Seems like XP balance is out of whack

[Nakia]

If they want to make it so that people that skip virtually 70% of the game can still finish it, they could increase the exp rewards from main quests and highly reduce exp from side quests. Better solution to what we have and it wouldn't be that hard to do.

That is a possibility.  My only problem with that idea is that I feel that some of the side quests are harder than the main quests.  They are optional however.  Decreasing the XP for them would not affect my play style.

[GreyFox]

dyrford can be relative early in chapter 2, and it typical is for Gromnir.  in fact, after cad nua, we head to dyrford, though admittedly on initial runs we were racing to acquire companions at the earliest possible opportunity.  the companion level-up feature added to the game makes such metagame nonsense unnecessary, but in any event, that is one o' the dangers o' a game that ain't on rails, yes? is very easy to do areas in a less than ideal order. 

 

dyrford were the lion's share o' the beta, and we were level 4-8 in beta-- hit level 5 within a half hour o' gameplay. do dyrford at level 10?  am not surprised that you would be dismayed by the ease. next time do it at level 5... or go crazy and do it at level 6.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Yea but the natural progression of the game took me to Defiance Bay not the village...I'd have to just up and say...**** the companions quests and my own personal beliefs lets hit up this random village!

 

I did all of Defiance Bay first which made sense tom e....i suppose people could get different quests in different order but...i thought it was clear we needed to go to the city before going east.(infiltrate a certain group under a certain ground)(I mean yea I know the main story is not very compelling nor caring so any character probably could be justified in doing whatever the **** they wanted)

 

Where is the level 10 content? Maybe Od Nua in the lvl 12 area...

[Gromnir]

see above.  the developers clear did not expect that players would hit level 10 before the end o' act 2.  there is no level 10 content in act 2.  if it were s'posed to take a die-hard completionist to reach level 12 in the final area o' the game, then level 10 at dyrford were not envisioned.  the level 10 content is in the next act, by which point you will likely be level 11 or 12.  

 

and yeah, you can push further into the endless paths to find level appropriate challenges, which will provide a few more superb weapons/gear and give you even more xp... which will make act 3 easier.

 

even so, if you do have freedom to choose which areas to uncover in a game, then w/o scaling (which the grognards vehemently refuse) you will have dyrford situations where you run into content that clear is more appropriate for a much lower level party.  is unavoidable.

 

as an aside, there is some limited scaling in poe. according to the developers, a few unique encounters will scale a bit to match player levels.  however, we have only noticed one obvious case o' scaling in our multiple runs. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps obsidian's misunderstanding 'bout xp progression is particular confusing in light of josh comments on a seeming tangential issue: kill xp.  when josh announced that obsidian were looking into adding bestiary, lock, and so-called exploration xp, some folks balked 'cause o' the perceived waste o' developer man hours required to do all the work to add balanced xp gains from multiple new sources.  josh gave multiple reasons why adding token bestiary xp were no big deal and one such reason were that the developers had detailed and clear knowledge o' all possible xp awards in each area o' the game.  if X amount o' trap xp and exploration xp were gonna be made available in area Y, then it were a simple matter to adjust corresponding objective xp.  because o' developers having such a complete and detailed picture o' xp awards in poe, making changes would be painless.  so, regardless o' the community feelings regarding xp grants other than objective xp, obsidian developers thought they had a firm grasp on the kinda xp players could get from poe.  they were wrong.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Gromnir

[GreyFox]

see above.  the developers clear did not expect that players would hit level 10 before the end o' act 2.  there is no level 10 content in act 2.  if it were s'posed to take a die-hard completionist to reach level 12 in the final area o' the game, then level 10 at dyrford were not envisioned.  the level 10 content is in the next act, by which point you will likely be level 11 or 12.  

 

and yeah, you can push further into the endless paths to find level appropriate challenges, which will provide a few more superb weapons/gear and give you even more xp... which will make act 3 easier.

 

even so, if you do have freedom to choose which areas to uncover in a game, then w/o scaling (which the grognards vehemently refuse) you will have dyrford situations where you run into content that clear is more appropriate for a much lower level party.  is unavoidable.

 

as an aside, there is some limited scaling in poe. according to the developers, a few unique encounters will scale a bit to match player levels.  however, we have only noticed one obvious case o' scaling in our multiple runs. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Yea I guess I'm usually not a fan of scaling but maybe now....

 

 

I think the game was probably close to being on point difficulty wise but a lot of the first play testers and beta testers were getting destroyed and they over nerfed a lot of things....I never ran into the insane poison from the beetles for example...never noticed any DOTs on my play through actually. AI has a lot to do with it and with more time to implement a more dangerous AI it could get better but some of it is numbers for sure. 

 

My rogue just hits for like 45 damage on each swing...now maybe that'd change if I didn't have the pally accuracy aura and the priest aoe ability to give +5 and his spell to give another +5....so with crazy high accuracy a duel wield rogue just mops up the place...Imagine multiple rogues...sheesh.

 

I think adding potions to the AI and more healing reflexes for them would help...like add a cleric to some of the bigger fights(where it makes sense to) and have them support their own group....and have some of the beefy guys take potions. Lord knows they debuff your party it just doesn't seem to matter...I've had like literally 10 negative effects on me and I still functioned like normal didn't notice much difference...while they are casting their 10 debuffs I'm slapping them down.....gotta get over that or make the debuffs more hard counter like BG.