Gromnir

if you haven't purchased yet, then wait. *shrug* the folks on these boards is less than objective. as a group, we is already emotionally and monetarily invested in poe. don't trust us-- not a single one o' us. it never hurts to wait. the longer you wait, the better. HA! Good Fun!

People confuse initialisms for acronyms more often than they do irony for coincidence. "I saw Mary at the store today ... No way! So did I. How ironic!" we blame the japanese. why not? they like to turn initialisms into acronyms. ufo is Not a word. oofoe? HA! Good Fun!

am gonna do our captain obvious impersonation. for any major (and for most lesser) release o' game software, it is in your best interest to wait six months to a year to purchase and play the title. waiting a significant amount o' time post release to play a title will result in you enjoying a more stable product. you are also likely to enjoy tweaks and balances and other developer improvements that were not included in the day 1 release. furthermore, the price o' virtually any game release drops precipitously after some unspecific point in time, but rarely exceeding one year. wait a year and you get a better game for less money. tackle this conundrum is not gonna win you a fields medal. that being said, you already paid for the game-- the question, as you already observed, is moot. ok, what do we win? HA! Good Fun!

http://messybeast.com/dragonqueen/medical-acronyms.htm am having 0 notion as to the accuracy or datedness o' the linked material. we did chuckle at brothel sprouts and a few others. HA! Good Fun!

we addressed additive and upgradable. please read again. as to saying that weapons is different, then where is you adding your Flaming Fist? most folks is speaking o' this in terms o' a monk weapon replacement, such as the aforementioned hand-wraps and similar such ITEMS. tattoos, while physical, is an alternative to such stuff. place in weapon slot. wanna appeal to obsidian to create a Flaming Fist talent? fine. is a complete different issue. HA! Good Fun!

this is poe. d&d definitions is what is meaningless. HA! Good Fun!

No-one said they'd be removable. I think the tattoo idea is great, but they absolutely shouldn't be removable. Upgradable, maybe, additive, maybe, but absolutely not upgradeable. Anyone using them should consider them a permanent upgrade to the character, a build choice, like a Talent or Ability. permanent and non-removable tattoos is, in our opinion, a bad idea. is only one (or two) slots for weapons. sssssoooooo... our monk equips the Flaming Fist tattoo he finds at level 3 and which is balanced for level 3. he is now stuck with it? am s'posing you could make the tattoo increase in power as you level, but again, what if halfway through the game you decide that the Bite o' the Malefic Spider is much kewler? hell, if you knew the spider bite tattoo would be available later in the game, you would never have equipped the damn flamey fist tattoo. would you force a fighter or rogue to equip a weapon and be stuck with it for the duration o' the game? 'course not. as an aside, we always laugh when we see Flaming Fist. is a rather notorious gay bar by the same name. the etymology o' the term predates BG and is rather... colorful. HA! Good Fun!

At least in one place in beta resolve is used to make a convincing lie. It is also described as "mental intimidation", so I'd guess it is quite important for deceptive/conman characters. Which I find quite funny considering Paladins are the ones with high resolve Resolve is more or less force of personality and personal will, a bit like a Willpower and Charisma attribute rolled into one, so it makes perfect sense that Paladins would have high Resolve from a thematic/narrative point of view. It also makes sense that conmen, swindlers, bards and rogues would have high resolve. Which is why it's so funny that Resolve is a prime dump stat for Paladins and Rogues. this is where d&d messes with your head... that and folks who read dictionary definition w/o recognizing context. yes, in some crap dictionaries, "strength o' personality" will be listed as a synonym for charisma, but w/o context, the wrong meaning is attached. a monstrous and extreme frightening troll in 3e d&d could have high charisma, 'cause some yutz at wotc read "strength of personality" somewhere in a dictionary definition for charisma and then finagled the meaning. our scorn should be palpable. however, from a crpg rules mechanic perspective, it makes much sense to have charisma mean more than what it actual does. d&d undead, for instance, has 0 constitution. when d&d 3e were first released, undead were seriously handicapped when facing any mid or high level party. without having a positive charisma modifier replace their universal 0 constitution score, undead were so pathetic vulnerable to spells such as disintegrate (and other fort saves that were missing from undead list o' immunities) that it were actual amusing. "and the all-powerful, level 20 vampire knight needs... he needs a natural 20 to make his save against your disintegrate? that's $%#@." even so, the only folks that could equate charisma with resolve is d&d/crpg folks. you can no doubt imagine a loathsome wart o' human being who makes children cry at the sight o' him-- the guy gives off a creepy vibe like the stench from befouled outhouse in georgia... in july. is it possible to conjure up such a person, who no doubts tortures small animals in his basement for fun and has never had a single friend, having towering resolve? sure. as revolting as he is, our bipedal fungus o' a man could have the kinda will and determination to suffer any indignity or pain to achieve his goals. don't use d&d/crpg definitions. please. HA! Good Fun!

Aint Lore values used as a requirement to use scrolls? Depending on scroll frequency/gold value, it could be vital to Hybrid spellcaster builds like Fighter-Mage. very true. the scrolls is an important mechanic. am not sure if it is equal to the mechanical value o' the other skills, but thanks for identifying that point. HA! Good Fun!

wisdom and intelligence were always important in bis/obsidian d&d games where attribute checks were important. charisma were also important, but is tough to see a poe charisma replacement. ps:t is likely the prime example o' a game developed by bis/obsidian that focused on wisdom, but even in kotor 2, the developers gave more weight to wisdom than the other attributes. however, there is no specific wisdom attribute in poe. that being said, both perception and resolve jointly fill the role o' d&d wisdom. every initial main character build we consider is attempting to maximize perception, intelligence and resolve. resolve, save for a few tank builds, appears to be a serious dump stat contender. its near uselessness from a mechanics perspective actually makes us more convinced that resolve will be important insofar as role-play and dialogue encounters is concerned. unless we have missed some kinda secret trick regarding skills advancement, based on the beta, we is gonna need chose a single skill to excel at. sure, you could throw a few points into a second skill, but ultimately, you are gonna need to focus. if we gotta choose one skill to make an impact on quest resolutions and dialogues, it is probably gonna be lore, but that is just a guess based on games such as nwn2 and motb. we got no diplomacy skills in poe (attributes will be more vital in poe) but lore, unlike the other skills has almost 0 use outside o' dialogues. again, the relative mechanical uselessness o' lore is part o' what makes us believe that the developers will balance that obvious seeming lack o' return on investment. HA! Good Fun!

am not sure about tattoos. removable tattoos seem so beverly hills. however, "equip" the Rite of St. Sebastian would achieve the same thing w/o people complaining that the tattoos were removable and/or not visible on their avatar. a little scroll that explains what is the currently active Rite your monk underwent? simple. functions like a magic weapon, but is a Rite or Meditation or whatever. HA! Good Fun!

What questions, go ahead, ask, this Guidebook I'm reading can probably satisfy. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66230-the-morality-of-animancy/?p=1452259 is three or four o' these threads in which we were active. never got good answers. However, am thinking, for better or worse, we don't wanna be spoiled. however, thanks for the offer. btw, does guidebook explain how the improved interruption talent works? interrupt is no longer a % based calculation, so am not sure what/where the +15% comes into play. oh, and does guidebook explain why we are still getting persistent status icons? oh, and... HA! Good Fun!

gonna need play the game. we got some questions 'bout animism and undead that need answering. ... am also gonna make an observation that will not be embraced by the excited and cheerful board population: josh is not our favorite obsidian writer. we believe that josh frequently gets hung up on his lore and forgets that such stuff is only just a framework on which to be developing theme and character. we know josh worked hard on caesar's legions in fo: nv. we could see how much attention to detail went into his crafting o' locations o' histories and backgrounds in honest hearts. the thing is, josh contribution to lore and history details o' a game frequent make the game less palatable for us. we get that yxunomei were s'posed to have, at least on the surface, a cold, rational and remote personality. fine. unfortunately, that is josh's writing style. we didn't care about edward sallow or pretty much anybody in honest hearts. josh, in our experience, treats world-building as an end rather than a means. all the lore and attention to detail is useless unless it makes game more evocative. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64298-josh-sawyer-on-the-importance-of-real-world-knowledge-for-game-design/?p=1363878 "infusing knowledge/reality to make evocative = good. "treating reality as a goal, in-and-of-itself = bad." now before you think we is slamming josh... well, we is kinda slamming him. even so, we believe, from what we has heard, josh is very capable at managing a game development, and as far as working on mechanics o' combat and other gameplay considerations, we will chooses sawyer over cain every day and twice on sunday. is not that we believe that josh sux as a game developer-- quite the opposite. heck, in the limited context o' board interactions, we would even say we like josh. a developer who is willing to interact with the fanbase such as josh does is rare, and we applaud his efforts and courage... and even his infrequent but memorable fits o' pique. that being said, we want him less involved in story development. have josh create a kinda working history and mythology for the game is ok just as long as other writers don't feel the need to force-feed us details. let such lore stay hidden in early design documents unless there is a need to share. use josh efforts to inspire other obsidian writers is fine, but we genuine believe that his world building efforts and writing contributions in past games has hurt at least as much as helped. countdown to flames o' Gromnir in 5... 4... 3... 2...1... HA! Good Fun!

ps visual aid included for selling snapping turtle as druid shape change. however, since we is talking shape-change into some kinda hybrid human + _________ form, there is a danger o' looking a bit like a cartoony ninja turtle. regardless, we still got votes for octopus, even if it is simple a bipedal with a weird shaped head, extra appendages and a beaked mouth, and snapping turtle. perhaps have octopus auto-squirt ink when endurance drops below 30%? HA! Good Fun!

we suspect an octopus would kinda float on the ground, which might look a bit odd. however, an alligator snapping turtle would be keen. snappers do live in estuaries where the water is brackish. HA! Good Fun!

there were actual a fair number in bg. mencar were not a contest winner, and there were a handful o' similar inclusions in the game, such as the vampire named del. the scimitar throwing fellow at the docks, and the githyanki wild mage in waukeen's promenade were the contest winners. diesel, the guy who submitted the wild mage, were insulted so frequent following the announcement that his character would be in bg2 that he either changed handles or simple left the boards. HA! Good Fun!

how 'bout an octopus? http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/150224-octopus-attacks-crab-vin HA! Good Fun!

oil rights are leased to... somebody. am forgetting who. test wells get dug every couple years by the folks who currently lease the rights, but nothing so far. the shale is low quality as well. ash and clay... and possibly uranium. there is speculation 'bout uranium 'cause of amounts found in ground water, but that is far as it goes. during the 60s and 70s, hucksters were able to sell hundreds o' geiger counters to the residents o' Pine Ridge. folks thought they could get rich from uranium by wandering through the badlands with a freaking geiger counter. there is a fair amount o' high quality, pottery-grade clay at Pine Ridge, but there isn't currently enough demand to make large-scale operations economic viable. its pretty though. there is also an accessible layer o' volcanic ash, which is actual kinda scary when you think 'bout it. the presence o' the ash, which sells for less than $1 per pound and doesn't have high demand anyway, is likely the result o' the last o' the last yellowstone super volcano eruption. pine ridge has alcoholism, diabetes, suicide and poverty in abundance; is pretty much all pine ridge has.

Tell me about it...Stats distribution in this game is excruciating not only because of questionable combat efficiency, but also because non-combat skill\attribute checks are made only for protagonist which is why if Gromnir makes a protagonist rogue, it will have a rather odd stat distribution and non-optimal skill spread. 18 perception, 14 intelligence, 16 resolve and the rest 10s with all skill points in lore along with one o' the +2 lore backgrounds. dual-wield spears with the aforementioned attributes is still highly efficacious in combat. also, this is not our first bis/obsidian game. am preferring to take a slight handicap in combat abilities to get the attributes and skills we believe will be the most frequent and/or significant in a role-play game from the aforementioned crpg developer. the notion o' a "best" attribute distribution w/o considering dialogue and cut-scene checks is a bit myopic in our estimation. sure, there is no way to know what will be the important attributes and skills in poe based on only the bb experience, but this is not the first game bis/obsidian has developed. you will be able to thrive in combat with even a sub-standard attribute spread, because the attributes is far less impactful in poe than in many other crpgs. so, from our pov, it makes more sense to be concerned with the role-play and dialogue effects o' attributes and skills. HA! Good Fun!

no prob, and yes, there were an ambiguity. point is that you are far more likely to run out o' endurance than health in combat, particularly in hard mode when the damage is coming in extreme big chunks and it is difficult to replenish endurance fast enough through healing. HA! Good Fun!

and you have less endurance... far less. endurance gets drained first. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't read it. so, let us know if you is denying that jews in Germany still suffer from bigotry and intolerance or if you is admitting such stuff exists but that you are blaming on muslims. either way we can rebut, so it don't genuine matter, but is no sense responding to both. HA! Good Fun! I'm saying that Germany does not suffer from anti-semitism anymore than any random country does. which is a far, FAR different thing than suggesting that intolerance o' jews is "absolutely dead" in germany. HA! Good Fun! Which I never stated. If you wanna take it out of context I did, but there's no purpose in that, is there? I clarified that of course you'll find random loons anywhere. I meant that for the issue to be "alive" then it would need to be abnormal and above average. It's not though. I thought that would be the logical conclusion given that acknowledging some degree of anti-semitism contradicts the absolute tone of my other sentence...? You were the one who took it absolutely literally despite the clarification given. its quoted for a reason. "The days of racism against Jews in Germany are absolutely dead." only the incredible rare "loon" is involved in such stuff in germany, yes? no. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't read it. so, let us know if you is denying that jews in Germany still suffer from bigotry and intolerance or if you is admitting such stuff exists but that you are blaming on muslims. either way we can rebut, so it don't genuine matter, but is no sense responding to both. HA! Good Fun! I'm saying that Germany does not suffer from anti-semitism anymore than any random country does. which is a far, FAR different thing than suggesting that intolerance o' jews is "absolutely dead" in germany. HA! Good Fun!

How was it fixed though. with beeswax, baling wire, belly button lint from a 101 year old sheik, and a bit o' magic. maybe not. HA! Good Fun!

gonna order the t-bone for yourself? based on nothing save the brief written descriptions, am admitting we would go with the braised belly bacon and the the grilled bone marrow... and either the shwarma or the beef tartare. let the wife choose the healthy stuff... or not. have fun. HA! Good Fun!