JFutral

Oh, man. Assassin/Sharpshooter is one of my favorites. Joe

I wonder how much depends on PoE1 experience. I usually start on Veteran mode so that I don't get distracted from the story because of an infernal secondary enemy fight. I also chose the "Everyone is dead because of you" path to help bump up the difficulty before hitting PotD. I feel like at that point some part of the difficulty level should also affect the story, more detrimental affects for choosing poorly. Seems kind of 20th Century that the only thing that changes with difficulty settings is enemy stats and numbers. Joe

Have no idea about popular or not, but I've enjoyed both ranger/rogue, which I play more like a bounty hunter than "scout". I also enjoyed a ranger/druid choosing an animal form that matched my animal companion. Definitely more for hand to hand and using the passives and ranger subclass that benefits from being close to my side kick. I tried to make what I would have considered a witch doctor with a barbarian/druid. It was fun, but seemed to lack some punch. Or maybe I built or played him wrong. Joe

My player character has no class. She belches and smarts off every chance she gets, rude gestures, you name it. Joe

If I can stay engaged, this is the option I chose. I couldn't resist. Right now I'm a little burned out from the beta. I can play about 30 minutes a day before I find myself looking for an excuse to do something else. I know. Heresy. But I am still playing, though! Joe

I does work for me, but just not as reliably as in PoE 1. It doesn't seem to last as long, or maybe it's instances haven't been adjusted to match other speed changes in melee. I seem to get one or two bursts in combat and then it is done. And so much happens between those bursts that it is effectively ineffective. And it seems to be inconsistent with how much it heals. Some characters benefit more from it than others. I'm not sure (other than maybe Might now) what affects how well this works for each character. This is usually one of the first spells I cast. But now it seems if I cast it too soon, I lose any benefits because of "wasted" time before everyone closes in. But if I wait or cast it second, my priest is either interrupted or the battle is almost over before the boost takes affect. This is certainly not as helpful a spell as it used to be. Joe

I would settle for comparable effects. The reduced damage in PoE 1 for traps I set was a joke. As for abusable, then make it a class or skill dependent. IMO, I still think it is silly that any class can lay a trap. And it is annoying that more than one character has to lay traps if I want more than one trap. If traps aren't supposed to be an important aspect of the game, just do away with them and call it a day. The game can still have traps to disarm or trip. There is no reason to have them retrievable. Or maybe have retrievability tied to mechanics level. Anything! There are so many better alternative solutions than what is currently being implemented. Joe

I just figure the movement code hasn't been optimized in the beta. Where I have major problems is when I have it set in fast mode. Then I have characters get stuck when I am moving long distances. I can't imagine the code being all that different from PoE 1, so I have faith in the final game being smooth. I hope I am not wrong. I just wish fast mode was tad faster. I hate it when much of my game time is spent waiting for travel time. Seems unnecessary in a game that doesn't have a random encounter system built-in or areas that re-populate. Joe

I still want to throw in a request to either overhaul traps or ditch them. If the rogue (or Hunter or Trapper, or Bounty Hunter or Scout) isn't a traps master, then there really is nothing gained by keeping Traps around, other than to one shot PCs. Joe

But when empower is tied to resolve it should apply to all creatures that have resolve (literally everyone). Traps have the same effect for characters and creatures too: Both will get an injury. Sort of. I have yet to find a trap that I can set that does the same amount of damage as it is capable of before I disarm it to use for myself. That is just the way PoE works. There is no reason to think that just because our PC have empower tied to resolve that automatically means ALL creatures are capable of empower. Why wouldn't this be, at most, a kith trait? What exactly empower is (it's nature and where the power comes form to begin with, even if resolve has an effect) hasn't really been explained yet. As for the spirit shift example, earlier, when I change into a blight do I automatically shift in stats as well? Does my resolve, etc, change to the default stats of the blight? (Serious question. I don't know the answer. I've never checked. And right now I'm gun shy of druid shifting with the current bug that claim my game.) While this is related, still OT and drifting more so. So this probably the last I'll say on this topic. As for the suggestions. All great, but I think too complicated to really add value to the game. But then I am a simpler is better kind of guy. Joe

My point exactly. The "ruleset" argument is a red herring. So there is no reason to think whatever abilities and such our PCs have need to automatically apply to enemies, like Empower. Just like not all kith are "Watchers". If all rules apply universally, why does the trap I disarm that one shots my PC, not do the same damage when I set that same trap? Joe

Strongly disagree. There is a ruleset. game should follow its own rules. Except we already have a world where some creatures have abilities and effects PCs don't. Some creatures have resistances and immunities we don't. So the ruleset already has exceptions. That's what adds variety to each encounter. There is no reason to think a low level Xaurip would have empower or Dragon's breath. Joe

What I disagree with is the notion that just because our PCs have this that the enemies will, by default, have this as well. I think the only argument that _could_ be made for is other kith, but doesn't _have_to. I'd like to think my hero is special in at least SOME way, not just like any other kith who happened to find some shiny gear along the way. Joe

Hey, I don't mind the randomness, either. If it is not any different than a weapon's randomness, then as far as I am concerned it puts spell casters, especially Wizards, on par with fighter types. Spell casters needed a boost. Resolve as a way to affect spells makes far more sense then Strength. But I didn't mind Might, as along as it does not directly mean physical Strength. Parsing Strength out from Might made a ton of sense in terms of spell casters, imho. A specialist spell caster is not spending much of his time learning weapons, his weapons are his spells. I definitely think Resolve should affect concentration. But, whatever, really. I'll figure out the game one way or another. Random, static, per rest, per combat—as long as the game is fun, it's all good. IMHO, none of those qualities intrinsically precludes a fun game, just how they are implemented. Joe

What am I missing? You say Perception is okay and not too weak. But all those numbers say to me it is too weak, especially if the priest and wizard buff is too slow. (A bit of a tangent as this response makes me think of this: Just a bit of a cry for more attention to Wizards as specialized spell casters. Why aren't spells considered for weapon proficiency instead of weapons for Wizards? Just a thought for another thread obviously. Maybe as an option at character creation so the player has the choice, especially if multi-classing—weapon proficiency or spell proficiency.) Joe

Huh. The only times I DIDN"T rest because of health was when I took Laying on of hands or that other skill that healed health. I NEVER understood why a priest couldn't heal health otherwise, only endurance. Joe

Right now I'd be happy if my Druid would just shift back to normal and not lose my handheld weapons after a fight. But good points all the same. Joe

I've not had much luck using Empower with fighter-types. Doesn't seem to do much, but I am probably expecting something it doesn't deliver. My favorites so far is Rogue's Finishing Blow. I've one shotted a couple of enemies with that. Definitely polished off a few. However, this is actually what I expect from vanilla Finishing Blow. So it took Empower to get it to do what I expected it to do from the beginning. My other favorite is with Wizards or Druids with spells like Minor or Bounding Missiles or Druid's Firebug. I haven't tried to use it for buffing yet. I forget with my Priests, for some reason. Joe

I've only played a couple of combats to check out the Speed mod. Kind of getting burnt out on Deadfire at the moment. What I did notice, I am still not sure is an effect of the mod. By observation so far, though, is before: I couldn't contribute well enough as a wizard before the battle was over. Now: I run out of spell casting before the battle is over! I'll try to do more testing as the mood hits me this week. Joe

I've never had Wall of Fire fail me in PoE1. I don't know what I have done differently if it is supposed to be the same. Joe

I can't tell if this is a bug or a "feature". I cast Wall of Fire as an initiate to combat. But then it twinks out, I lose the spell count for that spell level and combat starts. Is that the way it is supposed to work? I can't precast Wall of Fire? Kind of sucks if that's the way it is supposed to work. Joe

Nothing major or game breaking. But it seems every time I launch a game with a pet boar he seems to always have enough ex points to level up. Obviously, this is impossible. Joe

Well, that's unfortunate. Joe

I'm pretty agnostic about the whole thing, myself. But between the ways each have been implemented in PoE, I prefer PoE I at the moment. Joe

Is it possible to export/import a party for beta runs? While I do enjoy creating characters it is getting cumbersome to recreate a complete party each time I go for a new run. Joe