God Challenges Feedback!

[Gitmfap]

Double the hit points of mobs. Double the damage. Done

[1TTFFSSE]

 

 

Magran's - I don't use the AI at all, so am interested in this challenge as it is opening up my horizons, look forward to playing

 

Finally someone not hating Magran's challenge!

 

I like Magran's challenge, combined with Barath's it makes the game pretty exciting or maybe stressful, depending on what you want up to the point. 

Biggest gripe with Barath's challenge is that keeping extra companions alive I do cannot directly control becomes a matter of dumb "luck" in ship boarding battles.

Abydon's is a tad too much money realistically  for the game's economy if playing in a full party (for solo you should have enough money not to worry about it)  should be halfed I think. It get's really expensive maintaining superior and legendary pieces. Unless the point is to scavage random armor as you progress and use it untill it falls apart and than switch to the next armor you randomly picked up in an encounter. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by 1TTFFSSE

[hilfazer]

 

 

 

Magran's - I don't use the AI at all, so am interested in this challenge as it is opening up my horizons, look forward to playing

 

Finally someone not hating Magran's challenge!

 

I like Magran's challenge, combined with Barath's it makes the game pretty exciting or maybe stressful, depending on what you want up to the point. 

Biggest gripe with Barath's challenge is that keeping companions alive I do not directly control becomes a matter of dumb "luck" in ship boarding battles.

Abydon's is a tad too much money realistically  for the game's economy if playing in a full party (for solo you should have enough money not to worry about it)  should be halfed I think. It get's really expensive maintaining superior and legendary pieces. Unless the point is to scavage random armor as you progress and use it untill it falls apart and than switch to the next armor you randomly picked up in an encounter. 

 

 

I'd say as long as player can't use best available stuff all the time Abydon's Challange does its job.

[thelee]

 

 

 

 

Magran's - I don't use the AI at all, so am interested in this challenge as it is opening up my horizons, look forward to playing

 

Finally someone not hating Magran's challenge!

 

I like Magran's challenge, combined with Barath's it makes the game pretty exciting or maybe stressful, depending on what you want up to the point. 

Biggest gripe with Barath's challenge is that keeping companions alive I do not directly control becomes a matter of dumb "luck" in ship boarding battles.

Abydon's is a tad too much money realistically  for the game's economy if playing in a full party (for solo you should have enough money not to worry about it)  should be halfed I think. It get's really expensive maintaining superior and legendary pieces. Unless the point is to scavage random armor as you progress and use it untill it falls apart and than switch to the next armor you randomly picked up in an encounter. 

 

 

I'd say as long as player can't use best available stuff all the time Abydon's Challange does its job.

 

 

I'd like to chime in with further thoughts now that I've had more time to play with some of the god's challenge, and I agree with this comment about Abydon's Challenge.

 

I was worried that Abydon's Challenge would be an annoyance early game and completely forgettable by end-game, but so far with my mid-level party I am pleasantly surprised at how expensive it is to repair exceptional+ items, and how frequently they can start breaking down in drawn out fights. I think it adds a lot of fun intentionality to what you carry into combat and tightens up the game economy a bit. It also has a neat side effect of making summoned weapons more valuable (since an equivalently-scaled summoned weapon can become great when your physical weapon becomes damaged in the middle of a fight, plus you never have to worry about repairing a superb or legendary summoned weapon). I'm not sure I'll flip this on in most of my playthroughs, but it definitely adds a nice parallel challenge to the game.

 

Also I am liking Skaen's Challenge way more than I thought I would. Just the slight extra push to making sources of illumination relevant (and it's fun that Xoti's Lantern actually acts like a source of light) as well as making me care about time of day adds a lot more to the gameplay than I thought. When my tank gets hit with a lot of arrows in the middle of a fight from a bunch of archers I didn't know were there, I'll be like "GAH! I shouldn't have switched away from her sword+torch" which is a phrase I've literally never said about combat in an RPG before. This one is closer to a god's challenge I might flip on more often than not in future playthroughs.

 

Berath's still sucks though even if they never increase the permakill duration from 6s to 10s (I'll even settle for 8s, just let me have a second or two to actually start casting and completing a Resurrection) I might go all the way with it just to say I did it.

 

Magran's is still so terrible that I am fine never completing this challenge and leaving a "9/10 challenges complete" on the magran's fire screen. Anyone who knows me IRL knows how much of a completionist I am for RPGs I like (literally the only reason why I did The Ultimate achievement in PoE1), so this should speak volumes as to how much I hate Magran's challenge.

Edited September 18, 2018 by thelee

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Then for Magran's you might just want to do a no fight playthrough... 

[InsaneCommander]

There was already an achievement in PoE1 which involved limited resting.  The challenge could involve a limit to the number of rests per level/game or maybe a time limit to finish the game. The consumables can easily be limited by giving vendors finite quantities of ingredients.

 

That is now Eothas' challenge and it is in the new beta: Players must complete the game within a set game time or be met with a Game Over

[bringingyouthefuture]

So in regards to Berath's Challenge - or this may be in the base game too, and again not game breaking, but I was playing a Ghost Heart ranger, and everytime my Ghost Animal companion died from an enemy attack I got the message in bold type and large across the bottom of the screen "So-and-So Has Died" (not the exact words).  Since it is a ghost and the animal is dead, it can't die again - just for the record ...

 

!!  Oh and I will now make it official - you should only be able to repair and enchant weapons at a vendor!!  I officially request that you make the enchanting menu a store option ... it would make it soo much cooler to play Abyndon's challenge.

 

Otherwise liking the changes - only played the sea cave so far with Galawain's, and not noticing much of a difference in difficulty so far, but that could change as I go through the game.  Definitely making it a different kind of fun.

Edited September 24, 2018 by aaronghowell

[AndreaColombo]

!! Oh and I will now make it official - you should only be able to repair and enchant weapons at a vendor!!

This would be at the same time more realistic and irritatingly inconvenient. I wouldn’t mind if it was part of Abydon’s challenge, but I’d hate it if it was like that all the time.

[Verde]

Really wish we could mix and max the challenges on any difficulty with Berath Blessings.

[InsaneCommander]

Really wish we could mix and max the challenges on any difficulty with Berath Blessings.

 

So do I.

 

Come on Obsidian, you are reading this thread, right? Please...

[dukeisaac]

 

Really wish we could mix and max the challenges on any difficulty with Berath Blessings.

 

So do I.

 

Come on Obsidian, you are reading this thread, right? Please...

 

Same here. I'd really like my next POTD playthrough (my first wizard in the whole POE series, can you imagine) to be with Skaen's challenge and a few of Berath's Blessings

[rjshae]

To me, Magran's Fires don't need to please everybody; just as long as some players like each one and they all add to the replay value. Personally I like Abydon's and Skaen's Challenges as they add to the tactical detail, whereas Berath's and Magran's just seem twitchy. But to each their own.

[esyvjrt]

Eothas: fits thematically but i don't really understand what adds, isn't just a speedrun?. I think i mentioned the idea of having an affliction that gets worst with in-game time, i would like this to be implemented in the base game and Eothas challenge be a hardcore version of this, a progressive affliction that can make you useless and finally kill you.

 

Galawain: would have preferred something else than buffing beasts, but don't particularly dislike it and once used to the idea i kind of like it. I like unstoppable and bullish the most, then exalted, vengeful, accelerated and hardened, not sure about vampiric (i think is just the name what i don't like) and prowling (i think i would like it if where some semi-invisibility, maybe with sneak attack), and finally dislike reflecting(??) and volatile(???!!!). Also dislike the buffs being defined randomly at the start of the game, would like a defined buff consisting of all the buffs, or if don't replace them, maybe add one that contains them all (probably nerfed) i like the name of Survivor for that.

Edited September 22, 2018 by esyvjrt

[bringingyouthefuture]

I have some feedback on Eothas challenge.  I could be wrong but I got the sense that the time ticks down in slowed down combat mode the same as it ticks down in normal regular speed combat mode.  Am I wrong did anyone else get this sense?  I could break out the stop clock

 

 

Some more feedback on Abydon's:  I like how it makes more sense to sell a regular sword  than it does to repair it, since it costs less to purchase a new sword, makes you rely on vendors more, at least in the beginning.  But it would be nice if the needing repair icon shows in the vendors inventory once you have sold - I found myself selling a bunch of shield and buying new ones, but in the vendors item list they all looked brand new.

Edited September 24, 2018 by aaronghowell

[InsaneCommander]

I have some feedback on Eothas challenge.  I could be wrong but I got the sense that the time ticks down in slowed down combat mode the same as it ticks down in normal regular speed combat mode.  Am I wrong did anyone else get this sense?  I could break out the stop clock

 

How does it work? Is there a timer on the screen? How much time do you have to finish the game?

[Wormerine]

Personally, I would like if challenges wouldn't turn off mods. It is a single player game, and if someone wishes to cheat when doing a challenge its not really my concern. But I am liking the enhanced UI mod a lot, and if other like that appear, I would like to use them with the challenges, not one or the other.

 

Some if the challenges look interesting - I will probably try Abidon and Galawain challenge on my next playthrough. Personally, I am more interested in interesting gameplay additions rather than pure difficulty spikes like Margran's one. 

[bringingyouthefuture]

 

I have some feedback on Eothas challenge.  I could be wrong but I got the sense that the time ticks down in slowed down combat mode the same as it ticks down in normal regular speed combat mode.  Am I wrong did anyone else get this sense?  I could break out the stop clock

 

How does it work? Is there a timer on the screen? How much time do you have to finish the game?

 

 

Hehehe well, they do it in stages linked to the main story line quests, and as far as I can tell they give you a set amount of days to finish sections.  Let me put it this way - I finished the first part of Port Maje with about 36 minutes left - and the clock is tied to the day and night clock in the game - so in actual time I had only a few minutes left to explore - don't expect to rest at least in the first part, I would say if you don't do too much back and forth you could explore the whole island and do everything, all the fights - it would be close I skipped a few ... and there is a clock on the screen that usually reads days, until you are in the last day it reads hours, until you are in your last hour, I didn't get to my last minute but does it read seconds lol?

 

I have some questions of my own that I need to test - does the clock continue to tick when you talk with people? Does the clock continue to tick in the cut scenes - need to check, is the clock stopped when you are in inventory??  Was just playing but want to check all this out.  The Eothas like Magran's just feel like a pure challenge - gonna continue to play it and see what the second section of game is like.

Edited September 24, 2018 by aaronghowell

[misterjimmy]

I know some people hate those guys but I think there is still have some good suggestion from Codex.

 

 

The god challenge I want to see most is the return of the wound system from Tyranny. Why did they get rid of it?

[InsaneCommander]

Hehehe well, they do it in stages linked to the main story line quests, and as far as I can tell they give you a set amount of days to finish sections.  Let me put it this way - I finished the first part of Port Maje with about 36 minutes left - and the clock is tied to the day and night clock in the game - so in actual time I had only a few minutes left to explore - don't expect to rest at least in the first part, I would say if you don't do too much back and forth you could explore the whole island and do everything, all the fights - it would be close I skipped a few ... and there is a clock on the screen that usually reads days, until you are in the last day it reads hours, until you are in your last hour, I didn't get to my last minute but does it read seconds lol?

 

Still not interested, but this is better than having one single timer for the whole game imo.

 

I'm sure it does show the seconds when it's about to run out. Imagine the tension!

 

I have some questions of my own that I need to test - does the clock continue to tick when you talk with people? Does the clock continue to tick in the cut scenes - need to check, is the clock stopped when you are in inventory?? Was just playing but want to check all this out. The Eothas like Magran's just feel like a pure challenge - gonna continue to play it and see what the second section of game is like.

 

Please do share the answers here.

 

And good luck to anyone trying all the challenges together.  

[Mallard]

One cool idea I had for role-playing (to be clear, *not* implemented officially by Obsidian, just for the player's fun):

 

Activate a God Challenge if your character angered a god in POE1 (i.e. pledged to do with the souls what they asked and then reneged, or did not complete their quest at all).

 

Eothas' and Woedica's would be enabled every game (I'm nervous to see what Woedica's challenge is!).

 

This would make me a lot more nervous about offending the gods in POE1! Especially Magran...

[InsaneCommander]

Another idea for a god challenge: make the last boss a mega (or giga) boss.

[bringingyouthefuture]

So I did some investigating on my previous post about Eothas challenge.  All in all pretty good - it pauses when you are talking with people, while in inventory, etc, and I noticed that in each of these instance the clock is off the screen so I assume in all cases, if the clock is off the screen it isn't counting down.

 

Also, if you have the combat in slow mode, the clock does click slower!!!

 

My one major feedback for the challange:

 

1) during battle the clock ticks the same speed as it does in non-battle exploring which makes sense - but when you attack every 5 to 10 seconds it makes the way the clock ticks down seem very noticeable - breaks the fourth wall a little in terms of ... well time passing.  It is a challenge so it is what it is, but would be nice to have a little more time to fight the tough fights   I did some stop watching for the fights - you could easily slow the Eothas challenge clock in half during battles and not take away from the challenge since there is so much too explore in the world!!!!

Edited September 26, 2018 by aaronghowell

[Drinking with Skeletons]

I want to say that I'm in agreement that I would like to mix and match the challenges without being locked into Expert Mode and Path of the Damned. As much as I love the Pillars games, I'm fundamentally not hardcore enough for PotD, but do think that some of the challenges (like Eothas' Challenge and Galawain's Challenge) sound interesting and manageable.

[thelee]

I want to say that I'm in agreement that I would like to mix and match the challenges without being locked into Expert Mode and Path of the Damned. As much as I love the Pillars games, I'm fundamentally not hardcore enough for PotD, but do think that some of the challenges (like Eothas' Challenge and Galawain's Challenge) sound interesting and manageable.

 

I wonder if a good compromise between 'cheevers and people who just want to play with the challenge is to let the player "unlock" a challenge to play at any difficulty or setting, but then it doesn't count towards the "Challenges complete 0/10" counter.

[InsaneCommander]

I wonder if a good compromise between 'cheevers and people who just want to play with the challenge is to let the player "unlock" a challenge to play at any difficulty or setting, but then it doesn't count towards the "Challenges complete 0/10" counter.

 

Make it so playing with mods and /or BB disable achievements.

 

I don't care about that counter unless I can get all of them. And I may actually try to do that since there is a guide to play the game without fighting and

 

 

 

it is confirmed now that you can avoid the last boss.