gkathellar

Kits are effectively the same as groupings of new class abilities - and new class abilities are pretty clearly what we need, for the purpose of expanding archetypes.

IIRC, somebody did it with a moonlike monk at level 2.

If you're committed to 2handing, Arquebus/Greatsword is better. They use the same weapon focus, and Tidefall is usually the first superb weapon in the game (and one of the best in general).

Please explain. There are no magical, objective forces called Good and Evil in the PoE setting. Whether the moral constructs known as good and evil exist in the PoE setting is a question about second-order predicates and how we apply the word "exist" (see also: Kant on the ontological argument). All that said, there are things we can all agree are evil for practical purposes, like eating people, or putting bayonets through babies, or TMZ. Shadows in PoE eat people, which is pretty evil. Does that make them evil? Maybe.

Offensive fighters work fine. Honestly, they work better than a lot of other classes on the front line, if only because Constant Recovery makes them so low-maintenance. They're boring, but they can stand there and dish out damage without problems. To be clear, I despise the Defender nerf. But everyone who behaves as though fighters have lost their only niche - or even their best one - doesn't know what they're talking about. Even a suboptimal attribute setup like Eder's can perform well with the abundance of damage-boosters that fighters have, and Constant Recovery means ridiculous defenses are often wasted on a fighter. Here's your basic fire-and-forget fighter build: Take a two-handed weapon or double sabers. Take relevant weapon talents, weapon style, savage attack. Take percentage boosters wherever possible, including the defensive ones where it makes sense (except for Disciplined Barrage, since Knockdown is still better for an offtank). That'll put you through PotD easily.

Xaurips4life At least until they can't take the jokes. "Hey, Skinless Chuck! How's your skin doing?" I'd eat people if I had to deal with that all the time.

Yes. But even if they had, it's too late in development for him to make a difference.I didn't realize it was that far along in development. It just seems like they announced it recently, but I guess it has been a while. Well, I still hold out some hope that he can get in on some Obsidz projects. Yeah, maybe not, but as long as everything ended amicably, there's always the chance that he could even come in on future PoE franchise offerings.Bethesda officially revealed it quite late, only 5 months before release. It's coming out in November, so it's pretty much finished now. I doubt he was secretely working on Fallout 4 before, but maybe he could join for a DLC? Who knows. There's always his job as a professional stretch goal. He's already been suggested for D:OS 2 and Larian supposedly are considering it. Maybe they could still snag him for the enhanced rewrite of D:OS 1. I dunno if it's really his style, though - a little too high-fantasy, I think. Avellone is at his best when he can do weird gonzo stuff.

While there are definitely shades of Zarathustra to Durance, and they're probably intentional, I don't think he's meant to be a direct envisioning of Nietzsche's author avatar. It bears remembering that Durance is a religious man who believes he is justified by faith, and to a lesser extent by nationalistic impulses. Zarathustra is a very pointedly anti-religious figure, and Nietzsche thought very poorly of nationalism. Both bear an individualist streak, and Durance sees the individual as shaped by and challenged by the divine; Nietzsche, however, articulated very generally that individuals are born from the struggle between internal forces (the passions, the Will to Power) and the necessities of a universe beholden to nothing and no one. both characters are grounded in scorn for a religious community that they see as faithless, cowardly, and deeply hypocritical, but to different ends - Durance wants a return to old-school, trial-by-fire faith, while Zarathustra is frustrated by civilization's superficial attachment to faith's trappings where no faith remains. Durance was written by Chris Avellone, whose work has generally been full of both Nietzschean themes and very pointed questioning of those themes. For Pillars, he also wrote Grieving Mother, a character whose arc revolves around her attempts to escape from the trauma of her past, and the harm that denying her own history has done to others and to herself. Generally, transformation through pain features prominently in Avellone's characters, but he has never flinched from exploring the way pain can just as easily trap people and prevent them from growing when they lack the means or the will to confront it. I believe that Durance is just such a character - a man clinging desperately to faith when it seems that faith has abandoned him. He has suffered, he has survived, but he has failed to grow. He might even be seen as a caricature of Zarathustra: as his name suggests, he endures, but his trials have only weakened him because enduring is all he does. Durance understands that pain is a necessary part of growth, but has decieved himself into believing that pain and growth are the same. It is a worthy end to walk over hot coals in search of transformation; just standing around on the coals as if transformation gallops to the aid of anyone in pain is vanity. But all that said, I don't think he's meant to actually be Zarathustra. In the same tradition? Sure - like Zarathustra, he's clearly a spin on Moses (what with the staff and the miracles and the burning bush), but he's less an atheist version, and more a take on Moses-as-a-monstrous-prick trying to excuse himself and his god for the monstrosity of his miracles. The Nietzschean themes are recurring ones in Avellone's work, and Durance doesn't seem to embody the struggle against religious and cultural nihilism that lies at the heart of Thus Spake Zarathustra.

To actually answer the OP's question: yes, you can talk to Raedric, agree to kill Kolsc, talk to Kolsc, decide not to kill him, and go back to kill Raedric later.

Simulationism: justifying bad design decisions since 1974.

Whoa, Druids' base Accuracy sure is low! 20, just like the other casters. It's not the base accuracy that's the problem - it's the lack of a scaling accuracy bonus for Spiritshift weapons. Spiritshift sucked, and still sucks, for two reasons: garbage accuracy, and the fact that you could be casting spells instead.

Thaos has had thousands of years to be convinced, if anyone was going to convince him. I like "talk the BBEG to death" endings as much as anyone, but only if they're actually fitting. In this case, he is no more interested in talking things out than Irenicus or Sarevok were. The sample arguments you raise are basically all things you already can say to Thaos. He either welcomes or deflects each in turn, certain that your points only validate his own. Then you fight, because you are an unstoppable force, and he is an immovable object. Like Iovara, Thaos will never be persuaded of anything; he is both unwilling and unable to give up on his cause. Several of your party members even view cleansing his soul's memories as a kindness. Maybe you could have negotiated with Thaos the man, but Thaos the man is no more. In his place is Thaos the cancer, Thaos the abcess, Thaos the living unhappiness born when good will persists in the absence of hope at the center of the human heart. There's no way to heal a tumor or to make it "better," because healing is itself antithetical to what a tumor is. There is only the poison draught, only the knife - and the hope that when the living rot is dead, enough healthy tissue will remain to sustain a life. Sometimes, in health and in war and in the mind of a man, there is no knee - only the sword. Stories (and video games in particular), often teach us that this is a common thing, where reality teaches us that the sword is rarely much of a solution at all. Perhaps more stories should reflect that, but that doesn't mean we should shove nonviolent endings in where they don't make any sense. Bloody conflict with Thaos isn't just an arbitrary game requirement, but rather an inevitability for the Watcher, written across the fabric of both their lives.

FTFY

Well, that's disappointing. Avellone's name was honestly what got me to back the project, and I'd have backed Torment if I'd known he was writing for it, even though I hate Monte Cook. Not as if I'll stop liking PoE, though. Onward and upward for all parties, I hope.

It dosnt matter what Fighters are supposed to be. And its better if single class could be specialized in many ways. Someone complained about fighter tank >paladin tank, so they nerfed fighters. Each nerf to fighter/paladin is one step more to glorious priest/druid tanks. And in theory Fighters could be Offtank dps (dps which not break when hit). There is several talents/abilities allowing to rapidly regain health, or come back from dead, or wear heavy armor and still hit faster. They already perform best in this regard. They have a bunch of damage boosters and they regenerate. If you're not using them to hit hard, you might as well just use a paladin instead.

No kidding?

I ran a heavy-armor monk through PotD with a Mgt 16/Dex 10/Con 10/Per 16/Int 10/Res 16 build, and I think it still would've been functional in light armor (I did actually switch to Vengiatta Rugia in the endgame, so at the very least it can manage with light stuff at high levels). Those stats in general will probably be better if you're playing with the 2.0 beta - the extra accuracy is easily worth the lost deflection to a character like this. If you're looking to min-max a little more, you can dump Int without much loss, and toss the 7 points that nets you wherever you like. Maybe Perception and Resolve for conversation options, but really anything will work. Monks are in an almost unique position right now, in that they get something of value from pretty much every attribute save Int (which still isn't totally useless for them). I am obliged, on account of being terrible, to point out that this is a monk.

I found Defender entirely skippable already on an offtank fighter. But yeah, this seals the deal. Defender + Wary Defender was the entire way that fighters could keep up with paladins using Cautious Attack on defenses. clearly this means they should nerf Faith & Conviction, amirite

Things could be even worse =/= things are good. Because fighters and chanters aren't at their best as pure tanks, and pure tanks in general just took a beating? Hell, even before the change, I'd come around to the view that pure tanks are a waste of space. Increasingly, I feel as though Deflection itself is the problem. I don't know, why do games with the F/R/W defensive paradigm keep doing this? It's like, SW: Saga Edition tested the "static defenses, rolled attacks" concept without AC, and it worked, so everyone's response was to put AC back in.

Well, he was (probably) possessed by a god. As self-justifications for extreme behavior go, that's a pretty good one. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," and all that jazz. I dunno that the two theories are even mutually exclusive - he might have known what was going on and what he needed to do by way of divine revelation, and then invaded the Dyrwood in force because he was a damn fool. What Waidwen did or did not know and how much he was or was not Eothas are both up in the air. I'm just pointing out that the needle need not point sharply one way or the other to explain his actions. They may not actually care about hiding their origins. Certainly Woedica and Skaen think people are best off ignorant and oppressed, but the other gods seem more concerned with their portfolios than ensuring the ignorance of kith. It is noted that they try not to interfere in mortal affairs as a point of policy, and several gods make clear that they feel Woedica has been really pushing it with the whole Leaden Key thing. Who would believe you? Some people, sure, but plenty would hold onto their faith. Others just wouldn't care that the gods were works of artifice. Really, nothing serves this end better than just defeating Thaos and dismantling the Leaden Key - science and animancy will reveal what the truth more gradually, but probably also more meaningfully. If you side with Woedica at the end, you can do exactly that. Alternately, you can encourage Aloth to become the new Grand Inquisitor.

Not that it won't help, but I kinda resent that they buffed Con in the most boring way possible.

butbutbut casters only have the ability to do everything paced out over the course of several encounters or all in one fight at their option! fighters get anywhere between 1 and 3 PER ENCOUNTER ABILITIES! THEYRE OVERPOWERED I TELL YOU In all seriousness, it makes me genuinely sad that PoE started with, "casters won't be able to do everything! Everyone gets magical abilities! Melee can have nice things!" and then turned into, "casters can do everything! Everyone else gets like one magical ability, late in their leveling tree! Melee has slightly higher stats though I mean until the caster self-buffs then melee is like kaput." They recognized the problem, and promised to fix it, and proceeded to do Not That. They're the easiest class to solo with for sure, but easiest =/= best.

I never had problems with it. They only thing that always confused me, was the Arena-Button. What the hell was that for? It seemed to do nothing. The Enhanced Edition actually did something with the button I think, but I never tried those so I don't really know. The original button MIGHT have referred to GameSpy, a lobby/matchmaking system that many games used back in the day instead of creating their own - players needed to install the optional GameSpy client and create a login for it to work. It went kaputt a few years back and took some older games' multiplayer mode with them. GameSpy only shipped with the North American release of Baldur's Gate so I have no idea if that is it. Enhanced edition did a LOT for MP making it available across multiple platforms (at the same time I believe) Well, they had to do something to justify the $40 cover price. If you want to play BG with four badly written new NPCs and an uglier UI, there are mods for that already.

To me, this is the big unresolved mystery in the Pillars timeline. Why would the god of renewal suddenly change his lifelong tactics and start a war? One possibility is that new facts on the ground compelled Eothas to adjust his tactics. Thaos' plan regarding the Hollowborn makes sense as a precipating cause because a) he is a uniquely powerful threat who would b) need to be able to operate freely in the Drywood so that he could c) stop the death-and-rebirth renewal cycle knowing full well that d) his possession powers would enable him to control and then subvert any mortal who might lead an effort to oppose him. With Eothas' portfolio endangered and any mortal follower susceptible to Thaos' powers, perhaps Eothas felt he had no choice but to take personal command of the effort. (Alternatively, it could be that Waidwen's tactics seem out-of-line with Eothasian principles because Waidwen wasn't Eothas at all, but rather someone who framed Eothas for a failed war knowing Eothasians would be persecuted in its aftermath. This seems unlikely given the nearly universally held belief among mortals and divines alike that Waidwen as Eothas, but given the PoE team's occasional tendency to turn expectations on their head, it probably deserves at least a mention...) Or Waidwen may have been Eothas' avatar, but still ultimately himself, doing what he personally felt was best under the circumstances. There's no reason to think that being the Vessel for a god would have stopped him from fundamentally being Waidwen.

Oh good, now there are even fewer reasons to play a full tank fighter. :/ because fighters and paladins needed moar pigeonholing amirite Sigh. This is a change I hope they revert before the patch goes live... it also hurts offtanks, makes fighters more susceptible to CC and kills build diversity ( seriously, unless a fighter off-tank whips out a shield he's going to be more or less as durable as a barbarian with Defender up now... ). Also, while talented defender used to be pretty good pre 2.0, it also involved a pretty hefty investment in term of resources ( class ability + talent ).I'd rather they nerfed shields instead, if they feel deflection tanks were too good ( and maybe reduce the accuracy penalty to compensate somewhat ). They already changed Perception from +deflection to +accuracy. This means minus 8+ deflection for most tank-builds and better accuracy for some enemies. Which of course highlights how stupid the Wary Defender change is. IMO, fighters were already better as offtanks, due to their regeneration and the percent bonuses to damage doing more for large weapons. This just pushes them even more towards that niche.