Allvaldr

At that point in time? before that adventure game broke records? I don't think anyone believed any videogame could be successful on Kickstarter. The budgets that were handed out on KS back in the day would have only funded small indie devs, not an entire studio.

More than one. F this.

I want one of those wheels too... I'd even up my pledge to physical to get one if I can afford it

In the choice between diversification (2nd ed) and balance (4th ed) I much prefer diversification. Not all classes need to be equal, since D&D as we know is supposed to be a cooperative game. What needs to be balanced is the NPCs vs the party. There's no reason why mage PCs vs fighter PCs should be equal since you're not doing PvP. For an MMO you obviously want balance over diversification, but that's not here nor there. D&D started out as a miniature skirmish game (Chainmail) so it's not inappropriate for any edition of it to have a heavy combat emphasis, IMO. That. "Roleplaying" as we really know it was only added later on in the lifetime of the D&D product line. So even though I don't like miniature skirmish games myself, I don't mind if D&D takes some things from them.

I'd say it'll actually be 3.) you'll hit cap doing some of the optional stuff. You won't max doing just the storyline but you won't need to scavenge for every last xp. I'm fine with this, means I can put some stuff off for other playthroughs and not feel like I am gimping myself, and the low level cap avoids power creep and avoids excessive leveling for what is supposed to be a series of games we are going to be carrying a character forward through. Better to keep the levels low rather than give us too many levels at the start and then have to top it. Hell, it's already higher than what was in BG1, that game only really took you to level 9-10 and that is with an expansion pack that increased it! System 3 is what I prefer as well. A speed run of only the main quest shouldn't max out your levels IMO, but neither should you have to do every little ratcatching quest just to get there. That said, I prefer to reach level caps at around 80% to latest 90% of the story mode. Because I've got almost no doubt they'll have abilities in game that require max level to use. And unlocking a special ability so late that you're then only allowed to use it once during the final boss fight is a pretty ****ty thing IMO.

No clue yet. I liked druids and dwarves though, so voted for that. But I give it only a small chance that that actually ends up the char I'll play. In reality I will look up in advance the NPC companions' classes and races and make something to complement them so I won't feel forced later to leave awesomely written companion X behind just because he doesn't work in a party with my PC.

I love sensible and creative steam achievements, but the basic "simply playing the game" achievements offer nothing to the game. Also, pretty sure its not a hard rule that every game on steam REQUIRES achievements to be in the store but its definitely encouraged. Plus, steam achievements are part of the overlay. Personally I like those popups, but I'm almost certain you can disable the overlay in steam settings.

4. Note that nowhere they use a word hire, they use partnership. Really? Do any of us "partner" with delivery service company to distribute something? Or do we hire them? Partnership is a description of different kind of business agreement. Just going to respond to this one point, because the rest is simply too ignorant to even bother. Partner is a very common business term to use in any service industry. You hire people. You don't hire companies. I procure road transports every day. The trucking companies I procure those road transports from are business partners. They aren't employees. Even if they are working on my order within a very specific scope, that still doesn't mean they aren't business partners.

From what's been described so far, their role is more that of a distributor and less the traditional role of a videogame publisher, regardless what the dictionary says.

Re: looting. I want variety of course, it should be as viable to be an axe-wielder as to be a sword-wielder for example. But, even more than a lack of variety I have the loot wh**ing in many modern games. I can't stand the type of games that advertise that you can get "5 million randomly generated magic items" when basically it's just: Kill first enemy, start with sword+1. Kill second enemy, get sword+1 +paralysis. Kill third enemy: get sword +2 +fire. I loved BG I and liked BG II. Even if it didn't remain top-tier for the entire game, Lilarcor remained a valid item for probably half the game for example. That's the kind of loot progression I enjoy & prefer.

I always enjoyed playing death and decay style druids in PnP D&D. Wasn't exactly hoping for them in this game, but this update did give me a slight glimmer of hope it would be viable ... We'll see. These days in CRPGs I usually play rogue-type characters anyway. Or warriors.

I disagree with you. You work in any kind of serious business irl? It doesn't matter that the backers could be considered business partners as well (besides, legally they aren't but that's a different conversation). When I at my company do business with both parties A and parties B, I don't share the rates, revenue percentages, quotes, etc from party A with party B either. That is considered legally confidential information and sharing this could have serious legal consequences. Anyway. When I saw the news of the partnership and read the details I was quite excited. Came as a serious surprise the unreasonable storm in a glass of water that seemed to have started on this forum over it. >_>