JerekKruger

Assuming it's not too much work (I'd guess they can simply change the colour of the VFX) then I'd like to see this too. Bonus points if those two classes have unique versions of SI as well!

Huh, I didn't know that. I assumed the native enemies remained and the bounty simply became harder as a result. I've always cleared areas out before doing the bounty under this assumption.

Surely you mean "www.xaurips3.com".

I'm confident that the story and the environments will be very good; I am a little less confident that the mechanics will be to my taste given what we've seen in the beta so far, but hopefully they'll improve between now and release (and, as MaxQuest says, between release and the final version). The final state of the mechanics will determine whether Deadfire ends up being a game I replay multiple times like Pillars, or one I simply play through once for the story.

I understand where you're coming from with this decision. I wouldn't make it myself but then I guess I am less bothered by bugs and/or don't noticed them. In any case you'll definitely be missed on the character builds subforum for PoE as one of the most active and imaginative posters there. I hope you find another game you can enjoy that's less buggy.

It makes sense even in a world where they don't. Kill off the soft targets then gang up on the guy in plate seems a fairly sensible tactic to me.

Brilliant information Max.

Jon gets a pass because I'd rather he didn't conduct more... experiments on me

I will It's not hard to find examples. Here are two: the English (and later French) armies during the Hundred Years War were full of well trained, non-noble soldiers; and various Italian city states were training the citizens to use crossbows and various polearms throughout the middle ages and beyond.

At least I'm not, and never will be, a post-menopausal woman Sadly, whilst I am a little bit taller I am far from a baller.

IMCF really isn't a good representation of medieval combat. Their weapons aren't lethal (for obvious reasons) but this results in them acting in ways you simply wouldn't when your opponent is armed with a lethal weapon (and actually wants to kill you). The video of Warzecha represents a duel. This is a completely different situation to a massed melee. Of course your aim is still to put your opponent out of action as quickly and efficiently as possible but to suggest this involves no cunning or subtlety (who cares about beauty?) is simply wrong. Watch a boxing match with an untrained eye and you could be forgiven for thinking it's just two guys punching each other until one gets knocked out, but anyone who knows a bit about boxing can see the tremendous skill involved. Your comments on the state of soldiers in the middle ages, whilst certainly true in some cases, are simply wrong in many cases.

I'm fairly rigid, but I'm 6'7", does that mean I can't be a bureaucrat?

Well you have to bear in mind that the YouTuber you linked is, if not a professional YouTuber, certainly isn't one who's simply posting videos for fun. He wants traffic and you don't get traffic by appearing uncertain. Hence his title "Definitive Guide to Multiclassing - Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire" (no idea how it could be definitive given the game is still in beta). Notice also that this video was released a few days after the beta was live. Not enough time to do detailed testing but just in time to ride the release hype wave and maximise views. So when it comes to understanding the game well, these sorts of YouTubers aren't worth much. Watch them to see what the game looks like by all means, but they'll never come close to people like MaxQuest here.

Well my thinking is that the shield opens up opportunities to attack and allows you to control your opponent in ways that otherwise wouldn't be possible. You're right that there are things that can be done when you have a free hand of course, but Pillars already gives an accuracy bonus to wielding a single one-handed weapon so I don't see why shields should get a penalty to accuracy (perhaps large shields should, but not medium and small). Perhaps the way this could be represented would be to leave the penalty to Accuracy in, but have it removed with shield proficiency (since the character would know about this sort of tactic and counter/avoid it). Of course this would require a completely different proficiency system to the current one (which would be fine by me).

I don't disagree, and I personally wouldn't do it, but perhaps a particularly psychopathic* Bleak Walker might justify it in his mind. As a side note given that your Bleak Walker is rarely hired to do anything in Pillars, there really isn't any reason for them to be Aggressive or Cruel. *I know Bleak Walkers aren't, generally, psychopaths, but some are and I'd imagine it's the order that appeals to psychopaths.

I don't think you're understanding what click bait titles are. There's nothing wrong with your actual question in this thread, which was "is anyone here worried there might be less player freedom than the original game?", but your choice of title doesn't represent this question at all well and your starting post didn't help at all. If English isn't your first language that's fine, but then use simply short sentences that, together, express the idea you're trying to put across. Here's what you could have written in your starting post: "I think Deadfire will have more freedom than Pillars. However the addition of multiclassing, exploration etc. may mean story freedom has to be sacrificed. What are your thoughts on this? Does Obsidian's track record reassure you?" Anyway, to answer your question: no, I'm not worried about player freedom because if there's one thing Obsidian are good at it this sort of thing.

It varies between spells and abilities. For summoned weapons their near useless whereas for multiple projectile spells like Minoletta's various Missiles they can be quite powerful. One of the few single class characters that looks like it could have potential (once casting times are tweaked to not be awful) is a Nature Godlike Evoker using these spells (nature Godlike for easy access to +2 power levels). However even when power levels do benefit an ability a lot they're a little wonky due to having cutoff points. There will be times when activating my Nature Godlike's racial wouldn't be worth it since the +2 power levels won't be enough to add anything to my spells. Then I level up once and suddenly it becomes worht doing again. This is, in my opinion, bad design.

That fits with their lore. Once they are hired they can't be called off, even by their employer. It's part of their nature that means the me suggestion of their use causes conflicts to end.

This video demonstrates, at least to me, why this isn't true of medium shields.

I don't think Bleak Walkers are hired all that often, they're very much a last resort. I'm also not sure they care all that much: they're not mercenaries in the traditional sense, rather they are true believers in the idea that the best way to end conflict quickly is with brutality. You might even view then as bizarre pacifists since if they are successful their mere existence should dissuade wars.

Not necessarily. They rely in large part on their reputation for cruelty and mercilessness. Whilst many Bleak Walkers wouldn't, I could imagine some seeing slaughtering the caravan as a means of furthering this reputation, particularly if they are new to the area. A bit of a stretch perhaps but not completely out of character.

Yep, it's a very well done quest. There are a few others that stand out during the early game.

Yeah if you are going to equip casters with shields they should be small shields (one should eventually carry Little Savior for the aura, which stacks with Outworn Buckler and, in fact, stacks with a cloned Little Savior or Outworn Buckler if you use the Helwax Mold). Larger Shields are almost solely the preserve of tanky Chanters.

Yeah a lot of what he is saying is either wrong or supposition. He mentions power levels but clearly hasn't looked in depth into how they actually affect various abilities and ends up over valuing them. He also talks about the powerful high tier abilities despite the fact that in PoE these were often lacklustre and highly effective builds could easily be made that didn't use them. Also: "it can make early parts of the game harder until you're all geared up" - I think, if anything, multiclass characters will have an easier time in the early game as many of the basic abilities of a class are very powerful. I'll take having both Sneak Attack and Soul Whip over access to power level 2 and 3 abilities earlier any day.

Apart from making character creation more complicated there really isn't any reason to go single- rather than multi-class. It really isn't a double edged sword right now: multi-class is significantly better than single class. Not sure who these beta streamers are, but I think they're paying too much attention to Obsidian's "new players are recommended to go single class" warning and not enough attention to the actual game balance.