rheingold

Eye patches would be great for Deadfire! Come to think of it a wooden peg leg and maybe a parrot animal companion would work as well.

So at the moment I'm rolling with March steel dagger and sword of Daenysis. Just got to DB and I don't have vulnerable attack or two weapon fighting yet. Still the amount of focus generated is insane, can't possibly spend it all in a fight. Obviously later game it might slow down. Having said that I've still to get vulnerable attack and weapon lashes. I think I'll stick rapiers and daggers, it looks cool and will probably give the sabres to Eder and Doc.

How do daggers work with ciphers? They certainly seem to be a viable choice particularly at low to mid levels. The extra accuracy is great and there are some good ones early on, namely the March dagger. My dual dagger wielding orlan seems to be doing ok. I presume at higher levels though it is still better to go sabres? Or maybe some of the models combined with daggers would still be a good option, maybe cautious attack or savage attack? Still should get to zero recovery with heavy armour.

So one of the very few issues I had with POE was the lack of portraits for orlans, wild orlans and aumaua. One of the major reasons I didn't play them that much. Now I don't know much of game production so I'm not sure when they actually work on portraits, but it would be really nice if and when they have new portraits, particularly for the afore mentioned races, they would release them. Deadfire is a continuation of the first game and I'd like use the same characters. That includes the portraits. It's not a problem for most races, as I have portraits I really like, but poor orlans really got the short end of the stick. Obviously I'd like to start a few new playthroughs to get ready for Deadfire otherwise it wouldn't be an issue.

Check out AC's Lady of pain build in the POE build forum. He has a couple of variations but by all accounts they kick ass. Eder, believe it or not makes a staggeringly good "Lady of Pain". Tanks still work though, just not the immortal I can't kill anything by myself variety. Now a tank needs to have some sort of capacity to deal damage as well. I find Chanters are just about the best tanks now. Building one defensively doesn't impact at all in its function. And they pull a serious amount of aggro due to their chants.

Fighters actually have pretty good dps - at least if you build them correctly. They are a decent class. The real question is will rogues be able to survive now?

Baldurs Gate2 worked quite well, and as Josh pointed out many of those characters had limited interactions and no story archs. the observation by josh were a criticism o' the bg2 approach. rather than doing as bg2 wherein a handful o' companions got full treatement and a few received little more than bg1, all poe 2 companions will have quests and party dynamic dialogues and whatever else obsidian deems essential to core companions. no companion crapshoot for the new player such as existed with bg2. you perhaps liked mazzy and only realized after a few dozen hours o' gameplay she were gonna be developed less than jaheira, and less than even non-romance options such as keldorn? sucker. the poe2 sidekicks, on the other hand, will get less development than companions, and the player will be aware from the start that he/she is only gonna get bg1 level development when choosing a sidekick to be filling a party slot. HA! Good Fun! Right, so instead of getting 2/3rd of the way through the game and realizing this character is mysteriously silent all the time, you'll know going in. Exactly like BG2, some characters will have less interactions, but *unlike* BG2, you'll know before hand. That's literally the only difference--you'll know what characters have full interaction and what characters don't.How in the world could knowing how much interaction you'll get out of your party be a bad thing? I don't understand that at all. Well, it's probably a good thing under those circumstances that you know one character is a sidekick as opposed to a companion.My issue is I just don't see the point of sidekicks. Of course it will take resources and time to make them. But they could spend that time on the companions. Or even add one more companion instead of several sidekicks. Not sure how much time/resources is needed for a sidekick compared to a companion. But it will take time/resources. I'm also worried about the party relationship being lopsided. Ie one chirpy character v one taciturn toon. Not because it's his personality just because they ran out of money. Truth be told, I reckon many people might just go for mercs instead, in which case it's a waste. Also: signing off, I can't help remember something I was taught ad nauseam as a kid. Do things properly or not at all. Mainly because it's a waste of time and money to do things by half. Time and money that could be spent elsewhere.

I've never been a fan of the monk class in d&d. Frankly it never seemed to fit in well, except when the Kara Tur book was released with a focus on an eastern location. Aside from that they didn't work well. Monks in POE are awesome, both in terms of power and concept. The wounds mechanic is fairly unique and fun. The main problem, I guess, is as Gromnir suggested, the name of the class is misleading. Would have been better if they were called Flagellants or something like that. I really like what the devs did with the classes overall and hope that the changes for deadfire won't be radical and change the nature of the classes themselves.

One of my concerns about POE 2 is the sidekicks. I really don't see the point at all. Rather do them properly i.e. As full companions or not at all. Doing something half assed never works out well.

Yeah, wish there was a dwarf companion as well.

There is definitely an expansion. You can buy it as an add on already.

I reckon it could get delayed by a couple of months at the most. So June/July 2018 at worst. I reckon they started on POE2 sometime ago, very possibly immediately after White March 2, maybe even before. By all accounts they have had some time to work on it already. Feargus was pretty specific and it ain't the first game he's made.

Definitely the whole man made gods theme. Overall I find the ideas in the book exceptionally well written and thought out. Especially for a computer game. It also asks some pretty darn good questions about religion. But I am biased because it reminds me a huge amount of one of my favorite books, "lord of light".

My first play through always tends to be a role playing one, so it would have to be based on which companions are most closely tied to the story. The problem with that idea of course, is that it can be quite difficult to figure that out first time anyway.... Having said that I have 3 main watchers so I'm going to need 3 playthroughs to start anyway. I also have a fondness for certain classes so: non negotiable classes are Druid, barbarian, chanter. Monks and rogues are also high up on the list, particularly if I can get a good old fashioned mage/rogue multi class. So I guess it also depends on how flexible the multiclass system is going to be, as some of the npc's are classes I wouldn't normally take. It's complicated!

Huh, the green K is also a link, who knew? The K was awarded for backers that donated during the Kickstarter event (IE: No "slacker backers") Cool thanks. Not sure why I never got one! Oh well, doesn't look that good anyway!

Makes no difference to me... though while we are on the subject of badges, how did some folks get the green kickstarter badge all the way back for POE?

Very cool badge - but it should be considering it's cost!

Fluffle take the postage from the extra 71$. Which only leaves 20$ or so. No idea what you can get for 20 bucks. You really shouldn't have to fork out for postage. Edit: My maths sucks - it's actually only 25$. So it should leave 45$ or so. Buy an xtra digital copy and put it into a lottery. That leaves 15 bucks.

Main concern I guess, is I hope it's not to much of an open world/sandbox feel. I can't remember the exact statements during the fig campaign but it was hinted at that there would be a substantial amount of freedom to roam around. There are enough sandbox type games on the market so hoping that I misunderstood. Not a huge fan of starting at first level with the old watcher, I don't really want to start this again, but from a story point of view it worries me. I'm also slightly concerned that they have bitten off more than they can chew, they seem to be quite ambitious, multi classing, new level caps, large world etc. It's a substantial amount of work and they don't seem to have much time. But still looking forward to it. Obs are one of the few devs I trust and listening to Sawyer talk, well he clearly knows how to make games:) So, yeah, overall looking forward to it with a few minor concerns.

Looking forward to it, though I do have some concerns about the possible direction it's going. I do trust the devs though, so definitely willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I'm actually really confused about trinkets/amulets. I presumed that a trinket is an amulet? But I could very well be wrong. It would be nice if a dev could confirm if the amulet slot would be the same for every class?

I agree with you - absolutely - it should be a trinket/amulet. But apparently the slot is going to be class dependent. I'd like the item to be available for most classes though. If the devs could confirm that an amulet could be used by casters and melee, then I'd go for an amulet.

Barbarians are great, and so many ways to build them. They are quite gear dependent though, but fortunately there are some awesome weapons early on for them. They are actually a pretty solid choice even at low levels. A barbarian with Hours of St Rumbaldt or Tall grass is great. And both are available very early in the game. And at high level with Hof and dual wielding axes or sabres they are insane. Also much of the difficulty in Pillars is related to the amount of mobs in the game. Having a barbarian in the game makes it much easier. Having a barbarian and chanter is even better, they make a great combination. As does a cipher. Really turns the game into easy mode.

"Obsidian is truth-enhancing. A strongly protective stone, it forms a shield against negativity. It blocks psychic attack and absorbs negative energies from the environment. Obsidian draws out mental stress and tension. It stimulates growth on all levels, urging exploration of the unknown and opening new horizons. Brings clarity to the mind and clears confusion. Helps you to know who you truly are. Obsidian dissolves emotional blockages and ancient traumas. Promotes qualities of compassion and strength." Reading Fluffles post on astral traveling hippies and Obsidian properties, I kinda feel that it should be something that's worn, with some properties that reflect it's nature? The definition is a bit general like lots of new age stuff, but protective seems to be it's main function. So to me, that would leave a trinket, hat or cloak. Apparently trinkets are now class specific? So that would rule them out, as you'd want the item to be available to as many classes as possible. Weapons would also tend to get more use with specific classes, so it's unlikely that a mage/priest would find a sabre much good. So a cloak or hat with some protective properties would seem to be the best bet. That would cover most classes.

Yeah, I vote for the unpronounceable mexican sword - as people have said, it's perfect.