Adventurers Hall Questions + a little extra

[Utukka]

Ok, so I checked the wiki and a few other spots but haven't found an answer. Was wondering if someone knew or if a dev could give me an idea.

 

1) When does it first become available? If you want to save spoilers...do you have an estimate on how long it might take to get?

 

2) Would I potentially have enough $$$$ to hire up to a party of 6 right away? <--Dev question?

 

Why do I care? Well let me explain!

 

In Baldurs Gate 2, one of my favorite things to do was what was called a "Random No-Reload Challenge".

 

Essentially, I would create a party of 5 right away that was decided entirely upon a random generator. I wouldn't pick anything. The name, the gender, the race, the class, the stats, everything was random. It was AWESOME. My most memorable playthroughs came about via this and it made me have to problem solve in ways I never would've done otherwise.

 

I lost so many whacky characters trying to go through the hardest difficulty level with a random assortment of a party but it created for the most fun gameplay experience in my opinion.

 

You would also get 1 NPC that was also decided by a roll of the dice.

 

I'm just curious/hoping that this style of play can come on-line quickly within the game.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Utukka

[Freshock]

I'm thinking they might not want to spoil it, but from videos I've seen there's a sort of "tutorial" part in the beginning with temporary companions, so I'm guessing you won't be able to recruit any before completing that and reaching the first town after. If the price on new companions from the Adventurer's Hall are the same as in the beta - I imagine it's hard to afford 5 of your own handpicked companions right away, but possibly a couple of level 1 companions can be affordable. But it's all just speculations. 

[MReed]

Per earlier developer comments, you'll be able to add custom companions via the adventurers hall at about the same rate that you meet "standard" companions.  Whether or not this will be enforced with a hard limit (you simply can't hire adventurers until certain flags have been set) or via a soft limit (you probably won't have enough money to hire companions until you meet the "standard" companions) is unknown.

[IndiraLightfoot]

That's probably good thing too, as it evens things out vis-à-vis using the various companions as they become available. I'm really looking forward to the adv hall option, since it widens the scope of the game replayability considerably.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Ok, so I checked the wiki and a few other spots but haven't found an answer. Was wondering if someone knew or if a dev could give me an idea.

 

1) When does it first become available? If you want to save spoilers...do you have an estimate on how long it might take to get?

 

2) Would I potentially have enough $$$$ to hire up to a party of 6 right away?

 

You will gain access to additional (player-made) adventurers shortly after the game's introduction.  Depending on your play style, I would say within the first 2 hours.  On a replay, probably in the first 45 minutes if you just made a beeline for it.

 

There's a hard limit of 8 total player-made adventurers per game and new characters can be up to your main character's level-1.  They also cost money to hire.  I believe those are our only limitations.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Naïve question, perhaps: Why do they cost dough to hire? Are they all mercenaries? And wouldn't this gimp players who prefer self-rolled parties over parties full of talkative companions?

I reckon that they should cost much less, and some of them should be free, or perhaps all of them. It seems like an unnecessary breaking pad, that's all.

[Sensuki]

You'll be swimming in gold, and there's a lore reason obviously. I think the cost also helps mitigate the fact that you would be able to have 6 party members earlier than expected by the game balance.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Sensuki

[IndiraLightfoot]

If we'll be swimming in gold, I won't be very happy. I like it to be scarcer than that, please.

 

And Josh said earlier that we'll meet most companions early on, as opposed to BG1, so if the adv hall is cleverly placed, a self-rolled party shouldn't be available too early. Also, imposing some tax on "creative party freedom" (I like the sound of that!  ), is just unnecessary for a feature that was part and parcel of one of the KS goal and PoE itself. The adv hall is not some game-breaking munchkin thing, it's included in the tradition of CRPGs.

Edited September 10, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[Sensuki]

There is no Adventurer's Hall specifically, you can just hire mercenaries at Inns and stuff.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Indeed. It's really just a function added to the first inn keeper we get to meet, presumably. I wonder which inn that may be.

[Sensuki]

The Gilded Vale Inn. Not sure which Backer Inn though, but it won't be NeoGAF as theirs is in Defiance Bay.

 

I am personally anticipating going to the Club for Refined and Prestigious Gentlemen

Edited September 10, 2014 by Sensuki

[Gfted1]

Is that really one of the inn names? That's glorious.

[forgottenlor]

Is that really one of the inn names? That's glorious.

It makes me grateful for backer generated content.

[Sensuki]

Is that really one of the inn names? That's glorious.

It also has d20 shaped windows.

 

Guess which community it belongs to?

Edited September 10, 2014 by Sensuki

[J.E. Sawyer]

Naïve question, perhaps: Why do they cost dough to hire? Are they all mercenaries? And wouldn't this gimp players who prefer self-rolled parties over parties full of talkative companions?

I reckon that they should cost much less, and some of them should be free, or perhaps all of them. It seems like an unnecessary breaking pad, that's all.

 

Making them NOT cost money would give a bigger advantage to people who don't use the OEI-written companions, since you could make a six-character party in the first town.  You could also freely use them as fodder with no consequence.  The adventurers aren't going to be outrageously expensive to hire, but we do want there to be some cost to them.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I see. Fair enough. I will start out my first playthroughs, using the companions, so this is for laterz.

 

Perhaps another possibility would have been to restrict the number of possible self-rolled recruits at the first town, and then raise that number slowly as the player reaches the other adv hall points in the game, more or less in sync with when the OE-made companions become available. RPG-wise, I find it a bit contrived that you need to pay them to join you. That's a new feature.

Edited September 10, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[Sensuki]

Well you like role-playing right ?

[IndiraLightfoot]

I sure do. If I create all party members myself, I want max freedom when making those role-playing characters.

"Whatever background story I can come up with" >"Each and every self-rolled character is a mercenary or a money-hungry opportunist."

 

I reckon, my idea makes sense. It's even called "adventurer's hall", not "adventurers for hire", hehe.

[Lephys]

If you can manage to create Jake the dog and Finn the human, perhaps then they will not charge you for their services. Adventuring would be its own reward.

 

There is no Adventurer's Hall specifically, you can just hire mercenaries at Inns and stuff.

It's actually just a prestigious hallway within the inns.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Lephys

[Matt516]

 

 

Naïve question, perhaps: Why do they cost dough to hire? Are they all mercenaries? And wouldn't this gimp players who prefer self-rolled parties over parties full of talkative companions?

I reckon that they should cost much less, and some of them should be free, or perhaps all of them. It seems like an unnecessary breaking pad, that's all.

Making them NOT cost money would give a bigger advantage to people who don't use the OEI-written companions, since you could make a six-character party in the first town. You could also freely use them as fodder with no consequence. The adventurers aren't going to be outrageously expensive to hire, but we do want there to be some cost to them.

Ah, the fodder bit makes sense. Now imagining an alternate PoE where people get free companions and send them in like rookies in X-COM. Probably a good call to give them some cost. xD

 

That said, I'm kind of tempted to hire cheap lvl 1 companions as fodder now... Maybe for an evil playthrough. ;P

Edited September 10, 2014 by Matt516

[jones092201@gmail.com]

After you roll a companion, will they remain where you leave them if you drop them from party? Can you send them to your stronghold?

[Utukka]

 

Naïve question, perhaps: Why do they cost dough to hire? Are they all mercenaries? And wouldn't this gimp players who prefer self-rolled parties over parties full of talkative companions?

I reckon that they should cost much less, and some of them should be free, or perhaps all of them. It seems like an unnecessary breaking pad, that's all.

 

Making them NOT cost money would give a bigger advantage to people who don't use the OEI-written companions, since you could make a six-character party in the first town.  You could also freely use them as fodder with no consequence.  The adventurers aren't going to be outrageously expensive to hire, but we do want there to be some cost to them.

 

Thanks for responding! Good to know I can potentially get this style of play on-line quickly! Couple other questions - Comments if you have time.

 

1 - As someone else asked...can you stockpile created companions in your stronghold? If yes, can you use them to solve quests etc that were meant for "while you are away" quests at the stronghold.

2 - If yes to answer 1...can you keep all created companions + the written companions at the stronghold or is there a limit? If there's a limit, can it be expanded to fit everyone or is it a hard limit?

3 - I get the idea that you could use them as "fodder"/perhaps certain parts of the game would be easier if you could jump up to a party of 6...but is that really a problem? I guess in a RPG/single player game...I don't see the purpose of limiting something like this based upon a few players that would "abuse" such a system.

4 - This is a little more off topic...is XP gained a flat amount to each character or is it split amongst the group? XP seems like it's going to be an interesting "resource" in this game, especially with being able to "buy" a character at -1 level to your current.

[Remmirath]

Is the hard limit of eight total adventurers per game a true limit on the number created, or can one somehow delete previously created adventurers in that game after they have died in order to hire more? I am guessing the former from the phrasing, but would appreciate clarification nonetheless.

 

I ask because one of my favourite things to do when replaying (or sometimes even playing for the first time) games in which this is possible is to run quests where all members who fall in battle must be replaced instead of resurrected. Coupled with a limit on reloarding -- or occasionally a complete ban on it -- I've often ended up with a great many more than eight adventurers total in most games in which I have done this, so a limit of eight means I'll probably not be able to play through the game in that matter and thus am hoping it would somehow be possible to create more than eight over the course of a game.

 

Of course, I understand that this is probably not a problem for most people, and I'm still happy to be able to create my own party at all. I am, however, curious -- given the cost to hire, why the number limit? It seems to me that the cost would be enough to dissuade using them as fodder in general, and surely enough to render it a choice that would have to be weighed heavily against other concerns.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Thanks for responding! Good to know I can potentially get this style of play on-line quickly! Couple other questions - Comments if you have time.

 

1 - As someone else asked...can you stockpile created companions in your stronghold? If yes, can you use them to solve quests etc that were meant for "while you are away" quests at the stronghold.

2 - If yes to answer 1...can you keep all created companions + the written companions at the stronghold or is there a limit? If there's a limit, can it be expanded to fit everyone or is it a hard limit?

3 - I get the idea that you could use them as "fodder"/perhaps certain parts of the game would be easier if you could jump up to a party of 6...but is that really a problem? I guess in a RPG/single player game...I don't see the purpose of limiting something like this based upon a few players that would "abuse" such a system.

4 - This is a little more off topic...is XP gained a flat amount to each character or is it split amongst the group? XP seems like it's going to be an interesting "resource" in this game, especially with being able to "buy" a character at -1 level to your current.

 

 

For purposes of clarity, when I use the term "companion", I mean the OEI-written characters.  When I use the term "adventurer", I mean the player-made characters.

 

1. You can stockpile companions and adventurers at your stronghold, but you can only have eight active (i.e., in existence) adventurers at any given time.

2. All companions and all adventurers can be at the stronghold at the same time.  Their limits are independent of each otther.

3. Because none of the early game content is designed for six characters.  You would roll over things extremely easily.  We restrict it for the same reason we restrict the amount of money you have access to, the amount of XP you gain, the amount of points you can spend on attributes, etc.  It's still our responsibility to design a game that has some aspects of challenge to it.

4. The more characters you have in your party, the less XP you gain, but it's a marginal difference (5% per character).

[J.E. Sawyer]

Is the hard limit of eight total adventurers per game a true limit on the number created, or can one somehow delete previously created adventurers in that game after they have died in order to hire more? I am guessing the former from the phrasing, but would appreciate clarification nonetheless.

 

The limit is on eight active adventurers in a game.