Gromnir

whenever we hear of the witcher franchise, we cannot help but be reminded o' the following: “It could have been--it didn't have to be obscene.... It could have been--a bird out of season, dropping bright-feathered on my shoulder.... It could have been a tongueless dwarf standing by the road to point the way.... I was prepared. But it's this, is it? No enigma, no dignity, nothing classical, portentous, only this--a comic pornographer and a rabble of prostitutes....”― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead HA! Good Fun!

our high intellect paladin makes a fantastic tank. there is a continuing misconception about the impact o' attributes in poe. an ideal attribute distribution is far less vital in poe than in many other games. pumping and dumping is what folks do in other games, so is assumed it is equal necessary in poe. the developers purposeful avoided that pitfall. m 10 c 9 d 10 p 15 i 18 (19) r 16 once you get to defiance bay, you can have a near constant +4 to intelligence via a resting bonus. add the horny-demon helm o' +2 intellect, and you is boosting by 6 points. nevertheless, regardless o' attributes, our efficacy as a tank is more a matter o' our class, talent choices and abilities. attributes is an important factor, but we get valuable pay-off by focusing on intellect as 'posed to might or dexterity or constitution. our darcozzi paladini were extreme efficacious as a zealous focus tank. with faith and convictions fully buffed and maximizing deflection on our outworn buckler, we had an extreme durable tank that were also boosting the accuracy and defenses o' all our fellow party members. moreover, with high intellect, we could also use inspiring liberation and hastening exhortation that had durations that would endure throughout even the most lengthy battles. give 2 party mates +10 accuracy and increased attack rate means Gromnir's paladin tank wouldn't need to tank very long save for a couple rare battles... and in those cases, our high lore meant that we could use any number o' different scrolls to effective end most battles. we also got a ranged kind wayfarer that has relative high int, and is an ideal secondary support character. our ranged paladin is a wood elf with adventurer focus that has the various kill triggered abilities and talents. armed with a war bow, might and intellect is actual our main attributes. we boost intense flames not 'cause we thinks it is a particular useful damage enhancer, but 'cause we know that we can get a guaranteed kill when using flames o' devotion, which then triggers our paladin support abilities. sworn enemy might actual be overkill, but we take it anyways. the lack o' inspiring liberation is a serious shortcoming for the kind wayfarer compared to our darcozzi paladini, but with high intellect, we get sizeable increases in the duration o' exhortations and inspiring triumphs. aside: with 2.0, we may put a few more points into constitution and/or resolve for our tank. inability to stack both resolve and perception for deflection will require a bit o' retooling, which is a shame given that we prefer the dialogue options from high perception, intellect and resolve. HA! Good Fun!

Yeah, that's basically my issue with the series. Also, both of these fantasy worlds are super depressing. It would be nice if they lightened it up a bit. Plus the romance and sex stuff is stupid. chalk us up as somebody who couldn't get through witcher 2. the thing is, we didn't hate the main character more than we hated everything else. the witcher 2 combat were shallow to the point that the player involvement became nothing more than a repetitive chore with startling speed. and the story. look, we know some folks is great fans o' witcher 'cause it is dark and mature and... whatever. ain't mature. story is as shallow as combat. witcher is a self-indulgent, teenage boys' waking wet dream/power fantasy. is immature to a comical degree but somehow it gets mislabeled as mature 'cause it is bloody and gratuitous and cynical. is nothing wrong with making a game that is actual pandering to the lowest common denominator. is nothing wrong with liking such a game-- it is a fantasy after all. am not gonna be too hypocritical 'bout indulging in fantasy, eh? nevertheless, the self-deluded pretension that for some makes witcher a property more deserving o' consideration 'cause o' its maturity is laughable. can't vote-- haven't played either game. that being said, we do not foresee playing witcher 3. HA! Good Fun!

But Strawnir, no-one has complained that a non-traditional fighter build is viable. I realized long ago that your strawmen doesn't stem from issues with fallacies, but from some cognitive issue in regards to understanding what people are actually saying, and I think you're obfuscating those cognitive issues by "pretending" to speak like a hyperbolically accentuated retard. But it doesn't make it any less important to point it out, lest you'd win arguments by walkover. "It is a fighter afterall and having 3 might and 8 constitution really breaks the role playing feeling..." you can't be this obtuse. HA! Good Fun!

seal spells is now treated as hazards, which makes no sense but does result in an impressive accuracy boost to the priest casting such spells. regardless, there is no mechanics modification o' seal spell accuracy in 1.06. HA! Good Fun!

we get considerable use from athletics, lore and mechanics. am knowing that traps has been nerfed considerable since day 1, but particularly for battles we is pushing the limits as to whether or not we can survive w/o a rest, careful chosen traps is making a difference 'tween life and death. the thing is, with the accuracy penalties that were added to most traps after release, it takes considerable levels in mechanics to make the skill useful as anything other than a universal key for opening treasure boxes. on the other hand, we got considerable motivation to put at least a few points into lore and athletics. is perhaps ironic that lore benefits characters such as monks and fighters more than priests and mages, but that only increases the value o' the skill from our pov. stealth is currently useless to Gromnir as we can always sneak into range so that we get a first attack even with 0 points in stealth. am gonna need see how 2.0 improvements... improve. survival, beyond its usefulness in dialogues, is underwhelming. is few battles that last so long that we gain benefit from the survival boost to consumables. am genuine not certain how to make skills, as a whole, better. traps can be tuned to be more or less powerful, but we sure don't want traps to be determinative o' success. scrolls is already a bit too powerful, particular in the hands o' a high accuracy character-- lore should get some kinda nerfing if we wanna see balance. am not seeing much need for a change in athletics, but we rest infrequent, so perhaps we notice the benefits more often than some others do. am thinking that the duration enhancement o' consumables needs a dramatic boost for survival to be worth the investment o' points. eat a meal and have the benefits last hours rather than minutes? *shrug* as an aside, we see no need to link skills to particular classes. the combat abilities and talents of the classes result in more than enough class differentiation. as the skills is current a secondary or tertiary consideration, we don't see value in forcing a moribund rpg anachronism into yet another game. HA! Good Fun!

somebody cue "sympathy for the devil." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8 following totsc, fans on the Co8 boards demanded less mowing o' wilderness maps or entering o' every house in bg city to find mini-quests. what folks wanted were more durlag's. following bg2, folks complained that the pendulum had swung too far. fans wanted more "exploration." *sigh* by necessity, more exploration in a game with finite resources requires that you get less durlag's and unseeing eye. the obsidians, as with so much o' poe, tried to makes everybody happy. balance exploration with the raedric's keep and endless paths, yes? is a no-win for developers. is tough for us to genuine feel bad for the developers, but we... sympathize. HA! Good Fun!

But Strawnir, it was never about what you fundamentally can or cannot do, but that the current setup so blatantly favours min-maxing. Yes, it is possible to play just about any combination of Attributes, but no-one has ever said that you couldn't. What is always discussed is the relative viability of the attributes and the balance between them, and yes, this includes role-playing feels. Like how it feels odd that Constitution would be useless for almost everyone, but feels especially odd for tanks and/or fighters. Or how it feels odd that Intellect is the absolutely best stat for Barbarians, and simultaneously a one-stop-shop for all spellcasters. If it was anyone else, I'd find the argument odd that just because you can do something and survive doing it, it works well and shouldn't be changed, or, worse, possible change or improvement shouldn't even be discussed. Because it is possible to make a high-Constitution Spellcaster with Resolve and dumped Intellect, that somehow means that the goal of build variety and less rigid classes and roles is achieved? With your track record, I'm not surprised you somehow reach a conclusion opposite to everyone else. A good system would be one where the attribute bonuses supports build variety and the less rigid classes and roles, not one where the most obvious min/max is apparent at a mere glance, and half the Attributes doesn't support your class or role or desired build. Currently, the "you can make pretty much anything and still stumble through the game"-thing is in spite of the attribute bonuses - and one of my least favourite aspects of th game - not because of them, and most Attributes do in no way support what you suggest, that "poe is different. poe is intentional different. classes and roles is far less rigid in poe. duh.". "feel" arguments is exactly what is so frustrating to the obsidians, 'cause they don't mean anything w/o individual context, and individual context is, *gasp* individual. "feel" is not the reason why intellect benefits the barbarian, or why constitution is a relative weak attribute. is not difficult to show the math behind the advantage o' taking +15 intelligence for your carnage barbarian. again, duh. the obsidian developers specific developed an attribute system that would not unduly punish experimentation, creativity and even ignorance o' the nuances o' the system. Gromnir, for example, has played through potd with 3 different characters: rogue striker/dps), a paladin (tank) and a priest (support). all three has near identical attribute distributions. is all slight variations on the following: m 10 c 10 d 10 p 16 i 16 r 16 all three characters has been not only viable, but effective. a primary goal o' the attribute system is to not punish folks for playing unique builds. to thus complain that a non-traditional fighter build is viable is therefore showing a certain level o' ignorance. mati being unaware the a Goal o' the poe attribute system is exactly what disturbs his rp feeling is understandable. you don't get such a benefit. you should be aware that the attribute system is built precisely to avoid what mati wants. and every complex numbers based crpg system favors min-max. again, duh. poe developers did not pretend or promise that min-max would be impossible in poe. the developers specific has noted that min-maxers would still find advantages. a goal were not to dissuade min-max. a goal were to make alternative builds not only viable but fun. that is precisely what happened and is continuing to happen. with 2.0, maxing resolve, depending on race, will gain a tank a whopping +8-+11 deflection. that is a noteworthy gain, but it is hardly determinative o' success. by the end o' the game, a tank will, even with a 10 in resolve that gives no deflection bonus whatsoever, will be able to generate deflection scores in the 130-140 range. max resolve will see that number increased by 8-11 points. conversely, the tank who instead put points into might or intelligence may discover that those benefits are noteworthy as well. for example, our paladin tank's prime attribute were actually intelligence with perception and resolve scores o' 15 apiece. again, went right over your head. "With your track record, I'm not surprised you somehow reach a conclusion opposite to everyone else." if you think our conclusion is opposite o' everybody, you have not been paying attention. even stun finally reached enlightenment. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78279-rpgcodex-review-1-hŵrpa-dwrp/?p=1676639 http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78279-rpgcodex-review-1-hŵrpa-dwrp/?p=1676649 http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78279-rpgcodex-review-1-hŵrpa-dwrp/?p=1676654 that you can't even reach stun level o' comprehension is telling... is perhaps why we still cannot get you to understand strawman fallacy. HA! Good Fun!

still haven't figured out what strawman is... and not embarrassed enough by half at your own ignorance. shame. once you learn how to use logic fallacies, then, perhaps, you can get away with silly labels. "It is a fighter afterall and having 3 might and 8 constitution really breaks the role playing feeling.." we do not profess to read minds. we read as it were written. even so, our complaint would stand with tank or fighter. is not outside our experience to play mage tanks. oh, sure, is quirk builds, but is equal likely/unlikely that we has run into low might/strength and low con tanks as we has been able to find low might/strength and low con fighters. poe is different. poe is intentional different. classes and roles is far less rigid in poe. duh. missed the point... again. and role-play as a basis for complaint? HA! poe allows a player to play a fighter or tank with high con and high might. hell, poe sure as hell don't force a player to play a tank or fighter with might at 3 and con at 8-- those clear ain't any kinda default numbers. lord knows why we would want our tank to have basement fort saves, eh? nevertheless, http://www.ebay.com/bhp/introduction-to-logic-copi you can pick a copy up pretty cheap. invest and save yourself future embarrassments. HA! Good Fun! ps as we noted earlier, we stopped reading the post we quoted, but we reviewed the rest o' his/her post moments ago and we can see that the author knows how to distinguish fighters from tanks.

suicide as a form o' protest just doesn't have the same cache here in the US as it does elsewhere. christianity is part o' the difference. until recent times, christian faiths has been universal in condemnation o' suicide. given that suicide were considered the one sin that were a guaranteed ticket to hell, it carried a certain stigma. thankfully, most christian faiths has relaxed their stance on suicide. even so, while many folks, even devout christians, has come to accept that it is up to an individual to decide when a life is no longer worth living, suicide itself is a regrettable act. with no other alternatives available, we may sympathize with the suicide who chooses death over unendurable pain... perhaps. also, self-immolation, while tragic, makes a kinda sense in those parts o' the world where open protest is criminalized. get thrown in jail for protesting leaves folks with only dramatic alternatives. the thing is, particularly in the USA, open protest is the right o' saints and sinners alike. given how much effort Gromnir has personally expended to promote and preserve an individual's right to protest while still breathing, we have difficulty accepting suicide as a meaningful expression o' protest. HA! Good Fun!

I've seen similar remarks a few times and I don't understand it. Why not just wait until the second part is out? As far as I can tell, the only difference is that now you can play something a bit earlier if you want to. I think it has to, do with a) Obsidian promised a meaty expansion, with none of the modern DLC shenanigans, and then decided to split it up (which feels a bit like modern DLC shenanigans). To hammer the point home, Obsidian hasn't even confirmed if non-backers will have to buy each part of the expansion separately, or they will have to pay once to get the entire expansions (which the old nickel-and-dime DLC strategy). b) Sure, you can make yourself wait, but releasing the expansion in parts sends a signal that it should be played now. It's like exploits in computer games, yes you don't have to use them, but if using them is the optimal strategy, then you are more likely to use them, even if it diminishes the fun of the game. c) Since the expansion has been cut in 2 means that the story and the content of the second part must be cleanly split from the first part, instead of organicly integrated. This could very well not be a problem, but the possibility exists, and that diminished the expansion as a whole. We'll see when the expansion is released. pretty much disagree with everything. splitting don't "feel" like some kinda dlc ploy at all. feels like the developers want to get material out quick enough so that players still care. am suspecting we miss your (b) critique complete, but we see © as nothing more than assumption... and is "organic" the new "proactive"? regardless, even if there is a single over-reaching expansion story, we suspect it would hardly prove problematic to break the content in twain as there will be inevitable and natural breaks in both content and narrative. consider any ie game or ie game expansion (save the ultra-brief HoW or luremaster content) and we can see obvious places to halt content and story advancement... could even do it "organically." *snort* as an aside, given the lack o' certainty regarding respec, Gromnir is hesitant to continue playing any o' our current saves. HA! Good Fun!

one more request for the expansion: reset companion attributes to the release date versions. were kinda quirky that companion attributes were initial far more perception heavy. one suspects that the companion attributes were set before obsidian purged the perception accuracy bonus during the beta. with 2.0, perception will once again be universal important, if not vital. as such, the original attribute spreads for companions (aloth and grieving mother in particular) appear better than do the current attribute allocations. so, reset companion attributes to the way they was on day 1 o' release. HA! Good Fun!

stopped reading. we agree that deflection is far too important compared to health, but if the reason you is averse to the current attribute system is 'cause it offends your role-play preconceptions, then we need not read any further, and we hope that the obsidian developers do not bother doing so. relative impotence of constitution= bad viability of non-traditional attribute load-outs resulting in grognard discomfort = good. it were a GOAL o' developers to allow players to explore unique and non-traditional builds. the classes themselves were initially not built to conform to traditional crpg conventions. differing from expectations is not a flaw. that being said, the poe implementation o' constitution, as with so many crpgs that has reloads, is a relative weak attribute. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna note again that this is another example o' something so simple and inane as the naming choice for classes led to player inability to accept poe differences. what a terrible and predictable shame.

hamilton and jackson would both be on our list o' most detestable American political figures. that being said, Gromnir's list would raise eyebrows seeing as how we got lincoln and jefferson on our list too... though jefferson is on 'cause o' his Presidency alone. lincoln's Presidency did more to limit personal freedoms o' Americans than any before or after, which is kinda ironic given that he were also the great emancipator. yeah, the civil war were terrible, and no president woulda' emerged with his hands clean from that conflict, but the way he trampled on the Constitution during the war is overlooked by your average school teacher and more than a few scholars. jefferson were a kook and a hypocrite. kookiness were no big deal, but his abuses o' executive authority were legion. HA! Good Fun!

... wow. this thread went all codex right from the start. am gonna suggest it be locked as some folks can't seem to control their more embarrassing impulses.

am recalling that Gene Hackman, an academy award winning actor known for his serious roles (save for a tiny bit-part in Young Frankenstein) was asked why he played lex luthor in the 1978 superman movie. were an interview contemporaneous with release o' the film that posed the question. hackman kinda shrugged and said something to the effect that the film's producers came to his house with a dump truck full o' money... wasn't a hard choice at all. HA! Good Fun!

what an odd post. most conservatives in the US is not catholic. those that is look to the Pope's opinion on climate change the same way they would regarding a papal announcement regarding his favorite football team. 'less the Pope says that catholics go to hell if they don't sell their cars and start using public transportation, why would they care? am not certain why most conservatives would care about Trump candidacy. confederate flag is more a geographical oddity and less a political one. 25% o' American men is gop. 24% o' American women identify is gop. why do you believe the average conservative cares whose face is on the $20 bill. the difference between conservative and liberal is that the conservative wants to keep more of her $20 bills and the liberal believes that the government can be trusted to make better use o' more o' those 20s. martha washington were on legal tender in the past. the ridiculous sized sacajawea dollar didn't send conservatives into collective apoplexy save for when they accidental paid for something thinking it were worth a quarter. obamacare surviving SCOTUS does bother many/most conservatives, but the decision is actual not bad for conservatives. the Justices is more concerned with the integrity o' their legal philosophy than they is with politics. a willingness o' SCOTUS to get... creative to keep legislation alive is not a bad thing for conservatives. seems to be a misconception 'bout the Court ruling concerning same-sex marriage and why most conservatives dislike it. oh well. most conservatives we know ain't the least bit bothered by same-sex marriage... 'course we don't know that many religious zealots neither. bristol palin? okie dokie. that being said, conservatives did get knocked outta their shoes by the SCOTUS decisions. were a rough week for some. am s'posing that other than the Court cases, the most significant item on your list were the removal o' various Confederate items from major retailers, 'cause that sudden made such items more expensive. we kid. is no significant item on the list other than the cases. HA! Good Fun!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gimmick is not complicated HA! Good Fun!

if you don't understand how that too is a gimmick, then you is missing the point. the star wars characters do not get or need development. they exist only on the surface. as the reader is even unconsciously aware o' the archetype, the author need only develop the character just enough so that the audience can make a connection between the star wars character and the archetype role it fulfills. kotor played with the star wars gimmick by inversion. frequent we had the archetypes reversed, but the complete reversal made them no less recognizable. gimmick. with many kotor characters, the developers offered no more than the gimmick, such as in the case o' hk-47. the writers were aware o' the gimmick. they admitted the gimmick which you reject. other characters, such as jolee bindo, were developed more fully. the thing is, hk-47 were the most popular o' the kotor characters, and other crpg writers took notice o' the popularity o' hk, and dogmeat and other gimmicky characters. the belief that the initial hook were vital became accepted fact by folks like avellone. you is resistant to the "gimmick" terminology? fine. label however you wish. results is the same. rainbow bears or snarky assassin droids or construct rogues is having less than subtle initial hook. is gimmicky, but that ain't a flaw if it is only the start instead o' the totality o' character development. HA! Good Fun!

oh, is not all that weird. as we noted, little kids learn to do it at an early age. "mary stole a cookie too." it seems that the human animal is, by nature, a petty and spiteful creature. efforts to deflect may likely prove impotent, but those who is facing punishment or reprisals for their misdeeds do not wish to suffer, or at the very least, they do not wish to suffer alone. hurl, having successfully completed all those child psych courses to become a teacher is no doubt aware that kiddie brains do not develop the necessary connections for complex morality til they is pre-teen... and possible later. kids is all psychopaths-- they got an excuse. unfortunate, adults has difficulty unlearning behaviours, so instead they justify. point out the misdeeds o' our fellows is no longer the churlish behavior o' pint-sized psychopaths in need o' a nap, but instead a matter o' fairness, equity or some other ****amamie gobbledygook. ... just a theory... and only slight joking. HA! Good Fun!

agreed quote self is gauche, but what the heck. HA! Good Fun! ps "I don't think the writers on either KOTOR fully understood the universe they where writing in" sure they did. it helped that the writers knew exactly what universe they were working with and just how reliant star wars were on the gimmick characters.

hk were not gimmicky 'cause o' being a droid. his gimmick were that he were a droid doing the meat-bag schtick. heck, even Gaider conceded that hk-47 were a shallow character and the rogue assassin droid in marko ragnos' tomb were added to kotor in part 'cause o' what he could not do with hk-47. HA! Good Fun! Star Wars was quite deliberately built around archetypical characters, and droid intelligence is pegged at about the level of a smart dog anyway, they are not fully independent beings. HK-47 has the "meat-bag schtick" because it was programmed that way by it's former master, as a joke. It is no more a "gimmick" than Eder's desire to pet furry animals. What you actually have something that is very common in it's setting behaving in a way that is perfectly normal for it's type (i.e. following it's programming). What you actually have is forumites making the assumption that any character made of metal that kills things must, perforce, be the same character. the writer o' hk-47 disagreed with you 'bout the gimmick aspect. *shrug* hk-47 were a one-trick pony... a funny reversal o' c-3po. it were a gimmick, albeit an effective one. HA! Good Fun!

much as the union fought a bloody war in part to abolish slavery, the guy who wrote amazing grace spent the last years o' his life working to abolish slavery in england. is actual particular appropriate to have amazing grace sung at such a politicized event 'cause it shows that any can be saved, but first you gotta come to grips with your past and your sins. john newton's path to redemption were long. the south, as a whole, could possibly learn something from his example. HA! Good Fun!

ranger improvements http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3706905&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=560#post447052650 rope kid posted: I'm still working on ranger abilities, but I've made changes to the animal companions already: * All animal companion weapons have 5 DR bypass. * All animal companion armor gains 2 DR every 3 levels instead of 1.5 every 3 levels. * They used to gain 3 Accuracy and +15% damage every 3 levels. They now gain 5 Accuracy and +20% damage every 3 levels. * Faithful Companion was doubled to a +30 bonus vs. Charm/Confuse/Dominate with 5 seconds taken off the duration. * Resilient Companion now adds 3 DR and an additional point of DR every 3 levels. * Vicious Companion stacks an additional 3 DR bypass. also, josh observed that there were numerous unforeseen implementation issues in poe that prevented a more robust stronghold feature. he seemed to think that improvements to the stronghold would come about IF a sequel were developed. HA! Good Fun!

is why we added 2 honorable mentions... seemed fair that way. HA! Good Fun! ps embarrassed that we didn't have the lockheed c-130 (including the ac 130h gunship) on our list.