[I don't understand combat in this game...]

There are a lot of consumables in the game. No need to save them. Use them at will. Usually items then buff off/def are good.

 

Not sure if 2 Chanters on Easy will be that helpful. As fights might get done to quick and they might not be able to spawn their summons which is what is really helpful.

 

You can create adventurers at the Inn 1 level behind yours. Might want to exchange Kana for one of them. Perhaps a Rogue, Monk or Barbarian since there are no NPC's with those classes. It would help to deal damage.

 

It probably will help you to have Eder focus on defensive abilities, talents, items, shields etc so he can stand in the middle of the enemies. I turned Durance into a tank in my game. That way he can go front line and just cast buffs/debuffs.

 

Also dont be afraid to get position with your Ranged Spell throwers. And the yellow part of AoE doesn't damage Party. Just the red. While yellow and red damage Foes.

 

I typically stay in sneak mode. And unleash a gun blast with every character. Then switch to primary melee/ranged weapon for each character.

 

Those debuffs really help. Plus with Accuracy buffs and those status debuffs its easier to score Crits.

[too much random junk]

I must obtain all of their junk!!!! Give them spears and shields, I want them. I want to be like the American Pickers of PoE.

[Per encounter / rest?]

I have to say DnD priest/druid/wizard spells I liked a lot better. Basically because of prebuffs and duration of those buffs. Iron Skin. The Emotion Buffs/Debuffs just to name a couple.

 

Its not that the priests buffs here aren't as good in terms of gameplay its just adds so much more micromanaging to their classes. I mean the DnD buffs not only lasted hours in the game but hours in real life. Not 30 seconds per spell per encounter.

 

It just a lot more clicks. Honestly prefer real time pause combat. But if you are going to add that much detail I would have been partial to stronger enemies, less quantity, and tactical combat. Especially without NPC scripts. Where you could just set the script up and the NPC would fire off their buff spells or AoE attacks etc. Plus DnD also had them Wizard Spell Containers (forget name) where you could preload 3-5 spells in there. Cast one spell and all 5 would happen.

 

So really the game is just missing Scripts. That would solve so much and eliminate so much clicking, time, and managing.

[My main two gripes with this game]

Yes, but they all have ongoing quests that I would like to solve (getting xp).

 

 

But you don't need all of them in your party at the same time to solve thier side quests. Just add someone to party finish the quest for the Act you are in. Then send him back and get a different NPC. Rinse and Repeat.I mean if you want to do all of of their quests you have to do that anyway since there are more than 5 NPC's.

 

So feel free to add a created character or 2 and just add them into the rotation.

[Ranger should get an overhaul]

I do agree what is missing is pet items. I mean why have a pet if you cant at least put a couple items on it. A collar at the very least. But you really need to make the pet a companion. Meaning upon level up you should have to go through a pet level up window. Picking talents and customizing etc.

 

 

As for ammo they could get around that by having it as a spell. The ammo gets blessed and for XX amount of time does XX amount of a specific damage type.

[Wizard suggestion]

I do agree it is strange Priests/Druids learn all spells when the hit the level but Wizards have to pick or find them. DnD it worked becasue they all had to be found or bought. No one sells Wizard Spells in PoE.

 

I would have rather Wizards have only 6 spells per level and just learn them all. It eliminates a lot of micro management. Could have added a different grimoire element to the game. Where every one you find that is of equal or higher level then yours adds a +1 per rest spell.

 

In the beginning I was running with 2-3 grimoires focused on different spell types. But it became a bore with the micromanaging so I went back to 1. And honestly without scripts for your NPC's there is a lot more managing per encounter when its hard encounters. I don't want to add more stuff to maange.

 

I think Wizards are just as powerful as the other classes but playing them is so much more detailed. I think some of that is uneccessary.

[Fighter DPS/RP suggestions]

It depends what role you want your 2H Fighter to fill. Will he be a tank, damage dealer, or a hybrid? In any of cases I dump Int, really not needed for Fighters. They just don't have enough per encounters abilities to warrant it.

 

If he is a single role Tank. Then you don't really need might, dex, or int. And can Max Per, Res, and Con. The only reason to keep Int at 10 and not 3 in that case is Will saving throws. You are going to pick all of the defense type talents. Carry the biggest shield etc. So Might not needed because your role is to stand in the middle and take a beating and not dealing damage. You will have the heaviest armor etc.

 

Now A Straight Damage Dealer. You want to Max Might and Dex. If you have left over points then put them into Per or Res. Probably stay medium armor something with -30/-35% recovery speed. If you already have 2 front liners in the heaviest armors you might be able to go with lighter armor.

 

A rogue and a barbarian will probably out DPS a Damage Fighter however. But it is personal play style choice. The right Rogue build you can basically crit on over 75% of all of your hits. Its pretty wild.

 

Now the Hybrid Fighter Damage/Tank. You want to max Might. Dump Int. If needed even drop Con under 10. You can easily boost it back up with items or enchants. You want a high Per,Res for deflection and the rest into Dex. Again there are a lot of Dex items and enchants to make your Dex higher.

 

I kind of set up Eder like this however I had him Dual Wielding Sabres. Stayed in his starting armor the entire game since you can really enchant it to be good and dual wield talent gives you 20% attack speed. Then the fighter ability lowers armor recovery time by 16%. His second weapon slot I just gave him the large enchanted shield and a really accurate Rapier. In case it was a long battle and I needed a little protection. But he could still deal damage because the rapier plus talents added so much accuracy. Think I boosted Eder with +2 Might and +3 Dex items. Then another +1/+2 Dex from resting bonus. He really needed cause he Attributes are optimally aligned like a character you make.

A 3rd Weapon slot helps the hybrid fighter. So you can start with a Gun. Switch to primary weapon. Then if you need to tank switch to shield.

 

If you are playing Normal Mode you have so many options and I think it is really hard to mess up the Fighter. Almost anything you will do with him will be good enough.

[too much random junk]

I must pick up everything. I would even take the tables and chairs even the drapes if I could. I mean we have an entire stronghold to furnish.

[Pillars Vs Grimrock 2]

If you like Grimlock I will say check out Paper Sorcerers.

[Trials of Durance bug?]

But your NPC's also hang out in their bedrooms at the stronghold at your pseudo inn. You can talk to them and stuff.

 

 

But yeah like Kilobug said you can access party management at stronghold or at any inn in the dialogue choices.

[Wizard suggestion]

If it is a really large and long encounter your Wizard can drop a volume of spells the Cipher cannot reproduce. Because he will drop focus and have to switch to range/melee to build it back up. While your wizard is still firing stuff off.

 

But I think all spell casters Wizards, priests, Druids are slightly more inclined to be buffers/debuffers then straight damage dealers.

[Per encounter / rest?]

You can't use all of your spells every encounter you kind of have to save them up. You can still get your spell characters to put out some damage or even tank.

 

I turned Durance into a great Tank especially with his priest buffs since their Accuracy is so low. But I really only need him buffing/debuffin using AoE spells on really large encounters or hard encounters. The rest of them i just let him charge and tank.

 

You might want to check out a Cipher who can cast as long as he has focus which is pretty easy to build up.

[too much random junk]

+1 on Inventory Sort. For the love of God please

[My main two gripes with this game]

Yeah I created 2 characters at the first inn. The 1st 3 NPC's come quick. But unless you bum rush the rest there is a huge gap. But I think PoE gives you the flexibility of going ala IceWind Dale full custom party or BG 1/2 full npc party. Then I just swapped out one of the created characters to complete NPC quests and once those quests were done send the NPC back to camp and bring out the made character again.

 

I wanted to play a Fighter but I abosutely wanted a Rogue. So the Rogue adventurer has been in my party the entire game so far on Act 3. I actually love the way the rogue is on PoE. So much better here then in a lot of other cRPG's

 

 

Now about spells it is a big change from DnD games. Where most buffs lasted hours and hours. You could just prebuff all the time. And you could basically buff you Wizard/Sorceer or Cleric to be as good or better then a front line fighter. PoE is just different.

[Ranger should get an overhaul]

At least in DnD the Ranger gets druids spells. Ironskin Ranger could easily tank melee while dealing high DPS.

 

As i think PoE has a better animal companion idea they do tend to die quickly. Perhaps the companion should have a ranger guard function so you don't have to micro it out of the front lines constantly.

 

But i think the biggest drawback to the Ranger is that the Rogue is just a flat out better range character then the ranger. So its weird. I would assume the animal companion is suppose to make up for it.

 

Granted I only brought out ther Ranger NPC for her side quests and we all were pretty hig but that damn pet died almost every encounter. But granted I just didn't feel like managing it in combat. Already have 6 char to manage plus if there are summons. So the animal got overlooked.

[One handed good enough?]

I also find the 1H talent to be lacking. I think it should have boosted deflection as well. So you would get the natural acc bonus from using 1H and then a deflection bonus from the talent.

[Fighter as damage dealer]

If you give Eder dexterity boosting items, plus dex rest bonus, focus on dual wield he can dish out some good damage and still take a lot of hits. got him with 2 unique sabres. With the penetrating melee modal because the speed bonus from dual weild cancels that out. And you can still have defender modal activated at the same. Because he cdan get the armor reducing penallty for -16% which is pretty close to canceling the 20% from the defender modal.

 

And you can early game boost him to +4 to +6 dexertiy pretty consistently. And you can still have backup weapon slot with a hatchet and shield if you absolutely have to tank all of a sudden and don't need him to deal damage.

 

I kind have focused on turning Durance into my main tank. I just couldn't ever find a build for him that ever produced a significant damage. But found a build that pretty easy to turn him into a tank. That way he can tank on 1st line and just cast any buff/debuff/healing he needs too. Honestly my Durance barely takes any damage. He is always taking the min damage possible.

[Choosing a faction in Defiance Bay]

I backed the game but wanted to go in "blind" so I've read abosulely nothing about PoE. So I didn't realize there were factions in the game until it was to late.

 

So i got stuck with the Dozens.

[To Devs&Modders about companions EDIT]

FindCharacter Aloth

[Fighter DPS/RP suggestions]

Depends if you are looking for a Tank or a DPS fighter.

 

DPS you can get a human to

Might-19

con-10

Dex-18

Per-14

Int-3

Res-14

 

Even though you are looking to min/max Int isn't needed on a pure fighter. It increaes AOE and Duration 2 things bascially you won't be using. YOu won't get Int Role Playing choices but you get them for high Might, Per and Res. Alternatively you can pump Per or Res to 18 and leave the other at 10.

 

Per,Res just give you better Deflection and Interrupt so its good to pump on fighter.

 

Take the dual wield talent and a talent for weapon focus on the one-handed weapons you prepare to dual wield. With this build you can even wear the heaviest of armors. While still dealing high DPS.

 

And if you are going for a 2H Damage Dealer/Psuedo Tank drop Dex to 10. And increase Per and Res to 18 each. You will deal heavy damage just slow. While avoiding damage or the ability to still take a lot of hits.

 

[Advice on two-handed fighter build needed ;)]

If you are going 2H fighter you don't need Int at all. I would dump it to 3. Dex probably leave it at 10. If you are going 2H you probably want heaviest armor as well. So the extra Dex won't help you really unless you are ditching 2H for Dual Wield.

 

I dump Int to 3. Max out Might then set Per and Res to highest. Con and Dex 10. Depending on race if you have any points left over put it in Con or Dex. Pure fighter Int only need as PC for role playing. But a high might, res, per negate the need for high Int while RP.

 

This build idea is you hit real hard but slow while avoiding damage or the ability to absorb a lot of hits.

 

Barbarian is better at DPS. Just cause he can boost his Might so much. right talents and starting race think you can get might to 27 while frenzied not counting equip might bonuses.

 

I would still take a Fighter over a Paladin as a pure tank as well. The Paladin I feel can't be as good as a tank as a fighter, def cant go DPS like barbarian. A paladin is just more suited to be a support character. Now he can be your #2 DPS or your #2 tank as well but it would be hard for him to be #1 in anything.

[dual-wielding warrior]

I agree on dumping Int on a fighter. Go all the way to 3! You can get might up to 21. Dex up to 18. Per and Res either 13 each or one set to 16. If you are looking for a Dual Wield DPS build.

 

If you are looking for 2H  Damage/Pseudo Tank Build you can go Might 21, Per 16 and Resolve 18. Good hybrid.The plain fighter doesn't really need AOE or Duration boost. And Resovle negates the will penalty of 3 Int.

 

So if its your PC Int is only needed for RP purposes but I've found high Might, Resolve and Perception to be better than just high Int for RP purposes.