept poor sabres and Unlabored blade - no trash abilities, no bugs... Every time, when community ask them to pay attention on сertain issues in game balance or bugs, they listen just what they want listen and skipping past huge amount of useful information, and tweaking things when nobody asked for.

Seems they live in somewhat parallel universe. I don't know how to explain their behavior line.

 

I agree with this sentiment. I am sick and tired of the tweaking that adds nothing to the fun in the game...nothing

[3.04? Update on our next patch]

Did they fix the bug with Kalakoth's minor blights failing to fire if wizard has Lengrath's displaced image on?

 

Infact Kalakoth's minor blights sometimes just does not fire

[Viable PoTD Rogue]

Can someone create a viable non face-planting rogue?

 

 

I'd like to know if someone has successfully completed a PoTD run with the class?

 

 

It is a phenomenally disappointing class 

[Pillars of Eternity 3.04 Beta Feedback Contest (Conversation Thread)]

1. How have we been at communicating with you guys?

 

Sorry, but very poorly...as far as I know only Adam Brennecke bothers to read and reply to communications. I cannot recall the last time Josh showed up on the forums, or even read anything coming out of here. It appears he avoids the forums entirely or is too busy. Whatever the reason, the lack of responsiveness from the director of a kickstarter game has been beyond belief for me. For ages we were pointing out the steep and uneven difficulty curve between levels 1 and 5, we were flagging the dismal performances of the rogue and barbarian, among other issues and nobody was listening. Our concerns did not get addressed while we got stuff like resistances arbitrarily shoved into the game thereby rendering several talents across different classes worthless  Many apologies if this feedback sounds harsh, it is only meant to be honest and lead to better outcomes. 

 

2. What did you like about us?

 

You guys did a good job with finishing and releasing the game within a decent time frame. You also provided beefy add-ons to keep players engaged. Obsidian deserves kudos for this. No one can complain of being shortchanged. 

 

You have kept your commitment to having a deep narrative in your games. This is good

 

I love the RTWP gameplay in PoE

 

3. What kind of things would you like to see us improve on?

 

We want all developers to play and tune the game on the hardest difficulty prior to release. If you guys had played PoE on PoTD, I am certain players would not have been tormented by so many balance related issues. (The Adra dragon being a prime example)

 

Gear and equipment has seemed to overwhelm/take away from the satisfaction of proper character construction based on skills and talents. My Barbarian should not have to rely on Forgemaster gloves before I can enjoy the class at its full potential. The power of the class should be in its talents and skills...gear should merely give flavor to the innate build

 

The excessive focus on balance in PoE caused the game to sometimes miss the point that every game at its heart should be fun. If players are enjoying something (overpowered or not) don't nerf it, do something else like improving enemy AI instead. For instance the RDD class in NWN2  added more fun factor to the game

 

Reduce party composition from six to four

 

Please allow players build and customize NPC companions. I would have gotten a lot of use out of reallocating the points Durance had in Resolve

 

 

 

4. What would you like to hear from us in the future?

 

I would like to see divine level game play. We raised this issue with Feargus during the Kickstarter and he said epic level gameplay will be more appropriate in a sequel. I hope he has not forgotten.

 

Upgraded graphics...3D if possible. I want to see my features and gear during gameplay. 

 

Remove the level cap. Players should continue to be rewarded

 

 

What is the hardest fight you had in the game? What were your favorite and least favorite fights? Do you feel that there were any boss fights that were to overwhelming or underwhelming?

 

All responses based on PoTD gameplay:

 

The Adra dragon on PoTD is the absolute worst fight. it was not properly tuned. The White March dragon has a breath weapon  that also one shots entire parties

 

Temple of Eothas shades were a tad too difficult for the level 1-5 area in which it is located. Also the stun attack in those fights needs to be tuned

 

The Ogre fights in Cad Nua were too hard for the party level when they are encountered

[[CLASS BUILD] Interrupt Barbarian]

Have your Wizard cast chill fog or concelhaut and combusting wounds once your party engages shades

[Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions]

I do not think the developers actually play their games on the hardest difficulty.

 

A lot of the issues with PoTD will be resolved if they play and see for themselves. I have no clue why this never happened

[Are the barbarian and Rogue now Playable?]

For a long while the barbarian and rogue were the weakest classes in PoE. (At least when playing on PotD)

 

I found the barbarian to be an exercise in frustration...his rage even at max INT did not last long and the penalties to deflection were way too high. To top all these disadvantages, the class was MAD (Multi Attribute Dependent) it required INT, MIGHT, CON and PER to be effective. The Barbarian was a terrible ensemble. I repeatedly brought this to Josh's attention but no clue whether he did anything with it

 

 

 

The Rogue had the simple problem of landing face down as soon as an opponent touched him. That class could not last long enough to dish the single point damage it was designed for. The developers appeared to be struggling with what to do at the time....what did they finally do?

[The Big Sabre Nerf 2016 – Views?]

I do not like nerfs as a rule...Being overpowered in games like this is not necessarily a bad thing. 

 

Instead of nerfs the developers should improve challenge rating by making critters smarter and varying their attack repertoire. Nerfs are the lazy way out in my opinion.

 

 

That said, weapons and gear in general overpower the innate abilities of classes in this game. (Forgemaster gloves I am looking at you) this is not a good thing.

 

The power of any class should come from innate abilities chosen during level ups...not the gear they are wearing

[Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions]

Ninagaut's Grimoire had a ton of spells which I never really had a chance to use.

 

Seemed like a waste

[When is the next patch coming out?]

The good thing is that @Sking is making the effort to keep the community informed on a regular basis.

 

This is a very effective way of keeping everyone happy.

 

 

I agree with @GS11 that they should not release a patch that creates more bugs.

[Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions]

If they will not allow us choose NPC stats, they should make the NPC's powerful enough for players to ignore their miserable attributes...

 

In KOTOR 2 Kreia had stats that were so good that nobody needed to worry about her survivability in a fight

 

 

I think they were trying to correct this issue with Maneha

[Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions]

 

1. Fully customizable NPC builds.
2. A sensible attack / action speed system.
3. Better balance and more variation in per rest / per encounter options and active abilities in general - especially if there's lots of "long slog of similar encounters" content.
4. Less emphasis on accuracy vs. defenses. Stacking stuff is too important and is probably the biggest issue newer players seem to have with combat. (Not being able to hit spirits or whatever)
5. Hold position toggle, so I can leave AI on without worrying about people moving and getting disengaged when I don't want this.
6. Engagement system has potential and I like it in theory but it's awkward and silly, needs a cooldown on disengagement attacks, small movements shouldn't trigger them - IE a sidestep or backstep shouldn't = turning around and running, and melee need more interesting penalties for disengagement attacks - like Fighter's Overbearing guard but less extreme and built into the class. Also, facing should matter and it doesn't, enemies can turn their back to their current engager and whack your rogue just fine. Flankers/fragile melee are extremely penalized by engagement system as it is right now.
7. Separate personality/ dialogue stats from combat / derived stats. They don't really make sense when paired, nor do they add anything other than frustration if your class of choice doesn't pair well with the attributes you want for dialogue.
8. Conditional/stat based talents (think Combat Expertise, Finesse, Divine Might, etc.). I understand why this was avoided in PoE 1, but if you want to really let people build fun/weird you need to let players pick more benefits for oddball stats that the base class doesn't get enough value from.
9. If they're dead and nobody saw/heard it happen, it should not influence my reputation. (For example killing Medreth's party in the woods with no witnesses still gets me bad rep with Doemenels).
10. More conveniently sized player base / multiple bases (I'd love a tavern).
11. Option to use character models as portraits.

 

 

 

I like this...very well articulated. 

[Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions]

More added to the wishlist

 

A single attribute like Resolve should not dominate when it comes to dialog options. A resolve of 18 in PoE was enough to get the PC through most of the dialog options. Dialog options should be distributed better among the attributes

 

 

The bounties seemed 'tacked on' to me. the XP gain for those missions did not match overall game balance

 

 

I would like the level cap removed...but that's just my opinion

 

 

There should be more opportunities for people to gain attribute points through questing. The three in PoE (heritage hill, Council of Stars, Skaen Temple) were not enough

 

 

I personally like min maxing. i like to see what I can squeeze out of a build. There are those who do not like to play that way and that is fine as well. PoE 2 should pay off for both types of play style

[A kickstarter backers first playthrough and some thoughts.]

Games deliberate ignoring of me wanting to get in Palleginas pants.

 

 

Are you sure Pallegina's pants are not full of feathers?