Gromnir

that is kinda the point though, ain't it? the nerfs did happen and you were kinda talking out your arse if you didn't pay attention, yes? *shrug* am suspecting that nerf were changing seals from trap mechanic to hazards. check the out-dated wiki will show the +15 accuracy bonus for seal spells and no mention o' hazard. the change were needed, but there were a change. HA! Good Fun!

currently am getting a flat +26 accuracy for seal spells. that is not how it worked in previous builds. and yes, there has been multiple nerfs to seal spells. for instance, am sure you can look to out-of-date sources to see that the seal spells all were receiving an additional +15 accuracy. *shrug* on the positive side, the most recent patch has fixed the problem whereby holy radiance, and a few other abilities that were not s'posed to buff foes, were conveying positive benefits to non friendlies. this were particular annoying for the non targetable abilities such as the paladin's inspiring triumph. HA! Good Fun!

aside: the seal spells actual were nerfed previous to 1.06, but it weren't near enough. during the beta, and at least at release, the seal spells were getting +15 accuracy. this made a kinda sense as priests have terrible accuracy and this would allow priest seal spells to be more on par with physical traps set by rogues and ciphers and whatnot. were there a genuine advantage in using a searing seal as 'posed to a noxious burst trap? corrode v. burn were the main difference. if anything, the initial benefit o' seals v. traps had nothing to do with accuracy but were a matter o' physical traps seeming failing to trigger in spite o' their 1m target range. how does a man-sized critter going through a trapped doorway not set off a 1 metre trap? seal spells, with their much larger target range, were far more reliable. even so, weren't as if the crit chance and damage output for seals were skewed in favor o' priests. after release, obsidian realized quick that high level mechanics coupled with various traps led to You Win results. tough battles were made silly easy. so, being reasonable and responsible, the developers nerfed traps... but they seeming forgot seals? at some point obsidian "fixes" the priestly imbalance by removing the +15 accuracy for seal spells. oh sure, Gromnir made any number o' posts about seal power, and we were hardly alone, but apparently obsidian had bigger issues. a feature that has been around all beta and for two months o' release gets complete expunged? we figured a nerfing o' some sort, but we didn't expect a complete elimination o' the synergy 'tween seals and mechanics. heck, we were one o' the few folks shouting 'bout how over-powered were seal spells. obsidian likely did the correct thing, just as removing accuracy from perception were the right thing. doesn't change the fact that obsidian rebalancing results in a few skill points we would likely wanna redistribute. HA! Good Fun! ps the beloved spirits nerf, which made us regret two chanter talent choices, were a similar kinda situation that woulda' been easily overcome with a respec option. pps am thinking the traps issues likely go back to removal o' attribute accuracy. beta trap math, if we recall, did not benefit from perception bonuses... which made sense. trap accuracy and power were likely balanced against combat accuracy with potential attribute bonuses included. when perception were removed from the combat accuracy equation, traps gained a relative advantage.

Some people have been abusing the fact that they benefits from (until 1.06) Mechanics, since they count as spells. But yes, they're pretty good either way (which is why them benefiting from Mechanics was so broken). Hopefully they also fixed the issue with priests not being able to place both traps and seals, too. Someone abusing an obvious bug that gets patched isn't really an argument in favour of a respec feature. *chuckle* this weren't something that just popped up. seal spell accuracy were a known quantity even during the beta and the obsidians responded that it were working as intended. the trap math as a whole were wonky but it didn't become apparent when there were other ways to boost accuracy and when we were only playing levels 4-8. traps has been adjusted multiple times since release. this were not a bug, but it were an oversight. petrify were also altered despite the fact that it weren't bugged. cipher focus were not bugged but it became obvious that it were excessive. hell, all during the beta we had folks joking that a cipher with leadbitter could max focus with one opening salvo. weren't a bug, just took obsidian a while to address. etc. wanna look at the list o' post release rebalancing? is more than a few abilities that is still disproportionate powerful. *shrug* observation: the overpowered nature o' priests were not "obvious" to you during the beta. silly rabbit. HA! Good Fun!

Seal spells no longer benefit from Mechanics as of 1.06 beta. It might have been changed earlier, but it definitely isn't working with the newest patch. that would actual be a reasonable change from the developers as priestly seal spells were ridiculous powerful. we noted in other threads that even w/o the benefit o' mechanics, seal spells provided the priest with a functional accuracy boost given the benefit o' traps math. developers added accuracy penalties to traps but not to seal spells in 1.05 or 1.04. if developers have finally gotten around to adjusting, then it is an overdue change. seal spells will continue to be relative powerful if they use trap math w/o the accuracy penalties o' traps. however, we won't see silly results with +160 accuracy for repulsing seals. will check later. aside: is another argument in favor o' a respec feature as every freaking priest we got has max mechanics. removal o' mechanics modification o' seals makes lore, athletics and even survival worthy o' consideration when assigning points, particular as other classes have better starting affinity for mechanics. HA! Good Fun!

I think you don't know what finished version means. According to Obsidian: http://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-184-patch-notes-106-in-progress/ "The product was deemed a finished product because Obsidian considered it a finished product. It is really as simple as that." I disagree. Simple as that. So you don't finish things when you decide that they good enough or you don't have anymore time or money to put in them. So for example in your standards people can't finish school if their results weren't perfect. Or maybe better your employer can argue that you haven't finished your work before you have given them perfect results and they don't need to pay you for hours that you have done for them. Finished product is product that product's maker thinks is good enough to be claimed to be finished, sometimes makers are forced to claim products that they aren't satisfied with as finished because of financial, material or time constraints. Simple as that. You can claim otherwise but that is just arguing against reality, which usually don't lead anything productive. Finished don't mean perfect or that there is no room to improve or that there isn't flaws in product. And it don't even mean that developer of product can return on later date to fix flaws in the product or even that developer can continue to improve the product outright after they release finished version of product and release new improved finished version in later date. In digital products customers that bought first version of the product often have benefit to get improved versions of product at least until certain point with out needing to pay extra for those improvements, if product is commercial. Aaanndd you managed to make it complicated. Again.... is that a joke? want simple? game publishers don't believe you. with every game release, a number o' folks complain o' bugginess. so what? the complaints is just so much noise until people change their purchasing practices. the genesis poster is an ideal example o' the fail on the part o' consumers and why the industry don't care about his complaints. the genesis poster knew o' endemic bugginess o' software releases. nevertheless, instead o' waiting for a few patches to ensure stability or researching tech support boards to see what kinda bugs existed at release and afterwards, the genesis poster wanted to play poe 'cause o' his bg "nostalgia" and a couple unnamed positive reviews. regardless o' his s'posed reluctance to make early purchases o' new releases, he wanted to play poe, so he ignored all the links and advice he has shared after the fact. the genesis poster bought the game. so endeth his ability to bring about change. he is now a statistic-- just another irrational purchaser who complains 'bout buggy releases but continues to buy 'em. complaints 'bout bugs don't matter if you do not change your behavior. heck, the genesis poster claims that he did change behavior. before poe he were a cautious and reluctant purchaser o' early releases, but he went ahead and purchased regardless. so, what is the actual message your behavior were sending to publishers? http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70927-480-discussion/page-10?do=findComment&comment=1582604 we accurate guessed the situation before release. how much less excuse do you got to be claiming surprise when you had access to tech support feedback post release? made a bug list? HA! why not do that before purchase? kis... s. this ain't complicated. change behaviour or be a statistic that shows you is another irrational purchaser who complains 'bout buggy releases but buys 'em anyway. HA! Good Fun!

short and boring... though a few battles will be tougher. max mechanics on all priests. before every battle you will be able to set traps, which include seal spells. a ring or wall o repulsing seals with obscene high crit rate that will render any foe prone for a considerable amount o' time? maybe have one priest use searing seal to blind everybody as well. you are gonna win most battles before they start. you have loads o' fire spells and holy radiance burns as well, so take scion o flame for everybody. suggest a spread o' divinities to take advantage o' unique weapons and racial benefits. a hearth orlan priest o' eothas with mabec's morningstar will crit frequent. a couple magran faeries (wood elves) armed with arquebus and the gunner + marksman talents will do nice ranged damage and have extremely high accuracy. a couple o' skaen priests would be beneficial as well. there is excellent stilettos and clubs in the game. your tank is going to die. again, priests is squishy. cast withdraw when your tank is in a doorway is an option to prolong life, but take all the tanky talents such as sword and shield and cautious attack won't make you a great tank. wild orlan priest o' berath is likely your bestest option though moon godlike is worthy o' consideration. heck, perhaps a mountain dwarf? wild orlan gets defensive boost when subjected to will attacks. moonie gets healing aura. dwarf resists poison and disease and gets potential 19 con... add Rauatai culture for 20 con. we hate min/max nonsense, but for a priest tank you might need to do so. boost perception and resolve to max. we would go with the orlan, but this might be the one character that genuine benefits from pumping constitution, so dwarf racial bonus and resistances is worthy o' consideration even if is not gonna be a popular option. don't worry about your tank's weapon choice. early in the game use the rapier or warhammer with the guarding quality. you is actual gonna crit frequent regardless o' your sucky accuracy 'cause most o' the time your foes will be prone and blind and otherwise disabled. why berath? *shrug* corrosive siphon will heal you a bit. unfortunately, even with the recent endurance boost, priests is squishy. priests is not anywhere near as effective in the tank role as fighters, paladins, chanters, and monks. other than lack o' a good tank, you will also suffer from the absence o' the classes that create debuffs that make your spells more effective. priests have many offensive spells that are opposed by will. divine mark is a lowly level 2 spell, but for a priest with an 18 might and the aforementioned scion o' flame talent, you will regularly crit in the 80 damage range. go ahead and check and you will see how many debuffs and damage spells for the priest is targeting will. unfortunately, your priests don't have many will debuffs of their own. the priest o' wael's debuff ain't gonna cut it neither. interdictions is gonna be you best bet for routinely debuffing will, so get painful interdiction on a couple priests asap. good luck. HA! Good Fun! ps if you have 1.06 loaded, wait to try this option. holy radiance is broken in the beta version o' 1.06. you will be healing and buffing your foes with holy radiance, and with six priests... developers is aware o' the bug, so am hopeful they fix.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/24/7277363/broken-video-games-are-the-new-norm-what-developers-need-to-do-to-fix http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=976550 http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25huew/eli5_how_can_nintendo_release_relatively_bugfree/ http://conversation.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/video-game-publishers-bugs-broken-drm-piracy/ http://www.tomsguide.com/us/people-buy-broken-games,news-19952.html those is all your links... links that is showing us how broken is industry insofar as game stability is concerned. you posted the links. hey, you are preaching to the choir. Gromnir doesn't buy new releases. we recognized long ago how irrational it were to complain o' pervasive bugged games and to continue buying 'em on day 1. fine. color us convinced. even so, you claim that you were caught unawares by the state o' poe stability? ... https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=pillars%20of%20eternity%20bugs&es_th=1 http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/105-patch-beta-bugs-and-support/ you ignored the advice from your own links and did not bother to do any kinda due diligence. is on you. regardless, poe don't seem to be more flawed than any recent title and given your bg "nostalgia," you should be aware o' just how buggy that title were at release... and totsc likely had as many bugs as bg. so, enjoy the nostalgia? HA! Good Fun!

This is ONE game I have brought on release in a LONG time, I usually dont, but this game triggered my Baldurs Gate nostalgia and I had high hopes becase over the net the actual release of the game was pipped as "relatively bug free". So I brought it at release, played it, experienced bugs, stopped playing it, read about more bugs, then decided to wait for a stable version. In the meantime I have created this post and poll, (which is not a product for sale by the way, despite some other peoples opinion) for discussion, originally meant for POE specifically, but has now become about more than that. Which is fine. Oh, and please, no personal attacks (like this "your behavior was foolish") on people. Not on me or on anyone. OK? your behaviour was foolish. am not calling you a fool, but your actions were irrational and foolhardy. you got how many links in this thread telling us 'bout the sorry state o' release stability o' games. you is trying to convince folks just how woeful is the industry standards for stability. nevertheless, you went ahead and bought a title w/i a short period of time following release? how would you characterize such behaviour in light o' your criticisms and link history? ... does your behavior, in light o' your posts, seem at all rational? http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/irrational again, reading the tech support boards for five minutes woulda' clarified any misconceptions you mighta' had from reading... which reviews? no specifics once again. feel personally attacked? HA! Good Fun!

"Because I read threads and reviews that initially expressed that the game was relatively bug free at launch." in spite o' your reading o' all the aforementioned links that show just what a low standard the industry has for day 1 stability? five minutes looking at the PoE tech support board and patch updates woulda' given you a notion o' game stability. take some personal responsibility. your behavior was foolish and contributes to the ENDEMIC problem your links suggest exist. and be specific. generalities get you nowhere. you can compile a bug list for bg2 as it exists today, 28 may 2015, and it will have hundreds o' bugs. compiled a list tells us nothing. how is poe more buggy or noteworthy buggy. foolish and lacking any kinda specifics. what response do you expect? HA! Good Fun!

am seeing links and quotes from the genesis poster that bolster the general observations that games were, in the past, more stable at release. ... okie dokie. why did the genesis poster buy poe? the genesis poster has loads o' support showing how the industry has increasingly devolved insofar as day 1 stability is concerned. is this something he/she learned yesterday? he has provided zero support for the notion that poe is anymore buggy than games o' a similar size released in the last... +15 years. so, knowing how ill-made is the games o' 2015, why buy? is complete irrational to buy with an expectation that game will suffer from endemic bugs and then to complain that game were indeed buggy. is a simple and obvious solution to the genesis poster's problem. poe were a kickstarter and we were a kickstarter backer. we paid for poe years ago. however, for any traditional commercial sale o' a game title, we wait 6 months (or more) before purchasing any title. yeah, day 1 releases o' ALL game titles is unstable. if one wishes to play a genuine stable title, the solution is obvious and easy and economically responsible: wait. wait 6 months and the title in question will invariably be more stable and will likely be cheaper. if enough people follow such advice, developers will indeed make game releases that is more stable as their day 1 profits will suffer. *shrug* regardless, to knowing buy a newly released title, a title that is no more buggy than is typical or ordinary in the industry, and then to complain that yet another title is indeed buggy is... silly. genesis poster is silly. but hey, who doesn't want an al pacino moment? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BofddwtPBPw HA! Good Fun! ps we don't think the genesis poster's opinion is "totally rouge." am s'posing one could make a link to marxist ideology... or cosmetics.

so, Pillars of Legos? HA! Good Fun!

you do realize that boardies tends toward hyperbole, yes? never trust gamer fish stories. HA! Good Fun!

is so gauche to quote self, but... http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70927-480-discussion/?p=1582604 http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70927-480-discussion/?p=1582622 perhaps Gromnir is not bothered because we had reasonable expectations? the only surprise we have had regarding bugs in poe is the number o' patches we has seen since the release. is no way we woulda' anticipated a 1.06 build as of may 2015. developers have been reactive beyond our estimations. HA! Good Fun!

copperlane. easy directions for rosbjerg: south/southeast of actors... between fox and goose and a tiny bridge. HA! Good Fun! ps we hesitate to mention, but vis is one o' the few npcs that may be dispatched w/o a reputation loss. he has the toothed deer helm that grants dex and athletics buffs.

well, this board is the appropriate venue for complaining about poe. the thing is, the general complaints is not gonna get much o' a response. U Sux! *shrug* two months after release, there is more than a couple game killing bugs that continue to prevent folks from finishing the game. is more than a few other less serious bugs that is proving to be roach-like in their capacity to avoid eradication. there is justification for folks to complain about the stability o' poe, but am not certain what the genesis poster hopes to achieve. if the goal is simple to vent spleen, then this is the correct place to do so. unfortunately, if actual change or solutions is sought, the post that is the equivalent o' an inarticulate grunt o' displeasure, while perhaps cathartic, is doomed to fail at bringing about such change. HA! Good Fun!

this battle were harder the second time we played poe. our first play were with a priest o' wael player, and we had durance in party. as with most every battle, we had a searing seal and repulsing seal cast before battle at accuracy levels near guaranteed to crit as both durance and our pc had max mechanics. searing seal does predictable crit burn damage and blinds nearly all foes just as combat starts? we put the repulsing seal underneath our squishies, so in case they got attacked or charmed, they would be protected or knocked outta the fight. durance cast the charm/domination protection at start of battle, and our pc cast shining beacon. 'course even with charm protection, grieving mother got charmed before she could use amplified wave, which made us sad for half a second or so. grieving mother were prone thanks to our seal. both durance and our pc had scion o' flame talent, which at the time did not buff our searing seal, but it did add to shining beacon. am not recalling what aloth cast... didn't matter. our typical opening were slicken followed by ryngrim's terror or miasma o' dull mindedness. not particular sexy spells, but the will debuffs made our priest spells all the more likely to crit. our pc's holy radiance were doing near 100 burn damage to vessels and our shining beacon were ~145 burn over 12 seconds. were not a difficult battle. am pretty sure we used one or two pillar o' flames to finish things. we mighta' thrown in a divine mark to debuff and burn raedric. our second play had a paladin tank pc, and while we only needed one try to win, we did see half our squad get knocked out. the paladin pc were functional unkillable and unhittable, but the same could not be said o' the rest o' our party. am pretty sure durance actual got knocked out once as well, but we had him in upgraded saint's war scale precisely 'cause we thought he might need the second chance benefit. hiravias' relentless storm were likely the difference 'tween a wipe and victory. grieving mother were, once again, our first casualty. third play were a rogue and we used multiple traps and scrolls to make the battle manageable. eder were tanking, but we gave him the altered hand and key breastplate for the loyal quality for max charm and domination protection. lesson learned: priests is win. HA! Good Fun!

rabid wolverines with laser beams... forced to watch nothing but women's golf for 48 uninterrupted hours. HA! Good Fun!

for even suggesting time limits and respawns, may you be locked in a small room with a dozen rabid wolverines... with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. HA! Good Fun!

as an aside, the beta experience for poe is illustrative when speaking o' difficulty. yes, more than a few aspects o' the beta were needing fine tuning as elder bears were ridiculous powerful and the dot from spiders was a bit harsh, but given that the developers had much greater control over player gear and level in the beta, it were useful for observing how relative difficulty were perhaps intended to work in poe. the genesis poster notes that there is not a meaningful difference 'tween easy and hard. such were not the case in the beta. where levels and gear were controlled, there were a considerable difference 'tween normal and hard. oh sure, there is gonna be a few posters who feel the need to observe that they played the beta solo on hard difficulty with their monitor turned off and using only sound and feel to react and they still never had health drop below 50%. is always a few such folks. and yes, after playing literal dozens or hundreds o' times, the beta battles became ez regardless o' difficulty. even so, am gonna observe that the poe beta difficulty slider had a noteworthy and considerable impact on actual game difficulty. also, 'cause an old gamer should be aware o' this fact, the two most common complaints for Every ie game were as follows: the game was too difficult. and the game was too easy. HA! Good Fun!

voted. don't care. *shrug* however, we do applaud the genesis poster. he posted the same post multiple times today and got almost no reaction. however, perhaps recognizing the predictability o' internet behaviour, the genesis poster made the spam post a poll and actual got a response. good on you. recommendation: attach your grievance to a list or review from a recognizable gaming site. don't even need be legit. suggest that _______________ or ______________ claimed that PoE were one of the 10 most disappointing games o' 2015 thus far and you would get a much greater response. just a thought. HA! Good Fun! ps as an aside, Gromnir were one o' the few folks that were predicting that it would require more than a few months post release before the game were stable and balanced. the only surprise we has received is the build number: 1.06. honestly, we assumed we would be at 1.03 or 1.04 after 2 months. obsidian, for good or ill, is being highly active and reactive in their attempts to fix and balance.

for numerous spells and abilities, having 'em buff friend and foe alike adds a useful tactical consideration. abilities such as holy radiance and inspiring triumph are a bit different. holy radiance and inspiring triumph target on the priest or paladin. heck, inspiring triumph targets on the paladin and triggers on a kill. have such an ability buff friend and foe alike serious diminishes its usefulness. HA! Good Fun!

Yeah, no. I have no interest in restarting a game 80 hours in. That's probably the least helpful advice you could possibly have given. you have no idea how many times we has made the same observation. in any event, as you o' all boardies well know, the developers made a serious error regarding the poe xp progression. at the end o' chapter 2, the completionist will be multiple levels above what the developers anticipated (am not sure why) and such a player is gonna have access to end game 1007 that were no doubt considered outta reach. the critical path problem rears its ugly head in yet another game, eh? the further you get into a game such as poe, the more you will see a disparity 'tween critical path difficulty and completionist power. the disparity is inevitable, but the power gulf can be minimized. obsidian developers, for reasons we cannot fathom, failed to recognize just how great were the disparity. conclusion: if you do a majority o' side quests in poe, chapter 3 will be too ez on hard. we don't like potd as it actual requires less tactical and strategic consideration on the part o' the player. there is gaming cheese that can make potd battles a breeze, but in the absence o' such you is nevertheless having your tactical and strategic options narrowed as you must inflict max damage as quick as possible. is perhaps ironic that increased difficulty makes poe gameplay less varied. one o' these days, if Gromnir becomes extreme bored, we will try a critical path run o' poe on hard difficulty. am genuine curious what level we end at and how difficult the game plays with less than optimal gear and levels. our curiosity is a small and pitiable creature that is likely to expire at any moment, but it is real nevertheless. HA! Good Fun!

so turn the dagger into slash AND pierce as well as accurate and the way to balance is to give the rapier 1 additional point to its damage range? ... am not certain how giving the dagger a second quality would be balanced by a slight buff to the rapier. and to answer the initial thread question, the reason a dagger is not slash/pierce AND accurate is 'cause o' balance. achieve your goal is simple: make the dagger slash/pierce instead o' accurate, no? HA! Good Fun!

update: this bug is not limited to holy radiance. the paladin's inspiring triumph is an example o' an additional ability that buffs enemies as well as friendlies. we suspect that there is more than a few abilities that is inappropriately buffing foes. HA! Good Fun!