What would you like for an hypotetical PoE3?

[juanval]

I would welcome both cases for PoE 3. I love the Watcher history and the companions, but I'd prefer to start a new history set in Eora with a new character.

 

and  you?

Edited January 8, 2019 by juanval

[uuuhhii]

maros nua climb out of caed nua are a clever move

as main character motive goes it was much better than poe1(awaken by random evil ritual and have soul that happen to be a inquisitor under thaos?)

almost genius and can not be replicated

if some ancient fampyr wake up and destroy caed nua again players will stop caring about the unnecessary management thing in the poe1

new main character can be some random soldier mercenary or agent send by watcher to investigate something

never get why watcher go back to dyrwood after deadfire anyway

[-dib-]

It would make little sense to call it PoE3 if it wasn't a continuation, and probably conclusion, of the Watcher's story.

I think it would be cool to see other stories set in Eora with other titles but only after the Watcher's story is finished.

[the_dog_days]

I'd like, and I'm pretty sure it will be, a direct sequel considering the Watcher's story isn't finished. As for general stuff I'd like:

 

1) Complete removal of the AR/Pen system. I despise it and more importantly Pen has been a god stat since the beta.

 

2) Some returning companions. I'd love a combination of companions from POE 1 & 2 as well as new. Probably a pipe dream.

 

3) Dump half the sub classes. There's currently over 1,600 different class combinations and that's all well and good except that balancing is probably impossible at this point just because of the sheer number of man hours it would take. Getting rid of half would go a long way towards making each sub class both unique and useful.

 

4) Return of Endurance. Endurance/Health was one of the more inspired game design choices of POE1 and then they dumped in favor for the injury system in 2.

 

5) Retool rest. Rest systems have never really worked in video games as well as they do in pen and paper but there has to be a better outcome than Deadfire's rest system.

 

6) Abandon Empower/Power level. There are several reasons I don't like current multiclassing works and one those is because it gives every class a resource pool which particularly obnoxious if you're playing a class that already has a resource pool (monk, cipher, chanter). Also, Empower is always either going to be too powerful or not powerful enough which is compounded by rest spamming having no consequence.

 

7) A new location. This is the only one bound to happen.

 

Lower level cap. The best experiences with the combat are mid to low level.

 

9) Less urgency in the main plot.

 

10) Personally, I'd prefer no more romances.

 

11) Gods to show some teeth when you backtalk them. So far I've really gone to town on the gods to their face and only a few times have I come out worse for wear. Reinforce their power by making them slap you around if you get too uppity.

 

12) More Vela content.

[Wormerine]

I prefer new protagonists for my RPG (fallouts1&2 did it so well). I wouldn’t mind playing as a new protagonist, while continuing the Watcher story, or rather exploring the aftermath of Eothas’ actions - one could still get reactivity based on previous games.

 

I didn’t think that bringing the Watcher to Deadfire worked - for the majority of the game we are Herald of Berath anyway, and I really didn’t feel like watchers skills were essncial until DLCs. A new character who’s on his way to Deadfire to make his fortune falls as a victim to Eothas attack and the ship he/she has been traveling on crashes near Port Maje. Berath offers one of the victims chance to return to life in exchange of chasing Eothas. Then we get the same story, possibly Eder and Aloth have a reason to be there, revealing the new guy fine details about their adventures and revelations.

[mishkoff]

I'd like to continue story, LivingLands or Aedyr, where you can secretly ascend yourself to god status providing you know most of the gods secrets, played with many strange devices etc. It would be cool culmination to gather that power and then either dispers it and enhance Kith or become god yourself and establish NWO.

[uuuhhii]

I prefer new protagonists for my RPG (fallouts1&2 did it so well). I wouldn’t mind playing as a new protagonist, while continuing the Watcher story, or rather exploring the aftermath of Eothas’ actions - one could still get reactivity based on previous games.

 

I didn’t think that bringing the Watcher to Deadfire worked - for the majority of the game we are Herald of Berath anyway, and I really didn’t feel like watchers skills were essncial until DLCs. A new character who’s on his way to Deadfire to make his fortune falls as a victim to Eothas attack and the ship he/she has been traveling on crashes near Port Maje. Berath offers one of the victims chance to return to life in exchange of chasing Eothas. Then we get the same story, possibly Eder and Aloth have a reason to be there, revealing the new guy fine details about their adventures and revelations.

the awaken watcher thing never worked in poe1

it will work better if watcher sent someone investigate eothas to deadfire

[Triple - A Foxy Lad]

Eora soul mechanic should allow devs to have cake and eat it. have mentioned elsewhere possibility of something analagous to dr who thing where same soul can go through multiple incarnations. If watcher grows too powerful and defined then it becomes possible to reset and maintain continuity.

 

This may be cleaner solution than trying to go forward with 'canon' end for watcher that at best will be some variant of 'mysteriously vanishes'. At worst, watcher will remain active npc in ip and actions will half-please almost no one.

 

Simply not addressing fate of watcher at all could also be fine, but i think only when current arc done and dusted. ending of deadfire too large a hook atm. Would be strange to not have continuation, but i guess oddly fitting considering series' tendency towards anti-resolution.

 

Ive not strong opinions as to the combat. Direction feels okay to this fumbling idiot playing on veteran.

 

Will say that combat as it current stands is among reasons for me to play game, rather than obstacle. Is fun. Judged by two nearest contemporaries, i prefer it to kingmakers hoary replication and whatever tf dos is currently doing - design by results of dev superfight tournament, i think.

 

Im happy for the resident systems experts to thrash out the details and offer suggestions. They appear to be acting in good faith and knowing their ****.

 

One think i would like is for completely new part of world so game doesnt become black mirror of reactivity to prior games (*shudder* ME3)

 

have notion that main plot focused slightly more on drawing line under watchers arc rather than impacting fundamentals of setting - and loading ip with more obligations - would be nice. Deadfires done fine job of worldbuilding, making eora seem like living place with competing interests. With that heavy lifting done, i think narrowing focus is appropriate. Guess packing watcher off to meet fate in relative bubble of rekke-land would be good for many ends. Think there lesson to be absorbed from DA:I and ME3 collapsing under own weight.

 

As for the romance thing, if the devs want to write such, they can crack on. Im pretty easy there.

 

Feel that relationships system as it stands is too ambitious for anything but large team with appropriate QA. Something more basic and linear would have been fine. Dont think there sufficient extra return to justify so much effort. Suspect most players more invested in companions relation to protagonist rather than companions place among forces of fictional world. Establishing latter to flesh out ip is important, but as mentioned prior, that groundwork now done.

 

Whatever obs are paying envrionment artists and unity experts, double it and retain them. Deadfire shockingly beautiful in places. For me, Neketaka surpasses everything ive seen in any infinity (or infinity-esque) engine game, which is high praise. That list includes athkatla and sigil after all.

 

If it needs stating, would like another iso, party-based game. I like that ****.

 

Think those all the thoughts i can gather for now.

 

Wait. Final one. Hope the devs are as eager to make third game as i am to play it. Honestly, if series ever becomes source of stress and strife for people involved, id rather they left it be. My entertainment aint worth folks sanity.

 

COLUMBO EDIT: oh wait there is one thing. I make no great impositions over returning characters. Writers can do what they seem fit. However, eder is one of the best 'everyman' npcs ive encountered in an rpg. His grounded, yet sympathetic perspective makes for a fantastic link between the player and the world. Id accept all kinds of contrivances to keep him in the game. Hell, come up with some weird metaphysical soul reason for his continued presence if need be. MAY I BE A CANDLE IN THE NIGHT.

 

(On a side note, im partial to angry dysmorphic pallegina and i like notion of watcher continuing to disrupt and destroy her life and relation to the republics - despite her most ardent wishes. Idea of palleginas ultimate role as unwilling vessel for cosmic sadism amuses me more than it should.)

Edited January 8, 2019 by Triple - A Foxy Lad

[protopersona]

Eora soul mechanic should allow devs to have cake and eat it. have mentioned elsewhere possibility of something analagous to dr who thing where same soul can go through multiple incarnations. If watcher grows too powerful and defined then it becomes possible to reset and maintain continuity.

 

This may be cleaner solution than trying to go forward with 'canon' end for watcher that at best will be some variant of 'mysteriously vanishes'. At worst, watcher will remain active npc in ip and actions will half-please almost no one.

 

Simply not addressing fate of watcher at all could also be fine, but i think only when current arc done and dusted. ending of deadfire too large a hook atm. Would be strange to not have continuation, but i guess oddly fitting considering series' tendency towards anti-resolution.

I'm actually disappointed the devs didn't do anything with this. It would have solved so many narative problems for them.

 

Why is the watcher now a level 1 character with a new race and class? Berath reincarnated your hollowborn style husk.

 

Why are your companions also level 1? Well they weren't close enough for Eothas to steal their entire soul, but close enough for him to severely weaken it.

 

Just a few lines acknowledging this vaguely would have done wonders for the continuity of the 2 games.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I'd love to ditch exactly everything from PoE1 and PoE2. I've had enough of the Watcher and the bizarre God interactions. I want a much more down to earth-adventure, with lower levels continuing for much longer. Otherwise, I agree with most of the stuff the_dog_days listed. I'd go as far as wishing for a new overhaul of the classes and the systems again. I know, it sounds crazy. But I want a simpler, sleeker system, and I want lots of companions with lots of interaction, where they affect the playthrough heavily, and then bigger and deeper dungeons and taller castles and towers. And please ditch the factions, I almost loathe factions. I'm weird like that.

[daven]

I'd love to ditch exactly everything from PoE1 and PoE2. I've had enough of the Watcher and the bizarre God interactions. I want a much more down to earth-adventure, with lower levels continuing for much longer. Otherwise, I agree with most of the stuff the_dog_days listed. I'd go as far as wishing for a new overhaul of the classes and the systems again. I know, it sounds crazy. But I want a simpler, sleeker system, and I want lots of companions with lots of interaction, where they affect the playthrough heavily, and then bigger and deeper dungeons and taller castles and towers. And please ditch the factions, I almost loathe factions. I'm weird like that.

Yeah I'm down for that... but instead of the Eternity universe, let's just do Forgotten Realms and use 5th Edition.

[Elric Galad]

I wish it would be included with MS Office Pro Pack.

 

So all my colleagues would know about the great glory of attack speed mechanism.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Elric Galad

[xzar_monty]

Ain't gonna be no PoE3.

[Boeroer]

Of course we'll have to play the Ascension of the Watcher to godhood!

[Guest Blutwurstritter]

The stories of fallout 1 and 2 also had good endings and were pretty self contained with closures, which PoE 2 was did not in my opinion. They could have switched characters after PoE 1 but now i would be quite annoyed if they didn't at least draw a strong connection to part 2. It could be a character switch but 

the watcher should at least be mentioned and get some story exposition how his story ended. 

I prefer new protagonists for my RPG (fallouts1&2 did it so well). I wouldn’t mind playing as a new protagonist, while continuing the Watcher story, or rather exploring the aftermath of Eothas’ actions - one could still get reactivity based on previous games.

I didn’t think that bringing the Watcher to Deadfire worked - for the majority of the game we are Herald of Berath anyway, and I really didn’t feel like watchers skills were essncial until DLCs. A new character who’s on his way to Deadfire to make his fortune falls as a victim to Eothas attack and the ship he/she has been traveling on crashes near Port Maje. Berath offers one of the victims chance to return to life in exchange of chasing Eothas. Then we get the same story, possibly Eder and Aloth have a reason to be there, revealing the new guy fine details about their adventures and revelations.

[Prince of Lies]

I think it would be great to have the Watcher be the antagonist for PoE 3. See how the Watcher's decisions in the previous games affect the world from a different perspective. 

[hilfazer]

Even shorter durations. I mean, 4 sec duration on a debuff? I am able to cast it and perform an attack before it wears off. That's OP. Please, balance it.

[Nssheepster]

Personally I hated the Endurance/Health mechanic with a passion. It doesn't feel like an impactful game system, it feels like you have Health, and then this tiny hidden Health bar that's separate, gets punished seperately, and is annoying to restore. I don't need two kinds of Health, just ONE.

 

Honestly that's a thing not just Obsidian but most Devs seem to forget at times.... If you have ONE of something, you do NOT need a second that does basically the same thing. Don't add things just to have more things, or just to pretend that there's more 'depth'. Drowning the player in excess BS is not good depth.

 

As for POE 3... I don't think we can have a satisfying continuation to the Watcher's story. Right now, the Watcher is either restoring a castle or getting swarmed with people asking questions... Or both. It's not going to be entertaining to see THAT... But the Watcher can't really justify ditching all that unless something huge comes up. What's gonna come up? The gods aren't going to risk getting uppity for a while yet, unless Woedica decides to be insanely stupid. There's just no realistic justification for an interesting game.

 

 

I do think we could get a POE 3, that occurs AFTER the Wheel is fixed/replaced, and new things that occur then. THEN it would make sense for, say Woedica to try to take over, or Magran to decide we need another great trial and try to cause a cataclysm of some kind. Or maybe, Eothas disintegrated himself, but there's still a god-shaped hole in the design, and a new one is filling the space but doesn't know the history, or restraint. That last one would be a decent explanation, actually, they could roll with that.

[Verde]

I would love the darker tone of PoE1 with a remixing of PoE2 combat. Sometimes I think PoE2 wants to be Diablo. More weight to the decisions inside and outside of combat. Quality over quantity for quests. Scrap the set Grimoire system. Find a balance between archaic casting and replenishing resources. And create more interactivity outside of combat. I feel like Deadfire is very combat focused. When you're outside of it, you're looking for it. If they are serious about dispositions and relationships they should overhaul that system and create something more organic and believable, as well.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Verde

[Nssheepster]

I can definitely agree on the Grimoires. They were okay in POE 1, they were your source of spells, they made sense and felt valuable. In POE 2... They feel almost useless. You can easily go without a Grimoire entirely as a Wizard, and yet your casting animation still makes it seem like you're holding one. Hell, thanks to the late addition of trinkets, I would gleefully just take a trinket on most of my wizards instead.

 

As for replensihing resources... Wizards in POE 1 felt awful. Wizards in POE 2 feel great. I don't really want a return to the per-rest nonsense of the past. It makes sense for a pen and paper game perhaps, but in something like this it just feels like wasted time rather than a mechanic to make your choice of spells and spell uses matter. Maybe, just MAYBE, if they let you rearrange both spells AND spell uses, I'd be more supportive.... But part of that would be because I love Magic Missiles, and would just turn all my spell slots to L1 and use nothing but Minor Missiles all the time.

[rjshae]

Have the Watcher settle down and have a child; you create stats for the latter based on the Watchers race and appearance. Something happens to tear them apart, then you continue their stories along separate tracks.

[Verde]

Why not mana for Wizards? Might be too much of a change but I really enjoy how Ciphers work.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Verde

[Verde]

Have the Watcher settle down and have a child; you create stats for the latter based on the Watchers race and appearance. Something happens to tear them apart, then you continue their stories along separate tracks.

Damn that's a cool idea...you shouldn't offer it for free

[Nssheepster]

Why not mana for Wizards? Might be too much of a change but I really enjoy how Ciphers work.

My major annoyance with Ciphers is the need to bounce so many things of an ally, but you can't just do them to yourself. As long as Wizards don't pick that up, I can handle that I suppose

[Crucis]

Great question.

 

1. Story wise, I'd stick with the Watcher main character.  But here's what I'd do for the story.  Remember that sidekick, Rekke, who you find floating in the ocean and doesn't speak any known language?  I'd assume that he comes from previously unknown continent on Eora.  And that the Watcher wants to return Rekke home and go exploring!  Beyond that, I'd really like it if the writers could avoid a story where the central plot point was on the gods of Eora.  Have it be something else.

 

 

2. Subclasses.  I really like the foundations of the subclass and multiclassing concepts, but do NOT like the subclasses that were used, for the most part. 

 

a. I'd love to see the plain "no subclass" option removed … sort of.  In its place, what I'd like to see is a subclass that was a generic version of the class, but had more flavor than just thinking of it as "no subclass".

 

b. I'd love to see subclasses restructured in a way that removed their negatives and only gave benefits.  Or at least made it so that the negatives don't feel really negative.

 

c. I'd like to see a good deal more "flavor" added to the subclasses, particularly in their descriptions.

 

d. I really hate the Wizard subclasses, except for Blood Mage, because those damned wizard "schools" are soooo boring and unoriginal.  Maybe an actual "spell blade" subclass would be a good fit.   And maybe an "Elementalist" subclass, where wizard greatly preferred (obviously) elemental spells, i.e. fire, ice/cold, electricity, etc.  And perhaps the way to make them work would be to give each of these subclasses a special spell at each level, similar to how priests get special deity related spells at each level.  Also, perhaps the subclasses would get a +1 or +2 power level for spells related to their specialty and maybe even a -1 power level for spells outside their specialty.  And lastly, there should be a generalist wizard subclass, perhaps called "mage"(?).  The Mage wouldn't have any specialty spells, but would have a power level bonus to all of the generic spells.  (And maybe come with an extra +1 skill point bonus to Arcana to reflect his more learned approach to wizardry.)

 

Oh, and lastly, I agree with Verde.  Scrap the Grimoire system.  I find it too damned confusing, and is one reason I've tended to shy away from the entire wizard class.  With the PoE2 per encounter model, wizards seem a bit more like the old Sorcerers from BG2, rather than BG2's wizards.  So, might as well just dump the damned book, and streamline things to make them simpler and more intuitive for the player.

 

e. Rangers:  Completely change the entire concept of animal companion to being more like the "pet" that the main character gets in PoE2.  Something that doesn't get in the way during combat, but gives the character (or even the entire party, I suppose) a minor benefit.  And then focus the Ranger's abilities on the Ranger him/herself.  There are too damned many A/C related abilities, and it's to the point that if you play a Ghost Heart (i.e. the no A/C option, sorta), your ability choices are highly limited due to so many abilities being A/C related.

 

 

 

 

Guys, I could go on and on, but I think that you're getting the gist of things.  One last thing though...

 

One of my problems with PoE2's story, aside from a return to a religion based story, was that it felt a lot shorter than PoE1.  I also missed the presence of an immense dungeon.  One of the best things about PoE1 was the Endless Paths dungeon.  And I loved the massive dungeon in Icewind Dale 1's Tales of the Loremaster.   

 

I don't know if it's even possible to do properly, but I'd love to see a story where it wasn't so obvious what the main story even was for a good long time.    In PoE1, you don't even get out of the initial chapter (or the preface, I suppose) of the game without getting clearly put on the trail of the main storyline.  In PoE2, you already know the main story line before you create your character, for crying out loud.   How about a story where the main storyline DOESN'T pretty much kick you in the face right at the start?  Maybe you have to do some exploring and digging before you can even get a clue as to what's going on?  Maybe you have to do a number of what seem like side quests, but end up being something like "fact finding" quests on the path to discovering "what's really going on".

 

The story doesn't have to have some major moral message to it.  It could be a story about a secret invasion, or a secret plot to stage a coup to overthrow a government/king/queen, etc.    I'm sure that there are all kinds of possibilities.

 

Anyways, that's all for now.