dam

While I very much enjoyed Ultima Online, Skyrim, or even Tyranny's classless systems (as in, you could reallocate points easily enough), it definitely takes away from the game's replayability value. You have much less incentive for replaying the game a 5th time just to make that one decision a bit different, if there are no new gameplay options for you to explore because you tried it all on your 1st or 2nd playthrough. It would, besides, possibly call for a New Game Plus mode, unless enemies respawned (which brings another slew of problems such as grinding, or being annoyed by level 2 goblins when you're maxed).

Quick FYI, the problem arises with Cipher PL1 Valorous Echoes as well (although I am using a cipher mod to allow for self casts, but it also happens when targeting an ally). I've no idea if the problem is tied to specific abilities or is general and could trigger on any of them so, here you go, quick addition.

OP, I share your pain. I did not order a physical copy here, but I sympathize with your disappointment all the same. Obsidian admitted communication on the matter could have been better, and to be fair I believe they've learned from the mistake. Obviously this isn't getting you your money back and I can understand why that would be frustrating. However, have not Obsidian tried to do the right thing, on numerous occasions ? They've kept PoE1 updated and patched for a long time, something that becomes rarer and rarer these years. They've pushed out PoE2 as soon as was possible, and delivered extras as free DLCs to polish the game. You've said it yourself, you enjoyed PoE1 a lot, and I'd wager you've enjoyed PoE2 at least as much. It would be a shame for you to miss out on other content from Obsidian because of an honest communication mistake on Obsidian's part. I honestly believe this wasn't an intentional scam from them, because PoE1 and PoE2 raised enough funds for them not to resort to such low business tactics. See here, nobody's saying it's your fault, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Nobody cares about that, what matters is that you be a happy customer. What matters is that you be able to look back on this in 6 months and think "man, that sucked, but they did right by me, this is a company I trust". Mayhap reaching out to Obsidian's support would allow the 2 of you to come to an agreement ? (say, an extra CD key, a free copy of Tyranny, I don't know...) It wouldn't take away the disappointment with regards to the absence of physical discs obviously, but it could certainly alleviate it somewhat. Again OP, I sympathize with you, I can only hope you find an amenable resolution and come back with us in the "I like obsidian" corner.

Yeah, I think I remember the same but you should be able to find that back in the original Fig campaign one way or another. I don't get the desire for a "physical" game. Like, unless you live somewhere with no internet access, in which case how are you posting / how did you back the fig campaign Now now, it is not your place to judge, really. Nor mine, nor anyone else's. OP thought he was getting something, he didn't, and now he's unhappy about it. Granted, OP could have been better spoken and more level-headed about the thing, but it still doesn't give us permission to judge. Maybe he likes collecting ? Maybe he felt like pledging higher to support Obsidian ? Maybe it was a birthday gift or something ? (admittedly that doesn't seem to be the case for OP , could be for someone else though) It is neither right nor fair for anyone to trash OP for expressing his disappointment.

So, PoE and PoE2 delivered, both games had a few cons, and a lot of pros. I deeply enjoyed both, and boy did I have fun with most classes. Some, however, I barely ever touched (barbarian, ranger, druid) but that comes down to personal preference. I very much enjoyed PoE's introduction of classes with gameplay that changed a bit from regular RPGs, such as chanters and ciphers. PoE2 took things even further with multi-class, and man did that expand our options. I literally cannot replay PoE1 now that I've played PoE2 with multiclasses and subclasses. Now, and to get to the point of this topic. What new class can we think of, that would be awesome and original for PoE3 or an expansion of PoE2 ? Right off the top of my head, I can offer you 4 suggestions. I'm not saying they're good suggestions, I'm not saying they're original or anything. What I'm saying is "I thought about these concepts, please enjoy the read, and share your suggestions as well". A/ DoT specialized tank I was thinking, perhaps some kind of tank that specializes in Damage over Time effects ? You know, kind of a pale knight with a necromantic aura kind of play. It would specialize in aggro'ing as many enemies as possible, while dealing slow but sustained AOE DoTs, and slightly stronger single target DoTs. There could even be mechanics such as when you've applied X DoTs on a target : - their soul ignites and the DoTs tick faster and/or for more damage - or it lets you target them with some kind of "consume" ability which deals the DoTs' combined damage instantly kind-of nuke. - or reaching X DoT stacks triggers a given affliction, depending on which ability was used last (mind, dexterity, resolve...) Deeper specialization options could : - return some of the damage as health, bit of like a leech effect - or have a small % chance of triggering an affliction each time a DoT ticks - or have a small chance that the infection spreads to nearby targets (for single target DoTs) This character would multiclass very naturally with Chanter, Paladin, Fighter or Monk for example. The abilities would be rather short-ranged, so the character would be quite exposed to ranged attackers and would need assistance from party members to handle them (aka, no Into the fray skill). B/ One on one duelist Or perhaps we could get some kind of a duelist ? An agile (and frail) rogue/fighter type guy that specializes in one on one duels, but is not quite equipped for swarms. They'd have an ability to parry incoming melee attacks, would be able to riposte (and a talent could allow for the triggering of an affliction on the enemy while we're at it), possibly even disarm their opponent. A late level ability could allow the duelist to "phase out" their opponent and themselves, effectively making it an actual, true one on one situation where no allies or foes could interfere. They would be the bane of fighters and barbarians whom they would outduel. They would hold their own OK'ish against paladins, monks and druids. They would, however, get wrecked by spellcasters and other ranged attackers if they weren't able to reach them. This kind of class would reward very tactical play and careful positioning on the field, they would depend on other characters to control the flow of battle (CC, engagement) and would isolate and dispatch high value targets. They would fill the one-handed weapon gameplay that I do not think many of us opt for. I mean, how many single handed, no shield characters have you played ? I know I haven't played any... C/ Elemental masters Lastly, how about some kind of elementalist mage/druid type ? And then, you'd get to choose one of several subclasses. Earth shaper : Kind of mage that would be able to conjure walls and cages of earth to block passageways or isolate a single enemy. Kind of mage that would conjure mud under the feet of enemies to hobble them, or burrow their feet under the earth to immobilize them. Kind of mage that would summon earthen armor around allies, summon a rock hammer to fight, call forth blinding clouds of dust. Kind of mage that would have a "control earth blight" ability to cope with the immunity. Kinda mage that would have an earth elemental (not a lousy blight eh, an actual elemental with humanoid/golem shape) following them around (bit like a ranger's companion, but as an arcane class). Storm born : Kind of mage that would summon electric storms like druids do. Kind of mage that would apply a debuff to enemies so they take +20% electric damage. Kind of mage that would summon gusts of wind to stagger foes, or entrap some in a tornado. Kind of mage that would raise the wind to deflect ranged attacks for a short time, or fan fires for more damage or area of effect. Kind of mage that would summon an aura to add electric damage to allies' weapon strikes. Kind of mage that would have a "control storm blight" spell to handle a foe immune to their damage type. Kinda mage that would in turn have a storm elemental (again not a lousy blight) which would be able to cast lesser versions of some spells. Basically, while wizards can specialize into evocation, they're not limited to any one given element. Hell, Minoletta's array of spells even offers non-elemental damage types such as pierce or crush. These here would have higher damage and overall mastery over their element, at the cost of being unable to use other elements at all. D/ Some kind of jester ? Wild Card : Now, the Wild Card would be, indeed, a wild card, and use a resource called Gambit. Their spells/abilities would be very unique in that they could inflict grievous harm (high reward) or a very beneficial effect (high risk) on foes. - Fling Pixie Dust : Foe AoE, they can get blinded (long) and paralyzed (short) , or it can actually heal them back to full health and make them Strong. - Arduous Alacrity of Motion : Leech 30% action speed from enemies (AOE, would give you +30% action speed, and enemies -30%) , or give them +15% each and lose 30% yourself. - With friends like these : Summon a (rather strong, actually) creature that may fight on your side... or your enemies' (bit like the devils/fiends in BG/IWD to be fair), wouldn't be able to be charmed of course. - Random evocation of surprise : Summon an absolutely random effect on a creature (heal, damage, inspiration, affliction...) , bit like Nahal's Reckless Dweomer in BG (I mean, how many party wipes did you get from that one ? I most certainly had my share). - Hazardous transformation : shapeshift into... something, perhaps a strong form for 20 seconds, perhaps a squirrel for 10... who knows ? - Roll the dice : target an ally, either they get one injury healed, or you get one. - And pray for sixes : target an ally and an enemy, either the ally gets an injury, or the foe gets 3. - Conjure fog of something : Summon a cloud that deals incendiary, corrosive, or electric damage ; or actually heals foes. - Out this world, into the next : Banish a foe (stasis) or yourself ; would need to be lower PL than cipher stasis shell otherwise there's not much call to use this one, except to save the cipher's focus for something else... While Serafen's Wild Mind cipher subclass is "fun"-ish , it's just not random enough for me. We need something akin to a Wild Mage in the BG series, but with spells and abilities unique enough to differentiate them from actual spellcasters. I hope you enjoyed the read and some (or all) of these ideas found some appeal with you. Even if you should disagree with or dislike some ideas, consider the time it took me to come up with these and to write the whole thing, and remain as civil as possible Please, if you think you have an idea for a new class that would change gameplay a bit and open up new combinations in a future PoE game or expansion, do take the time to share with us ! Edit: of course, we're talking concepts here not balance, numbers would need fine tuning.

Being able to spam the Brilliant Inspiration on your party is an automatic win button Getting it 4 levels earlier is pretty good. Single class ciphers make absolutely terrific supports, ascendants all the more so. PL 1: - Tenuous Grasp to soften a target - Valorous Echoes to buff your allies PL2: - Paralyze for emergency CC PL4: - Pain Block to buff and heal your tank - Body Attunement to steal 2 armor from foes PL8: - Time Parasite to reduces enemy damage by 25% for a grand total of 5 foes, not to mention the buff you get for yourself And that's without even beginning to dig into the other spells. I love me a support cipher <3

Rude. If you want to see less than stellar customer support and post-release game management, I would suggest you check on Bethesda. Obsidian have always delivered.

It's not that much harder to be honest. Still wrecking the game on a solo POTD monk ^^ Edit: OK, the increased difficulty definitely shows, actually. You get many more misses, many less crits, take much more damage. At level 20 even on a solo character it's still very doable, but you do have to be much more careful.

Okay here's a new one. Playing as a single class Nalpazca Monk on solo POTD. So, you know, i'm totally a melee guy. That is, until you find the Boltcatchers (drop from Steel Preacher) and the Mantle of Seven Bolts (some merchant in Neketaka, don't remember which) . So what you do is, you equip your Monk with the gloves, the cloak, and the Gaun's Pledge ring for good measure. Now, every single time you summon your clones with Dichotomous Soul, you get : - 2 casts of Storm of Seven Bolts - 4 casts of Crackling Bolt - 4 casts of healing from Gaun's Pledge Admittedly you're not gonna land 500 damage nukes like an Assassin/Evoker (although a good Storm will give you 250+ damage), but you're a Monk, you still get to destroy things with your fists. Below is a screenshot of the AOE for the Storm

Currently running a solo POTD Chanter/Paladin bloke with Level Scaling (only upwards) for all enemies, not having a single problem. Would you please elaborate ? What's your party layout ? What are the stats and items you're using ?

Ah, to be entirely honest, I disagree with pretty much every point you make. Every character is "broken" at high level. The only 2 classes that are somewhat meh even at high level are Priests and Druids, in my opinion. You're not taking into account the progression/reward aspect of RPGs where your character starts off somewhat weak and ends up much stronger. Ciphers, for example, have OK early game (being able to shaken then charm an enemy is a fight changer). Then they have absolutely terrible midgame, where they get outperformed by almost all other classes and require a lot of micro-management (bit like rogues here). Finally as you hit Mind Plague, Time Parasite and Reaping Knives, you get something useful. Defensive Mindweb tho lol, nerfed so hard it's basically useless now. As for Chanters, both the +fire damage and the AOE slash/fire damage songs have been nerfed to oblivion, and back. It is lucky they still get some useful spells. In fact the only reason, to me, to include a Chanter in a group, is that very same Brilliant inspiration.

To answer both of your questions : How do you use that ? Barbaric Blow + upgrade ? Aye that's the idea, use BB early to one shot a squishy, trigger GB, kill 2 other guys, trigger 2x GB...

This is on a pure Barbarian ; imagine with Mob Stance from Fighter Can be enchanted to cast Ghost Blades on kill.

So, what's a game changing weapon/item and ability synergy you've found so far, in the game ? Here are 2 of mine, which made the game considerably easier : 1/ Weapon : The frozen sabre from the Crookspur merchant, enchanted to cast Chill Fog on vessel kill Ability : Mob Stance or barbarian recovery on kill (or both !) Result : Clean up skeletons, darguls and even fampyrs with ease 2/ Weapon : That absolutely OP frozen bow which bounces to another target and procs an AOE freeze damage on crit Ability : Ranger shot that pierces to another target + Cipher Result : Massive focus gain every shot

There's a dragon under the Watershapers guild ? Man, I totally skipped that building, did not enter it even ONCE. Totally need to do that

Oh we understand the approach perfectly. The problem with this is... it gets old ? You're constantly using the same 5-6 spells In the BG series you actually had the *choice* to specialize your caster or not : - wizards vs - specialized wizards for bonus casts vs - very specialized sorcerers The problem with the current incarnation of the mage/priest system in POE2 is that you do not get to make that choice. Sure, Grimoires are around to help offset this specialization a bit and allow you to swap some spells in combat, but this is... I don't know, tedious ? I, for one, have mixed feelings about this.

So, there's this unnamed island which is located On this island are ruins called Sandswept Ruins, and an encounter event called Lowland Sands. From here on, we're discussing said scripted encounter, spoiler. Edit: solution below

Unless it changed, they're permanent. Now instead of swapping spells around grimoires, you swap grimoires themselves. I very much agree, I do not like this either. I'm possibly not even going to make a single wizard playthrough just because of that

Hello fellow players, Obsidian guys, First of all, congratulations for the release, the game looks very nice so far and a far cry from the Closed Beta indeed ! I would like to lay before everyone the following suggestion of what I consider an improvement : - it should be possible to skip the "intro" scene where you walk as a soul, leading up to a conversation with a woman and character creation One can definitely appreciate all the care that went into the making of this introduction, the flashbacks, the graphics, the voiceover, it's all immersive and gorgeous. However, and I am deeply sorry to say this, it... it gets old, guys. After you make your 6th character it just... it gets old. I know the sequence, I've seen it, I've seen it and re-seen it over and over. Will you please let me skip it ? I want to experiment with different classes, and builds, and mixes of multi characters. Instead, I end up watching the intro over and over and over again. At some point, and again I say this with regret, I'm going to loathe this sequence. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. It will have become my single most powerful enemy against starting a new game. Please, let those who wish it skip this sequence entirely and just get to character creation.

And updated

Hello guys, Any of you guys remember when Psychic Mindblades where OP as **** ? That was before patch 1.03 which tuned down the damage. Some time ago, Josh published a very nice post about balance updates and tuning. Now, I don't know about you guys. I usually play RPGs one of 2 ways, depending on the mood and the game. The first one is to RP it, try and be legit and "realistic", if such a thing can even happen in a fantasy universe. The second one is to min-max it. What's the single highest target damage I'll be able to inflict ? (500+ raw damage from a cipher, but that's a DoT, not a one-shot effect). What's the highest AOE damage I can deal ? What's the biggest disable/CC combo I can land ? What defense can I reach on my main tank ? On the one hand, I just don't like balance updates when they mess with my 2nd way of playing games. If something's OP, so what ? This is a single player game, nobody's forcing people to use OP spells and abilities. On the other hand, Josh's post also makes sense. Anyway, I recommend the post

Updated

There have been several system-heavy changes on Mac OS X recently to help mitigate the Meltdown and Spectre range of intel CPU vulnerabilities. You're running an intel CPU in that Mac. Did you update Mac OS X recently, perchance ? There might be a relation there.

IDK, I hate per-day / per-rest abilities here. Besides, I, personally, do not associate the stats well. Resistances, the cloak would go to a tank. Elemental damage, it'd go to a caster or dps that can use it. Mixed ? goes to the trash really, there are assuredly better item slots for both cases...

Nope, just nope. I apologize my friend I stopped reading here, I shall read the rest of your post later on. You cannot take into account penetration problems, because they're being tuned as we speak. Penetration is going to be changed in the next beta update (with adjustable values for modders, to boot).