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Same generic title, because you can't beat a dead horse enough, if someone refuses to understand some basic principles which were done correctly by 20 yo games. Not happy with xp requirement scaling, level to content progression, much of itemization and xp reward amount analogy to sources. "Completionists", "Rushers", new generation utter nonsense I say. A game should be made to be experienced in its whole. Side != sub-par and I really hope the devs themselves have enough confidence in the content they made to realize that. If someone doesn't want to experience most of the game's content and just rush through the main quest line, one shouldn't mind not experiencing a few spell levels/feats either before finishing the game. And if the end content turns out to be difficult, good thing there are plenty of difficulty options. As for the cap, if you can't get it right, it would be the easiest thing to add simple but interesting and clever "epic feats" or passives to chase after level 20 with a soft cap, that won't require new animations, effects etc, just a bloody line of code. And these should be *needed* during the "end-content" on POTD. Itemization could follow the same principles. Meh.

This is a thread I will start for peeps to list their experiences playing this class and variations as a single-class and not multi in the current game and should provide a resource of information on it as well as build ideas in the current game and future patches. Quick background: I have decided to play through and with this class on PotD as it was my main in PoE1 and after trying out some multi-class variations of it in the end decided that giving up Time-Parasite and Defensive Mindweb was not worth it for the multiclass. It may have been a premature bad decision but I want to make it "work" and share my stats/ experiences so far and as I progress the game. So far my build has been working smoothly and the current PotD difficulty has not been a challenge *maybe because the PotD in this game is easier than in PoE1. Ok without further ado, here is the concept and stats for the build I am playing: Cipher single ascendant nuker (build description) Race: Wood Elve (+1 Dex/ +1 Perc) Starting Stats: 14 Might/ 5 Con / 19 Dex/ 19 Perc / 18 Int / 3 Resolve reasoning: No half measures, min maxed, pure range and make sure I send in the tank to grab aggro and never be with my glass cipher in the middle of the fight. 5 Con base + buffs from items is enough hp to get through, the low resolve can be somewhat mitigated eventually by +Will perk/talent and food. Dex and Pec (accuracy) are the most important stats now for single-class cipher as you want attack speed and accuracy to keep your focus supplied and building and to speed up casting time. In-game, I will look for items that increase speed/ accuracy to amplify this going forward as that is pretty much what these whole build relies on. Primary weapon of choice: Hunting Bow - consistent and fast, and even faster with the perk for rapid shots. On weaker mobs with rapid shots getting focus maxed (with DrainingWhip perk) takes about 2-3 at most 4 hits so really fast and usually, with the high Dex, the toon is already "ascended" just pew-pewing some weaker mobs from the back lines as my tank is running forward to engage them. At that point, I switch to spamming soul shock if I need aoe or Amplified Thrust on single target (low levels) damage. Whispers of treason on any targets that may be an asset and I want to turn. Later this will be replaced by Amp wave and other juicy powers. -Draining Whip!!! is a must on an ascendant build!!! so reach max focus fast - this is the first perk you absolutely have to take -Secondary weapons: optimal later will be to open with a double blunderbuss or pistol volley and immediately switch to the hunting bow, which is more consistent and reliable. If you stack speed/ go naked it should not hurt too bad to switch but overall I think the Hunting Bow is the most reliable weapon on a single-class build. Dual wield scepters are also there should you need to get away from piercing damage. Other perks I take: Penetrating Visions. Hammering Thoughts (increase on the penetration of your attacks) Endgame: go into the ascended mode under Time-parasite and nuke the field with amplified waves. You'll have 30s in super-speed mode of probably doing insane damage. Notes: given the secondary talents you need to take for spell penetration and maybe the +will talent you don't have slots for cc/debuff cipher spells to this is more a pure striker. Take another toon without to do the cc/ debuffing work specifically built for that. Also the way the advanced party setup works with this build is I need "front-loaded immediate cc" from a different toon for the cipher to have time to get ascended and nuke the field - at least I expect that to be the case on the more challenging pulls in the game. Anyways so far building focus for accended (I am in the second major city, lvl5) has not been hard, was actually pretty easy. I'll be excited to see if that remains so going forward in the mid and high levels as the focus pool increases. Cheers, please post your single class cipher experiences in PoE2 and suggestions!

Looking over the wiki, and theorycrafting a shifter druid (as I have a mac and can't play at the moment) and I noticed that all of the animal spirit shifts have an armor calculation of (8+ Power Level +1 every 5th Level), with the exception of bears which have (8 +2 +1 every 5th Level). It looks like bears are supposed to be a tank form. Does this mean that they are strong at 1st level, but falls behind all the other forms shortly after? Or is it supposed to be {8+(2 x power level)+1 every fifth level}? Can someone with access to the game check this please? because as it stands it looks like the elk and boar forms seem to be stronger tanking options.

First off, the dual class system is what I dreamed of while playing PoE1. This kind of thinking really blows the class system wide open. Being able to further specialize an ability like Smite to get another bonus is also a great choice. I acknowledge and like how removing general talents makes individual classes more unique, but without those 30-40 general talents there really are so few options each level. Right now it feels like a 1:1 trade off with dual classing instead of talents; however, if some form of general talents were added, this system would be incredibly versatile. If there are more soulbound items than in PoE1 that allow a character to develop through items, that would also solve this lack of options. I love how the soulbound weapons invite you to pursue certain achievements in the game world. Finally, a personal desire of mine: allow druid wildshape weapons (claws, etc.) to count as unarmed for the sake of being able to use the barbarian's weapon focus or the monk's transcendant suffering. I think creating an unarmed weapon proficiency is all that's needed to rectify this. I love the shifter subclass but a multiclass druid misses out on many of the martial classes' accuracy/defense increases. A multiclass monk also finds itself lacking synergy.

Hi! I am happy both for PoE2 being made as well as multiclassing making the cut. If single class characters were to be treated closer to how multi class characters will work a lot of the balancing issues can be sidestepped. If you were to add a second duplicate of each class which either is only available to main class characters, or as a virtual second class for single class characters. The comparative progression of single versus multi class characters would balance out more nicely. Consider the following example: Class/Power source + Class/Power source ----- Wizard + Fighter -> Battlemage Wizard + Wizard2 -> Wizard Were Wizard2 could contain more horizontal progression for Wizards, and/or unlock a few perks/talents only available to single class characters. (Though this might not be necessary, and is only an additional suggestion.)

I'd like to point out a potential issue with power level with respect to power source progression. One of the design goals of multiclassing is, to have multiclass characters at 75%-85% class efficacy of pure characters at the same level. In today's presentation Sawyer has shown the current tables and values, which give pure characters 3 power source points per level and multiclass characters 4 points, that are split between the two classes (3 in currently leveled up class and 1 in the other class). This gives a multiclass character an average power source point gain per level of 2 (i.e.: if class levels are split evenly between the classes, each class would receive an average of 2 points per level), which results in a multiclass character having an average power source point progression at 67% for each class, compared to a pure character. Assuming, that power level progression is linear (i.e.: character at power level 4 is at 80% efficacy of a character at power level 5), which seems to be an assumption also taken by designers (I'm basing this on the shown power level vs level table), this would mean, that given a linear relation between power level and power source would mean, that a multiclass character would be approximately at 66% efficacy. Of course, relation between power level and power source is not linear, as shown in the following table: Points Power Level 0-2 0 3 1 8 2 14 3 20 4 26 5 32 6 BUT! As it looks like, nonlinearity exists only for the first 3 power levels (~ 3 character levels) and is then linear up to at least power level 6 (~ character level 11). If it remains linear the character efficacy will inevitably limit towards 67%, which is well below the intended 'sweet spot' range. For curiosity's sake, I've made comparison of pure (PC) vs average multiclass character (MC) power levels (PL) and their ratio with respect to character level (CL): CL PC PL MC PL MC/PC 1 1 1 100% 2 1 1 100% 3 2 1 50% 4 2 2 100% 5 3 2 67% 6 3 2 67% 7 4 3 75% 8 4 3 75% 9 5 3 60% 10 5 4 80% 11 6 4 67% -linear assumption from here on- 12 6 4 67% 13 7 5 71% 14 7 5 71% 15 8 5 63% 16 8 6 75% 17 9 6 67% 18 9 6 67% Since I do not have the tables, I've assumed linear progression for pure character power level with respect to character level progression, as was indicated by Sawyer in the presentational video. My interpretation is, that the trend is already showing. Multiclassed character would also spend only 6 out of 17 levels not being worse than the intended efficacy (level 1 being exempt, because all characters are equal at level 1). TL;DR: Power level with respect to character level or power level with respect to power source progressions should most probably be tweaked to be more non-linear.

Started a new play through today, and having cleared the exterior of Cead Nua, but prior to clearing the Great Hall I noticed the new zone "Yenwood Field". Cool! I thought to myself, and went there right away. As it turned out, there was nothing there except a large number of very angry looking people, so I left without a fight. I headed back to Cead Nua, where to my surprise I was on the wrong side of the barbican. So, nothing to do but head on out and come from the Black March side I thought... But instead, noticing that Woodend Plains was now an available travel destination from the south side of Cead Nua, I headed on down there, grabbed Sagani for my party, and went on through the Aedelwan Bridge into Copperlane - at which point I believe I received the quest "A Call to Court". Now here's the problem - I had not at this point cleared the Cead Nua Great Hall. So now when I aggro the undead in the Great Hall, the first thing they do is rush over and annihilate the quest NPC for "A Call to Court" leading to quest failure. No chance of my catching them prior to his demise as far as I can tell. So this quest NPC could be moved to the doorway of the Great Hall in future builds, possibly? Also, I am not sure why Yenwood Field is open for travel at this point in the game, possible bug? I would post this in the bugs forum, but I don't see a bugs forum, so I'll post this to general in the hopes that a kind mod will move it if appropriate.

Hello everyone, I'm writing a couple of thoughts after reading this article published on RPS a couple days ago. To be more specific, these lines: So... my doubts follows: The Dungeon will be fully integrated in the main storyline? Or it will have an own story line wich lead you into and out of the dungeon? For such a huge thing like the Dungeon, having to go in and out soon, pausing exploration to level up, won't it be a little distracting from the main quest-line? I mean, the main concerning should be the main quest-line to me. Having that and the Dungeon quest-line do not risk to confuse things and to-do lists? Maybe it's just me, but I was sure the Dungeon was something extra that a player could play after the main campaign was over. Some sort of "Hey you, big bad adventurer, you're so famous now, why not try to solve this big bad problem out there?". And anyway keeping the in&out concept for the main quest-line of the Dungeon that surely helps convincing the player that the Dungeon is not just "a dungeon" but something integrated into the background of the World. Having the Dungeon the best loot and the hardest fight can lead to some problem in my opinion. Knowing the Dungeon has the best loot will lead the player to just level up enough to go down again and loot shinies to easily overwhelm the enemies in the main quest-line. Last but not least if I just ignore the dungeon... how the main campaign will be balanced? I will have anyway a decent gear to finish the game? And again, if I just stop myself before the last boss to go into the dungeon? I'll steamroll everything till the last floors? And when i've completed even the dungeon, with an extremely easy feelings, i'll come back with a huge xp boost, an overflow of powerful items and just steamroll even the final encounter of the main compaign? Honestly this kind of structure and integration of the Dungeon worry me a lot. Sorry for any errors, english is not my first language and i'm just recovering for a laser eye surgery

I just found myself comparing my experience in Baldur's Gate and Diablo 3: Raiders of the Infernal Department Store. Two wildly different games, true, but I found it ironic that, while one of Diablo 3's selling points was compulsive and awesome looting, I simply couldn't be any excited when Demon Invader number 667# would spill another pair of pants. I was once told that one reason for that is the attribute metagame in the Diablo series was simplified, items don't compete with each other simply because one yields more 'DPS' than the other. There's no question of what is actually best for your character (which is fundamentally equal to every other character). I can't tell if that's true since I haven't played Diablo 1 and 2, but my own experience with other 'diablo-likes' supports that argument. But I think there's more: I believe that the attribute metagame isn't enough. Which brings me to Baldur's Gate. In the first game, simple enchanted items are relatively rare. Items with specialized and higher bonuses (such as +X against Undead) are even rarer. Items with special abilities are almost self-contained to the expansion. This denotes one difference between BG and Diablo 3, loot that is meant to be interesting are rarer and, therefore, actually interesting and meaningful. But progression is still linear, since its still mostly about the attribute metagame. Every party member fills a niche, meaning that each party member will benefit the most of a given attribute increase, items are still simply better than each other. Granted, if Diablo 3 had managed to accomplish this much, I'd have been pleasantly surprised. But the IE games, I believe, went beyond that. In Shadows of Amn the structure is mostly the same, but there's more loot and the stakes are a higher. And with a higher power level, you can have more diverse items when it comes to special abilities. I remember hoarding a number of rings, cloaks and such, not because of different attribute bonuses and the like, but rather because of special abilities. This is something else that loot in Diablo 3 didn't have, creative and situtional spell effects. For the most part, I might wear that cloak of +X protection, but I'll occasionally switch into that other one that transforms me into a troll for healing purposes. And it might even remain useful levels and levels after I acquired it.