IndiraLightfoot

You are right of course, Urthor. I just love that you can take this on this early (and the loot was pretty nice as well). Actually, there were other hints as well, saying that I shouldn't trust those in the Great Hall/Caed Nua, since there might be a spy working for that lord, so I was wary of him. I mean, he was the only guy there. Still, in one of the flavour texts, they said it was pretty urgent, so I can see how newcomers to this game might misunderstand a thing or two, and then... Whoomp! Still great, though. Btw, was this a quest already in vanilla PoE, or has this been added in a later patch, or even in Part I of the WM expansion?

Hi, all! I had waited almost a year for the entire WM expansion to be completed before I started a new PoE playthrough. Well, I've also made my first party, consisting nothing of tavern hirelings, and this is my first run at the Normal difficulty, a nice change from my previous ones, Path of the Damned and a Triple Crown Solo back in the day. Everything has been great. I can see that a lot of work has been spent on polishing and balancing the game. Very neat! Well, let me get to the point. I had just "liberated" Caed Nua and only had one incident there (Forest Lurker incasion, pretty tough, so I had built a Western Barbican). Then, when I was trying to finish the Wind of Steel quest for the Crucibles, I got a message, saying that some lord wanted to meet me at the Warren's. He claimed that Caed Nua was his by right. We were nearby, so we went there, and he got a hissy fit, and I was declared the rightful owner of Caed Nua. Soon, the Warren wanted to meet me in secret at the Charred Barrel, IIRC. Said and done - and that lord had arranged an ambush there. We defeated them. *Phew* We then went on and finished the Wind of Steel quest, only to hear that this crazy lord had amassed an army, set to march on Caed Nua!!! Mind you, at this point, we had barely killed Raedric and those Animats, since I was just about lvl 5, and the rest lvl 4. And this party consists of the classes that I hadn't played: two chanters, two priests, a paladin and a rogue. Almost no magical weapons, nothing enchanted, we had a few scrolls and some lousy potions, that's all. Well, we didn't want to lose our stronghold, so I told that chap in the Great Hall (dusty and untidy) that we were ready to take on this army. Err... *SPOILERS ABOUT THE BATTLE OF YENWOOD* I was lucky, since the Crucibles wanted to aid me (I had nothing else, no hirelings, nothing.) It turns out that they can snuff out the Bleak Walkers solidly. (I tried the Battle Mages on my first try, and then most of the Crucibles died.) And it took me four tries to defeat this army of Lord Madman. It was by far the hardest battle, and I had a hard time grasping that I was in fact playing at Normal difficulty. It took me those tries before I learnt how to drive those forces and make them blob, as it were. This is important for my kind of party. I had two priests, and a lvl 2 spell that made half of the difference. I can't recall its name, but deals frost damage in a long corridor. My other life-saving tool was the two chanters. Both of them had an invocation that I had almost regretted giving them: It's a weird one that makes downed enemies explode with crushing rot grubs (no, I'm not kidding). And that combo: freeze and then grub explosion - it was a treat. My paladin, the only one with decent armour and sword and board, tanked, while brain freeze and corpse maggots infested my enemies. Oh, and one priest, which I had invested 4 points in Lore, had a Web scroll and a Tanglefoot one - both were helpful as well. *END OF SPOILERS ABOUT THE BATTLE* Still, I must ask: Is this really by design? Should my lvl 4 party with no gear at Normal difficulty take on an army, or else risk losing Caed Nua right off the bat? If so, harsh, Mr Sawyer, harsh. P.S. I actually love Obsidian for including such a punishing encounter this early on. I was just surprised, since my first playthroughs didn't even bother looking at that Stronghold.

Heh! We were just chomping at the bit, raring to go, as it were. Well, soon, my party can begin their White Marsh adventure.

This worked for me, thanks! This exactly what happened to me right now, so thx a bunch! :D

Same deal here. White Marsh II doesn't appear in my PoE DLC-list, nor as owned in my game library, as of course is the case with part I. Hopefully, this will resolve itself in an hour or two.

I agree 100%! After a long hiatus and after reading this, I will definitely start over in order to check out what PoE has to offer now. Can't wait!

I really loved this doc! As I've already praised Josh, George, MCA, Brandon and Eric in other threads and discussions, and also Kaz, Tim and Justin, I'd like to take the time to say this to Hector, Bobby, Antonio, Polina, Mark and Dimitri (and if I forgot you on this list, I meant you too ): You guys rock!!! So much hard work and talents in spades! You made this game come to life and be this vibrant world with old cultures appear like, super-duper-believable. Thx! My other special thanks goes to Adam. You're not just a coder ace, but also quite the leader! It wasn't easy, I suspect, to be part of the push and pull process with a creative visionary like Josh, while you were trying to keep the books in order throughout this long process. Congratz on a great game. I'm looking forward to your next little masterpiece! P.S. And, of course, Feargus is Feargasarus, timeless and fierce. EDIT: "Alarm! Alarm!" Adam: "You got to have power to make games." EDIT2: Justin: Obsidian lobby musical brilliance! "Do Not Weep" makes me weep, as in very moving and beautiful music.

This thread is an insult to all genuine BG fans.

MotelOK: Oh noes! What have you done? Seriously!? There will be no expansion now... I keed. You almost make him sound like that cool detective in True Detective (the one not cheating on his wife). And like you, I'm mercurial as far as Marmite and vegemite go - sometimes that tangy stuff tastes just right (crisp winter mornings). How do you even know stuff like this? You, sir, are about to be hunted by an anti-stalker task force.

Elerond: Thx for that info on what Ziets has been part of writing. As a huge fan of NWN2: MotB, I can certainly tell that Ziets' spirit permeates some of the religious systems and pantheons, not to mention places and cool people and background stories.

I can't wait any longer. Release your masterpiece ASAP! Oh, btw, for us that will be able to download it as a file: Which format is it? And how big is the file?

I certainly would, but without the cipher and Ziets' contributions, it would feel a bit crippled. I don't care much at all for crafting or the stronghold. Also, I loved Act I and II, so one faction less wouldn't make much of a difference. Od Nua is not necessary, in my last playthrough, I skipped it entirely.

Voltron, a very interesting take on the monk (a CC brickwall), and a lovely avatar as well! Congratz!

I'm happy to report that for the very first time, I got a closed alpha invite, and this for Relic's upcoming changes/additions to the game. I'm so very thrilled about this, and curious!

kaiki: You're just reeling after that über-exciting feeling of having completed PoE on Triple Crown Solo. I certainly know that feeling, and I did it three days before you, mind you... Nah. Disgusting, unwarranted bragging om my behalf - I'm just kidding, of course. A wonderful post. I wish I had written it. I'd like to pour all that praise on the Obsidian devs all over, and then some!

That reminds me of the Aztec leader in CiV. *Gulp!*

Good point, perhaps they are a special breed of Borg: Chaos Borg: United we stand divided.

Shadenaut; That's why I compared them to the Borg in another thread. It's like a living, breathing virus that aims for world assimilation, well, at least when it comes to CRPGs.

TrueNeutral: I have, and it makes these forums look like kindergarten. However, the nitpicking is about the story/writing, devs' choices and a lot more than just mechanics, auction house or not, well, you know those themes.

And if you include the backer beta, it almost amounts to some kind of world record. For the most part, it has been a fun ride, though. Hopefully, Obsidian will keep on making PoE1/2/expansions in a reasonably semi-open process.

"Do you want to reach for his soul?" "No. I want to reach for his heart and rip it out."

Indeed, it makes for unexpected associations and a few good laughs, amongst other things.

That thread was locked, and a mod appointed Constantine's thread as Part II (it needs a name change, though), that 's all. This thread came after all that.

I love the casual tone, ha ha.

Heh! I now realize that Mouth of Sauron is a rip-off of Judge Death, artwise.