Tanred

I am playing on PotD with suboptimal pistol Rogue build (Mig:10!, Con:10, Dex:16, Per:14, Int:14, Res:12) and only with non-custom companions (Eder, Aloth, Durance, Kana and Pallegina) and so far it is definately playable and more fun than on Hard. I have to use all consumables, different debuff spells, proper positioning tactics etc. though. It is my first playthrough though (Act 2 currently) and I have no clue whether I'll be able to finish the game with this party setup if the difficulty picks up later. My guess is that the main quest line will be manageable, if only because I simply overlevel it. Not sure about the side content tho.

A guard command would be handy to ensure my front liners do not leave the choke points unintentionally like they do it now. Disabling auto-attacking fixes this but I want it to enabled for the rest of the party.

There were various save / load bug issues (among other issues ofc) in earlier builds, but none like that in latest builds. But the beta consisted only of few areas and you even did not pick up any companions but played with a pre-made party. I also think that most beta players focused more on various gameplay features, rules, UI etc. rather than reporting various bugs of which there were many with each new build. But still, Sensuki and others did a stellar job as beta testers, unlike anything I have ever seen with other games.

I don't find Hard mode to be too easy at all. In fact I find the game to be remarkably well balanced. I'm playing on Hard with Trial of Iron. I am being seriously challenged and forced to play immersively, as though I were actually in Eora. I need to survive, otherwise all of my hard work gets deleted along with my only save game. I appreciate not being forced to go through the dialogue and the entire story again because of some stupid, unneccesary party wipe. On Hard with Trial of Iron, if you play intelligently you will get a serious challenge and be completely unable to quick-save-reload-quick-save-reload, or save-save-save-save-save-reload. Hard mode with Trial of Iron makes the game absolutely spectacular for me. I have to decide, "Damn, I can finally afford to x & y, but z would help me survive out there... grr! Okay I'll do z instead." Hard mode with Trial of Iron forces intelligent decision making and supports roleplaying. After this phenomenal experience I'm never going to play Pillars of Eternity on anything lower than Hard mode with Trial of Iron; perhaps this is actually the perfect setting to complete the game with a Hard difficulty. I think it is. Damn Pillars of Eternity is so well balanced and fun to play!! Thanks for all of your hard work people @ Obsidian!! Also, what really makes me love playing on Hard mode with Trial of Iron is that I'm developing a sense of trust in the game. After 10+ hours of play I came to a point where I had a decision I could make which made me absolutely nervous to try. It was an absolutely brilliant pen-and-paper moment. I thought "Right! I have to trust Obsidian here. This is a roleplaying game. Damn... if they bungle this I might absolutely wipe right here..." It worked. It damn worked. I was given an option to roleplay which risked everything, but logically I knew that I would be able to survive it given my party composition and personal skills; I was dead scared though, as I damn well should have been given the circumstances! With Hard mode and Trial of Iron you get punished for not thinking. You get punished for acting in a way you wouldn't really act in that kind of a situation; you will just get punished. I don't want to lose my save game. I don't want to start all over again. If you play smart, you will survive. Damn it's well balanced... This kinda hyped me to try Iron mode on Hard on my second playthrough too. It would be probably the best experience if I played Ironmode on my 1st playthrough, but no way with all those bugs around.

I am so glad that PoE goes the 2nd route, makes the game a whole lot more interesting. Having all content in an area in the same level range feels so dull and MMO-ish.

I second this. PotD feels a lot better balanced and interesting than playing on Hard: Consumables are actually very useful Different monsters require different tactics, I really have to pay attention to their defences and DR stats and use various debuff spells to counter it Running with one/two tanks and the rest consisting only of naked/low armored ranged characters (popular strategy in beta) is very risky because the high amount of enemies ensures that everyone could and will be attacked, also CC abilities are very handy because of this There is no need to min-max my own character nor to avoid the companions to be able to win most fights The sense of danger is real:] Gaining new levels and gear feels more rewarding

I am playing PotD with a ranged rogue with suboptimal attributes (only 10 might), no min-maxed adventurers and no bug-inflated stats and so far doing really well, sometimes it is actually too easy But what is not with those super tanky fighters, OP spells and possibly overlevelled content. And those things which destroy me would destroy me regardless of my rogue's might.

That's a nasty one. Btw. it would be better if you attach your bugged savegame and output log too (http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72439-must-read-how-to-report-an-issue/).

I know you didn't but so often times Durance's voice reminds me of Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will be Blood"

My favourite is the Anslog's Compass track, it's perfect with that sea ambient sound. I returned to that location several times just to hear it again:)

I think Fan of Flames is overpowered and so is Slicken. Not comparing it to Fireball but to other 1st level wizard spells. But yeah, FoF might be quite hard to use in close quarters.

There are two possible reasons: - the bug was introduced in the Day-1 patch - they were aware of the problem and decided to release the game anyway As far as I could notice this bug did not happen in beta, at least not in the latest build. And there were no companions that you could pick up.

As far as the save/load bug is relating to companions only it seems that the best "safe" location for loading a game is any location where you haven't recruited anyone.

You can look here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72070-companions-builds-ouch/?p=1603571 And you can check the initial deflection stat for each class at the character creation screen when you start a new game.

Yeah, I also thought that hard difficulty is too easy. Until I'd found that Eder's deflection is 30 points higher than it should be. Forced me to restart the game.

I agree. That's why I am checking all my characters stats upon loading a game in any new area for the first time.

Yes, it happens in the location where you have recruited the companion each time upon loading the game. So according to my testing, with Eder (and Aloth possibly - have not tested it) it is Gilded Vale, with Durance it is Magran's Fork and with Kana it happens at Caed Nua.

Confirmed. And it also happens with Durance at Magran's Fork, I've just tested it.

Not sure about the deflection but the others are correct. Except for Deflection, everyone has a base of 20 for Fortitude , Reflex and Will. Eder has +24 Fort, +2 Reflex, +10 Will bonus from his attributes, add the bonus of 3 to all defenses for each level beyond level 1 (15 in your case). The total should add up to 59 Fort 37 Reflex and 45 Will. It seems your Eder is normal. Fighters' base deflection is 25 and Eder gets +2 deflection bonus from his 12 Resolve.

It might be possibly related to the Gilded Vale Save/Load bug as reproduced here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73117-bug-508-fighters-deflection-raises-up-for-no-reason/

I'll test the stronghold area once I get there.

I tested it further on another character (different gameplay) and again the save/load bug occurs only in Gilded Vale (outdoor area). I would recommend to never load a savegame while being there. The bug might happen also in other areas (towns possibly?), I am not that far in my game to test it throughly.

If it is the save / load bug then exiting from the game completely before loading any savegame could prevent this bug from happening (there were similiar issues like that back in beta). I'll try to test it. I ran few tests and exiting the game and reloading it did not help - the bug has still occurred. It is actually kinda weird because it seems that it is somewhat related to Gilded Vale location, at least in my gameplay. Steps to reproduce the issue consistently: 1. Load this savegame: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wqar9uzg51mznc/c6ecc6c753d1445690c17f0199a70052%208660593%20MagransFork.savegame?dl=0 2. Notice Eder's deflection stat value. 3. Go with your party to Gilded Vale. 3. Save/Load 4. Notice Eder's deflection stat value has raised up. But if you go to another location instead (I tested Black Meadow) and save/load there the bug does not happen. Or if you go to Gilded Vale and then to another location and save/load there is no bug either.

If it is the save / load bug then exiting from the game completely before loading any savegame could prevent this bug from happening (there were similiar issues like that back in beta). I'll try to test it.

I noticed that Eder's deflection stat raises up by 5 points randomly. Unfortunately, I can't reproduce this bug consistently and I have no clue what could have caused this bug. He has the Defender Modal activated, but I am sure that I did not de-activate it or re-activate it ever since. I am attaching the bugged savegame: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmrll4fzon7ir8k/c6ecc6c753d1445690c17f0199a70052%208538475%20CilantLs.savegame?dl=0. Eder's deflection is 69 there while it should be 59. It raised itself twice - second time when I exited the game and then reloaded the savegame. And last savegame before the bug occured: https://www.dropbox.com/s/47h61o0yt6vkdfd/c6ecc6c753d1445690c17f0199a70052%208453620%20Valewood.savegame?dl=0 Output log: https://www.dropbox.com/s/94paksb57dhnngn/output_log.txt?dl=0