Hiro Protagonist II

The only disappointment I have with this is now I don't have a complete shelf of boxed Obsidian games. argh. Damn you Obsidian. The completionist in me is raging.

This is a surprise. I played World of Tanks for nearly two years before moving on. Great game and had a lot of fun with it. Also learnt a lot by looking up military history, famous military figures and watching documentaries on tanks and tank commanders. So I got a bit of an education out of it as well. Not sure how WoT is doing now. Whether they still have the same number of players. Tried out World of Warplanes but not really my kind of game. I won't be playing this as it looks very much like WoT and as I've said, I've moved on. I wish Obsidian the best though.

I'm finding it entertaining. Seeing what madness Lephys can come up next.

What is the point of this post? It's boring. Why do I continue to go into threads that I find boring and post meaningless posts? I know, because I feel special and need to post these meaningless posts and let the community know how I'm feeling. Ah, I feel better knowing I've let the whole community know I'm bored and had to post this.

Well for me, I do want the same out-of-combat version and in-combat version of the same buff, whenever I cast the spell. Stun's protection from fire spell is a good example. Why would there be a different version out of combat? Why would I want different versions? Can you show me an IE spell that has different out-of-combat version and an in-combat version of the same buff? No? Didn't think so. Have you actually played the IE games? No it's not.

I get the impression some people didn't read your opening post.

Hi Brandon. Just something out of my own personal curiosity. Do developers like Obsidian normally design the box covers of your titles or do you let the publisher do that? Or is a collaborative effort. Some of the box covers have been quite good in the past.

I tried to understand, but I don't even get what it is I'm supposed to be understanding. I don't think you're trying to understand. False. Protection from Fire does not denote the extent of the protection. It could be .0001% damage reduction from fire, or 100%. It could simply prevent you from receiving some kind of Burning status ailment (and taking damage over time, perhaps), or it could shorten the duration of such an effect. Or any combination of the above. When making an RPG, like PoE, and deciding "I want to put a buff in this game that protects people from fire." Well, now I've got to come up with all the factors. If I want the buff to last for like 10 fights, then it makes more sense for me to make the effect weaker. Now, if I want the buff to last for 10 seconds, then it makes sense for me to make the effect quite strong. Why would someone bother with the timing and execution of a 10-second Fire Protection buff if it grants +5% damage reduction to fire? My god. What the hell am I reading. Why are you going on about different types of spells of the same spell? Why are you going on about two different time durations of the same spell? 10 seconds compared to 10 fights? It's the same spell!!!! There is no difference in time or effect if the spell only lasts 10 seconds. You're talking about two different spells. We're talking about the same spell. If a spell protects you for 10 seconds, then you should be able to cast it anytime you want. If I want to pre-buff and waste a few precious seconds of that spell, why not? It will be less effective during combat. If I want to cast it at the encounter start, then I should be able to it as well. It's more effective if I do cast it at the encounter start and more potent during the encounter. The decision comes down to me when I want to cast it.

Lephys. I didn't emphasize your point. Try and understand ok. Spells have time limits. There is no short or long term with the actual spell. Only the term during the encounter. And the pre-buff goes against the players in some cases. The spell will run out very quickly if you pre-buff. eg. Haste in the IE games is a short spell. Another one is Negative Plane Protection which is incredibly short. Pre-buff: Spell duration shorter in encounter Buff at encounter start: Spell duration longer in encounter. Long-term is more potent during the encounter. Not short-term. As a player, I would like the choice of pre-buffing or not pre-buffing. I would like the choice when I can cast a spell, not when the game tells me to. I know PoE is different to the IE games and I accept that.

False. So, you want two versions of every buff? Not only that, but you're also claiming that the desire for pre-buffing generally is accompanied by the desire for non-pre-castable versions of the exact same buffs? Seriously? Lephys. There is no two versions when compared to the IE games. It's one version to be used in and out of combat. There is no either/or. In other words, I can cast this spell whenever I like. Hmm. I just thought of something. If some spells are combat or encounter specific, am I still able to cast them out of combat? Say I want to look at the pretty animations in a small corner of a town? ooh ahh, purdy. Does the game allow me to do it? If you can't pre-buff, then how does that work if I want to see what a buff spell looks like outside of combat? or does entering combat nullify/cancel out any buff spells you already casted?

So you want Paradox to give you a GoG key? Why not just buy it from GoG? I also doubt Paradox would be dealing with all digital distribution. I'm sure GoG would have a deal with Obsidian to distribute PoE on their own platform. It wouldn't make sense to discount a large distributor like GoG and its fan base.

Ah ok. I suspect the keys for the general public will be either 1) Steam and 2) GoG. I don't see why Steam and GoG wouldn't be selling the game on their own platforms. Possibly 3) Paradox to offer a choice to redeem at either GoG or Steam.

I thought Darren's blog post was quite clear on the GoG and Steam versions. The Keys will be on the backer portal.

I don't think it's good to speculate on percentages. It comes across as a pointless exercise. Doing some google searching, you can speculate on a rough percentile range, but ultimately does it really matter? Paradox are distributing the physical goods. Obsidian are developers, not distributors and doesn't need to worry about that anymore and can concentrate on the game. The digitial copies will be still with Steam and GoG and you'll get your key at the backer portal.

I just found it odd that you've asked questions on 'what am I missing?'. People have answered with valid answers. Instead of taking what people have said, you're now debating with them as if they're somehow wrong. The questions has been answered, even if you don't like the answers. I like the IE rtwp games, just as I like both the early Fallout Turn Based isometric games as well as the later First Person Fallout games. People will like different games for different reasons, while others won't. The same with arpg's like Diablo and Path of Exile. I also like these games and others don't. If someone posted on the Path of Exile or Blizzard forums with a long post of how terrible these games are and ended with a 'what am I missing?'. What do you think the response will be.

I'm always wary of these type of threads. Justifying why you don't like certain games with a long opening post and reasons why you don't like these games then asking a question at the end with a "what am I missing?". You've already convinced yourself in the OP despite what anyone says. And you've already had responses to this, even though you're now debating those responses with your own justifications. So what is the point of this thread? Especially if you're going to debate people's responses with your own reasons why you don't like the IE games. It seems like a pointless thread.

Be interested to know how they're going to do this too. Perhaps different areas have different commentaries. When you enter a new area, a new commentary for that area starts?

The AH closes in a couple of hours. As someone who never bought anything on it, I won't miss it. I did sell a tonne of stuff over the last 2 weeks though. Made millions in gold mostly from gems. Seriously, I feel like Scrooge McDuck swimming in a sea of gold. Sold all my gems two weeks ago when the prices were still high on both SC and HC Auction Houses, considering all gems that people have now will be pointless in the expansion. Also sold a lot of crafting materials and still made millions from it. Damn it feels good going into RoS when I was so poor and had no gold. Probably people who aren't buying RoS are buying up stuff. Who knows.

It's a bit of an adrenaline rush when you have those near death escapes. It's a totally new game when you know you cannot stuff up at all. It's also heartbreaking when you do lose a character and all the items they were carrying. I recommend moving stuff from your inventory to your stash on a regular basis. Nothing worse than having hundreds of Exquisite essences, gems, iridescent tears, etc in your inventory only to lose it all. Also a good idea to keep a spare level 60 set of items just in case you do die. I power levelled a friends Wizard in less than 20 mins yesterday. He lost his Wizard and asked if he could be power levelled. Found it easier to have a level 1 create a T6 Torment game and have the level 60 character get invited to the game and power through the mobs. He went from level 1 to 20+ or so just from one run to Captain Daltyn in Adria's Hut. It was funny seeing him level up so fast. I just kept seeing him glowing all the time when I was ploughing through everything. It's essentially a level 1 game (on Torment 6) and the level 60 character just has to touch the enemies for them to die. Plus they get all the quest xp as well. And he was getting 1600% xp bonus including quests. In a couple of minutes, the level 1 will be level 30+. I was using a Monk with Tempest Rush running through and killing everything as soon as I hit them. When the player gets around level 40-50, then you drop down the T level as I couldn't get through them as fast. By that stage, the level 60 player opens up a normal level 60 game and three level 60s can get through the game while the other player can tag along and soak up the xp. In less than 20 minutes, the player has a new level 60 character.

I've hit over 5000 achievement points. What looks like the hardest but was actually one of the easiest was the Monk Heal other players 2 billion achievement. Just get into a Monk game with three other monks and heal spam for hours while you're sleeping, off to work, watching TV, etc. Yeah, probably not what Blizzard had in mind. Only need a few HC speed boss kills, a few challenges and the General 1000 healing wells. The others (like Campaign, Crafting, Co-op, Classes) are all finished for now. Starting to run out of achievements. Although the kill 25,000 trees is a bit ridiculous and haven't really bothered with it for now.

I thought this conversation was sounding a bit familiar. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60787-project-eternitys-longevity-will-be-determined-by-its-modability/ In that thread, you made a list of components that were a part of SCS you considered 'game breaking', all of which could be skipped. You ignored components of the mod (the majority of components) that didn't support your case. When called on this by myself and others, you didn't respond directly except to later post another dismissive post about BG mods. If you don't like mods, that's fine. To each his/her own. But at least don't pretend like you gave the thing a fair hearing only to overlook the vastly improved AI, intelligent spell usage, enemies calling for reinforcements, broken items being moved or removed and so on because allowing Yeslick to use axes 'breaks the game.' I listed a few examples. Notice the 'etc' after that post. It means there's more I could list. I didn't see the need to list every single example of the mod. You asked and I answered. Also, I didn't respond because I didn't see the need to drag out the argument page after page. But it seems you do want to. I can debate this until the cows come home, but you know what? My time is better spent doing other things than debating over a mod. Just because you're a fanboy of it doesn't mean anyone who doesn't like it is wrong. The fact that your counter is 'just skip it' is a weak argument. You don't even acknowledge there are game breaking and balancing issues. If you don't like people using unbalanced and OP mods, then to each his/her own. But at least don't pretend that the mod is fair and balanced in every way. I gave it a fair hearing and found it cheesy, just like most mods.

Every component you listed can be skipped by pressing the 'N' button when it asks if you would like to install it. They're also an extremely tiny proportion of what the mod does. I could list a whole page of examples and if I pressed the 'N' button for all these examples, I wouldn't have a mod to install.

I found Stratagems to be the very definition of cheese. Especially when you change NPCs to do things they're not supposed to. In BG1, Yeslick can now use axes? Great. Re-introduce potions of Extra-healing? Wonderful. Move Boo to the backpack and give Minsc another quick slot even though he doesn't need it? Awesome. Like pretty much all mods, when you try and balance something, all you do is unbalance it in another way.

The mod.

I don't like Stratagems and never use it.