Sacred_Path

Minsc was quite a bit too eloquent to be retarded. So you're safe. If you want to laugh at a simpleton depends on how much of a high brow person you are. The rest of us just found him adorable

Mind = blown.

Why not though? As long as the bard can't do anything - only sing - why not make it stack? To stick with your example, 4 bards singing simultaneously would give 2 fighters a measly damage bonus of 20%. Hardly OP, is it? But it would make it a bit less of a waste to have more than exactly 1 bard.

"Somewhere over the past few centuries, Latin became the "ominous" language" - orly? What about the fact that throughout the European Middle Ages, Latin was a very ominous language to the common people? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin Incomprehensible languages have always mystified and intrigued those who couldn't understand them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abracadabra - sorry for the OT.

Uh... limit the amount of buffs that can be on one character at a time? Or limit the number of buffs a character can cast (i.e. you can cast 10 lvl 1 spells but only 3 buffs? Or a given buff can only be cast 3 times?) ô.ô I probably don't get it because making buffs scale with your level means you would have a huge arsenal of very powerful buffs at the end. Unless you really cut down the number of buffs per spell level (1 or 2). I hear you. I especially want them to do away with the "Thou shalt take one of each kind" 1st commandment. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62177-redundant-class-abilities-in-pe/ I want all sorts of parties to be viable and powerful. 3 paladins, 2 bards and one cipher should be just as legit as 1 fighter, 1 paladin, 1 ranger, 1 rogue, 1 priest and 1 wizard. (Note in this topic I also called for stackable buffs/ abilities - a contentious issue I know ) Point taken. I agree. The disadvantages should make sense though. A fire shield making you more susceptible to cold - why? Good example: Haste makes you fatigued after a while.

Speaking of Latin... and knowing that Josh loves Darklands... will PE have a "high language" that is used by wizards and/ or the clergy? That would be awsum (also as an inspiration for the title)

I feel that ciphers must bring something different to the table. It could either be very rare/ impossible to protect yourself from ciphers, but their spells are rather small in effect; or it should be easy to save against them, but their spells are very powerful. In Wizardry 8 Haste was a psionicist spell. I think ciphers could cast buffs that stimulate the brain or nervous system. But most of all I think they should be powerful debuffers who slow, frighten and confuse. Yes, it would be p. annoying to always have to recast those low-level buffs. The only thing that comes to mind is to not make buffs available on low levels at all, only debuffs... but that's kind of sub-optimal of course. I'm not sure about what you mean by this. A party of 6 barbarians should be weaker than one of 5 barbs and 1 priest IMO, for the exact reason of buffs. Just like that party should in turn be weaker than one of 4 barbs, 1 priest and 1 wizard (for crowd control). I think certain staples should remain, and bad party composition shouldn't be justified with citing "player choice". Nice idea IMO, but then shouldn't that apply to other kinds of magic as well? There shouldn't be too much of a divergence between buffs and other spells.

Giant miniature space hamster eats Earth.

I question the heterosexuality of any man who willingly puts testicles in his mouth.

Buffs make you buffer. It's p. awesome.

Uhm yes I also suggest restricting resting, didn't I say so? About restricting the number of active buffs... I'd rather not. I'd prefer it if I could dump a dozen buffs on my two tanks now if I chose to, but only with a duration of 2 minutes each and after that my reservoir of magic is empty and won't come back for quite some time; or else only put two buffs on each of them and have more spell slots over for direct damage spells. More options for player choice there and no arbitrary limit (did I mention I also hate summoning limits?). I think the thing with buffs is the question of how powerful magic in general should be. If you have extremely powerful magic at high levels (wizard), they should also cast some v. powerful buffs. It's just more believable that way. But DnD and its derivatives always had the problem that powerful wizards couldn't even heal a cut anyway. In PE we'll have the same derpy restriction. I would therefore propose the following: Priests are the main buffers, but their buffs aren't very strong. After all, they are more combat ready than DnD clerics anyway. Mages should have a tiny number of buffs too, ranging from weak to v. strong (on the highest levels). That way, for most of the game, buffed characters won't be much stronger than unbuffed, but still enough so to make it a tactical choice if you want to put a buff, or several buffs, on your characters for tough fights.

Since buffs are only one component of overall balance, I don't see the point in hating on them. You'd either have to make characters stronger, or direct damage spells stronger, or make monsters more susceptible to status effects, or increase weapon damage. If your 1.90m tall character with a longsword can duke it out with a giant w/o buffs, I think you put too much emphasis on the wrong balance components (HP bloat, ludicrous strength scores, etc.) What noone wants is the tedious and mindless task of applying all your buffs at once all the time, then rest to regain your spells after every encounter. The optimal solution IMO is to reduce rest spamming and thereby restrict magic, and thereby make players think about exactly what spell they need and when and who to cast it on. Cast haste now on your archer to take out an enemy mage quickly, or cast a dispel later on your tank should he become mind-controlled.

The important questions are, will there be micro transactions, and will it tie in with your social media? I can't wait to buy some bushes from Obs to put in my yard.

Can we learn a bit more about the sources the artists are using for inspiration?

I haven't played Borderlands or GW2 so I'm not commenting on them. But an opportunity to stay alive on the brink of death would be a nice idea in a game that's as unforgiving on death as PE. In fact it's the only way I could tolerate instant-death abilities on monsters. Let's say you have an overall chance of 80% to bounce back after you've been dropped to 0 zero health. Gain a little health and stamina and get on your feet again so you can retreat. Since there's no healing magic (AFAWK), the death spell still takes you out of the fight, it just doesn't spell game over for this character. It would need to be limited though. Maybe it can happen only once every 24 ingame hours. And it might not be an ability that every being in the game possesses (unless we have objective based XP, where it doesn't matter if a wounded monster retreats). The "narrative second wind" is more of a plot device than a game mechanic though. It could happen once or twice, and it should be almost mandatory that you lose; like you're facing foes who are deliberately much higher in level than you at this point. OTOH something like wandering bands of slavers who, whenever they win, only subdue you and you have to fight your way out of their 1-3 bases scattered around the world could be nice too. Except slavery doesn't seem to be an issue in this game

Nah, I got that. I was only pointing out the many interesting facets of romance that hadn't been mentioned yet. Personally I'm anti-romance, but what I really want to see more of is party banter. Specifically, I want them to reminisce about and contemplate the awesome things they have done and those they lie before them and how to prepare for them. Realistically, that's what 90% of the conversation would be about IRL. I know that's a tad harder to implement than romance dialogue that comes out of nowhere and can be played out at any time anywhere, but it's also much more satisfying/ immersing. Also some comments on locations you're visiting. IMO, that makes "friendship" among characters much more realistic and believable; there's something like a quiet bond formed over common experience.

You need to account for the fact that people expect romance is going to be in the game, wether they like it or not. So they may still vote in the hope that at least it will offer some nuances other than classic romance.

I was referring to the mega dungeon only. We've already heard from the devs that there will be bottlenecks in the game, so they can about gauge at what level you will encounter what monsters. I think a lot of areas will be unlocked once you have progressed, so that makes it easier to anticipate what monsters you will face. If you stock the mega dungeon with critters from lvl 1 to lvl 20, it makes it kind of hard to prepare for what's coming for you. There doesn't need to be a blurb, maybe when you go down a level you could encounter a very small number of foes so you can get a feeling for how tough they are without getting wiped. Of course good escape mechanisms would also help.

I hope P:E will have so much tactical depth as to allow the player to become gradually better, rather than there being one valid approach. If there is only way to do it (cast all your buffs at once before combat, durr), it's only a one-time learning matter. I hope they limit rest spamming and so make choosing the right buffs at the right time for your party setup a real challenge, rather than casting all your stuff at once. I'm all for a starting area that's a bit tough and thereby forces you to become proficient at playing the game right away, with a good mix of enemies where you learn by doing. Also, as for player skill... I'd like to think that most gamers have a modicum of intelligence. So it comes down to a) how well does the game/ manual explain the rules and what's going on behind the scenes b) how much does the game challenge you. I think in RPGs especially a lot of people never become good at a game simply because the rely on the "crutch" of saving; if you forced them to play in an Ironman mode (or if they chose that mode) they would in all probability become better. If they don't ragequit all the time ofc.

Forton should totally host tea parties for his invisible friends. Except with opium and no tea

I'd prefer it if there was simply a very big chunk of lore/ backstory in the manual from which examples of names can be gleaned. They seem to be kinda lax on conventions as far as naming goes though. Edair, Sagani, Aloth, Forton, Cadegund, sound like they could all have the same cultural background, and if there's a pattern there that reflects real world places/ epochs I'm not seeing it.

I think it has to do with the fact that making up names for the game at this stage is silly and pointless. If we had more information I don't doubt that I and many others could come up with a good name. Actually it would be pretty awesome if Obsidian held a name competition once the game is mostly done and we have received enough critical information. They could pick a few names they like from our suggestions, then create a poll on the forums to establish the final name. That would be p. awesome; it would make it feel like P:E was really our baby.

There's no such tradition in CRPGs I'm afraid.

I want basic item crafting (some potions, one-use gadgets, basic ammunition), and no crafting beyond that. Well maybe except QFT. Could be temporary bonuses too, no need to enable the party to create uber weapons. Crafting epic items is just too darn cheesy and uninspired in BG2, let me cite two reasons. 1) Like Mr Sawyer would say, there's no choice involved. You happen across parts of an epic item, of course you take them with you. Of course you will have the item assembled later on if it's useful. 2) It offers nothing that couldn't be achieved by simply placing the whole item in that location. "Gee, I wonder when I'll find the blade to that hilt" isn't exciting at all. The crafting of NWN2 wasn't any better. Creating loads of low tier permanent magic items makes these items even less impressive, and finding them completely pointless (great, a longsword +1. I already fashioned a dozen of those for everyone who can use them). It didn't get any better when you got to the more powerful items. IMO, the creation of epic items should be an extremely obscure mystical process that takes an obscene amount of time and dedication (bordering on madness). IOW, to create an epic item there should be all kinds of epic **** going down. Liches fashioning magical amulets with the blood and souls of uncounted sacrifices etc. If there will be descriptive flavor texts in PE, these processes could be hinted at, but there should always be a layer of mystery surrounding them.

Maybe it shouldn't be balanced 'around' it, but it should of course be balanced for it as well. I'm not only talking about wether or not you know the type of monster that await you (though I could do that; remember that different difficulty levels will produce different monsters), but also give the player an indication of the threat that those monster pose to your current party setup and levels. This is not knowledge you could have beforehand, even if you've played the game before.