JFutral

The Storied Adventurer is about the only achievement left that I am interested in achieving. (Maybe the solo, no rest for the pro, or relative pacifism just for a different twist on my normal cRPG approach). Is there anyway to see which Adventures I _haven't_ completed? I could have sworn I picked them all up may last playthrough, but no joy. Joe

I don't mind a limit. Even Baldur's Gate had a limit. And maybe a limit of traps based on level of Rogue. There seems more reasonable ways to nerf traps than limiting to just one. Well, anyway. It is unfortunate, but we work around it as best we can. Because, hey, it's just a game. What is cool is, with Mechanics important for normal thieving skills, and anyone with Lore casting scrolls, and non-class weaponry (except for special cases), it's like we've had multi-classing all along! Joe

I feel sad for the rogue. That's my favourite character. Seems like traps are too much of an after thought. There could be some cool trap related skills for rogues to help fill in the lack of AoE damage, such as rogue triggered or delayed traps, never mind the inability to layout more than one at a time. Joe

I agree with point 1 in the OP. In addition avoid long load times. I would buy PoE simply rebranded as PoE II if load times were dramatically improved. And a faster Fast Speed Mode. Oh, and I agree don't f*** it up. NWN II, Diablo III, Masters of Orion III... history is littered with attempts to "rethink" what made a game successful. Joe

Secondarily, in my current playthrough I've noticed quite a few dialogue options that high Lore would have given me a few other options. Survival as well. There are a few dialogue options that require 17 or 18 scores. I haven't noticed, do the dialogue options look at non-buffed scores or can food and rest stat boosters help? If so, I would imagine if you shoot for 15s, as you posit, in those attributes that would get you the most options. Joe

I really think, since this is a "Every build can be a winner" kind of game, I'm not certain it makes much of a difference. I figure as long as things keep dying before I do, I'm good. Joe

A bit of a non-physiological point, there are a number of dialogue options that are affected by one's Resolve score. It's not vital, but it does contribute to the RP part of the game. Nothing scientific, just recollection, but it seems like Resolve and Perception, followed closely by Intellect and Might, have the most options, itr. I don't know/remember if Resolve plays a part in any physical oriented scripts. Joe

This is simultaneously the beauty and annoyance of the game, as RPGs go. That makes the game playable for players new not just to PoE, but to RPGs in general. It helps make character and party make-up less important and forgiving. I gave up on my '10s across the board' Average Joe party playthrough, at least on Normal and Hard. Over all play-ability just wasn't affected. It was actually kind of boring. What makes this annoying to me is that I want to play a character that is a hero, not someone who could be anyone and still accomplish the quests. A hero to me has something or at least becomes someone that few others have or are, something extraordinary about them (not just the chosen quest and being "woke"). The Watcher skills/talents are all kind of meh. I would have liked for at least those things to set my PC apart from the rest of the party. The only thing this game suffers from is too much balance on the PC/class/race characteristics at all levels of play. Hard should at least make certain choices more important. Then at PotD it is both choices (of attributes, skills, talents, weapons, defenses, etc) AND tactics (as in a deep understanding of the mechanics) important. Not just a few battles being tougher. I mean, I don't consider myself all THAT skilled at cRPGs. I'm above a novice, but I am only truly experienced in BG, NWN, and Diablo (I've played others but boredom quickly set in). So when PotD was a whole lot easier than I had expected, There appears to me some serious scaling issues. I get that a game needs to be playable by a broad range of experiences. I don't know what the answer is. I enjoy the core game well enough. I kind of wish the expansions were separate quests. Once I get through them, even scaled, the rest of the core game gets far too easy, though the story is still enjoyable. Joe

I was considering 10 as average since that is the point of equilibrium for POE where there are no bonuses or penalties for the score. Joe

Not just because my name is Joe, but I think my next playthrough (or I may even sideline this playthrough) I think I am going to try a build or even a party that is all 10s and depend entirely on equipment and spells. Maybe once through on Normal, but eventually PotD. The experiment is to create a control group to see how important attributes really are. I mean, we go through a lot to ditch some attributes to push others up, crunch the numbers to maximize different build characteristics, etc. Has anyone actually tried doing the opposite to see what the _effective_ difference really is? I've seen the math, but what is the actual, in game effect? Is it _that_ unplayable? And if it is demonstrably possible to solo PotD, how unplayable can average stats be? Joe

I don't understand this at all. Why would you need to respec your spell book? Are you bumping into limits in the amount or type of spells you can have in the spell book? Can you not change your memorized spells? Leveling up is not the only way to get new spells. You grab spell books of other wizards and add them to your spell book. Just click that little "plus" sign on the spells you don't already have. I've never played in a way to swap spell books, though. I have been tempted to have specialized spells grouped together—a book of fire spells, corrosive spells, etc— to try to have an easy way to have the appropriate spells available depending on the defenses of enemies. I still haven't done that. Too lazy. I just try to have a good assortment of spells across several levels. So I obviously am not understanding what you are describing. Can you clarify? Or maybe I'm just too dumb to get it. I love that all I need to write scrolls is the right ingredients and at the right level. I mean, ingredients are everywhere. I haven't purchased a scroll, or traps, for that matter, ever. And only a few potions, like war paint. Puzzled, Joe

Don't get me wrong. I think Dex is important. I just wouldn't sacrifice Per that much for it. At some point the enemy is going to be at your throat. It will help to have enough Per to make your strikes count. In PotD, there were several times my Priest was all that was left (I had a Berath Priest and swapped from time to time between Mace and great swords of one kind or another, my favorite priest to date. I went with a mace in the later game because she kept getting targeted by the enemy so I added a shield to help out survival). But two things about PoE that kinds of makes the whole discussion moot. First you can respec your build anywhere along the way if you think something isn't working, as long as you have the copper. Two, there are so many ways to pump a particular attribute, or, heck, all the attributes, along the way it really is kind of comical. The only skill or attribute that is frustratingly hard to boost is mechanics—a couple of rare items (if you can even find them), the Stronghold at a certain point, and an even rarer scroll. Joe

Probably, even likely. But effectively I've never seen the difference. Look at Durance's stats. Joe

My most recent wizard build in PotD made it through most of the game with Rundl's Finery, then went with Wayfairer's Hide when debilitating attacks got too annoying, and ended with Elryn's jacket. I am beginning to think armor heaviness almost doesn't matter as much as we think it should. Once my fighter/tank got Old Gerun's Wall, it almost didn't matter the armor. Towards my end game I gave her Gwisk Glas and she was pretty much unstoppable. But in PotD difficulty I almost always favoured _anything_ that helped with countering any CC/Prone/Stun/Paralyze cast my way, no matter the DR. Joe

I think that depends on your character. A ranged character can get away with dumping Con and Resolve a bit. Melee classes, not so much. Mid-rank classes like a priest, you can probably shave a few points off but I wouldn't take either down all that low. I think it also depends on which character, too. Resolve offers a lot of dialogue options for the PC. Joe eta: I'm not a "money ball" kind of player. I always feel, while epic heroes should have particular strengths, I don't see them as having the kind of weaknesses stats players like to play with. An epic hero, in my mind, is not going to have a 7 CON, That stat could be average, but it shouldn't be a negative. Maybe a companion, but not the lead hero. Again, just my opinion and how I like to think about my heroes. Heroes should be exceptional. JF.

Yeah, I'd take Perception over Dexterity. Unless I needed to boost mechanics, I almost always rested for the Perception boost at the stronghold. I may be alone in this, but I don't like to start in negatives in anything (unless I can make it up in race attributes), especially Resolve. Joe

PotD seemed to apply more toward the beginning than later game. Tactics are more important than beginning stats, imho. Just about all the stats can be buffed with one thing or another as the game progresses. I mean, still have good core stats, depending on class. In the beginning game for me it was a lot of drawing of the enemy to you so you have time to drink a potion and cast a spell or two. I love traps even though they usually only get a couple few points of damage in, maybe slow the enemy down a bit. Food, scrolls, and potions take on more significance with PotD, in my play-through. Crowd control is vital. I don't know if it helped, but I definitely enchanted more in the early game than I did in Normal or Hard. Anti-prone buffs or skills are a must. Those took me out the most in many battles, even in latter game. Prone got more annoying than charm or confusion. Again, CC is of utmost importance. Joe

I agree that it was fun in the first half of the game, but the difficulty seemed to level off again in the second half. I understand that since the game is actually fairly non-linear (other than you eventually have to find your self in one place to officially finish the game) so it is probably difficult to scale the game up as you progress, but that is something that needs to be solved. Even the options to scale different chapters up at the beginning of those chapters was not enough. And I don't mean just in monster combat strength. I would think even non-violent solutions should be more difficult to pull off, too. Speaking of non-violent solution, it would have been really interesting to have a non-combat solution to the game in the final confrontation (unless I missed something). I don't know how that would have looked, but the idea is interesting. It was really fun (though annoying at first) playing PotD in Expert Mode, too, so all hints were turned off. It was fun seeing how all over the place I was with reputation distinctions like Aggressive, Clever, etc. I definitely don't agree with how a lot of the possible verbal responses were categorized as one behaviour or another. Ah, well. Game On! Joe

That was truly awe inspiring. I am about to force myself to use only three people next time, though I am tempted to jump straight to solo. In some regards I feel like I may do better with at least fewer characters. With six I never truly feel like I ma using each character to their fullest, never mind taking full advantage of food, traps, scroll, and potions. There is just too much to track and for me, quite often, out of sight out of mind. Your Alpine Dragon stats are interesting. I think, to go along with what I wrote above, if none of the encounters are using anything beyond monster stats and abilities, or, wrt kith, only the gear that drops and nothing deviously hidden, then I am truly not using everyone fully. I mean if an encounter is really only armed with mostly basic gear, even when fine or exceptional, and doing THAT much damage to me, I am totally missing or not understanding something. Joe

I really only have two wishes: 1. Faster load times. 2. I really hate it when a game takes over my characters and puts them in an order or arrangement that I never would have (such as the endgame battle). Other than that, everything else I can chalk up to what makes the game unique. Joe

I usually keep everyone outside the door, throw a priest ward down right at the door (the one that knocks down is my favourite) and a trap little further in, send in someone just far enough for the longest range attack possible (the druid's Sunlance is a good one, or a rogue with Retreat and a good bow), then run back to the group, cast Pull of Eora or a wall spell or both just beyond the door (if you're high enough Wall of many colors is a great one). Then I clog the entrance with summoned creatures, switch everyone to range weapons and start shooting and spell casting. If Concehault is close enough I usually have someone with range and good interrupt stats keep him busy (hopefully whittling him down, too) and interrupted as much as possible. I hate his hammer spell (whatever it is called). Buff, buff, buff, debuff, debuff, debuff (my priest is usually pretty busy the whole time casting spells, scrolls help, too). Usually by the time the Eora or wall spells and summoned help die off the enemy is few enough to take on more directly. That's my tactic. I've never done well being in the room surrounded. I might hold off on this battle one time and try that at level 16 to see if I can hold my ground. Joe eta: Dang! Too slow.

Well, yeah, but the steward is paid to say that stuff. ) I have no idea what I mean by that. I did assume, without checking, the map worked like it did everywhere else, that I had to go through the Bluffs before being able to reach Stalwart. So, again, I just assumed I was supposed to do that first. Then, tail between my legs, I decided I misunderstood. I think I restarted the big fight about 25 times before just giving up until later. I am a glutton for punishment. Joe

If one is a linear thinker it doesn't make much sense to visually come across this area before the rest of WM1. When I first played the expansion I thought "Oh, look. I should run this first, because, well, there it is." I struggled and made it through the bulk of the area with a ton of rests, saves, and restarts. But I had to hold off on latter parts until I leveled up. One level can make a world of difference in this game. The complexity of defenses and appropriate attacks is ridiculous, but necessary to understand on PotD. Luckily nothing is time sensitive. Continue with the rest of WM1 and come back to this area last. The rewards are nice, but nothing you can't live without. I'm still not totally clear what the ultimate treasure is or was supposed to be. But that's story stuff. I just accepted that my goal is to get through the game as the only justification for proceeding through, well, much of anything. Good luck! Joe

In PotD, I do like Field Triage for one or two characters to get me to last a bit longer before needing to rest since camping supplies are limited to two. Failing that a few potions of Infuse with Vital Essence helps. the lack of healing Health outside of resting drives me a bit nuts. Joe

Pull of Eora Just about any of the Druid lightning spells. I also usually drop some kind AoE spell from Chill Fog up to Venom Bloom on top of Pull of Eora (well, apparently like Boeroer :-P ). Rogue's Escape skill/feat/whatever it's called, is one of my fave's for hitting enemies with a bow and escaping back to draw them to me. Any skill, spell, or talent that turns the dragons onto their minions. Any skill/talent/spell that does continuous damage without me thinking about for a turn or so. Always priest radiances I have other go-to's that seem to vary depending on set-up of party for play-through, but those are some of my core tactics. Joe