Seari

But then how does one play the fabled muscle wizard

Instead of making a system where certain stats can be dumped with no real penalty, they made a system where every stat is of use to every class. If you want to build a Barbarian that hits like a truck, you pump Might. Or you could boost Accuracy(Dexterity), Health and Stamina(Constitution), or AoE of Carnage and length of Rage(Intellect). Resolve and Perception are currently sub-optimal, but the devs acknowledged this before the release of the beta(and stated the desire to adjust it) and I think that with a more in depth explanation of Interrupt they may start seeing more use. *shrug* I don't see them as any more bland than IE attributes. With the IE attributes I can at least make a character I want to roleplay without gimping him. I basically have to choose between spell damage or playing a schwarzenegger wizard. Also doesn't an attribute that increases damage of both melee and spells make spellblades, clerics and such too strong? Well the wording was a bit off there, what I meant to say was in PoE I have to to choose betweeen having spell damage and a ripped character, or not having spell damage since I don't want to have a schwarzenegger wizard.

I will miss an attribute system, most definitely not this one though.

Instead of making a system where certain stats can be dumped with no real penalty, they made a system where every stat is of use to every class. If you want to build a Barbarian that hits like a truck, you pump Might. Or you could boost Accuracy(Dexterity), Health and Stamina(Constitution), or AoE of Carnage and length of Rage(Intellect). Resolve and Perception are currently sub-optimal, but the devs acknowledged this before the release of the beta(and stated the desire to adjust it) and I think that with a more in depth explanation of Interrupt they may start seeing more use. *shrug* I don't see them as any more bland than IE attributes. With the IE attributes I can at least make a character I want to roleplay without gimping him. I basically have to choose between spell damage or playing a schwarzenegger wizard. Also doesn't an attribute that increases damage of both melee and spells make spellblades, clerics and such too strong?

So you think: - offscreen web, offscreen cloud kill, offscreen fireball fireball fireball - enter room of a deadly mage, leave room, wait out his spells, kill him - getting tons of movement speed / actions by stacking haste spells - getting 25 charisma with rod of terror + ring of charisma - abusing double regen effect while hasted - using the guard button to shot through doors - blocking doors with eye of the wizard was fun? If you're a filthy cheater, that can't play a game without resorting to exploits.

Might effects the magnitude of attacks and buffs. It does this because the designers wanted to avoid having any stat being an obvious dump for a class(not to be confused with build). If you want to play a skinny nerd, you trade in raw damage for increased AoE and duration of spells. This means a Wizard will do less damage with "Magic Missile", but "Web" will affect a larger area and last longer. So instead of making different stats obvious dumps for different classes, they made it so Might will be basically maxed by every class? I don't know, these attributes just feel wrong to me. Also they feel really bland. edit: Why the hells would I have to be in a position where I have to trade raw power for duration/AoE. Why would there be a link between muscle and spell damage. Basically because I don't want to create a ripped wizard, I have to forfeit spell damage, seems to me this attribute system is broken.

1. Select Wizard as a class 2. Dump Might and Pump Intellect Shazam, you have a skinny nerd in a dress who throws around fireballs. From what I understand Might equals soul power and not physical strength. Soul power increases the damage of spells, makes sense. Why does it increase physical strength? Why the hell would there be an attribute that increases physical strength and spell damage rolled into one? Just seems like bad design to me, or maybe I'm just missing something here...

I'm just gonna post a quote from codex, that perfectly describes my feelings with the beta at the moment. I think the bolded part is especially important and it's what made the IE games what they are. I hate Sawyer's obsession with balance, this is a single player game and not an mmo. The overpowered items, class combinations and spells are what made it fun. I mean balance is all well and good, untill gameplay suffers because of it. This is a roleplaying game, and right now the attributes being what they are, I can't even make a proper character from a roleplaying perspective. How the hell do I make a physically weak but intelligent wizard? Right now it's not possible, because the current attribute system just doesn't work at all. I don't think every class should be able to do everything, this is a party based game after all. Why make a fighter have the same number of active abilities/spells as a wizard, when you're controlling them both. This isn't WoW, classes don't need to do every role, each class should have a role in a party, they should be balanced with a party in mind and not how they perfom by themselves.

In chargen why are we not choosing the portrait sooner? In BG2 it was one of the first things you choose, and I personally base my character around it.

If might isn't strength, and might is "soul power", then we're missing an attribute. What measures a character's physical power/muscles? Why does "soul power" increse physical damage? Does having a strong soul equal physically strong body? There's no way to measure what character is physically weak from the current attributes. Does that make a wizard with high Might also physically strong? One attribute makes them better spellcasters and also makes them capable melee combatants. That's just dumb in my opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand items don't have attribute requirements. Does that mean any character can swing around a heavy twohanded weapon? This ****ty attribute system is just a really bad copy of a well thought out design.