Silent Winter

Just back from a week's holiday in no-internet-land - thumbs up for the decision Obs As much as I want to get my hands on the game sooner, I'd prefer to get my hands on the 'ready' version Besides, it'll give me more time to buy my new machine and finish some writing. Not to mention rendering out some more portraits / fan-art when I do get the machine

Mostly like it. I like the ground pane (will need a scroll-bar to drop lots ) Still prefer per-character inventory, but arranged like that I can still organise things horizontal to a given character and pretend it's that character holding it. Deep-stash on a tab is fine. Tabs shown there make sense and easy to use.

^because it's a one-way distinction? Muscles allow magic but not magic allows muscles. Need for physical strength to channel magical energy, but those muscles still operate as regular muscles too. The lore isn't so much that magic and muscles are the same force, just that using magic is physically demanding. It just disallows the frail old powerful wizard archetype (except insofar as said wizard has greater control (INT) but lower power (Might) )

^The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long ... something like that? Or did you mean something relevant Wait, I'll make it pseudo-relevant: -'Gorgeous graphics today are sucky graphics tomorrow. Consistent art-style and fun gameplay today, are consistent art-style and fun-gameplay tomorrow.' So sayeth the wise Alaundo. A few things need tweaking (see beta-forum for more details) but visually it's shaping up nicely for me.

^Good idea. 'Defend the Helpless' / 'Courageous Stand' / 'Over MyBob's DeadUnconscious Body' - sounds like a good fighter ability to me - take the place of a companion who's getting pounded (whether they're on the ground already or just really low on endurance/health.

I like the per-character inventories from the POV of organisation and role-playing (my cleric carries my potions in BG, mage carries scrolls, thief carries gems, etc). Useful to have them all on the same page as in PoE. Stash is fine and I'd go with access anywhere outside combat.

So we've got Eder, Sagani + wolf companion, Pallegina and ALoth And those are dragonlings, not fully grown dragons Fully grown dragons are much more dangerous, in PoE as in ...er...life

^ given 100 xp, each character now gets 75 xp if there's a full group, as opposed to each character getting 100/6=16xp Is that right? Seems a little too generous to me. But I guess it depends on how everything is balanced. Will make solo-games more tricky I imagine.

^It's not added by the EE - the FMV with the statues is also in the original (unless it was added by TOTSC?) Edit: apparently the EE changed the FMV ending but there's still that one in the original - hinting that the story is far from over. I thought NWN2 OC had a good ending if you played the Evil path - the Good path ending was a bit 'meh' but led into MOTB, which had a better ending. BG2:TOB ending was good (other endings up to that point were less 'complete' but that's ok). Worst would be to get a cliff-hanger ending and then no sequel ever being made. I'm hoping for an ending that ties up the main quests of PoE but leaves the door open for the sequel. As for the expansion - I'm hoping it adds more side-content a la TOTSC, rather than tacked on the end a la TOB. But so long as it's done well, it's not a big deal either way.

a) Why not BG-style? Click the weapon set to swap to it - then (or if already using that set) clicking will highlight it and change cursor to 'attack' (so a double-click can select attack with new weapon set. (or does the icon disappear on select so you'd have to reclick the portrait again?) b) Right click for swapping to new weapon set without attacking - left click to swap and attack? (the latter being used more often) I can see wanting to swap weapon sets outside of battle (for flavour or just to get ready after switching in the last battle), or selecting first, moving, then attacking - but it would be less common than wanting to switch to that set because you want to use that set right now.

When I first heard of the engagement mechanic it sounded a bit more 'solid' - as it is, it seems hard to tell when you are/aren't engaged and whether breaking it is easy/costly. Definitely needs an AI improvement there - I thought one of the devs posted something along the lines of attacking a threat, so if your fighter were damaging it, it should focus on your fighter. Also ranged enemies might attack your own back-line. From the post you linked it sounds like some enemies are single-minded in their targets - but they should suffer disengagement attacks for running through your front line. I hope it's not all enemies who do that - variety is the spice of A-life.

I see - then it seems like we need a better enemy AI that forces the use of a more active fighter (needing to use that 'into the fray' and disengagement attacks, etc) More talents to help the fighter be more than just a tank may help, but if we still need a tank due to enemy AI, it may not be practical. I heard the next build (or next next build) will have an improved enemy AI so I guess we'll see. very generous, thanks , but I don't really have enough time to proper beta-test at the moment (posting from work so that's easy enough ) Not even sure my laptop would run it (should be building a new desktop system in November so will be ready for the final release)

where? how? (my mouse at w*rk is having a similar problem - but will it get replaced? Maybe in a year or so :shrug: )

I think it's more that you can choose 'stun' as a simple active ability AND you get 'stun' (plus the damage) if you go through the combo - it's an advantage for doing it all, not the only route to stun. But anyhoo, this: makes me wonder why people are calling the fighter 'boring' - sounds pretty good to me. Do you enjoy playing the fighter? What, if anything, needs to be improved? Or is it just that some people don't like the fighter's role as 'defender' and want them to be a damage-dealer (in which case, isn't that already in as higher damage over time due to more consistent hits?) Or it's the rogue who spikes damage with sneak attacks but is less consistent overall (but people are attached to the name 'fighter')? I can understanding wanting to build different builds of fighter - ranged v. melee for example or damage-soaky-tank v. dancy-swashbuckler - so we're back to talents for different styles.

I also don't have the time so not claiming it, but +1 for sharing with the community

now we're talkin'! (And as I said before - I personally think the fighter's ok as is). So yes, basically like that - not sure about 'frozen' though, may have to let that one go. You incorporate it into the game the same as any other ability. If status-X then effect-Y - like sneak attacks.

New players could easily RTM or figure it out through playing (as they would for any other game mechanic) Do you really find it that complex? Seems fairly simple to me - no worse than having 'breach' followed by 'attack' = damage (vs no damage if breach not done first due to stoneskin) in BG2, or 'Timestop' followed by 'attack' = guaranteed hit. Not for the same reasons but certainly no more complex You 'clearly stated' that you would find it too difficult or that it would be 'like street fighter' - I 'clearly stated' it wasn't (on both counts) - doesn't make you or me right or Lephys wrong.

^You're confusing the idea of 'combo' with 'auto-combo' - in SF, you'd use X,X,down right, O, left, X or something, and then get a 10-hit combo. We're talking about using a standard attack in a standard time frame, then using a 2nd standard attack in a 2nd time frame but then having a different result. Would you say that a rogue hitting an enemy for damage and then hitting again for damage on their next 'turn' was "combine two standard attacks. eg. Street Fighter."? This is the same, but producing a different result on 2nd hit, not the same. So, to take another exampe: Fighter hits enemy with standard attack, Fighter then hits same enemy (on next turn) with 'power attack' - instead of using the regular 'power attack', the fighter would use a slightly less powerful attack (compared with regular 'power attack') but with an added 'stun' effect. ^Not the best example of a good in-game combo - just trying to help you understand the difference between this and SF. As far as comparing defenders to other defenders: - who are the other defender classes in PoE? (I'm counting Rogues/Rangers/Ciphers as 'Strikers', Druids/Wizards/Barbarians as 'Crowd Control, Paladins/Clerics/Chanters as 'Support' and then we've got Fighters/Monks as defenders. Is that right? So monks have the ability to convert damage into wounds and then use those wounds for special abilities. Fighters can get hit more before going down, they deal consistent damage, they can enage more than one enemy without adding a talent. All classes can get hit and deal damage (including other defenders) - Lephy's point (correct me if I'm wrong, Lephys) is that this makes fighters boring for some people (not me) as there's not much special in the way they fulfill their, or any other, role. Their class advantages are 'under the hood', so to speak - a numbers advantage. We're just brainstorming ways to differentiate them on an interaction level.

Considering the range used, only a slight arc would be needed - not a big deal if it's missed for me. As for more range - perhaps they want to make sure they hit the enemy - in the fast paced heat of combat, you wouldn't want to shoot from 100 yards and hit your fighter

Ah, different circles - so it's not so confusing then. Still, I prefer all the same colour for my party. But OTOH, this might be handy for my all-dwarven-rogue party playthrough. I don't like this either PE has this for the Combat HUD, but it's not working as intended atm. KEEP THAT CLUTTER OFF MAH PORTRAITS ^yeahthat don't mind tiny icons above the portraits though - but it should be togglable as Sensuki said. Edit: forgot the 't' (and biscuits).

^not really trying to get 2 for the price of one - more that combining 2, one after the other, would produce a different result than the 2 separately. You're right that it's easier to do that in a TB game - I'm just following up on Lephys' suggestion and brainstorming possibilities. Minor actions, as you suggest, is one way to introduce the idea. I like the idea of fighters using different stances with different effects, even if it's as simple as 'defensive'/'aggressive'/'mobile (light on feet and dancing)'/whatever

LOL, sorry, I don't mean SF style. I just meant that fighters may be able to learn combinations such as parry-thrust / feint-backhand or (for a more active example) choosing to attack weak then next attack is strong makes it stronger than if just attacking strong all the time. Or if you follow a swing with a thrust, you have a chance to unbalance your opponent and then get a free attack/interrupt/free-disengagement/whathaveyou. If knockdown is followed by attack, it could be replaced with 'stomp' (though then we're into animation extras so it's probably a no-go) (An attempt to bring out the feel of combat by using more than just 'attack') Needn't be just for attacks - defensive combinations could produce different results - and defend-attack combos. It would take better ideas to make it work (ie 'fun') but in theory it could make the fighter a more active class (though personally, I'm fine with the fighter being as described in the updates).

At that stage - just use Dalekeeper to edit in some reasonable stats -allocate yourself a 80-90 roll and then 'point-buy' or something. I'd only use a rolling system if it were 'roll your stats' then 'choose an appropriate class' - but in PoE, even that's (supposed to be) moot. So yeah, dice on desktop for my 'take what you're given' playthrough (rolling for class/background/culture/etc included at no extra dev-time )

So no then ... or at least only as an option Can't watch the vid (web-proxies keep getting blocked - yet to find a new one that works with youtube) - but thumbs-up for the continued hard work

There's already the monk and cipher who do the 'build up resources through doing' idea - but that makes sense lore-wise for them. I can't see much of 'fighter hits 5 enemies, then he can use 'super swing' working out well. On a very basic level you could have 'tippy tappy hit a single enemy 5 times then catch him off guard with a huge blow for extra damage' or something but I don't want the fighter to turn into a monk/cipher resources build. this is a better idea - fighter combo-attacks. Fighter could learn more combos as the game goes on (ideally by training with experts but if not, then abstracted at level-up with talents). That's what I like about the rogue, in theory at least - they take advantage of the situations set up by themselves or others. Being able to inflict more statuses themselves with a follow-up strike may be needed (can't remember off-hand how much they can do) but the main thing is to make them more viable in melee (from what I hear, many players are just giving them a bow due to poor survivability in melee). Not as hardy as a fighter, just able to make more uses of tactical positioning / escaping danger through cunning.