IndiraLightfoot

Heh! I haven't tried out my monk in lvl 60 + content yet, since I was a fool and reset all the quests on her, so she's stuck in Act I atm, and I didn't bother using her. I've mostly played my wizard Chthonia. She has found some decent items, but her weapon sucks. It's a level 66 yellow wand with a socket with no dps and perks at all. Pandemonium and onwards, she had to step down from T1 and Master to Expert. Well, proof that she isn't very good is aplenty! Here she died in a weird Nephalem Rift la-la-land to a Twinkleroot. I'm just glad it wasn't Tinky-Winky that had slain her with that handbag. Also, I just caved in under the massive peer pressure. Here are my very first trembling baby steps as Redeema, the Crusader:

Alright some more info/reflections on D3: I must say, as a recent hardcore player, that Act V seems very lethal at almost any difficulty level, so I will steer clear from that for quite some time. A lot of critters dog-pile you via some jump-mechanic that also locks you in place, which means instant death. Add to that quite a few high-damage ghosts and certain trapping monsters, and death is even more certain. In fact, those ghosts are so deadly that Blizzard will nerf them a bit with the next patch: Enraged Phantasm Damage "The Enraged Phantasm spirits in Act V are causing issues for a lot of players, doing a massive amount of damage with their abilities, especially Soul Siphon. This will be tuned down in an upcoming patch, probably the next little one like patch 2.0.4. In the meantime, hardcore players will likely want to have some incapacitating skills to use on those spirits, to keep them from draining so much health. We do plan on making a balance pass on these enemies in the near future, though this change will require a patch. Their damage is a wee bit more bursty than we intended, so some of their abilities (specifically their Soul Siphon) will be tuned down to be more in line with other abilities." Another blatant bug is the distribution of items after level 61: Bug With Level 62+ Rare Items "If you have been leveling a character from 60 to 70, and not finding many item upgrades along the way, here's a reason why. Rare items are only dropping at certain "breakpoint" levels, instead of at each level along the way, as they should. It appears that Rare items above level 60 are only dropping at required levels of 61, 66, 69, and finally at level 70. So for a large part of the 60s, players will only be getting Rare drops that are level 61, even when their character has reached 64 or 65. Fortunately this does not affect Legendary items, which will still appropriately drop at the character's level. A blue response to the bug with Rare items stated that it is being looked into. This is being looked into." Something that is very sought after right now is Death's Breaths: "It drops from level 61+ elites and bosses, and can be a bit hard to come by. Death's Breath drops at the same drop rate as Demonic Essence, based on the game difficulty chosen. Just as an FYI, the scaling drop rates for Death's Breath are the same as Demonic Essence (i.e. they scale the same way as you progress in difficulty). Currently, those drop rates are: Normal - 15% Hard - 18% Expert - 21% Master - 25% Torment 1 - 31% Torment 2 - 37% Torment 3 - 44% Torment 4 - 53% Torment 5 - 64% Torment 6 - 77% We have no plans right now to change the rates, given that we're only one day into the expansion (we'd like to give things a bit more time to settle before we start pulling levers and adjusting knobs)." Oh, and I had almost forgotten about Kadala, the mystery merchant. When adventure mode is unlocked, she appears. After my first Nephalem Rift, I went there, and tried her out. I bought a pair of pants, as I reckon I had a bad set of trousers. Well, I was surprised when I got the same legendary set item that I already wore, but a lot better back. Wow! I was confused, so I had to look her abilities up a bit: "The Blood Shards that are obtained in Adventure Mode can be used to purchase items of a specific slot, from the merchant Kadala. The items purchased normally end up being Rare quality, but occasionally they will be a Legendary. They are not able to roll as a class Set item, however. As changed in a recent hotfix, those class Set items are only available from Torment difficulty."

Good luck! I've been meaning to play these games too, but I haven't come around to it yet.

Well, farewell life, hello gaming! Not only did RoS drop like a bomb recently. Now, Relic gives us their March Deployment, overhauling the gameplay of COH2 extensively, emphasizing unit cover, weapons range, prolonging the early game, making light vehicle and unit tactics much more important. Here's Greg Wilson explaining all the goodness: http://steamcommunity.com/games/231430/announcements/detail/1801744861721542072

Diablo 2 will be an eternal ARPG classic, the benchmark if you will, so perhaps the short answer is no. However, with this expansion, I dare say that you'll get a much more streamlined and "clever" game, and the entertainment value borders on pure genius at times, at least as far as this genre goes. Act V makes the game much less Torchlight and more grim and dreary D2. Still, you can't hardly trade anymore and there's lot of stuff that's bound to account. If that matters very much to you, it could deter you, I guess from what makes this RoS-version of D3 a gem: the endless killing of demons in the ever-quest of finding new and better loot. I reckon you should give it a try, despite no offline mode. Also, all the new monsters in D3 RoS are great. However, there is one bunch that I adore so much that I could have an entire game based on their "culture": I also like how they have made the boss fights less segmented. I hate episode-like Boss encounters, thus I don't really like the ones of Belial and Diablo in D3. My favourite boss fight now is Also, Act V is generally sprinkled with cool events and weird twists and turns. My favourite dungeon so far is

Act V alone is better than the rest of the acts all together! This expansion bathes in awesome sauce!!! I've played all day, mostly on Torment I, and managed to get my Wizard to level 70. I played very thoroughly and listened to all dialogues. In the end, I only needed to do two extra runs in two Westmarsh areas to reach lvl 70. Then I killed Mathael on my fourth attempt. I was far too eager for my own good, but I got an elite-killing lvl 70 amulet from heaven, though! This means I have adventure mode open and an extra passive slot, and I must say that adv mode so far looks absolutely fantastic! What a redeem of Blizzard this is!

Yesterday I managed to get my second hardcore monk to lvl 60. I really wanted a back-up toon if something goes wrong, since I'm really fond of the monk atm. Soon, the expansion will be upon us, and then we'll have new skills and new everythings to try out. Can't wait!

Darn! Busted...

That is not currently planned. Sorry. Never mind. You have to save some stuff for the expansions, no?

Josh: Will there be specific magic items for shifted forms, like collars for a druid in wolf form, etc?

I just realized that the company name Obsidian consists of three names: Ob-Sid-Ian. Having deciphered this secret code, I can now give you the true meaning. First, I learnt from the absolutely bizarre site kabalarians.com that the name Ob entails this: Your name Ob gives you a strong sense of responsibility in business and material affairs, and the practicality and determination to make a success of anything you undertake. Your ability to organize and direct the efforts of others enables you to excel in any managerial position because you have the ability to grasp the concept of a goal complete with an understanding of the steps to be taken. This name has allowed you to develop depth and breadth of mind. You are able to retain facts, to grasp new information to your existing store of knowledge. You never seem to be out of your depth of understanding. For these reasons others who may not have the same quickness of mind classify you as a "know it all" and, although you may be highly respected, this characteristic is unlikely to endear you to your associates. You have a very responsible nature, are capable and mature, and are willing to assume a position as a pillar of the community. You are quite healthy, but possible trouble areas are found in the generative organs. You can't contradict Kabalarian Philosophy, it's just divine. The next name in Obsidian is of course Sid, and it's not Sid Meier of the Civilization franchise we're talking about. Obviously, it's Sid Vicious from Sex Pistols who set the spirit free and wild. Sid Vicious' true name was John Ritchie, but like Siddharta turning to Buddha, a pivotal defining moment in his youth changed everything: Ritchie was given the nickname "Sid Vicious" by John Lydon, after Lydon's pet hamster, Sid. The hamster had bitten Ritchie, who said that "Sid is really vicious!" The animal was described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth." Obsidian knows this, but their favourite pet is not a hamster, but a badger, so they have infused their sacred name with a vicious badger that last was seen in MotB. The last name in Obsidian Is Ian. In this case, after quite some digging and more or less illegal research, I can reveal with certainty that it's the spirit of Ian Livingstone that is evoked. His brilliant FF-books and sharp D&D contributions makes him an ideal candidate to strengthen any CRPG endeavours. How clever of you, Obsidian! But now your closely guarded secret is out, so deal with it!

Thanks, Hiro! It was my safety build early on, when my equipment was a pretty bad mixed bag of what I had. Here's Bliss now, and she has adapted to a few decent items she picked up, where lightning damage is the key, and since that stacks (sic!), I had turned her into an electric fury. I love Wave of Light, but I've succumbed to the allures of the electric and stunning lashing tail kick so much that I sacrifice the knockback for fast dps in a jam. Speaking of jam; If I get caught by some jailer or waller, I've switched my blinding for Inner Sanctuary - Intervene - which actually is a teleport with a healing shield for the monk. I'm all into the monk atm in D3, since it's very fun to play and very balanced.

Hiro: Precisely. It's a carefully prepared business decision that is for the long term, the aim being a win-win partnership with Paradox.

Just sharing two pics: This is the trembling minute before my very first hardcore character will take on Diablo! Ah, the sweet memories. And here you can see the new spectral hound for those fools like me who have bought the RoS Collector's Ed. The new orange wings were rad too, but not as rad as the original CE wings IMHO.

Amentep: That lovely thread was started a couple of months before I began frequenting these forums. Advanced Fighting in Tunnels, the sheer brilliance of it is mind-blowing! Who doesn't want to play a Sapper? And not just any sap would do. It's got to be an engineer! I reckon, Torchlight 1 owns Monte Carlo wads of cash in royalties.

That's a great choice! Already "Bruce the Lover" was of stellar quality. Congratulations, 'Tep!

Hopefully, Monte Carlo will take this duty upon him, and make his choice pretty quick. Time is running out, as we all well know.

AKA "Monty's MMO adventure - Romance Must Die Edition"! Courtesy of joke: ManifestedISO and Humanoid. There was a time When all on my mind was love Now I find that most of the time Love's not enough in itself P.S. I'd totally try this game out. It looks like total mayhem, and being exposed in it as a single tank could be entertaining and most definitely fatal.

The time is now officially up! There were plenty of brilliant lyrics on display here, so I had to give this choice quite some thought. After careful consideration, I’ve decided to pick a clever and solemn poem that really captures our sense of community here, especially among the PE backers. Although we all are different and diverse, we share this faith in the promise and potential of Pillars of Eternity. I’m referring to Monte Carlo’s Who Would Dream. In addition, his poem manages to rest on the pillars themselves, as it were, summarising what the setting and the game itself is all about. Monte’s lyrics will have to be shortened a bit, just like mine had to be, but I really do hope this last part makes it after the cut: “souls all raucous Better than dust” It’s very beautiful and it suits the theme of souls in PE quite well. Also, if Pandamaniac stands by his wish, this means that Monte Carlo may be the one who gets to pick the contributor of the third Memorial Stone, but it remains speculation until we have that confirmed. Thank you, all contributors! It’s been a lovely read-through. J

There is some smudge after ...cozz, so I reckon we can confirm that to be Darcozzi Paladini. Great! Btw, my "..." is just me saying that's off the screen to the left, so it's missing in view.

I see. Perhaps it's that simple all of it? They could be five (at least that we can see on the whiteboard) paladin orders, and below are the corresponding place names for those orders. Interesting.

I just watched the update video again, and I ended up staring at the whiteboard behind Josh. It actually contains place names, or rather names of societies, or perhaps both. Help me fill out what they are: ...cozz Paladini ...dead Knight ...Shieldbearers of St Elega ...Wayfarers ...Peak Waltos ...tines ...erath ...thes ...egran ...feen ...bel

Paradox has made some great games and seems to be the ideal distributor partner for Obsidian. But why stop there? Paradox is developing a promising open CRPG with procedurally generated maps etc, Runemaster. And this relationship with Obsidian opens up for something like a dream game of mine: Mix together a fantasy version of Crusaders II-light, Runemaster and Pillars of Eternity, and just make a 4x game/sandbox CRPG with great stories, and I'll throw money at you like I've never done before!

Although I rarely play wizards, I simply jump with joy at the sight of that spell list (which is just a fraction of the full list, woohoo!!): and while the name do ring of classic D&D spells, I think that's where it stays. Doing combat in the game, including spell-casting, will feel like playing a RPG developed for the sole purpose of being integrated into a computer game. Sure, it can be adapted to PnP later, but this is something of a first in its own right. It's much more likely I'll have a druid in my party, and I too what like to see more non-mammal shape-shifting possibilities too, as long as it's not a guppy. The Sapling Inn, IIRC, gives me vibes from a specific area in a pretty great D&D pc-game from the 90s, based on the Dark Sun setting.