Is it even possible to upgrade 'The Red Hand' (or other 2-handed weapons) to superb using Kraken eyes? It seems as if there are only 3 of them in the game, but 4 are needed for the superb upgrade.

Not every 2-hand weapon needs a kraken eye. I never needed one.

 

And to superb, the red hand needs peridot / ta ondra and pyrite.

Edited January 7, 20197 yr by baldurs_gate_2

There is at least one kraken eye added in the Forgotten Sanctum.  

Edited January 8, 20197 yr by DozingDragon

I never understood the point of making weapons hard to upgrade (both resources and gold), since it just reinforces the need to carefully plan which weapons to take for late-game play.

 

I feel like there are some interesting exceptional and superb items I skip, since it is more efficient to focus resources/gold on other items.  

I never understood the point of making weapons hard to upgrade (both resources and gold), since it just reinforces the need to carefully plan which weapons to take for late-game play.

 

I feel like there are some interesting exceptional and superb items I skip, since it is more efficient to focus resources/gold on other items.  

I quess it's a concious choice that you are only able to upgrade a finite number of items in a single playthrough, to have the player commit to certain choices. It also makes different playthroughs more appealing since you can make choices you didn't in your last playthrough. Or maybe it is because they wanted to remove the notion of farming (although I think a fair bit of players find themselves 'farming' gold in ship encounters, even if normal questing is as effective if not more).

I never understood the point of making weapons hard to upgrade (both resources and gold), since it just reinforces the need to carefully plan which weapons to take for late-game play.

 

I feel like there are some interesting exceptional and superb items I skip, since it is more efficient to focus resources/gold on other items.  

 

If we could extract upgrades from items we wouldn't have this problem.  Well, there would still be gold, I suppose.

 

I never understood the point of making weapons hard to upgrade (both resources and gold), since it just reinforces the need to carefully plan which weapons to take for late-game play.

 

I feel like there are some interesting exceptional and superb items I skip, since it is more efficient to focus resources/gold on other items.  

I quess it's a concious choice that you are only able to upgrade a finite number of items in a single playthrough, to have the player commit to certain choices. It also makes different playthroughs more appealing since you can make choices you didn't in your last playthrough. Or maybe it is because they wanted to remove the notion of farming (although I think a fair bit of players find themselves 'farming' gold in ship encounters, even if normal questing is as effective if not more).

 

 

'Commit to choices' for most players = never use upgrades until they think they have the best items in the game

 

Is that a good way to design a crafting system, do you think?

 

 

I never understood the point of making weapons hard to upgrade (both resources and gold), since it just reinforces the need to carefully plan which weapons to take for late-game play.

 

I feel like there are some interesting exceptional and superb items I skip, since it is more efficient to focus resources/gold on other items.  

I quess it's a concious choice that you are only able to upgrade a finite number of items in a single playthrough, to have the player commit to certain choices. It also makes different playthroughs more appealing since you can make choices you didn't in your last playthrough. Or maybe it is because they wanted to remove the notion of farming (although I think a fair bit of players find themselves 'farming' gold in ship encounters, even if normal questing is as effective if not more).

 

 

'Commit to choices' for most players = never use upgrades until they think they have the best items in the game

 

Is that a good way to design a crafting system, do you think?

 

When at first I played PoE I found it frustrating for that exact reason. Now during my first playthrough of PoE 2 however, I try to have a more relaxed attitude. I'm only playing on Veteran difficulty without the most outrageous modifiers/challenges, so I will beat the game without having to over-optimize. I will just stick with equipment I like. In a sense, it's kind of a liberating feeling that I don't have to keep a lookout for the most overpowered stuff and keep optimizing, I'll just enjoy the game and roll with the punches.

 

It would be different playing on max difficulty with the extra challenges/modifiers, but then you're at a point when you'll have to start meta gaming anyway.

TBH I enjoyed the crafting in POE 1 more than 2, simply because, outside of POTD, basically ANY named item was viable all the way to the end of the game. Literally anything golden you pick up, you could upgrade and use and get away with it. In 2, that's not honestly the case. Some items are just plain bad, or not good enough, to really complete all the content... And no, I'm not even counting megabosses.

 

I liked that kind of system, where we had only a few items that were unique, but they were ALL unique and viable and felt different to use, just a bit. It's not something that's viable in many games, or even attempted where it IS viable, but I enjoyed that immensely.

TBH I enjoyed the crafting in POE 1 more than 2, simply because, outside of POTD, basically ANY named item was viable all the way to the end of the game. Literally anything golden you pick up, you could upgrade and use and get away with it. In 2, that's not honestly the case. Some items are just plain bad, or not good enough, to really complete all the content... And no, I'm not even counting megabosses.

 

I liked that kind of system, where we had only a few items that were unique, but they were ALL unique and viable and felt different to use, just a bit. It's not something that's viable in many games, or even attempted where it IS viable, but I enjoyed that immensely.

You might be right. I have not played through POE 2 yet, but I did notice a heap of golden/unique items which are not really useful (at least considering all the items you pick up along the way to get there).

I noticed it the most with Great Swords, sadly. I tried to make a Great Sword character, planning for Twin Eels, going full Religion, RPing with Death Godlike.... And it went terribly. Planned on using Whispers of the Endless Paths until I got Twin Eels. I regretted that. Managed to struggle along anyways, got Twin Eels. Regretted getting it. Struggled along, tried to get to Voidwheel... Couldn't pull it off, sadly, no matter how cheesy I tried to get.

 

Now, granted, this was a Solo run on Classic... But I didn't have this issue with, say, Sabres.