Shevek

Wow, that makes him even more of jerk. Hey Gifted1, is it my imagination or did you chide Sensuki at one point during beta for making private messages public?

Kudos to you. Hey, you couldnt get the devs to cave to you but you sure taught them. You foiled a review! :clap:

Easily the best PoE review to date.

Currently, I and those I often speak with about the game find all difficulties below PotD to be a bit of a cakewalk. Similarly, the game seems to me to be far less interesting below PotD because taking down enemy resistances or weapon swapping just doesnt matter all that much. Also, some cRPG newbs are finding even easy level boss fights to be too difficulty for them since easy does not affect npc stats. So, my suggestion is: Two Difficulty Sliders One should be pretty similar to what we have now but only governing encounter sizes/make up. So, Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest (not PotD, more on that in a minute). But none of these should govern enemy stats. Another should govern enemy stats. So Weak (~10% less than normal), Normal (what we have now), Strong (potd level), Intense (~10% more than potd). I know this is counter to the design philosophy the devs set out with concerning difficulty. They wanted a more unified system where it only affected enemy numbers. Sadly, without PotD, the only difficulty that affects enemy stats, the game has very little challenge or incentive to use/learn its assorted mechanics. With 2 sliders, we could play with reduced encounter sizes (which can turn a bit chaotic and less tactical) but still maintain challenge by boosting enemy defenses/etc.

The latest stream mentioned there would be optional level scaling. While I am not a huge fan of it, I can see how it could be useful in a game like PoE. That being said, like all things, level scaling can be implemented in a variety of ways. I would ask that you please refrain from Bathesda like crap level scaling. In that way, enemies have no level floor and they come down to your level. They also have no ceiling and even the lowliest ****roach can be formidable opponent when level scaled. This is the easiest way to implement level scaling but it also sucks really REALLY bad. Please give monsters a bracketed level range. So, they have a minimum level and a maximum level. So, if a level one guy comes across a dragon, he's toast. If a level 12 guy fights wolf, it wont be that bad. So, for example, currently Adra Beetles are like level 8 I think. A bracket scaled Adra Beetle could be maybe level 8-11. If you come across the beetle at any point below 8, you are in trouble since 8 is its minimum level. If you hit it at 10, it will scale up to 10. If you hit it at 12, it will be a bit easier since its max level is 11 and you will have 1 level on it.

Yes

they proc once per battle. crappy thing to build around

How about this, enemy dr halved against melee attacks. Bam, scales great. Instantly bad ass.

The one handed style talent should just give 3 dr bypass. Bam, instantly useful.

Its a crappy style. The talent is really bad too.

I prefer accuracy on daggers because accuracy is awesome. Best of x/y is not as good

Its the Hulk Hogan of PoE. http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/angelavenger_photos/hulk-hogan-tabardillo-o.gif And there's nothing wrong with that

Well, I wouldnt do full respawns but partial/modified ones. So, you butcher some cultists in the Dyrford and some come back as ghosts if you leave to go get more supplies. Or you kill some spiders in Rhemen and if you leave/return then a few tough scavengers may be picking at the corpses. So, it wouldnt necessarily be the same mobs but it would provide a consequence to the choice of back tracking for supplies. I think time limits for some side content could be cool. For bounties, you could be on the trail of some outlaw but if you don't get to some place by x time then he would have moved on (so you have to hunt for him in a different location) or perhaps gained reinforcements (so the battle is harder rather than being an autofail).

Ya. Though that may also be indicative of a systemic issue: that of level gains affecting player power a bit too much. As soon players get just a level or two too high, challenge evaporates as players do not need to work to get past enemy defenses or to bring up their own. I really think that 3 def/acc per level seems too high. If they can manage to bring that down to 2 (while leaving accuracy/def numbers of enemies alone), that may help alleviate that issue.

What they needed was respawning monsters and side quests/bounties with time limits to prevent folks from back tracking for more supplies. Still a good mechanic but I hope they do more with it in the xpac.

This guy seems to think its primarily a thrusting weapon. He has a whole video series on western dagger fighting. Anywho, video here (go to the 4 minute mark where he talks about slash v. thrust): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kDKKIFsrjA&t=4m0s Pretty cool too. Makes me want to buy a dagger to add to my useless male jewelry collection (which currently includes a ko katana, a combat knife, and a hunting sword).

I have. Theres a fine mod which reduces xp by 25%. Also, theres a fine difference between critiquing playability concerns where intended design does not match mechanical reality and making, as some in this thread do, cries against the intended design itself.

So, you've never tried it but its not your cup of tea?

Monks in this game are only superificially Jackie Chan wanabees. This is a new setting with a slightly different take on numerous archetypes. Just adapt and appreciate what is there. There can be no innovation if people constantly whine about wanting the familiar.

Monks are currently awesome. They do not need to be altered.

Nope. Xp gain is still too high

Seriously, I find the second half of the game much more engaging with xp nerfed and the difficulty set on PotD. I disagree with Gromnir. On PotD, the game is actually more about taking down enemy defenses and exploiting weaknesses. The thing that the game screws up on is conferring too much accuracy and defense per level (which subverts the need to take down defenses). Slowing down the xp gain mitigates that. Just finish the play thru and restart on PotD with the 25% nerfed xp. Its a much better experience.

I would argue the only problem with the difficulty is that PotD is only one that offers challenge and even there it doesn't last past level 7 thanks to the game showering you with too much XP. If you have a problem with Thaos on Easy, Normal or Hard, well, L2P.

Restart on PotD and use IE mod to reduce xp by 25%.

I'd like more detrimental effects. Poison should persist after battle for example like in IE