[Should someone create general exp thread?]

Hey and now we've got a thread about those three threads. We've gone full meta

 

Anyway I think some of those threads will be full anyway soon and then they get closed anyway.

Then would be a good time to open one general XP thread.

[Developers' responsbility on how players play their games]

Hmm well I think that everybody decides for themselves what's most fun for them.

 

And while football is a game where several people play one game, this game is single player.

So if I liked to grind in my game how does that effect you in your game?

 

I do not see yet how leaving the possiblity of grinding open hurts anyone as I would say that it is still

up to the player if he does grind or if he does not, and that does not effect other players

and their way of playing the game (or does it?)

 

(As long as grinding is not required to beat the game)

[Radical idea - change attributes to more D&D like]

We don't even have feedback yet in the combat log when interrupts take place.

And if they succed or if they don't.

[This game needs polish!]

I don't think its surprising that a beta has game breaking bugs, but I'll be surprised if they release full game and there won't be at least one bug that freaks me out.

 

I mean, yeah, disappearing equipment bug and such break the game, but those will be definitely noticed and fixed. But same doesn't really seem to apply to quest bugs from my experience. I hate quest bugs, bugs that prevent me completing quests either at all or in one specific way. Or that game thinks I completed game in some other way. There is already one bug in other dungeon that prevents it being completed, I don't really believe that full game will have all quests to be 100% functional considering how many Black Isle and Obsidian rpgs had game breaking bugs or bugged quests.

 

So basically, even though this beta allows all game mechanic bugs to be removed, I care more about all quests working properly so I'm worried about how the release will be considering that Wasteland 2 had update in august and it still had bugs that prevented quest being completed. Its in release for september, so I'll be surprised if California will be 100% bug free if community tested first half had quest breaking bugs this close to release

 

Which concludes that we beta testers need access to the full game ASAP before release!

["No Bad Builds" a failure in practice?]

<_< *has high intelligence, perception and resolve on almost every character I create*

 

Why the heck I always pick the stats everyone else declares dumb stats?

 

I dunno. Roleplaying purpose maybe?

That's at least my reason for taking high perception.

 

Of course if they tweaked it and made it more useful I would not complain.

[Combat readability analysis - graphics]

Maybe it's just me, but I think there is a better character contrast in the image below. Could this "problem" be something specific of the Beta?

 

http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/Pillars-of-Eternity-Is-Just-the-Start-for-the-New-Obsidian-Universe-Says-Josh-Sawyer-424842-2.jpg?1391763369

 

 

At the moment I'd prefer it to be like in that screenshot compared to what it's now like in the game.

Some parts of the characters are almost not distinguishable from the background.

 

My wolf animal companion is sometimes not to tell apart from the background.

[Party Members: The Beta Version]

Main will be Death Godlike Ranger.

Party composition purely depends on roleplaying for me.

[Combat XP Poll - Let's See What We Think Now]

(I could have just clubbed you all instead, but I chose the high road. Your drops probably suck anyway.)

 

Don't underestimate what a juicy fluffy marshmallow could drop as loot

[Developers' responsbility on how players play their games]

Hey everyone,

in this thread I'd like to discuss in how far it is the developers'
responsibility to take care that players play in a certain way.

And in how far developers can and should define what a "correct" way of playing
a game is.

First let me say that I usually do not care about combat mechanics much in a
game as long as the game provides a good, fascinating story.

However I think I have noticed some mechanisms so far that try to enforce
a certain way of playing the game when I wonder why it is the developers'
responsibility to do that.

Two Examples for that.

1) Kiting.
IMO The engagement system is used to prevent kiting.
If a player likes to kite however why stop him?
Should a player not have the freedom to kite if he likes doing so?

If you leave the possibility to kiting open, then people who like to kite can do so and people
who dislike to kite can still decide not to do it.

As long as kiting is not necessary to win a fight.

2) KILL XP - Grinding
If people like to grind to get stronger so that it is easier later on why stop them?
As long as this grinding is not a requirement to beat the game.
If I remember correctly Planescape:Torment had two grinding dungeons.

It was the players' responsibility to use them or not.

At the moment I just feel like the game, that is the developers, try to encourage a very certain way
of playing the game because they deem other ways as not being "good"
(However they define and justify that).

So it's your turn now:
In how far should developers encourage certain ways of playing the game?
In how far should and can they be responsible for how players play their game in contrast
to the players being responsible for their own actions?
 

[Combat XP Poll - Let's See What We Think Now]

 

They'll get wise when they don't ever level up.

 

Damn, PrimeHydra proves you right ^^

 

 

 

Actually, I've been playing the beta for a while and noticed that my guys weren't progressing at all after clearing out wilderness areas. This was rather unrewarding, so I thought I'd go on the forums and bait a few flamers with my opinions. Much more fun

 

[Combat XP Poll - Let's See What We Think Now]

 

 

Until discovering this poll I thought we got XP for defeating baddies, but it was hidden. Now I'm just thinking "WTF did they do?"  You kill stuff, you get XP. It's part of the reward system of any role-playing game with combat. And for good reason!

 

Please Obsidian, convince us this is for the best. Anyone have a link to an interview or something where they defend this odd design choice?

 

PS I get it, one could beat the final boss of Planescape: Torment by dialog-treeing him to death. That was cool. But not getting any XP for killing annoying trash mobs is just...unrewarding. Let's all be rogues and go around them! puh-leez.

 

Am I to understand that you played the beta and enjoyed the combat just fine until reading on the forum that you weren't receiving XP for each kill? Because, if so, that's absurd. Please tell me that you didn't get retroactively upset about not having received an instant gratification reward that you didn't even miss at the time. I'll just hope that you haven't played the beta and you just meant that you thought per-kill XP was hidden from view in gameplay videos you watched.

 

 

"Let's all be rogues and go around them! puh-leez." = "completing objectives in any way besides my favorite way is wrong and shouldn't be rewarded equally to my favorite way."  Okay, if you say so.

 

It was a placebo effect. He thought he was getting xp; so he felt the xp high.

 

 

Interesting. So we actually don't need kill XP.

We just have to let people think they get it when in fact they don't.

[Godlike.]

The godlike especially the death godlike are very visually unappealing

 

No one will want to stick with a death godlike for hours of gameplay

 

I do.

[Interruption/Concentration: Why?]

 

Does anyone know if regular attacks can be interrupted as the PoE wiki claims?

 

I made character with perception 20 and tried make him to interrupt BB Wizard's (as he has only resolve 9) and it seemed not to be any great effect on amount attacks that BB Wizard was able to do. Then I tested it with his spells and noticed that my character was only able to interrupt his casting only once per spell, so it is possible that his attacks were interrupted, but I didn't notice it because interrupt causes only small delay in attack speed.

 

Combat log seems to not have any markings about interrupts, so it is hard to tell how they actually work. 

 

 

Those are the things that I'd change first.

Make the delay by interrupt a little bit longer and give clear feedback when someone attempts an interrupt and if it is successful or not.

[Interruption/Concentration: Why?]

Does anyone know if regular attacks can be interrupted as the PoE wiki claims?

["No Bad Builds" a failure in practice?]

I think I saw an effect of dumping RES in my previous attempt. I made a back-row druid rocking an arquebus, and when an enemy engaged him the attacks interrupted his reload pretty effectively.

 

If interrupts do interrupt melee attacks as well, and RES is needed to stop that from happening, then hell yes, PER and RES are both vital. Pump PER = stunlock most enemies; dump RES = get stunlocked in most combats.

 

That said, I'm not sure how much fun getting stunlocked is.

 

According to what the PoE wiki says I would actually expect that you can interrupt just regular normal attacks.

 

"If a character is hit while preforming an action such as casting a spell, attacking an enemy or reloading a weapon his action is interrupted, if he can't maintain his Concentration. If an action is interrupted, it stops."

"If it's a repeated action like reloading/firing or performing standard attacks, it will restart from the beginning as soon as the interrupt animation finishes."

 

I have made a char with high perception but I have not yet encountered this "interrupt animation".

To me the PoE wiki sounds like you should be able to reduce the enemy's attacking rate by interrupting them more often.

 

Has anyone succeeded on doing that on normal attacks?

[First impressions thread!]

One of my first impressions is that many people seem to compare their very first fights in the PoE Beta

to the fights of games that they have played and mastered for years.

 

I remember my very first attempts in Baldur's Gate 1. Even if I did pass Shanks and Carbos and

my first wolf, Tarnesh would surely kill me.

 

After playing the beta a few times now, the beetles get easier and easier with each new playthrough.

 

I won't argue that the combat does need improvements.

However comparing the first fights of the beta here to the fights of a game you have known for years

seems a little bit unfair to me.

[Interrupt and Perception]

So Interrupts only apply to special actions and spells?

 

On the PoE wiki it says

 

"If a character is hit while preforming an action such as casting a spell, attacking an enemy or reloading a weapon his action is interrupted, if he can't maintain his Concentration."

 

This would include interrupting normal attacks, would it not?

Somehow that led me to believe that I could interrupt an enemy from attacking me (if I succeeded the interrupt attempt).

 

Furthermore the wiki says:

"If an action is interrupted, it stops. If it's a repeated action like reloading/firing or performing standard attacks, it will restart from the beginning as soon as the interrupt animation finishes."

 

I have yet to see this "interrupt animation".

Has anyone tried it out? :/

 

Is the information on the wiki even up to date?

[Interrupt and Perception]

Hey everyone,

 

I am trying to figure out what Interrupt and Perception are supposed to do.

 

I think many of you do consider Perception a dump stat.

I do not want to discuss that here.

 

I rather would like to know what's the idea/concept behind Interrupt.

 

If I succeed in interrupting my enemy a lot does that mean they should be less able to hit me

because they are busy "being interrupted" ?

Do I efficiently reduce their attack rate if I interrupt them a lot?

Or what is the idea?

[How exactly do I flank?]

Hey guys,

 

in what cases does an enemy count as being flanked?

 

I'm interested in that for using my rogue with sneak attack on flanked enemies.

 

Is an enemy being flanked when he is attacked by one character from front and one additional character from the side and/or behind?

Is the Rogue the one doing the flanking, or can someone else do it?

How exactly does flanking work with a Ranger + animal companion?

 

 

[A "How to" on Revamping the 6 Attribute System!]

Whilst doing this I was wondering... could Attributes affect Skills? (example: 12 points in Dexterity gives +1 Atheltics). 10(+2) [Attribute] = (+1) [skill]

 

Ah, I was wondering this anyway. Is there any connection at the moment between skills and attributes.

For example would a character with very low Dexterity but high Athletics make sense?

 

Shouldn't Athletics be influenced (positive or negative bonus) by Dexterity?

Maybe Survival should be influenced by Constitution?

And so on ?

[Concerning Crashes - System out of memory!]

Very rarely I still crash. So I have to keep the task manager open to watch
the usage of the memory.

When it gets over 3,10 GB it usually crashes.

Theres something wrong with memory allocation I would guess.

It's not optimized.

In Windows Idle Mode  (with browser open obviously) my RAM usage is ~550 MB.

Now I start the game: In the main menu of the game the memory usage is around 830MB

Now if I load a savegame the RAM usage goes up to 2,5 GB

which is quite a lot

 

Sometimes after a playing a while it's around 3GB.

A bit more and it will crash.

[Crash here, Crash there]

32-bit operating systems and an unoptimized game is going to lead to crashes.  No surprise there.

 

 

I have posted a temporary workaround for this here.

[Unplayable due to crashes]

@Frusciante

 

To me it would appear that you're out of memory.

I had the same problem with Win 7 32-bit.

 

I posted the solution that worked for me here.

[Godlike.]

How to equip a godlike with a helmet?

Put helmet in their inventory and double click on it.

 

Godlike will equip helmet.

Haven't found a way yet to remove it xD

[Concerning Crashes - System out of memory!]

Hey folks,

 

So I had a lot of crashes, usually when trying to load a previous session

or when loading a new area.

 

In all my output_logs I found the message:

"Could not allocate memory: System out of memory!"

 

I run Win 7 32-bit which apparently restricts the memory

for a single application too much.

 

I found these instructions to raise the limit of memory.

 

Afterwards it worked. No more crashes so far.

(Except for once when I ran my browser alongside of the game)

 

So if you have Win 7 32-bit you may try that out.

 

You can run the game in window mode and watch the usage of memory by

running the task manager alongside in Windows.