Remember "with objective XP no one will do combat anymore, all enemies will be avoided"?

[RedSocialKnight]

I did skip a couple of rooms on the way out of the Skaen temple, and was very happy to have the freedom to do so.

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally I thought I would dislike this XP system, but in fact I rather like it! This is because I want to go around every area fighting everything I can fight, and in this system I can do that without accidentally becoming ridiculously high level.

Welcome to our club

Enjoy the stay... I've personally have a lot of fun in PoE. You?

 

I told all of the whiners on the backer beta forum back then that it didn't matter whether there was monster kill XP or not, that the game was still fun and the combat was the main part of the gameplay so of course you'd still do the combat. I mean, are we so addicted to our Skinner boxes now that we won't play games unless the game itself incentivizes it? 

Exactly. There's no super carrot to mass murder in the form of XP, that was then ultimately agreed upon would make people not do combat at all anymore and just pump out stealth builds, and we tried to prove them wrong.

 

Just giving the facts after release here, and the sudden silence of the crowd that said no kill XP would mean the death of fun gameplay.

Besides the 4th and last stat, what does that have to do with kill xp?

 

The drop off from Act 1 to Act 2 is gigantic! Are there only two Acts in the game?

Act I is waaaaaaaaaaaay shorter than Act II. Like Irenicus Dungeon to Athkaltala (I never get that name right). I personally just finished Act II yesterday, but seems about 75% of the game is done 0_o.

 

I suppose the 1200+ kills at completion allowed to be awarded between act changes (I got mine with completing act II) does slightly warp the numbers, but only so in that people already killed over 1200 before even getting near the end of the game without the XP carrot.

 

All in all I hope it's a lesson for gamers and game developers and such sorry incidents like in Original Sin where 3 paths are given, the combat path gave around 2000% the XP of the other 2 paths can be prevented in the new glorious age of new "old" RPG's .

 

(Now the infinite stash easily granting me over 120k is another matter entirely for another thread)

[Rosveen]

Besides the 4th and last stat, what does that have to do with kill xp?

 

The drop off from Act 1 to Act 2 is gigantic! Are there only two Acts in the game?

4 Acts, but the second seems to be the longest and the fourth is very short. Dropping off after the beginning is normal in games, but keep in mind that Pillars has been out only for a week. Yes, it's Easter, so many people have more time to play - but others spend this time with family. In my country Easter commonly means spending two days sitting at a table. I finished Act 2 yesterday, I'm not surprised others aren't there yet.

[RedSocialKnight]

The drop off from Act 1 to Act 2 is gigantic! Are there only two Acts in the game?

 

I've been playing steadily every night since release, and I haven't finished Act II. Some of us are durdlers.

[Kal Adan]

People kill stuff because you still get combat XP, just in a non direct way. (duh)

Or creeps get in the way of exploration. That's why I kill stuff more often than not. If I avoid killing it's for story reasons.

[Fluffboll]

I explore everything and if something attacks me I will destroy it, simply as that really.

 

I might do a pacifist run someday but those types of runs usually requires you to know pretty much everything about the game so you know where to go and not to go to avoid fights.

[Gallenger]

Act II is quite long, and most people don't play more than like 15-20 hours of their games.  Actually finishing the game is generally only done by like 20% (at the most) players. 

Edited April 7, 2015 by Gallenger

[Fearabbit]

Haha, I did chuckle a bit when I realized that it was practically impossible or very undesirable to avoid the majority of enemies. "We'll all just sneak past them without combat XP, the game is totally ruined"... yeah right.

 

I mean, personally my opinion was that if you can avoid combat and aren't "forced" to do it, then that's a great plus. I would actually like it if it was possible to create a stealth party that sneaks right past enemies if your skill is high. But it was obvious that the fears of the pro-combat-xp crowd were pretty ridiculous.

[Kiya]

Please don't pay too much attention to the stats.  I have horrible memories of EA using Dragon Age:Origin stats to justify 'streamlining' the sequels. 

 

It could be that people like me have restartitis.  Or people got bored or stuck somehow in the second act. Or it could be that many people don't care about achievements and have used a cheat that disables them - indeed there have been a few threads on the Steam forums where people have had to use cheats to get past a bug in the game. 

 

If you must pay attention to stats at least give it a few years rather than a few weeks.

[vattghern]

 

Besides the 4th and last stat, what does that have to do with kill xp?

 

The drop off from Act 1 to Act 2 is gigantic! Are there only two Acts in the game?

4 Acts, but the second seems to be the longest and the fourth is very short. Dropping off after the beginning is normal in games, but keep in mind that Pillars has been out only for a week. Yes, it's Easter, so many people have more time to play - but others spend this time with family. In my country Easter commonly means spending two days sitting at a table. I finished Act 2 yesterday, I'm not surprised others aren't there yet.

 

Which act is the longest surely depends on when you decide to progress the main story. I'm still in Act 1, doing all side content I can find, and my dudes are almost lvl 10.

[khango]

I think the bestiary is more or less the same as getting XP for combat, personally.

[KingNee]

I think the bestiary is more or less the same as getting XP for combat, personally.

 

I agree, it's basically combat XP with a cap on it. Grind monster type X until full proceed to grind monster type Y. 

It didn't bother me at all though, I think it works just fine. 

[Grand_Commander13]

Which act is the longest surely depends on when you decide to progress the main story. I'm still in Act 1, doing all side content I can find, and my dudes are almost lvl 10.

 

You're level ten without even reaching Defiance Bay? 

[Hassat Hunter]

Which act is the longest surely depends on when you decide to progress the main story. I'm still in Act 1, doing all side content I can find, and my dudes are almost lvl 10.

...

 

Hoooooooooooooooooow?

Seriously, ACT I is over in Caerd Noa, there's absolutely no way at all to gain lvl 10 already before going there simply by lack of content, around 10 or less maps.

So I somehow doubt this.

[grumbold99]

I don't know how the steam achievements work, but my link broke before I even completed Act 1 without any attempt to cheat on my part, so I wouldn't rely on them as being indicative of anything. It may just be that a lot more people had their achievements break before they reached Act 2.

[KingNee]

 

Which act is the longest surely depends on when you decide to progress the main story. I'm still in Act 1, doing all side content I can find, and my dudes are almost lvl 10.

...

 

Hoooooooooooooooooow?

Seriously, ACT I is over in Caerd Noa, there's absolutely no way at all to gain lvl 10 already before going there simply by lack of content, around 10 or less maps.

So I somehow doubt this.

 

I don't think it's possible for a group but what if you solo it? It should be possible then right?

[Wintersong]

I don't know where your figures came from but lets assume they are correct. Is it possible to avoid killing less than 175 over the course of the game? My impression is that most fights are unavoidable. Correct?

I read that Steam achievements are to be doable. All of them. If it cannot be achieved, you cannot have an achievement for it. For reference, I read about it for the Impossible/IronMan achievement in XCOM:EU, where a single tester made it before release.

[vattghern]

 

 

Which act is the longest surely depends on when you decide to progress the main story. I'm still in Act 1, doing all side content I can find, and my dudes are almost lvl 10.

...

 

Hoooooooooooooooooow?

Seriously, ACT I is over in Caerd Noa, there's absolutely no way at all to gain lvl 10 already before going there simply by lack of content, around 10 or less maps.

So I somehow doubt this.

 

I don't think it's possible for a group but what if you solo it? It should be possible then right?

 

Um, I'm at the part where you gather certain clues for a certain lady concerning a certain metallic implement. You saying this is act 2 already and I missed the transition?

[MReed]

Um, I'm at the part where you gather certain clues for a certain lady concerning a certain metallic implement. You saying this is act 2 already and I missed the transition?

 

 

 

Yes -- Act II starts when you enter defiance bay for the first time.

[MReed]

 

I don't know where your figures came from but lets assume they are correct. Is it possible to avoid killing less than 175 over the course of the game? My impression is that most fights are unavoidable. Correct?

I read that Steam achievements are to be doable. All of them. If it cannot be achieved, you cannot have an achievement for it. For reference, I read about it for the Impossible/IronMan achievement in XCOM:EU, where a single tester made it before release.

 

 

This is untrue -- at least, in the sense that "Steam will eliminate any acheivements that cannot be achieved via normal game play".   http://steamcommunity.com/stats/HatePlus/achievements/ (Hate Plus, a visual novel), the achievement "Level Four Revive Materia" cannot be achieved via gameplay -- folks disassembled the game (fairly easy since it is a visual novel) and verified it.

[Trauma_Hound]

 

If there's an achievement for killing 1200 monsters and NPCs then I would suspect that you have to go out of your way to kill 1200 MONSTERS AND NPCs ... You're still rewarded with XP and Loot from killing monsters. It's not "a lot" of monster like the OP said. It's probably the majority of the living things in the game?

That's why I have all the other stuff in there for context: more people have killed 1200 enemies than have cleared out the Endless Paths. Way more than have completed the game.

 

 

The achievement is for Completing the game with 1200 + kills. So it's safe to assume that more than 5.3% of people who have played the game have completed the game, period.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Trauma_Hound

[Stun]

Mind actually making sense of that for those of us who don't know what you're talking about?

...and for those who do.

[Vardia]

If you got exp for every kill you could easily be level 12 before act 2. But I guess you would protest ether way no matter what they went with.

i would not mind a game where you can reach level 100 so.. dont see the point

[vattghern]

 

Um, I'm at the part where you gather certain clues for a certain lady concerning a certain metallic implement. You saying this is act 2 already and I missed the transition?

 

 

 

Yes -- Act II starts when you enter defiance bay for the first time.

 

Ôw, I see. A pity; guess the game is drawing to a close.

[Stun]

I don't know where your figures came from but lets assume they are correct. Is it possible to avoid killing less than 175 over the course of the game? My impression is that most fights are unavoidable. Correct?

Correct. It is not possible... unless you:

 

1) Skip all the side content

2) really *really* get the stealth game going on*

 

*I'm one of the people the OP is attempting to take a swipe at. So here I am, responding. Hey Hassat Hunter: I would have totally embraced a pacifist run of this game, if it wasn't for the fact that 1) the stealth mechanic design is even more banal than the EXP distribution system. 2) the game does not give you the option to talk your way out of its hundreds of Drake, Ooze, Troll, Spore, Lurker, feral druid, lion, beetle, shade, fampyre encounters (like you fools argued it would)

Edited April 7, 2015 by Stun