[Audra Dragon Petition]

Finally reached the adra dragon today. Tried it a few times with different tactics. Might as well have been slamming my head against a concrete wall . Unfortunately, it doesn't feel as the fun/challenging kind of difficulty. Even with minor/mild cheese I didn't make any progress. The damage output is just way to ridiculous. If this thing so much as sneezes over half of my party rolls over, even if I move them beyond their shooting distance. I didn't even get around to really try damaging it. Then there the adds. Xaurips are fine, they're pretty much a non-issue at higher levels and they do add some flavor. But adragons?!? Seriously? Spell casters using the currently incredibly broken charm spells, disabling spells for which no real defence exist? Ultimately, this fight currently feels as if it'll be won with a single failed save. And lots of cheese. And save scumming. And more cheese. I am in no way whatsever opposed to the concept of a superboss. In fact, I love the adradragon and in this game you should and only barely be able to conceive of the notion that you might defeat it (it does seem a fitting enemy for a sequel however ). But not because it sneezes and everybody dies. It's only just short of: 'rocks fall, everybody dies'.

 

Now that my rant is over; the main issue I have with this battle is the boss' ridiculous damage output. Both the breath attack and the wing slam not only deal a ridiculous amount of damage, easily one-shotting max level characters, but also have such a large radius that evading it is practically impossible. Adding some way to migitate the damage, wether a spell or equipment, could make this battle more fun without changing the spirit of the fight.

[Thank You Obsidian]

Yes! Thank you Obsidian for a job well done . Every time I play the game I always find myself surprised at how good the game is. Sure, it isn't perfect. But the atmosphere, quest design and lore are all amazing.

[Everyone's Party Composition]

Currently I'm running a party of a PC druid, Eder, Durance, an NPC rogue, Grieving Mother and Aloth. GM's slot is the one that I use to test the 'new'/act II NPC's in. So far I'm not impressed with GM and I'll probably put Kana back into that slot. My tactics are generally pretty simple: the rogue scouts ahead and pulls enemies to the rest of my party. Eder tanks while the rest is armed with guns and blast everything to smithereens. Oh and I'm playing on hard, currently halfway through the main quest of act II with pretty much all of the side content done, expect for the third part of the Endless Paths.

[Please Don't Nerf Spells with Patch]

Yeah, I agree with TC. With the focus on low-level gameplay in PoE the level 1 crowd control spells are the one thing that wizards currently have going for them(and given the general suckiness of the level 2 spells they are a very important part of the low level wizards arsenal). I remember being tempted to exchange Aloth for a cipher or barbarian several times on low levels due to the weakness of wizard spells when compared to my druids (and Vancian casting with restricted resting means that your few uses/day have to count. Personally, I would prefer if slickness and chill fog were exchanged with level 2 or 3 cc spells. To be honest, I'm surprised by these nerfs. So far I've found the wizard spell list to be the most 'balanced'  spell list in the game. I'm surprised that the nerf stick has been brought so early after release. Oh, and please, in future patches, hands off of fan of flames. In spite what some posters say it's fine. If anything, buff fireball

[O btw the music is good]

Yeah, I agree with pretty much everyone else in this topic. What especially impresses me is that none of the songs are ever intrusive. They fit the areas very well and greatly contribute to the atmosphere. This is one of the few games which has actually made me go: "nice music". A job well done mr Bell.

[Druid Player Class]

Currently playing as a druid on hard. First character I made and I'm sticking with him (which is somewhat unusual for me). So far he's very solid. The start of the game was very doable primarily due to wildshape (I chose bear form mainly due to RP reasons, didn't test any of the other forms. Boar shape did look very interesting). It is a per encounter ability and unlike the older IE games it doesn't hinder your spellcasting. It doesn't last very long, doesn't do much for you durability and it  doesn't give the melee abilities of a martial class. Still, the damage is good and early game you'll easily punch through the DR of pretty much all enemies. After that guns and enchanted weapons will pretty much negate the advantage it gives you. The druid spell list is comparable in power and versatility to the wizard spells, though the wizard does have an edge in debuffs (in my current game I have acces to up to third level spells). Also, you get access to the entire spell list for free. It features a ton of aoe spells with some very useful fireball like effects and cone shapes as well as some good buffs. All in all, the druid is a very potent class which gives you a lot of options. I use it as an aoe nuker with some buffing potential. Early game I used wildshape a lot as it makes melee combat an option and thus limiting the amount of spells you'll need to use, which in turn saves you camping suplies and/or a run back to the inn. A complicating factor of using a druid in expert mode is that I believe it does turn off the friendly fire indicator for aoe spells.

[Level 4 party overwhelmed on every step - please advise!]

In addition to the suggestions mentioned above: are you using chokepoints? If you march your entire party up towards the drake/ogres you start of surrounded by their underlings, which is pretty much a guaranteed party wipe. East of the pool of blood and in the hallway south of the ogre room there is a doorway which can be locked down by a single character. By using a rogue (their defensive abilities greatly decreasing the odds of being locked down by engagements) to pull enemies to those chokepoints where Eder could tank time for quite a while while the rest of the party wailed on the enemies with ranged attacks and aoe spells made it doable with relatively underleveled characters. I guess I got somewhat lucky as the drake refused to leave his room while all of the Xaurips followed my rogue. The drake himself is quite doable when it's 6:1.

[At what difficulty level are you playing?]

My first playthrough is on hard. Have beaten all of the previous IE games and solo'ed the BG games, didn't play the backer beta. So far (just started act II, did most sidequest and made it to level 6 of the optional dungeon) the difficulty feels just about right. My PC is a druid and I'm using the fighter/chanter/wizard/priest companions as well as a custom rogue. Especially early on I had to be careful in picking my fights, taking care to scout before initiating a fight, luring enemies to bottlenecks and sometimes even avoiding encounters only to return at a later time. After hitting level 5 and filling up my party things are getting easier. Especially the larger number of aoe spells and guns make a big difference.

[Post your first character, as fresh out of the gate as possible]

Saw this thread an hour or two after starting the game (why am I checking this forum while I've only just begun experiencing the glory that is PoE? Right, checking the web during dinner:D). Anyway, Rakhathon was inspired by a recent bout of watching polar exploration documentaries. A relatively young pale elf whom felt that his connection to the earth reached farther then only the White that Wends. He is an explorer hailing from a society which values both pragmatism and social coherence.