Mr. Magniloquent

Well, no country on Earth has experienced democracy as a ruling agency, so it's difficult to say that it has failed on a technical level. It fails miserably at the conceptual level once a person has accepted the truth of negative rights and refuted the fallacy of positive rights--so why bother even regarding democracy? Anarchy is the only rational form of association. Note that anarchy is not mutually exclusive to law or cooperation. Absent a compulsory state, anarchy actually fosters cooperation, civilization, and society. Unfortunately, humans are by and large too lay and gullible to avoid falling for the tired, millennia old lies of narcissistic sociopaths that claim we need to coercively organize through murder, theft, and violence in order to prevent those very crimes.

I don't enjoy having to cast four spells in order to do something decently. Even in clothing and maximum dexterity, it's going to be a challenge to get off more than one or two attacks before at least one of those spells expires. Even if one could manage to do all of that, the battle would probably have already ended, or at least decided by the time it comes to fruition. Practicality matters.

That Fan of Flames is overpowered is crazy talk. That is almost the only spell the Wizard has that is worth a damn. Per day cast limitations necessitate potent spells--especially when combat is as frequent as in PoE. Otherwise you end up with the PoE Wizard--a bastardized, impotent, shadow of a proper class. That Fireball is two spell levels higher than it is incredibly significant. The Wizard's highest level is the Wizard's most appropriate spell level to whatever equivalent leveled foes they are facing. That spells do not scale in PoE makes this all the more imperative. Improvements in aim are moot when your spell isn't worth the effort to use. Improved convenience is not an appropriate trade off, particularly when the Wizard class is the sum of their spells. Right now, PoE wizards are slightly more than the sum of FoF uses per day. That is is pitiful and disgraceful. If they balance should shift--which it needs to, then Fan of Flames should be used on the basis of being a floor, where other spells are brought up to or beyond it.

I am certainly one of them. Overall, I am enjoying the game quite a bit. With some significant modding, this game might turn out to be most everything I hoped for. Is it worthy of Metacritic's score of 92? Not to me, and I have quite a few reasons to say so. Regardless, it's still a very solid game.

Well, if playing the Wizard class is your intent, particularly if because you loved Wizards in the Infinity Engine games, do not bother. The limited casts per day/rests would not ordinarily be a problem, but their spells are gimped to pointlessness. Their declared versatility is also moot, as they can do three things: cast extraordinarily brief self protections, cast mediocre debuffs that last only slightly longer than the time it took to cast and recover from them, and cast mediocre AoE damage spells. Instead, try a Druid or Cipher. The Cipher is very gimmicky, but their spells aren't totally nerfed to hell. More importantly, they can cast without the rest restriction. This game is still very much worth playing. I'm enjoying it quite a bit--just not as a wizard.

Overall, I'm enjoying the game far more than I had expected. I still don't like the class designs very much, and nearly everything related to spell casting (particularly the wizard) is far worse than it could and should be, but combat is still enjoyable despite that. I have strong faith that a Spell Revisions mod will be created, so it's just a matter of waiting. Once that's in--this game will be a keystone of this RPG renaissance we are enjoying.

Hahahaha! Exactly wrong. Burning Hands Fan of Flames has some use, but otherwise Aloth and the wizard class is mostly baggage. This particularly true of their defensive and debuff spells. Superfluous at best. Their limitations on their per day casts wouldn't be a problem if any of the Wizard spells were worth a damn. Mr. Sawyer was clutched with terror that Wizards would break his game though, so he decided that Wizards would have nearly all of the limitations of Vancian casting, without any of the positive tradeoffs. Even still, I don't typically need their spells to get through combat. Arcane Assault is ok, so I tend to exhaust that first. Usually by the time its two uses are over, the battle is won. I've utilized my priest spells more often, but it's still quite rare. My PC is a well built Cipher, and takes care of most everything. I'll be dumping Aloth as soon as I can get another scripted NPC. The Cipher one or the Druid, but probably the Cipher.

I am enjoying the game far more than the beta, that's for sure. I think the class design is still FUBAR, and most of the spells are sorely deficient, but I am enjoying this game (even the combat) even so. It's beautiful, the mood is superb, the skill check "adventure books" are excellent, the music is surprisingly good, and the dialogue (of course) is great. I also find some complaints I've read about the voice acting to be entirely unfounded. This is going quite well I think.

Backer Edition v1.0.2.0508 Windows 7 x64 OS, fully up to date NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 chipset, drivers fully up to date PROBLEM: The targeting radius of spells are not displaying under any conditions. This is irrespective of spell, ability, or class. Spells/abilities otherwise function normally. Relaunching the application, loading a save file, creating a new game, nor reinstalling has had any effect to restore them. DxDiag

The Moonlike actually had a racial on-par with what a Godlike should have. This was clearly an exploit. This has since been fixed. Hail Sawyer! I want to cynically laugh at this, but I just can't find it in me. Both are quoted for truth, in any case.

6) Never EVER drink a potion or use any consumable for that matter. Your main character (on a no-reload game) might be near death and surrounded by powerful warriors--but don't waste that item. Save it for when you really need it.

...or, you could walk around with a dead cat in your inventory--just in case it might come in handy.

The wizard has a single buggy summoning spell that will be acquired late game. Their defensive spells are not worth using. I have found their damage potential to be uninspired. Even specialized to maximize debuffs, their durations for inflicting status effects is woefully short absent a critical hit. Targeting their spells proves as much a liability as an asset when casting. Given how frequent combat is, their spells per day are also lacking. Honestly, there is nothing good about the wizard class in PoE. Take a Druid instead. The Cipher may be one-dimensional versus the Wizard's two dimensions, but it's single trick actually works. The have an quasi-inexhaustible arsenal of lengthy, low-risk, disabling and domination spells, which are tremendously useful in PoE since those are the only two effective or meaningful ways to defend against enemies. Cipher, without question.

I don't like the first action to be a non-spell. I find it more useful to have the Cipher get off a spell to isolate a VIP before the battle becomes pitched--which is as soon as it begins. That's one of the main reasons why I avoid long recovery duration weapons for the Cipher. Switching to another weapon would cost even more time.

Planescape: Torment is a masterpiece of interactive story telling. The combat is pretty terrible. Fight what you wish, or what you must, but that is not the point of the game. Install the bug fixes and wide screen mod, then take the time to smell the roses. Talk to everyone, even the books, walls, and furniture. Lie. Fear the rats. Sell your buddy into slavery. Tell the truth. Read everything. It is truly a joy.

Looks very much like Dungeon Siege. I liked that game, particularly the second, but that's not what I want out of a D&D title. The idea of an editor is intriguing, as I played a major role in creating persistent worlds for NWN. Also, when did Dragon Age: Origins become a "classic title"? That warm bowl of vanilla MMO conventions is not even a decade old. It's always a rude, minor shock when someone invokes DA:O as if the association is supposed to encourage interest, rather than repel it.

You do NOT want the AI to play like you (not you you, you as generic) play...really. Like I play, yea that'd be cool because I really try to avoid cheesing, go with theme and alignment, enjoy look above meta. But most people cheese out in these games like there is no tomorrow and if the AI started doing it to THEM...lol. I mean, wtf you gonna do if suddenly all ranged mobs started focus firing on your ranged dudes, with priority orders, or started CCing properly, then massive focus fire. Mobs do NOT have resource management to handle, which is what makes these fights difficult in the first place. Mobs do NOT need to think about story, roles, balanced party, they are just here to ruin your day and be loot fillers. Mobs only have to fight ONE of you, you have to fight DOZENS of them. Mobs win by killing you. You win by killing them, while using as little resources as possible. Overall, "Good AI" doesn't mean jack ****, what matters is mostly mob design but above all: Encounter design. That's the key in tabletop, that's the key here, to me at least. I could not disagree more. Vanilla Baldur's Gate is a great game. Baldur's Gate with the Sword Coast Stratagems (SCS) mod installed in a marvelous game. SCS takes enemies AI to the level of a highly experience player that knows every rule and nuance of the game. Comparing BG with and without SCS are night & day. Encounters design is merely a stage. AI is the actual substance of the play.

Anything is easy to balance with an ECL system. When experience rewards are issued in proportion to the challenge rating versus the character's level, very little balancing is required.

While I understand the virtue of using the blunderbuss to gather a large sum of focus, I specifically do not like its long recovery. After eliminating or disrupting the VIP, I like to keep my Ciphers reactive to screen anything that doesn't go according to plan. Long recovery times inhibit that greatly. Were my use of the Cipher much less time sensitive, I would probably favor your strategy.

LOL. I can imagine Mr. Sawyer's bitter tears of anguish reading that comment. Hilarious. but to the OP, no. Possible only in the definitive sense. Otherwise wildly unrealistic.

A simple solution would be to introduce proficiencies, but that would further convolute what were supposed to be flexible and intuitive systems. I also doubt that the designers would want characters to be able to wear certain armors "penalty free", even at the cost of talents. The dilemmas runs deep in PoE.

Not true. Free, unlimited, ultra-bonused disengagement attacks heavily favor that the "kitee" will decimate anyone attempting to retreat.

There isn't anything respectable about cooldowns. Like the OP said, it's a lazy and heavy-handed way to avoid the drudgery of good design. Anything cooldowns can do other systems can do better.

It's been several versions since I've given the cipher attention, but I have always favored quick rapid attacks for several reasons. Since you always start combat with a given focus, you typically only need a bit more to get what is needed for most battles. Smaller weapons, like stilettos, also better penetrate DT/DR which makes your focus collection more reliable. The use of focus oriented talents augment anything these smaller weapons lack. Most importantly, smaller/faster weapons strike more quickly, and recover faster. The goal is to cast spells, not gather focus to mount on your wall.

Luckman said it best here already. This decision does not make sense with the existence of a punitive engagement system and recovery penalties already so deeply enforce static combat. PoE combat is already overwhelmingly about the initiation and little else. I think these recovery penalty and movement choices could be cleared up if they just changed the way disengagement attacks work, but that's clearly not going to happen.