JerekKruger

Generally speaking, apart from losing access to generic talents most classes have roughly the same number of abilities as they did in Pillars, but you're right that the way they're laid out at the moment makes them feel very limited. Hopefully once higher level abilities are added to the tree (and hopefully when most generic talents are returned) it will feel less so. One thing that is definitely appreciated by me is the increase in upgradeable abilities, and I think a big way Obsidian could make the tree feel more populated would be to increase the number of such upgrades. Plenty of people. Losing access to high level abilities might very well be a deal breaker for someone who wants to build am "arch mage" style wizard who uses implements (not exactly an odd build I'd say). The same sort of people who don't want their pure wizard concept being a Wizard/Ranger probably don't want to take talents with names that evoke bows or guns or hunting. Bread and butter is probably an exaggeration, but Obsidian is one of few companies catering to role-players, and for many role-players these things do matter. If my character concept is your typical scholarly mage then no amount of in game benefits from multiclassing would make me do so. I'll only multiclass if it fits my concept (or I'm trying something like Triple Crown Solo and aren't focusing on the story side of things).

Currently summon familiar is a spell, only usable in combat, that summons a random familiar that can fight and gives its Wizard a buff. I am not sure whether it despawns after combat as I lost the combat I tested it in, but I'd assume it does. The buff I got was +3 Burn damage resist (or whatever the new name for damage resist is) which seems rather lacklustre, though I haven't played enough to really judge. At the moment I don't think the ability is particularly good.

I don't miss the Weapon Focus talents. I do miss the ability to give my Paladin Weapon and Shield Style, or my Wizard Secrets of the Rime, or balance out the Defences of my characters by taking the appropriate universal defensive talent.

Okay, having spent more time in the beta I find myself agreeing with Boeroer's sentiment completely. The removal of universal talents is a mistake and makes single class characters feel very railroaded in their development. I find it particularly bizarre that mages and priests (possibly other classes?) get no talent options at all.

Wellspring of Life is the Nature Godlike's racial.

Given how slow the beta for PoE was, I'm not overly concerned about this issue yet. It's clear that the are things Obsidian can do to optimise performance before release.

Interesting changes for Island Aumaua, Boreal Dwarfs, Wood Elves and Wild Orlans. Boreal Dwarfs and Wood Elves were perhaps the default DPS picks due to the strength of Accuracy in Pillars so I can understand why that change was made, and similarly for Wild Orlans and tanking. The change to Island Aumaua is a shame though. Obviously their racial was powerful for multi gun builds but other than that I don't think it was too powerful. Also yeah, Wellspring of Life looks like it could be pretty good now, which is nice.

It has indeed, as has the Deadfire pack for Pillars. I am rather excited!

I don't have the patience to sit through Ellohime's stream, but hopefully in a few hours time I'll be able to explore this stuff myself.

It's usually the case that games are cheaper to back than they are to buy at release so as to encourage people to back them. Of course they'll probably be cheapest during a sale a while after they've been out, but if you intend to buy Deadfire at release then it's almost certainly cheapest to buy it now.

Yeah, that's a pretty good ability and a nice alternative to the Shattered Pillar for a Monk who doesn't want to take damage.

Quote from the stream regarding multiclassing companions: So, currently, it looks like we won't have full control over how we multiclass companions. A little disappointing, as I had been looking forward to making Edér a Fighter/Priest of Eothas, but perhaps it'll change.

Tomorrow is never today, it's always tomorrow. Thus the beta will never actually be released.

Oh I agree that the new system will probably be fine, I'd just have preferred if they left the endurance/health mechanic and, if they needed to remove something, they removed injuries. It's not a big deal though.

Wow, I wasn't expecting it to be that soon. I was expecting "beta in two weeks" or similar. I was getting ready for another wait. This is awesome.

Yeah, I love sallets. It's such an elegant design. Sure, they doesn't provide as good protection as something like an armet, but they provide very good protection whilst allowing the wearer decent vision and breathing. Bonus points if there is a suit of plate that has a gorget.

Same. I'll be a little sad to see it go, although as you say the new system isn't all that different.

Obviously buy the addon. Get yourself some sweet sweet beta action then, like I did for the Pillars beta, play it for less than an hour

The problem with boobplates from a historical perspective is that women almost never fought in battle, so even if there are historical examples they don't represent functional armour. What we do know is that the apex of functional make plate armour in Europe did not have sculpted chest and abs (if anything it resembles a beer belly) because plate armour works best when there is a gap between the plates and the wearer (usually filled with padded clothing) and when it is angled so as to deflect blows away from vital areas. From this we should expect the armour of women who actually fight (as they do in Eora) to follow similar principles and hence their armour would be similar in design to men's armour (possibly slightly larger at the chest, but certainly no sculpted breasts). Now you can make the 'this is a fantasy setting' and 'the armour's magic' arguments and that's fine, but neither of those are arguments in favour of boobplates, rather they are arguments against the necessity of not having boob plates. Ultimately it all boils down to personal preference, as Flintlock says, and my preference is for realism in this regard.

It's in The White March part 2, and it's relatively easily missed.

Yeah. Apparently there were still some viable builds using it, which was never Obsidian's intention, so they're correcting their mistake

Josh had also confirmed that the proc rate for Firebug on The Unlabored Blade is incorrect and they're going to change it to its proper value: 0.3%.

Not surprising. Quarterstaff fighting was a very popular martial art in England at one point in, so there were probably a lot of them around and a lot of people who knew how to use them effectively.

This Wednesday? That's great, I had assumed it was a way off. Hopefully the beta then.

Beta before Christmas or, perhaps, the extra content for Pillars of Eternity seem most likely.