Update #71: The Heavy Hitters: Rogues and Rangers

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I'd like to have both options. A Ranger with a companion and one without. I loved having Dogmeat in battle with me in Fallout, although I was worried he would kill himself. I'd like to see how all the animal companions go in battle. The Mage familiars in BG2 were mostly useless although I do use the Spider figurine all the time and regard it as an animal companion for whoever is using it.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[Elerond]

 

Update by Josh Sawyer, Project Director

 

 

All rogues start with three abilities that allow them to immediately dive into heavy-hitting: Finishing Blow, Reckless Assault, and Dirty Fighting.

 

• Finishing Blow (Active) - Full Attack. This ability gains power the more damaged the target is. When the rogue uses a Finishing Blow, he or she makes a full attack at the enemy with his or her current weapons. The attack is made with an Accuracy bonus and does +50% damage if it hits. For every 1% under 50% Max Stamina the target has, the attack does an additional +3% damage. 3/rest.
• Reckless Assault (Modal) - In this mode, a rogue's Deflection is lowered but he or she gains a bonus to Accuracy and damage with all weapons.
• Dirty Fighting - 10% of the rogue's Hits with any melee or ranged weapon are turned into Crits. This occurs after the initial attack roll is resolved. The resulting shift is displayed in the combat log. 

 

Hi Josh / Brandon,

 

I take it the accuracy bonus with the Finishing blow attack is inline with your main stats as per below? I'm guessing DEX is going to be a stat we want to pump up to take advantage of the accuracy bonus with this attack.

 

Also, Reckless Assault seems to take it's benefit from DEX and MIG with it's bonus to Accuracy and damage?

 

What do the other stats below do? Like INT, PER and RES?

 

 

 

 

INT adds duration of status effects that rogue inflicts like hobbled from crippling strike, which are needed for sneak attack to work.

 

PER makes rogue's attack penetrate armors better and stop enemies to uses their abilities.

 

RES will prevent enemies from interrupting rogues using their abilities, like escape and coordinated positioning.

 

Finishing blow and reckless assault both seems to me be abilities that gives rogue ability boost other attributes than DEX and  MIG as they both give benefits on accuracy and damage, which means that rogue is less depended on having high DEX and MIG than classes without such bonuses.

[Sedrefilos]

Cool stuff. Let's see next how wizards work

[Hiro Protagonist II]

 

INT adds duration of status effects that rogue inflicts like hobbled from crippling strike, which are needed for sneak attack to work.

 

PER makes rogue's attack penetrate armors better and stop enemies to uses their abilities.

 

RES will prevent enemies from interrupting rogues using their abilities, like escape and coordinated positioning.

 

Finishing blow and reckless assault both seems to me be abilities that gives rogue ability boost other attributes than DEX and  MIG as they both give benefits on accuracy and damage, which means that rogue is less depended on having high DEX and MIG than classes without such bonuses.

 

 

While I have an idea what these might do, I'd like for a dev to confirm this. They may have additional information we're not privy too.

[Sugarjaye]

Another great update. And another reason for me to play as a Rogue.

[Sabotin]

Do the Druid next please. The others we have an idea what they do at least, but that one is a complete mystery .

 

As others have mentioned there's a floating rock on the left side of the screenshot xD. Not sure why (lighting?) but I get a stonehenge vibe from that ruin.

 

The classes seem pretty distinctive, I think it will be fun breaking and experimenting on them :D .

 

Oh, also, have some sort of reference in the game where people complain about the rogue stealing all the killing blows, hehehe.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Sabotin

[phesant33]

Great update keep em coming 

 

[Silent Winter]

It seems like I say this every time, but I really like the environment.

It looks like there's a bug in this one, though. There's a solitary floating rock in the center of the left edge of the screenshot - just left of the circular building.

 

It's not a floating rock - it's 2 rocks that, due to their colouring, equal size and positioning in perfect alignment with the ruins and the shadows, give the impression of being a floating rock ... yeah, that's it.  The lower rock is just flatter and so has no obvious shadow ... and ...ok... it sure looks floaty from this angle.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Silent Winter

[lychee26]

Well, I'm not sure why people are freaking out about limited functionality of the rogue. Its abilities state that they work with both melee and ranged weapons, so no need to worry about having to be a melee fighter. They've already stated that they get a bonus to stealth to satisfy your stealthy rogue desires, and stealing and pickpocketing-wise, those would be things covered by skills (or whatever the equivalent is). So for rogues at least they are no less flexible than they ever were. Most of the problems seem to lie in the actual description of the rogue - rogue as a brutal fighter.

 

Rangers on the other hand do seem to rather inflexible. They have to use ranged weapons to use their abilities, and they have to make use of their animal companion to be useful. While I like the animal companion - it just reinforces the idea that they are one, rather than it just being an added meat shield - I do think they need to have more flexibility in weapon usage other than; if you don't use a ranged weapon all of your core class abilities are useless. Even monks are apparently more flexible than that.

[TMZuk]

I'd hoped to see a departure from the tired old aggro/tank/healer cliché in PoE.

 

That's one reason why I'm disappointed that there's no option to multi-class or dual-class. It forces me to consider boring party mechanics when choosing companions, rather than whom my character would like to bring along, character wise.

 

It's interesting enough to read about how you perceive the classes and what their strengths and weaknesses are, but why, why, why does every CRPG have to follow the same tired formula?

[Reever]

Chief, we got another update! =)

 

Thanks guys, it's always great to get to know more about the different classes! My vote goes to the Mob Rulers to be covered in the next update!

[UrbicaMortis]

Cool update.I'd like to find out more about Wizards and Druids next time.

[Fashion Mage]

I've been so anticipating the class updates. :>

[teknoman2]

the floating rock contains gravitic ore and was once floating in the center of the now ruined structure, acting as a key for the basement... i hope it does at least

[Noviere]

Sweet update, BUT since when Edér is a rogue? Wasn't he supposed to be a fighter?

I don't know what he was supposed to be originally, but Josh Sawyer talked about him back in December:

 

He is actually the rogue. Most people assume that he’s the fighter. He is kind of a big dude. He is more of the fighter archetype, but in actuality, the way he fights in combat and his experiences, they’re more along the lines of the rogue class. The way you use him is more along the rogue’s lines.

 

But in personality, he’s a soldier. He’s a guy who fought in the Saints War. His personality reflects that. Instead of him being a rogue who’s like, “Oh, now I’d like to steal the gold!” he actually has none of that at all. He is not a criminal. He doesn’t have any of that in his background. He’s a skirmisher, like a guerrilla fighter, who fought in the Saints War. That’s why he’s a rogue, because he’s kind of like this really wily fighter. A fighter in the sense of a melee combatant – a really vicious, brutal combatant – but he’s not a Gray Mouser type of character. But he is the rogue. He’s just this big 6’2” blond bearded guy in scale armor with a big sword. Source

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Rangers on the other hand do seem to rather inflexible. They have to use ranged weapons to use their abilities, and they have to make use of their animal companion to be useful. While I like the animal companion - it just reinforces the idea that they are one, rather than it just being an added meat shield - I do think they need to have more flexibility in weapon usage other than; if you don't use a ranged weapon all of your core class abilities are useless. Even monks are apparently more flexible than that.

 

The Ranger does seems to be locked in as a ranged character with their animal companion in melee for them to be effective. There wasn't anything in the update indicating they have any melee options. It's a little surprising that the Beastmaster in PoE is only Ranged when the Beastmaster in 4E can be both melee and ranged. I'm guessing there's too many melee characters already in your party with an animal companion, Fighter, Rogue, Paladin, Monk, Barbarian, so they've made this class ranged? That's my guess.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[JFSOCC]

I think a lot of the fears people have could be taken away if we could discuss class strengths outside of combat.

Edited January 29, 2014 by JFSOCC

[Terodemmah]

Nice update! I've always been a huge fan of rogues in CRPG's as they offer a nice variety in terms of combat and roleplaying options. One thing I do hope for is that there will be some RP skills attached to that class (like "bluff", "Intimidation" and so on as known from D&D). In general I've always liked the sneaky, charming rogues and do hope that their class will have an lean towards stats as Intelligence, Charisma and ofcourse Dexterity instead of being a pure combat class with focus on Strength, Endurance and Dexterity. Just sayin' .....

 

About the rangers companions: I was wondering if the Dev's have made any thoughts on secondary roles for animal companions? Like exploration, guarding the party while resting (thus preventing surprises like having half a party sleeping while being attacked), communicating with other animals for information on an area and so on?

I think there's a wide variety of options that could make an animal companion more than just another meatbag in combat.  

[Monte Carlo]

[Lincoln]

Ich freue mich immer über Updates! Möchte auch gerne wissen wann ungefähr der early Access startet? So ... Mit den Post möchte ich gerne wissen ob deutschsprachige member unterwegs sind

[nPHYN1T3]

Two questions come to mind about this update which is #1 Will be be able to cross classes? Ranger+Rouge and will there be a lot of trap finding for Rogues. This update mentioned setting and disarming traps but in a way that sounds more like a defense offense battle mechanic than a common questing/exploring event.

[PrimeJunta]

First off, can I have a pet goat? Please? Master's Call would just be so perfect for it.



Second, I like the way these classes are shaping up. However, I also would like to hear more about cross-class talents. A goat-less archer would be fun too, so I hope I'll be able to make an effective one based on one of the other classes.

(I don't particularly care for the idea of goat-less rangers, though; messing with a class's core distinguishing features sounds like a bad idea.)

[Stun]

 

Well, we already know of 1 twist to the standard RPG priest: No healing spells.

 

Do you mean no healing spells because Recovery will heal Stamina, not HP?

 

 

No, I mean... Healing spells. Like someone gets hit by a lightning bolt, suffers a wound, and a priest heals them with a spell.

 

Stamina, by definition, is something that is lost when someone engages in a strenuous activity, like running a marathon. By contrast, a hitpoint pool should be a measurement of one's pain tolerance. The two can overlap, of course, (running a marathon can be painful), but since they don't always overlap, wouldn't it make more sense for there to be both "Healing spells" and "stamina recovery spells"? That is, IF you're going to develop a system where these things can be recovered by magical means.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Stun

[MasterPrudent]

Ich freue mich immer über Updates! Möchte auch gerne wissen wann ungefähr der early Access startet? So ... Mit den Post möchte ich gerne wissen ob deutschsprachige member unterwegs sind

My German is very dodgy and I haven't used it in six years but it is just good enough to understand your post   There will be a beta but it won't be a conventional "early access" build (they intend to have little or no story content in it). As for your actual question the devs haven't said anything about when it'll be available but the game is set for a release sometime in December this year so... sometime between now and then.

[JFSOCC]

Two questions come to mind about this update which is #1 Will be be able to cross classes? Ranger+Rouge and will there be a lot of trap finding for Rogues. This update mentioned setting and disarming traps but in a way that sounds more like a defense offense battle mechanic than a common questing/exploring event.

unfortunately no cross/multiclassing.