Jajo

Well I don't think most players upgrade every unique weapon, rather just the ones they use. I don't have the metrics but reading on this forum, most players seem to have an abundance of cash at the end of the game so it's not really shocking that the devs raise the cost of some items in game. Giving more crafting materials would have been a much better way to go about it, in my opinion. Not this time gated pyrite tombola that's in the game. Crafting would have been a good money sink, if people could actually craft... This material shortage also defeats the design purpose behind different physical damage types and giving weapon proficiencies out like candy, since no one's really able to adequately upgrade equipment of the whole party, let alone produce multiple equivalently powerful weapon sets for each character. Upgrading ship type on the other hand... does anyone find that worth it?

And I didn't bother with them even before, because I deemed them a complete waste of money. I mean, should I spend it to save myself from pressing "1" 3 fewer times, or on weapons that I'll actually use to resolve the conflict with and save time there?

I see there is still no option to auto-hide the annoying news screen. Here's hoping to v1.2... I really hope that spamming your customers with ads for DLCs that they already own is not worth more to you than aesthetics and visual integrity of your game.

I'm not getting them constantly, but I do get one occasionally.

Yeah, that makes it even more inane. They could perhaps use an icon at the bottom, like it is for listing DLCs. Make it glow or something, if there's BREAKING NEWS.

That's not true at all! Chanters use the power of emotions!!

Yeah, I know that, but I'd like to have it minimized by default. Ideally I would want to not be greeted by advertisements when launching a game...

I could swear there was an option, to have the news (screen) hidden by default at game start, before patch 1.1 (or am I mistaken?). Either way, I'm missing it, since I find being greeted by the news screen quite invasive and aesthetically displeasing. I understand that it can be very handy, but I already have a web browser and an email client and I therefore really do not need nor want a third venue to contact me about the game. Especially in such an involuntary and immersion breaking way. EDIT: Rephrased for clarity.

Yes, it's the MC leveling streamlining, that did it for the spell selections. Although why weapon proficiencies got their own screen and spells didn't is to me a mystery. Does anybody not get every weapon proficiency they could possibly want on a character by level ~10?

You're right - chanters and ciphers come on top there. That's because they are vastly different from the priest class. This however has absolutely nothing to do with my original statement: Priests are now mechanically almost identical to wizards without grimoires. Oh, but wait... Yes. Yes they are a valid example. Unless you are trying to argue, that D&D, PF and PoE1 got it completely wrong and should have limited their known set of spells years ago. I know that this is a ridiculous strawman, but unfortunately, this ridiculousness is the only way I can imagine dismissing my comparison in question (literally the first sentence in OP).

While I do not agree about their buffs being pathetic, the big issue for me is their offensive capabilities, like you've said. Limitations force specialization and since their offensive capabilities are lacking with respect to other classes, they are thus rather forcefully relegated to being a fully support class. A damn shame, if one asks me.

Because the old 'Per Rest' classes benefit from the shift to Per Encounter more than the other classes. All classes have/had per rest and per encounter abilities. To refer to my very first statement: how does this benefit priests more than (for example) wizards?

Points 1, 4 and 5: This is to be expected. It was the same in PoE1 and not the point of this thread, since this thread is about what has changed, not about what has stayed the same. Points 2 and 6: This I do no agree with. The spell pool is same-ish enough, that I can't really see the difference just from memory (this is, however, a personal 'not-fact'. My reference is ~250 hours in PoE1). Also, one of the reasons, why I made this topic is, that with a very limited spell selection I do in fact feel like I'm missing out (4/PL for a pure priest, LOL/PL for a MC one, if all you do is pick spells). Point 3: This is a global game mechanics, that is the same for all classes. I really don't see how this makes any particular class better than others.

Apparently priests are now wizards, but without the ability to swap grimoires (and oh, what fun ability that is). This is counterbalanced how, exactly? By the additional, fixed "domain" spell? In PoE1 there were many priest spells that were just too situational to ever cast, so I very seldom did. Now their uselessness is guaranteed, since they won't even have a chance to be cast. Ever. I thought, that balance changes were meant to make all the possibilities at least somewhat appealing and useful. This seems like a completely opposite direction. Also seeing how MC characters now have less skill points to spend (wasn't this also supposed to be the other way around?), MC priests get shafted even harder.

You are apparently supposed to not be in stealth mode when ringing the bell - that was the difference for me. Successful completion was: Clear the docks. Inform Lamond. Ring the bell while not in stealth. Benweth then runs right up to the bell.