IndiraLightfoot

The quest xp I've gotten so far has been from completed quests, but I haven't done the ogre "the correct and approved way" yet.

Truth be told, in D3 RoS all characters have the potential to be quite fun, very much thanks to the cool legendary items you can find from level 60 (and especially level 70) and onwards. They are all pretty distinct, and the attention to detail is superb.

It changed my view on CRPGing forever too, and I had already played CRPGs for 17 years by that time, no kidding!

Pendali: That's how I felt after my first RL 5h playing the PoE beta. I didn't realize it, though, until I was about to save and curiously looked at the xp progress of my main. I love that BG 1 has a really slow level progression, so I just presumed it was the same in PoE. I had been exploring almost all areas, uncovered maps, done remarkable deeds, fought challenging battles, talked brilliantly in convos, found secrets, only to be rewarded by the total sum of zero. Then I looked at the other party members. Zero, zero, zero, zero. I had only five pcs in that playthrough. I was completely taken aback. Two days later, a game dev confirmed that this was the new xp system for PoE. I was like, WTF?

illathid: Good sir, you didn't immuhrse yourself enough.

Great sum-up. And IMO, this means simplify, use low and clean numbers, and remove redundancy in combat mechanics in order to make combat more visceral and intuitive. If this means sacrificing stamina and just keeping health + maimed states, than so be it. If this means removing glancing blows and constant normalized damage output, then so be it, just to name two examples.

I do recall Sensuki saying him playing this beta was self-sacrificial, or something like that. I never knew he meant it, literally!

Wow! I had completely missed that. What a leap that chasm must be. The rope must stretch for miles on end.

Drastically put, I shared that very enthusiasm of those non-inititated, with rose-tinted glasses and all, but then I lost my PoE virginity in the BB, and it hurt.

The Witch Doctor in D3 was an early favourite of mine, but that was before patch 1.01, when Torment was extremely hard from Act 2 and onwards, and it only used self-found stuff, no auction house whatsoever, so I had to give up. I was literally stuck. Then, still before 1.01, I rolled a monk, and its survivability was great, so at least I could take the punishment in torment, which meant it began farming stuff for my other character. And from patch 1.03, I began using the gold auction house, and that pretty much became the game from there on. It was far easier to snipe stuff at auctions, then play the game, so I quite. RoS really saved the D3 fun for me. it was there that I could try out all the characters for real. In D2, I went for a boring barbarian, but later, I tried, the necromancer, which I really adored. I'd love to see the Necromancer return in D3.

ctdavids: Yeah. That's a classic problem in CRPG. If Josh & Co gets that right, they have done something amazing.

It's written for the non-initiated, it seems. Still, I'm happy that PoE gets written about, and in a positive way. There can never be enough stuff that advertise it.

At least we know now that combat in cities will be rock hard...

Amentep: Hehe! Then you shan't try Path of Exile, and some of the witch builds. There are so many summons from one witch that they cover screens and lag down the entire server.

In general for Poe, I second this, but with the obvious requirement: That combat is hard because of the way the encounters and the enemies are designed, and not because the mechanics, and combat feedback, are lacking.

Infinitron: That's a pretty interesting idea, instead of mousing over in RT, and seeing those awful numbers flickering all the time. I like it!

:Takes the pie straight in the face: How true! But it's a very delicious pie.

[old skool defence speech] Masterpieces don't need progress. You don't improve chess! [/old skool defence speech]

Indeed, Sensuki, those are the areas where BG1 truly shines. And personally, strongholds just don't do it for me, so I found the ones in NWN2 and BG2 equally annoying. That said, BG2 is really brilliant, and sometimes surpasses BG1 for other reasons. The city quests, for instance, were on the whole more interesting there.

Amentep: But his occupation fits a horror movie so well!

When BG came out 1998, and the Sword Coast expansion was unbeknownst, I still loved the game immensely. In fact, I usually have an easier time liking lower-level CRPGs (the same goes for PnP). Making fun high-level scenarios are in certain respects harder. However, obsiously, you'll have loads more character development done when you are at those high levels.

Kjaamor and derriesen: A small comfort, perhaps, but I can just about promise you both that this will still be the case. The class+race balance won't be achieved, at least not at launch. No need to thank me.

I for one believe that they've got the right guy. It's his **** on the scarf. He's been one of the suspects for years.

The quick loot feature alone in the latest patch makes it very smooth to play. The new UI has grown on me, and what KaineParker said, but vice versa, most of the mods you need are already installed and ready to use in BGEE. The new content I have encountered have been slightly under par, but still, it's new stuff, so not bad at all.