Gromnir

we made this point many months ago. our observations regarding respec noted that poe would be broken and many talents would not work as advertised, talents such as interrupting blows, which at this point doesn't seem to do anything. we also stated that because o' the obscurity o' the rules and the mislabeling o' talents and abilities, many folks would be fooled into making bad choices through no fault o' their own. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/74815-accuracy/?p=1632949 in addition, we has numerous times observed that folks such as you were gonna be thwarted by the developer's attempts to patch or rebalance poe. the console doesn't fix all problems, so why no limited respec option? *chuckle* is a few folks who actual claim that regardless o' the fact that they would never use respec (HA!) its mere presence in the game diminishes their use and enjoyment o' a title. ... how the heck do you counter such an non-argument? this is not the first crpg we has ever played. those predictions we made were hardly the result o' prophetic powhaz. poe is the norm and not the exception. developers have never spoken on the issue that we can recall, but we believe that the option, if included in the game, woulda' gone far in alleviating the frustration many poe purchasers is feeling as a result o' developer error and developer balancing. limited respec would not have been a perfect solution, but it sure woulda' lessened the resulting reasonable ill-will o' players who discover only after tens or dozens o' hours o' gameplay that their character is not matching their role-play expectations. so, why no limited respec option? HA! Good Fun!

Sure, but you can already respec using IE Mod, appearantly it won''t even disable achievements the console we will use, but mods? am not very trusting of mods, particularly early. in the beta, the ie mod auto-"fixed" some stuff that we didn't want adjusted. at least the earliest incarnations did so. am doubting the ie mod fixes the reckless assault stacking bug. the console, on the other hand, doesn't fix many problems. a respec option that woulda' reset us to level 1 or 2 and wiped the character clean strikes us as a useful feature in a game such as this... a game that predictably were gonna have bugs and rebalance issues. built in limited respec is far more user friendly and for those concerned with potential for exploitation, a single respec is hardly a noteworthy concern. and for those wacky folks who is offended by the mere presence o' respec but not by the console or the availability o' the ie mod, there is no response as their feel concerns is not based on anything rational and is thus irrefutable. HA! Good Fun!

a retroactive companion fix would be nice, but it ain't all that significant, and it becomes even less significant as you level. starting attributes are not as important as most folks believe. poe is different than d&d, so there ain't no obvious thresholds for saves and bab. there also ain't schemes for making enduring attribute inflation possible. poe starting attributes is a bit less meaningful than d&d 3e starting attributes were. on the other hand, the reckless assault bug were our primary concern as we don't feel able to advance with our current borked deflection penalty. obsidian made it possible to deactivate reckless assault with the recent patch, but they didn't fix the damage the bug had caused to our character. the thing that annoys us is that there were developer response post patch that seemed to suggest that they were unaware o' the persistent nature o' the stacked deflection penalties related to reckless assault. after a few dozen hours invested, we don't feel like starting over. ... maybe play that priest o' wael we were considering and wait for the next patch? this is frustrating, 'cause the game is not all that buggy from our pov, but we happened to luck (unluck?) our way into a particularly annoying developer blunder... a blunder which is being addressed rather poorly. HA! Good Fun!

people seem mighty confused by the obscure poe mechanics. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/74815-accuracy/?p=1632949 heck, Gromnir played the beta and followed the development reasonably (unreasonably?) close, and we can't give an explanation as to what the improved interrupt talent does. take a looksee at the tech support portion o' the board. given all the stuff that is still not working right and recognizing how 1.03 rebalanced a multitude o' talents, abilities, spells and weapons, a respec option would be welcome right about now, eh? HA! Good Fun!

suggested attribute spread for talky character m 10 c 10 d 10 p 16 i 16 r 16 we got builds for melee rogues and combat priests and paladins that all work with such a spread... 'cause as we has noted 'bout 100 times, the starting attributes have less impact on the relative combat efficacy o' a character than many posters believe. isn't too hard to functional boost each o' the mental attributes by 2-3 by mid-point o' the game, so you got all the 18-19 stuff covered. warning: keep in mind that more than a few o' the high perception and high resolve options, particularly in companion dialogues, appear to be "traps" for wont o' a better descriptor. HA! Good Fun!

in the beta, we didn't realize we needed a grapple hook to complete a particular quest successfully until we had completed 90% o' the mission. the absence o' a grapple hook in our inventory resulted in us needing return to the nearest town to purchase such an implement. took 5 or 10 extra minutes o' game time, and a couple o' mournfully protracted load screens, to trudge back and forth 'tween town and the object o' our quest resolution. ever leave a file at home? get to office and sudden 'member that the thing you need most to do your job is sitting on your kitchen counter-- a fact you recall only too well and too late as you had to put the file down to answer your phone this AM. the phone call were a wrong number. sitting in your office, you realize how "interesting" it is to send somebody back to your house, which is +45 minutes away, to get your freaking grappling hook... file. HA! Good Fun!

It was very powerful owing to the fact that it had no positional requirement and could be cast multiple times without attacking by Ciphers. My Hard runthrough of the game consisted predominantly of two Ciphers using either Mental Binding or Mind Blades while the rest of the group sat around and watched. mind blades mighta been less o' a problem than it at first appeared. mind blades is countered by deflection. cast mind blades on a group that is blind and prone or paralyzed and you are gonna see considerable crit hits. cast slicken and make entire mob prone, then add one or two additional effects with a mind blades kicker? the nerfs o' wizard spells were likely to have more impact on our use o' mind blades than did the patch nerf o' mind blades itself. am gonna need see how it actual plays. HA! Good Fun!

... so, how exactly were reckless assault fixed? perhaps one needs start a new game 'cause previous accrued deflection penalties have Not been removed. am admitting to being a smidge annoyed. and not that it matters much, but the hearth harvest inventory icon is about 1/3 larger than it should be. HA! Good Fun!

have asked the same question. am having no idea how the talent modifies interrupt, if indeed it does. HA! Good Fun!

am very much aware that in spite of very good initial viewers for nightly show, it has dropped off precipitously. you are proving our point about comedy network's goals. HA! Good Fun!

depends on the priest, eh? HA! Good Fun!

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of companions have maxed out Perception (Aloth: 16, Grieving Mother: 17 Sagani: 19). Makes me think they were originally designed for the earlier version when Perception was a more important stat. I have no idea why Durance has 19 Resolve. because it is appropriate to his character? *shrug* the attributes don't impact gameplay near as much as some folks believe. HA! Good Fun!

s'posedley, too many other weapons had dual damage types, so to make morningstars unique, they upped the interrupt chance... but interrupt were complete changed after beta 430, so now it is interrupt duration that has increased. ... am thinking that going back to dual damage types would be better balance. HA! Good Fun!

crpgs have programed people to think that the quarterstaff is a sucky weapon for candy arsed wizards. the poe quarterstaff is a most unappreciated weapon and we look forward to playing a combat priest o' wael (too close to weal for a dyslexic like Gromnir) who takes incomprehensible revelation, peasant weapon focus and 2h weapons talents. HA! Good Fun!

Freakin' why? The monk is an already very powerful class. Actually Barb is way more powerfull than Monk, so if monk is very powerfull i wonder what Barb is atm.... I tryed a MOnk lvl 12 it does like 5-10 per hit I used mine as a tank. I didn't use him for damage. I'm not sure why you would tank with a Monk when you can Use a Paladin and a Fighter with special ability to tank... Most of Monk ability/skill are offensive one and we dont need dps for a tank. So i'm not sure what you mean by powerfull. ... a sword & board monk tank is extreme effective and it has more than a few defensive abilities that make it ideal for that role. HA! Good Fun!

he would be our best damage dealer, but with the hm resting scheme, Gromnir has our weezer doing little more than observing for half our battles. is nothing wrong with that, but it does cut into the damage totals. HA! Good Fun!

priests have fabulous potential offensive firepower with their spells. is not many such spells, but they is all excellent. unfortunately, with a single priest in the party, you is more likely using spells to buff and debuff and heal. 2 priests works surprisingly well. HA! Good Fun!

I hope we get separate bear hat and cat hat DLC at least one bear hat would need be a football helmet, and the cats should have a candy cane striped floppy top hat option. ... alternative: add a toggle so that all bears in the game should be adorned with hats... preferably berets. am always feeling a bit remorseful about killing random fauna. is kinda against our nature. even so, dress up bears to look like dirty cartoon frenchmen would largely ameliorate our regret. HA! Good Fun!

Gromnir might be the one guy who likes melee combat priests. have a priest o' berath dual-wield maces augmented by vulnerable attacks is mighty impressive, or go with the 2h approach and use greatswords. most folks have a prejudice against quarterstaves in crpgs, but in poe they are reach weapons that do identical damage as all the other 2h weapons. as a support character who can melee, a priest o' wael using a quarterstaff is potent indeed. regardless, with a melee priest, you end up with a very effective secondary support caster who also has the best possible accuracy in the game with their chosen weapon. yeah, you don't have the melee damage potential of a rogue or even a fighter, but if you got durance focused on buffs, debuffs and heals, you can then focus your efforts on offensive spells and combat, and you can actual be good in combat. in the beta, we actual played melee combat priests more than anything else. a few o' the high level priest spells is ridiculous powerful, and priests is far more versatile than paladins and chanters insofar as support casting is concerned. 2 priests is a great support combo that can dish out serious pain. heck, have two priests spamming pillars of faith is game over in most situations. divine mark targets will, does big damage and lowers deflection. shades and the like ruining your day? two priests with access to pillars of fire is making such battles a joke. with appropriate weapon feats, and a few holy radiance abilities thrown into the mix, we very much enjoyed our melee combat priest characters. they sure as hell didn't feel the least bit gimped. HA! Good Fun!

a week ago we wouldn't have been able to pick trevor noah (ironic name given some o' his tweets) outta a police lineup. had never seen or even heard o' the guy. the thing is, a few days ago we saw the various tweets articles regarding mr. noah and am admitting that we immediately pigeonholed him as that sorta comedian. dismissed from our thoughts thereafter. 'course, 'cause we is suspicious by nature and the choice o' trevor appears calculated to us. the daily show has a youngish and liberal audience; the problem amentep identifies ain't much o' an obstacle for the daily show. if we were talking about replacing johnny carson or matlock or bill o'reilly, then trevor would be a poor choice who would likely alienate his audience, but that ain't the case. trevor's tweet comments were just controversial enough that he is gonna be attacked by many w/o driving away the core daily show audience... which is perfect. one segment that the daily show does poorly with is black viewers. is more than a few viewers who will watch the new host simply 'cause he is black. is more than a few who will already be emotionally invested in trevor's success 'cause now his is a victim o' white society that doesn't "get it." am fully believing that the daily show wanted a black host that were, *sigh* black enough. is not a bad ploy. we has now channeled our inner village-idiot. throw us into the mix with the rest o' this board's blathering nutters who indulge in conspiracy theory at every opportunity. HA! Good Fun!

... in that, the game is very much like bg, iwd, bg2 and iwd2, no? part o' the pitch for the kickstarter were that the ie games were inspiration for poe, and iwd were specific referenced in regards to combat. poe don't play exact like iwd (thank goodness,) but insofar as encountering a few battles that kick your arse the first time you face such obstacles, poe is following the path set by previous games developed by both black isle and bioware. you should not be surprised that obsidian is doing combat encounters similar to how the ie games presented such. HA! Good Fun!

two observations 'bout our "gimped" damage-dealing rogues. 1) dual wielding becomes more effective as the game progresses. dr will mock your one-hand weapons (fast or large) early in the game, but thanks to enchanting and other factors, dual gets better. we like spears and maces best, but am not thinking those choices is the only route. 2) a cipher will make you look good. many cipher powhaz appear tailor made for aiding a rogue's sneak attack. sure, druids, wizards and even clerics got similar debuffs that make foes susceptible to your rogue's most important feature (i.e. sneak attack) but the cipher can spam such stuff very cheap. we add a cipher asap and then get grieving mother to replace our custom cipher. now if only we could figure out a way to recruit grieving mother a bit earlier... HA! Good Fun!

most dps is the result o' talents, abilities, and weapon choices. Gromnir has played a few different rogue builds in the beta and now in poe and we will once again state what should eventual become obvious: the attribute scores are not as important as most folks believe. our favorite rogue build has 18 perception and 16 resolve, and it ain't a defensive rogue whatsoever. our rogue does serious damage regardless o' whether we make him 2h or dual wield. am not feeling gimped at all. however, because o' the reckless assault bug, we cannot speak to the potential o' a defensive rogue. so far we ain't tried to go full defense and currently our two poe (non beta) rogue builds got -16 deflection penalty from reckless assault due to a bug, so am a bit more vulnerable than we should be. HA! Good Fun! ps we do have a cautious attack dual-wielding hatchet rogue with the +10 ring o' deflection that at level 12 has 102 deflection, riposte and the talent that converts 50% o' grazes to misses. is not as if such a character could tank, but it were not exactly a glass cannon either... still did very respectable damage. granted you don't place primacy on attribute spread, what spread do you use with the 18 perception, 16 resolve rogue.? i would assume your using the plus damage talents, reckless assault and bloody slaughter. anything else key to that build? no bloody slaughter. however, reckless assault and deflecting are essential, and it sux that reckless is broken at the moment. we take any talents that boosts crit chance... can't go wrong with dirty and vicious fighting. deep wounds gives extra raw damage. for the dual build we choose two-weapon fighting asap and at 6 or 8 add weapon focus: peasant to dual spears... because dual wielding spears is stoopid & effective. extra accuracy from spears is nice. for the 2h variety we get the 2h weapon damage boost and then eventual add weapon focus: adventurer. estoc and poleaxe covers piercing, slash and crush weapons. deathblows is a capper at upper levels, but am not seeing shadowing beyond and backstab as all that essential-- take or don't. am a big fan o' coordinated positioning, so it is mandatory for us, but that ain't a guaranteed pick. bear endurance is worth considering to make up for our 10s in might and con. build does freaky damage and gets dialogue options unavailable to more mechanical superior builds. HA! Good Fun!

most dps is the result o' talents, abilities, and weapon choices. Gromnir has played a few different rogue builds in the beta and now in poe and we will once again state what should eventual become obvious: the attribute scores are not as important as most folks believe. our favorite rogue build has 18 perception and 16 resolve, and it ain't a defensive rogue whatsoever. our rogue does serious damage regardless o' whether we make him 2h or dual wield. am not feeling gimped at all. however, because o' the reckless assault bug, we cannot speak to the potential o' a defensive rogue. so far we ain't tried to go full defense and currently our two poe (non beta) rogue builds got -16 deflection penalty from reckless assault due to a bug, so am a bit more vulnerable than we should be. HA! Good Fun! ps we do have a cautious attack dual-wielding hatchet rogue with the +10 ring o' deflection that at level 12 has 102 deflection, riposte and the talent that converts 50% o' grazes to misses. is not as if such a character could tank, but it were not exactly a glass cannon either... still did very respectable damage.

on this we agree. also, mc is, if nothing else, consistent. sure, we disagree with mc, but we got some mewling bedwetters in this thread, folks who during the beta had all kinda complaints that the poe classes didn't play enough like the bg and/or bg2 classes, and yet they is criticizing mc for his similar desire to give us more old-timey crpg imbalance and endless fighting... in tunnels. is disappointing. nevertheless, that is what we get reduced to when the only arguments being posited is feel. we prefer poe combat to bg, and we got considerable hope that future poe games (if they is ever developed) will improve poe even further. that being said, our one genuine fear is that the developers actual do listen to the fans. is a particular problem as poe is a kickstarter and rather than building the best game possible, obsidian attempts to mollify segments o' the community. is few features or concerns that have universal consensus from the fanbase. build a game on consensus results in a game that is perhaps palatable to everybody, but nobody will genuine love. we would rather have some segment o' the fanbase feel disenfranchised than have the developers retreat from their ideals. transparency is good. actual fan control is bad. we don't want mc or Gromnir generating some kinda groundswell o' fan support that manages to alter basic design philosophies. change mind o' developers 'cause o' rational and reasonable arguments? sure. change developer group-mind 'cause some large enough percentage o' fans wants changes that developers thinks is bad? am understanding why, particularly with backer funding, the developers would feel compelled to make such changes, but we mourn submission to the mob. HA! Good Fun!