JerekKruger

Honestly, I got a little bored. I reached finished Act II plus all side quests and it was pretty clear to me that, other than the signature fights, nothing was going to be challenging anymore and I didn't feel like finishing it off.

In which case I guess I'll go with Concelhaut's Skull

I feel like three Islands is the limit below which it will feel incomplete (law of three and all that).

Interesting. I assume it means you can choose to begin with Aloth, Edér or Pallegina. It would be cool if I could bring along one of the other companions, but I suspect it doesn't since either that forces Obsidian to write a bunch of dialogue most players won't see, or it means those companions will be largely mute, making them little different from a custom companion. Also, since some of the companions from PoE are, apparently, going to appear as cameos it also means Obsidian will have to make sure to remove them if you choose to start with them, further complicating matters. I'm interested to know how soulbound items will be imported. It sounds like there are going to be changes to various mechanics in Deadfire so presumably the soulbound items will have to be changed to reflect these. This suggests that each one will have an entry in the game files allowing unscrupulous players (completely unlike myself) to console them all in

There's actually a very easy way to balance this, it's just most players wouldn't like it. What you do is only give experience rewards for the main quest chain, having side quests reward the player with gear (not necessarily more powerful, just more varied) and the reward of more content. This way characters can't out level the main quest. Personally I'd love such a system, but I recognise that I am very much in the minority here.

Yeah, to make it worthwhile I think you'd need much faster attack animations as well. I think an alternative method, like making Bash an automatic retaliatory attack when an enemy misses or grazes or having Bash do something interruption related, is the way to go.

Yeah, it always seemed odd that a lying Watcher was, by definition, terrible at lying, since everyone seemed to know they were a liar.

Esoteric? What you talking about? This is easily the single most important issue from PoE that needs fixing in PoE2. PoE was literally unplayable once I realised that the Larder Door was objectively worse than a generic Large Shield...

Wasn't this a core part of Trump's election campaign?

Isn't the head further below the basement? If I recall correctly only the raised hand is in the basement.

Excellent news!

In theory yes. In practice however it would be hard to pull off because as well as doing low damage compared to proper weapons, bash shields also can't get any damage improving enchants like Exceptional, Beast Slayer or (most importantly) a Lash. This means you'd either have to balance them to be worthwhile when paired with a relatively unenchanted weapon, in which case they'd be terrible when paired with something heavily enchanted; or you balance them for use with heavily enchanted weapons, in which case they'd be a big boost with low tier weapons.

If the only benefit the drug monk gets from drugs is a greater consumable duration, then I don't see it incentivising consumable use that much since, you know, you can just take more when the first lot wears off. If the buffs from consumables were increased that would be a different matter, and perhaps that'll be a choice further into the subclass, but duration alone doesn't seem worth the trade off.

PoE had whips. I mean, they were Soul Whips, and only Ciphers got them, but it had whips

I imagine it's simply that Berath is the god of cycles, and a NG+ is a sort of cycle (your character plays all the way through the game then returns to the start again). I doubt it's a spoiler.

I didn't realise Eric wasn't necessarily writing Edér, but I am glad the way I found out is by an announcement that he probably will be writing him. I agree that it's great news, I like Edér so much I actually learnt that Alt+130 prints the correct accent for his name

Maybe PotD will be more like HoF from Icewind Dale II, i.e. a ridiculously hard New Game+ mode?

I believe I read this too, as well as Paladin subclasses being the Order choice. If this is the case I hope we'll see them get a little more than they currently get and perhaps also see a few more Gods/Orders added in.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I would absolutely love a Druid subclass that turns spiritshift into a modal ability (rather than a limited duration one) but disabled (or at least limited) spellcasting whilst spiritshifted. I don't actually think allowing gear is necessary, since spiritshift Druids are already very good without it (highest single target damage in PoE), but I wouldn't mind a few items which are specifically designed to carry on providing buffs once spiritshifted (the Wildstrike Belt already does, how about some necklaces or rings as well). Also, depending on how it works, a spiritshift focused Druid multiclassed with a Monk might be amazing if the Monk's unarmed bonus gets applied to the spiritshifted form's natural weapons.

Exactly. As for why I involve myself in this thread despite not having a particularly strong preference one way or the other it's simple. Obsidian have been working on Deadfire for a while now, and they've decided on five character parties for whatever reason. If they cave to pressure to go back to six character parties then everything they've done so far that is designed around five has to be redesigned. This likely to take a fair amount of time on their part, and things are likely to be rushed as a result, ending up with a less good product. Since I don't have a strong preference on party size I would much rather Obsidian didn't go down this route. As for the argument that since I don't have a preference I shouldn't be posting in this thread: rubbish. People from Obsidian read these forums, and if they come across a this thread and the only opinions given are from people strongly opposed to the reduction they might get the impression that this is what most people think. Given what I said in the previous paragraph, it is important that I (and others who don't mind the change) post here precisely to put across the message that "hey, there are plenty of us who aren't opposed to the change".

Then don't change your race or gender, but don't insist that others shouldn't be able to. I can pretty much guarantee that no line of dialogue will effected by allowing the player to change their race or gender. If you disagree, try to come with a plausible line of dialogue where someone makes reference to either of these two aspects, and explain how allowing players to change them would force this line to be removed from the game.

You might be weird indeed, but you're definitely not alone, I feel the same.

I'm sure we could come up with a better solution. Your suggestions of stun or on prone might be a way to go, though perhaps a little overpowered? Another option would be interrupt based which given the changes to interrupt in Deadfire might be a nice addition. A very rough and ready solution would be to have bashing shields add a small amount of damage to your main weapon and not have them make separate attacks. You could still intersperse attack animations with shield bashes, but the actual damage rolls behind the scenes would be made with your main weapon. My suggestion of making it dual wielding was simply the simplest solution I could think of on.

I tend to agree, but for me the reason is probably a little different. I want as much choice as possible when it comes to equipment, and this is reducing choice. For example, let's pretend I want to use sabres in PoE, and I pick up Resolution in the Endless Paths. Later I pick up Purgatory, which has a higher quality enchantment (Exceptional vs. Fine), but what if I prefer Resolution's Reliable enchantment to Purgatory's Draining? Well in PoE this is fine, as I can enchant Resolution to Exceptional or, indeed, higher, but by the sounds of it in Deadfire I wouldn't be able to do so (or wold be in some way penalised for doing so). There's also the fact that in CRPGs characters seem to be constantly throwing away magic swords and replacing them with new ones, something which always seems odd when compared to fantasy fiction where there is usually just one "The Magic Sword", the retrieving of which is often part of the main quest. Obviously there's a reason for this in CRPGs, but the enchantment system promised to reduce this item attrition which, for me at least, improved my immersion.

It certainly doesn't appeal to me very much, as I so rarely use consumables, but I have no doubt that someone will find some way to horrible abuse its special ability.