Rapscallion

To me, it feels like the Wizard in PoE is visiting from a different game. The same class could be exceptional in a D&D game but the Wizard just feels weird in PoE when compared with other casters. The grimoire mechanic is quite poor in several ways: I'm rarely able to choose more than one or two spells per level that are actually useful (or not covered by my Cipher), so 4 slots is wasted I never switch grimoires because there is no need The Wizard abilities are a bit odd - if I need to use them, then it usually means I've already lost the fight and their effect is too weak to matter My Cipher seems to outclass the Wizard when their spells overlap functionally The Wizard has a lot of touch spells - why? This seems like a hangover from D&D that has no place in PoE Friendly fire on spells is arbitrary. Why do the beams and bouncing fireballs damage allies but the bouncing missile does not? Why does concussive missiles damage allies but the bounding missiles pass straight through them with no effect? The best buff spells target only the Wizard Just my thoughts so far. DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying that Wizards are bad or underpowered, but they feel a bit alien to me within the context of PoE and its other classes.

I don't even understand the implementation of the brigandine in this game. My impression was that a brigandine is a jacket that has been filled with some kind of armour - usually leather strips and/or thin metal plates. Why is it even classed as heavy armour when it should be light at best?

This thread and those like them are hilarious. Yes, some people do get carried away with the idea of balance however I see most complaints to be perfectly valid. Here are some reasons: 1) Class/race/spell imbalance was not a design decision. In fact Obsidian's goal was to eliminate bad choices from the game (in terms of class/attribute/spell selection) so imbalance can be seen as bugs. 2) Obsidian have already released once patch that addressed balance concerns, so why complain when the community highlight other issues? The developer has already shown they are amenable to balance changes. 3) Some people may whine that players feel entitled - perhaps they are, but if they are a kickstarter then I feel it is justified. You and many others did not pay for this game years in advance just based upon the promises of the developer. If you haven't already, please go back and read all of their kickstarter backer posts and watch the commentary videos. The ideas sounded fantastic, and the expectation was set high. If one of the classes they discussed in the kickstarter stage turns out to be broken or weak (monk, ranger etc.) then I feel backers have the right to say something.

I would love some really good Cyberpunk RPG.

IIRC the Dozens laced an area (was it a bridge?) with special gunpowder and lured Waidwen there. They even loosened and sharpened the rocks in the walls so they would tear into him like a fragmentation grenade.

Balanced? He only pointed out his negatives. A good review points out both good and bad features. The TC never claimed he was writing a review for this game.

No serious statistician will claim that statistics are objective... A whole lot of subjectivity goes into the problem framing, choosing the data to be analyzed, choosing the statistical models, choosing the quality criteria of the assessment, and so on. Numbers are often used to back otherwise weak arguments. "Lies, damned lies, and statistics"... This. You also seem to be confusing the word criticism with analysis. One other comment on your post Pedro: I think stating that some feature is not fun is a valid complaint. The stronghold in PoE is just not fun for me at all. It serves very little purpose outside of offering the player a sense of progression and I think it fails to do even that. I pour money into it, it offers me a button to click every half hour or so, returns some money occasionally. Since I have amassed an in-game fortune I'll likely never spend, the money is a non-issue, which leaves the management/progression side as the primary mechanic. As stated by others, it requires no thought or effort and provides minimal benefit in terms of story, immersion or reward.

I find your post quite infuriating OP, to be perfectly frank with you. This is a completely new RPG franchise and nobody expected Obsidian to get it perfect right out of the gate. The gameplay mechanics are mostly excellent but you're delusional if you think it cannot use some adjustment. The players are providing feedback to the developers - not all of it is constructive, or accurate, but I feel like you do the developers a major disservice by assuming they cannot tell the difference between good and bad feedback. No player wants to play a game they dislike, therefore you should stop assuming that feedback, discussion and, yes, criticism of gameplay mechanics is a negative thing. The comments of the playerbase will average out to provide a strong base for further development of this franchise going forward. /rant

So how then do you balance the fights? Assume the player is rested and has full endurance and spell slots? In that case you would need to remove the limitation for resting. It's such a difficult design process, and Obsidian knew it. This is why I think allowing a limited one-time rest at certain points through a dungeon is best. You know that the player has overcome X number of encounters to reach this point, and that they have Y number of encounters left. Allow a rest (and a save) before the player continues on. In this case, the developer has a wider budget for encounters. You design the game such that the player will have full resources (health, endurance, spells) for a certain number of encounters. If the player chooses to spend all their spells on the first encounter to defeat the enemies quicker, then they may have taken so little damage that the lack of spells will not hurt them later on. At worst they can just reload a few encounters earlier.

Another one who hasn't bothered to read the thread or understand the OP. Here's the abridged version: > Players complain about health/endurance system and spell uses/rest > These mechanics are related to the rest system > Game could have been balanced around a different system to avoid these issues > Original design meant you could only rest in specific locations and made more sense - why was this idea abandoned? Another one who doesn't bother to use his head. That is exactly what I am saying, why don't you do yourself what you are suggesting..... don't camp yourself or camp only a limited no. of times (which ever no. seems appropriate to you) and all these problems will be solved for you because this is exactly what you are suggesting. Why do you want everyone to suffer your opinions? I barely camp at all. Only in inns or a maximum of once in a dungeon if a trap goes off before I detect it and it takes out a party member. You've still missed the point. The game is balanced around having the ability to rest anytime, anywhere to a limit of 4 (+ scavenged supplies) with zero penalty. This is completely contrary to the goals of Obsidian during the early design stages of this game. You appear to not be a kickstarter backer, so perhaps you missed the developer commentary videos and forum discussions on how this game would aim to avoid these types of mechanics.

It may be that you're not having trouble with the Ogre fighters so much as the occasional Ogre Druid. Those guys are meat grinders.

You've clearly never experienced the joy of five Rolling Flames bouncing in a crisscross pattern across a field of enemies. I've never experienced the joy of Rolling Flames doing a damn thing. Not sure if my game is bugged, but in 15 or so uses of this spell it has failed to do damage to anything at all in its path. I've completely ditched it.

Another one who hasn't bothered to read the thread or understand the OP. Here's the abridged version: > Players complain about health/endurance system and spell uses/rest > These mechanics are related to the rest system > Game could have been balanced around a different system to avoid these issues > Original design meant you could only rest in specific locations and made more sense - why was this idea abandoned?

TBH the skills don't seem very well thought out. I pump mechanics on one character and pump Athletics really high on all of them. The rest are just for RP purposes for the main character.

I think a big part of making Fighter/Barbarian more appealing is by decoupling their instant powers from the recovery period. Even naked, my 18-DEX Barbarian will take several seconds sometimes to activate Frenzy and it's next to impossible to get Barbaric Blow (is that what its called?) to activate in less than 6 seconds or so. Eder will outright refuse to use Knockdown for reasons unknown - I just get the glowing green border and he doesn't use the ability on an enemy sitting right in front of him. Instant powers should activate the moment that a player clicks the button IMO, even on pause.