Backer Beta Build 301 is Live

[BAdler]

Hello, everyone. We have released an update to the backer beta on Steam. We are still working on the Mac and Linux builds, so they are not currently up there (we are working as fast as we can on them, I promise). We have lots of new changes and fixes. As always, please play the build and give us feedback on our forums.

 

Here are the patch notes for the newly released Backer Beta Build 301.

 

Important Information Regarding Saves

Saved game location has changed. You can now find your saved games located in C:\Users\\Documents\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity. Keep in mind that old saved games will not be automatically moved to the new location and it is suggested that users start new games instead of trying to load old ones. Loading old games on the new build may cause undesirable behavior.

 

 

New Features

 

Rebalance to Attributes:

• Might: Damage and Healing
  • Every point of Might over 10 increases a character's base Damage and Healing by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Constitution: Stamina and Health
  • Every point of Constitution over 10 increases the character's base Endurance and Health by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Dexterity: Action Speed
  • Every point of Dexterity over 10 increases Action Speed by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Perception: Accuracy and Range
  • Every point of Perception over 10 increases Accuracy by 1 and Range (for non-melee) by 5% (penalties if under 10).
• Intellect: AoE Size and Deflection
  • Every point of Intellect over 10 increases the character's AoE sizes by 5% and Deflection by 1 (penalties if under 10).
• Resolve: Concentration and Duration
  • Every point of Resolve over 10 increases a character's Concentration by 3% and Durations by 5% (penalties if under 10).

 

Stealth has been revised:

 

The new stealth system relies on the distance of a scouting character from an NPC to determine how quickly the creature will enter Alert and Combat states. A comparison of characters' individual Stealth skill ratings and creatures' levels modifies this rate.  N.b.: A character that does not have LoS on the creature is not considered to be "inside" their radius.

 

When characters enter the scouting state, they gain a Stealth Meter.  Currently, it's simply a solid circle completely filled with color (green or, if in colorblind mode, blue).  This is a basic implementation and the art will change. Every NPC in the world has one of five stealth detection ratings (from Oblivious to Supernatural) that correspond to radii in the game.

 

When a scouting character gets into a creature's stealth detection range, their Stealth Meter will start filling from green/blue to yellow.  This informs the player of how much time they have before the creature will enter Alert and Combat states.  If the meter fills completely yellow, the creature will move up to a constant-defined max distance toward the character (e.g. 3m).  At the same time, the yellow meter will begin to fill red.  If the meter reaches full red, the scouting state is dropped, the character is detected, and hostile creatures enter Combat.

 

We will have a base rate at which these fills occur, but they can be modified by two elements: 1) the relationship between the character's Stealth and the target's level 2) the character's proximity to the target within the radius.  The two modifiers both directly multiply the standard rate.

While this system is fully implemented, it has not been tuned and does not have final art.

 

Stamina is now called Endurance:

 

The stat previously known as Stamina is now called Endurance since that seems clearer to more people.  Additionally, we are no longer doing the behind-the-scenes conversion of a percentage of received Stamina damage into Health damage as the system was opaque to players.  Now, Max Endurance is multiplied by a factor determined by class to arrive at Max Health.  This does mean that Health values are much higher than a traditional "D&D range", but in practice these values were already used in the background.  In this update, when a character receives damage, it's applied equally to Endurance and Health.

 

Here are the current Endurance to Health multipliers for each class.  "Front line" classes tend to have more Health as they are expected to be damaged and healed in combat with much greater frequency.

 

Barbarian - 6

Chanter - 4

Cipher - 4

Druid - 4

Fighter - 5

Monk - 6

Paladin - 5

Ranger - 4

Rogue - 4

Priest - 3

Wizard - 3

 

• UI arrows have been added to show active engagement. We are still evaluating their appearance and functionality internally, so please give us feedback on their usefulness. 
• Hit effects for elemental damage, blood, and gibs have been added. Fire, shock, corrode, and frost damage will display visual effects on hit. Some creatures will gib when critically hit on death. 
• Dead bodies now turn into loot containers and can be looted directly. 
• New Talents.
  • This is the first batch of new talents more will be added in the coming weeks. All icons for the new talents are temporary.
• New icons.
• New sounds.
• New portraits.
• Many, many rules fixes and bug fixes for class abilities.

 

Fixes

• Spells: many spells have been tuned to have faster casting times, shorter ranges, do/heal more or less damage, apply different effects, attack different defenses, or do different damage types.  Of note: Fireball, Jolting Touch, Minoletta's Bounding Missiles, Winter Wind, Talons' Reach, Returning Storm, all Restore ____ Stamina spells, Vile Thorns, Lay on Hands, and many others.
• Renormalized all attributes scores to 10 in character creation.
• Enemy AI will now scan for new targets when path is blocked.
• Caster AI can now investigate stealth.
• Improvements to AI instruction sets. Most enemy AI can now target specific party members, including back line characters and casters. 
• Engagement is now cancelled on knockdown.
• Fixes to stat calculations in character sheet.
• Many fixes and adjustments to the combat log, including improved performance.
• Added many improvements to "feels" of action bar. 
• Ranger animal companion, summoned creatures, and newly hired adventurers will not stomp on existing party members.
• Sound effects and music should not cut out during combat or during long play sessions.
• Improved footstep sounds.
• Improvements of character models and textures.
• Added highlight effect on mouseover for 3D objects, including doors and plants.
• Added 'G' for opening Chant Editor and Grimoire.
• Added exit button for character creation, level up, and adventurer's hall.
• Improvements to loot tables.
• Added notification for when stash can be used.
• Adjusted fog of war and view distances.
• Max wounds is now 10.
• Intellect deflection bonus is applied to Ranger animal companion. 
• Changed many spells/abilities to be combat only.
• Many more fixes too numerous to mention.

 

Known Issues

• Placed traps do not work as intended.
• Perception does not currently increase the range of attacks and spells.
• Three of the new talents are not working correctly: Resilient Companion, Faithful Companion, and Painful Interdiction.

[Labadal]

It will be interesting to try out this new version. I'm glad that you get penalized for having less than a score of 10 in any attribute. Although, there are still dump stats for some classes, I can't say that I really mind. New Endurance/health rebalance will be interesting to try out, and so will the other stuff.

 

Do we get 16 slots per character in this update? I'm going to bed soon and don't feel like launching the game at the moment.

[Xienzi]

Sweet.

[Adam Brennecke]

It will be interesting to try out this new version. I'm glad that you get penalized for having less than a score of 10 in any attribute. Although, there are still dump stats for some classes, I can't say that I really mind. New Endurance/health rebalance will be interesting to try out, and so will the other stuff.

 

Do we get 16 slots per character in this update? I'm going to bed soon and don't feel like launching the game at the moment.

 

Yes, 16 slots are enabled for each character. There are hundreds of small fixes that aren't listed in the notes. 

[Labadal]

 

It will be interesting to try out this new version. I'm glad that you get penalized for having less than a score of 10 in any attribute. Although, there are still dump stats for some classes, I can't say that I really mind. New Endurance/health rebalance will be interesting to try out, and so will the other stuff.

 

Do we get 16 slots per character in this update? I'm going to bed soon and don't feel like launching the game at the moment.

 

Yes, 16 slots are enabled for each character. There are hundreds of small fixes that aren't listed in the notes. 

 

Ys, I figured as much. It's a shame we can't see a full list but it is not a big deal. Have you thought about character speed movement and is the enemy teleportation bug fixed? (If I'm asking questions that are actually in the notes, forgive me. It's 3AM over here but can't get no sleep.)

[Matt516]

Keep it up, you guys! Thanks for the updates leading up to the patch. Looking forward to trying it out.

 

Prepare for feedback. 

[Marceror]

I may not get to play this anytime soon, but did want to say thanks for the efforts just the same.

[J.E. Sawyer]

You may also notice some odd loot drops (e.g. gems from wolves).  We did change the loot tables, but that's a bug.

[Ink Blot]

Nice! This looks great. Thanks for all the hard work you guys are putting in to get these fixes done. Looking forward to updating and playing.

[Marceror]

I love the changes made to attributes. Best idea I've seen yet.

 

Happy to see some of Matt and Sensuki's ideas were adopted!

[Marceror]

Surprised that the priest has only x3 multiplier for its health. I've always seen them as being a bit more tanky.

 

What was the reasoning for putting them down at the same level as the wizard? Is this to promote the stand back and fire a gun idea that was promote during the KS campaign?

[Labadal]

I never used my priest in melee except on a few occasions. I used her more as a rogue when she got to do melee combat. Are all enemies engaged with the fighter, monk and barbarian? Send in the priest to help if that is the case.

[illathid]

Just went through character creation. I like the new stats system (default at 10, lower gives penalties, etc.), I understand most of this doesn't do much to change the math, but it seems more familiar to us IE veterans.

 

However, it is still weird that you pick your culture after assigning attributes. During character creation I'll usually decide on my stat array, decide what culture I want based on fluff, and then have to go back and change my stats. It just doesn't make for the best experience.

 

New portraits are great though.

 

EDIT: I also really like being able to click on abilities and talents from the character sheet to find out what they do!

Edited September 26, 2014 by illathid

[InsaneCommander]

Very nice! Thanks for the hardworking.

[Ganrich]

Nice update!!  I am excited to boot it up.

[thelee]

OMG IT'S HERE!!!! AND THAT CHANGELIST IS POSITIVELY MAGNIFICENT!!

 

*Hugs everyone working on PoE*

 

EDIT: Also, I love the attribute rebalancing. Less so about the normalization to 10, since that seems to be a "trick" so that people don't think stats are disposable (i.e. mathematically, depending on how the game was balanced, a 3 is functionally the same before and after), but more about spreading more of the combat effectiveness throughout the stats (Intelligence providing deflection, for example).

Edited September 26, 2014 by thelee

[wanderon]

Awesome work all - won't get to this for a week or so but sounds great! 

[Marceror]

One thing I don't see is any indication that the stability of the game after loading from a save has been improved. Improvements here are sorely needed.

 

Should we still expect weirdness after loading a save, such as characters having equipment glued to the bottom of their feet?

[Marceror]

 

 

Might: Damage and Healing

• Every point of Might over 10 increases a character's base Damage and Healing by 2% (penalties if under 10).

• Constitution: Stamina and Health
  • Every point of Constitution over 10 increases the character's base Endurance and Health by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Dexterity: Action Speed
  • Every point of Dexterity over 10 increases Action Speed by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Perception: Accuracy and Range
  • Every point of Perception over 10 increases Accuracy by 1 and Range (for non-melee) by 5% (penalties if under 10).
• Intellect: AoE Size and Deflection
  • Every point of Intellect over 10 increases the character's AoE sizes by 5% and Deflection by 1 (penalties if under 10).
• Resolve: Concentration and Duration
  • Every point of Resolve over 10 increases a character's Concentration by 3% and Durations by 5% (penalties if under 10).

I don't see a single stat that I'd want to take, for any type of character really. Well done. I particularly like the idea of increasing attack range from perception.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

Might: Damage and Healing

• Every point of Might over 10 increases a character's base Damage and Healing by 2% (penalties if under 10).

• Constitution: Stamina and Health
  • Every point of Constitution over 10 increases the character's base Endurance and Health by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Dexterity: Action Speed
  • Every point of Dexterity over 10 increases Action Speed by 2% (penalties if under 10).
• Perception: Accuracy and Range
  • Every point of Perception over 10 increases Accuracy by 1 and Range (for non-melee) by 5% (penalties if under 10).
• Intellect: AoE Size and Deflection
  • Every point of Intellect over 10 increases the character's AoE sizes by 5% and Deflection by 1 (penalties if under 10).
• Resolve: Concentration and Duration
  • Every point of Resolve over 10 increases a character's Concentration by 3% and Durations by 5% (penalties if under 10).

I don't see a single stat that I'd want to take, for any type of character really. Well done. I particularly like the idea of increasing attack range from perception.

You don't want to take any stats?

[Wompdevil]

Thanks for the new update! Hopefully this weekend I will be able to try it out and see the changes. Keep it up!

[Marceror]

OMG, I must be tired. That was supposed to be "tank" not take.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

OMG, I must be tired. That was supposed to be "tank" not take.

I thought so. I can see INT being less valuable, but everything else is attractive. Hell, putting 13 in everything might be a good move after all.

[Marceror]

Deflection is pretty good. Not necessary if you're going to be a back line caster, but you still might want the increased time to your abilities.

 

I still probably wouldn't want to drop it down 3.

[PrimeJunta]

Gaaaahhh.... can't wait to play this. Unfortunately won't be until Sunday since I'm away from my main computer...