Moriendor

Did you already use the speed slider at the bottom of the center UI element where you can also pause the game, check the time of day or switch between normal/fast mode for gameplay/party movement? There is this little slider at the bottom when you are in combat that you can put to the far right for accelerated turns (attacks/animations get executed faster). Turn-based will always be slower than RTwP, of course, but I wouldn't call it an overly excessive slog in 'fast' combat mode.

Not sure I understand your issue 100% but you must select a character's (multi)class when you pick them up. You can respec all the skills/spells/abilities of that specific selected (multi)class later but the actual (multi)class selection per se is a one-time chance AFAIK. You would have to start a new playthrough and select a new multiclass for a specific companion when you pick them up. Or maybe use mods... but I don't know if there is a mod that enables free class selection at any point in time.

Have you found any Bugs Bunnies already?

Great news and "final patch" is music to my ears as I have been holding off a full proper playthrough until now. I'm glad it's a wrap now and can't wait to fully dive in since what I have played of the game so far has looked really promising. It's a pity that sales seem to have been a little on the slow side but hopefully there will be another push now that the final patch is here. Fingers crossed because I would really like a PoE 3 in the style & tradition of the first two (with refinements... top priority IMO should be the reduction of loading screens in the future).

259 hours for the first game + WM1+2 seems a little excessive. I'm always a very completionist type of guy as far as finishing all of the content is concerned and it took me 118 hours to finish the first game on normal/classic difficulty in expert mode. I took my sweet time with it, too, so I think that for most people it would probably be more in the 100 - 110 hour range. OK, technically, I wasn't maybe *that* completionist since I did not read the souls of all of the golden backer NPCs. The only way I could see someone arriving at 250-ish hours is if you really read everything the game has to offer and never skip/skim a dialogue. Did the 259 hours maybe include a lot of restarts with different classes? Or was it a triple crown trial of iron PotD run or something like that? I haven't properly finished Deadfire + DLCs yet. I've only sort of rushed through it for achievements for Berath's blessings for my proper full playthrough which will happen after TBM is out of beta and after the last remaining bugs have -hopefully- been cleaned up entirely. However, I believe I got an idea of the size and scope of the whole thing and I expect my full completionist playthrough with 100% map exploration etc. to at least match the 118 hours of PoE + WM1+2.

Is this patch synonymous with the end of the TBM beta or will the TBM beta continue beyond this patch until there is a final TBM patch that will end the beta status?

Like just about everyone else here I'd love to see a PoE 3 rather sooner than later (since I "have to" wait for the GOTY it is many years away for me personally anyway) but I don't think it is very realistic at this point. Microsoft bought Obsidian for one specific purpose and that is to win the next gen console war against Sony via better exclusives. Microsoft has been left in the dust this current generation. They do not want this to happen again and have acquired many devs including Obsidian in order to kick Sony's butt come the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett. No matter what MS and Obsidian are saying on the matter, I'm not convinced that Obsidian can just roll on as they please. They have a certain number x of employees and they can work on a certain number y of projects simultaneously. Microsoft is going to want a strong focus on exclusive quality games that shift console units. Is PoE 3 realistically a game that fits that bill? Not really. It looks like the sales of Deadfire pretty much fell off a cliff compared to the first game in spite of being a better/improved game in many ways. This was probably due to market saturation and the fact that the craving for a "next gen Baldur's Gate" had been satisfied. My guess is it will now all depend on the console sales performance of Deadfire. They might be hoping to reach Divinity Original Sin levels thanks to the newly introduced TBM. But if they don't, well, then I'm afraid we will be waiting a very looong time for a third installment.

To be fair, TBM is officially labeled "beta" so they sort of openly admit to "half-arsing" it . That's pretty much my only complaint about it, too. I wish it would not be a beta because I want to play the finished version which means I am going to hold off even longer for my proper full playthrough *sigh*. I really wish that Obsidian would fill us in on their roadmap for Deadfire.

Awesome addition to the game. Thanks a lot! I can't wait to finally start my full playthrough next month or in March at the latest. Combat looks quite a bit less chaotic from the video snippets you guys have shown so far. It is a really nice option to have. I'm really looking forward to finally diving in 100% (have only dabbled around a little near launch for ~50-ish hours so far).

Continue the Watcher saga, make him become one with the force at the end of part 3 and then start PoE 4 with a new character .

Obsidian has inadvertently done some crazy stuff in past patches of their games like that one time with PoE where you would get negative XP if I recall correctly(?) but to "accidentally" release a patch with a turn-based mode? Nah. That's a little too crazy even for them . It was right before xmas, too, so I think this was a fully intentional "secret" xmas gift leak to trigger a reaction and see what people have to say about it. From a business perspective they might have been looking at Larian Studios D:OS games that have sold millions of copies so who knows? With MS cash behind it now and a pending console release maybe we'll get turn-based and even coop multiplayer down the line?

Any ETA or roadmap on when this will be in the game and when the game will finally be "content complete"? I don't want to start a full playthrough while they are still overhauling major gameplay systems like this one.

I'm a pessimist. While Microsoft might let Obsidian make one more PoE with the Xbox as lead platform, of course, in order to have a broad as possible 1st party lineup for the Xbox Two (or whatever it will be called), it seems very unlikely to me that the series is going to have any kind of longevity under MS. At least not in this shape and form of a "real" RPG. Microsoft will not be happy with games that sell a couple 100K copies at most. So, they will either exploit the franchise recognition to branch out into mobile or they will have Obsidian create shallow 3rd person action RPGs under the brand going forward. I definitely do not see MS supporting a "proper" PoE III, IV, V and so on. Not gonna happen. Obsidian has limited resources and talent. If MS can put the human resources to work on a game that might potentially sell millions instead of hundred(s) of thousand(s) then they will put them on the more profitable endeavors, of course. It's business after all. MS want to beat Sony big time next gen. They are not going to screw around and experiment too much. They are going to want output and good output that shifts some serious units, i.e. games that sell consoles and subs. Does a PoE sell consoles and subs? Let's be honest: Nope. It doesn't. And that's why PoE -at least as we know it- is doomed in my opinion... though I would love to be proven wrong.

BTW, some strongly recommended reading (especially for those who just multiply number of (assumed) copies sold by $40 to $50 ). Dude, Where's My Money? Part One: The Science of Steam Dude, Where's My Money? Part Two: Divvying up the Loot

Feargus Urquheart (Obsidian CEO) has stated repeatedly in the past (like here) that he is open to any acquisition proposals = "Please send me your buyout offers". I can't really blame him either. If you are of middle age in your late 40s then security becomes more important than entrepreneurish adventure or idealism. It would be really crappy for him if Obsidian folded. The risks are substantial. Obsidian have had a few close calls in the past and being based in Southern California drives up their costs significantly. I can totally understand if Feargus wants to cash in to be on the safe side financially for the rest of his life instead of having sleepless nights when a publisher cancels a project or when they are up in the air between projects pitching and pitching with no contract. That said, it would be really sad for us gamers, of course. Especially Microsoft. They have done everything in their power to force people unto Xbox so I have very little hope that future Obsidian games would be made with a focus on PC. Like, Deadfire is getting ported from PC to consoles. Under Microsoft this would most likely be the other way around... maybe the game(s) would even be timed Xbox exclusives, Windows Store only (no GOG or Steam) and the games would surely get massively dumbed down for consoles/controllers.