1.05 (Beta) Changelog Discussion

[Grand_Commander13]

"It's just convenience" has been the argument for many of the baby-steps to mediocrity. Dividing things into sharp lines of "uniques" and "magicals" and "rares" is the tradition of immersionless games centred on lootwhoring, not RPG:s. PoE already suffers from itemization issues of gear not feeling special, and now the "uniques" gets lumped into a shared subgroup, that is colour-coded for stupid.

But they're already lumped into a shared subgroup: all of the unique items have enchantments you can't add yourself. The category already exists, so the only thing this does is make it easier to see, at a glance, which items in your stash have unique enchantments.

[MadDemiurg]

Who else HATES the stash changes? It's just plain annoying and doesn't improve the gameplay in any way!

[LadyCrimson]

Who else HATES the stash changes? It's just plain annoying and doesn't improve the gameplay in any way!

Haven't tried the beta ... so can you be more specific? I've often disliked it when stashes have little "ordering" buttons, for example, because I tend to accidentally hit them. Is your dislike related to that or something else entirely?

 

Edit: the overall patch notes sound great to me, tho.

[Althernai]

Arcane Veil is a huge deal now, since Hardened, it is +75; that's usually enough to make your wizard have more deflection than anybody's accuracy, for the duration of the spell. Definitely makes a big difference.

It's base duration is 10 seconds and you get 2 of them per rest. This change takes from something that was utterly worthless (deflection doesn't stack) to something that might be occasionally useful, but "huge deal"? You can increase the deflection to +200 and it still wouldn't see much use except in melee Wizard builds (which seems to be what this patch is pushing).

It's just a pity they didn't touch Adragan's Gaze.

It's been nerfed to half duration and Petrify is now x3 rather than x4 damage. Unless that's been nerfed too, use the Druid version instead as that's a much better spell that you get earlier in the game and duration was the one advantage the Wizard version had.

[Kriber22]

Love the patch changes, especially the ability to "re-level" your recruitable companions. Being able to pick everyone's talents and abilities to suit me is a huge, huge quality of life improvement in my book. No more need to rush to their locations to get them before the auto-levelling messes them up.

[Katarack21]

"It's just convenience" has been the argument for many of the baby-steps to mediocrity. Dividing things into sharp lines of "uniques" and "magicals" and "rares" is the tradition of immersionless games centred on lootwhoring, not RPG:s. PoE already suffers from itemization issues of gear not feeling special, and now the "uniques" gets lumped into a shared subgroup, that is colour-coded for stupid.

Seriously? Like...seriously?!

 

I do not understand. How can you be so dead-set against such a basic matter of convience?! Hell, BG had color-coding too--a generic long sword, a generic +1 long sword, and a generic +2 longsword all had different pictures of different color, and it was the same for *EVERY+ sword of the same enchatment leve. Hell, all the enchanted ammunition was easily identifiable with unique colored portraits in the same way.

 

You must just be *searching* for things to complain about.

[MadDemiurg]

 

Who else HATES the stash changes? It's just plain annoying and doesn't improve the gameplay in any way!

Haven't tried the beta ... so can you be more specific? I've often disliked it when stashes have little "ordering" buttons, for example, because I tend to accidentally hit them. Is your dislike related to that or something else entirely?

 

Edit: the overall patch notes sound great to me, tho.

 

It's only possible to move items to/from stash during camping or in town now. If there's not enough space in the inventory items still go to stash though.

[Ink Blot]

It's only possible to move items to/from stash during camping or in town now.

 

Isn't there an options setting to change that? Perhaps it defaulted to that when the patch was applied.

[LadyCrimson]

It's only possible to move items to/from stash during camping or in town now. If there's not enough space in the inventory items still go to stash though.

Hm, that's interesting. Don't think that would bother me, but I can see why it could feel be a little annoying after one is already used to being able to do it a certain way.

 

Isn't there an options setting to change that? Perhaps it defaulted to that when the patch was applied.

Good question/point. It was an option before, iirc (unlimited Stash access). Maybe it's still there?

[MadDemiurg]

 

It's only possible to move items to/from stash during camping or in town now. If there's not enough space in the inventory items still go to stash though.

Hm, that's interesting. Don't think that would bother me, but I can see why it could feel be a little annoying after one is already used to being able to do it a certain way.

 

Isn't there an options setting to change that? Perhaps it defaulted to that when the patch was applied.

Good question/point. It was an option before, iirc (unlimited Stash access). Maybe it's still there?

 

Yeah, it I checked and it's enabled for me now. It's always enabled for expert mode (which tbh adds a lot of tedium and nothing else), but for some reason patch turned it on for non expert game...

Edited May 1, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[Khalid the bear]

 

It's only possible to move items to/from stash during camping or in town now. If there's not enough space in the inventory items still go to stash though.

 

even with acces to stash disabled(limited) it should be posible to send things into stash anytime, just not to retrieve them

[Dadalama]

 

 

 

• Added a new color for unique items in the inventory.

 

Now we're even getting colour-coded for stupid?

Crickey, man! It's just a color-coding based on rarity! It's a *basic* convenience feature that took probably no time at all and hurts nobody in any way. How can you *possibly* bitch about that?!?

 

I think he just found it funny, it IS a pretty dumb thing to need.

[Tigranes]

 

Arcane Veil is a huge deal now, since Hardened, it is +75; that's usually enough to make your wizard have more deflection than anybody's accuracy, for the duration of the spell. Definitely makes a big difference.

It's base duration is 10 seconds and you get 2 of them per rest. This change takes from something that was utterly worthless (deflection doesn't stack) to something that might be occasionally useful, but "huge deal"? You can increase the deflection to +200 and it still wouldn't see much use except in melee Wizard builds (which seems to be what this patch is pushing).

It's just a pity they didn't touch Adragan's Gaze.

It's been nerfed to half duration and Petrify is now x3 rather than x4 damage. Unless that's been nerfed too, use the Druid version instead as that's a much better spell that you get earlier in the game and duration was the one advantage the Wizard version had.

 

 

"I don't see a use for it" doesn't mean "useless". This, for example, is a massive change for solo wizards - and of course melee wizards as you mention. Even for ranged wizards in parties, when you are beset melee by a shadow or some other monster breaking to the back lines, Arcane Veil is now a reliable lifesaver if your deflection is being targeted - in Act 1, for example, you can literally Arcane Veil then run away from 4 guys engaging you. 

 

I didn't see that for the Adragan, it's good. It's still an extremely powerful spell, but maybe it'll be harder to kill dragons and end bosses in 10 seconds with it now.

[GBalium]

 

Please Note: Save games in 1.05 are not compatible with 1.04 or earlier versions. The game will automatically back up your save games in a special folder in the save game directory after converting the saves to the new format.

 

In moments like that I wish Steam hadn't removed the option to disable auto-updates.

[Althernai]

"I don't see a use for it" doesn't mean "useless". This, for example, is a massive change for solo wizards - and of course melee wizards as you mention. Even for ranged wizards in parties, when you are beset melee by a shadow or some other monster breaking to the back lines, Arcane Veil is now a reliable lifesaver if your deflection is being targeted - in Act 1, for example, you can literally Arcane Veil then run away from 4 guys engaging you.

 

I do see the uses for it and the 1.05 version is not useless (the previous one basically was since it doesn't stack with deflection from spells). However, unless I'm very wrong about how most people play Wizards, I don't think it will see much use even in its new state. 

 

I didn't see that for the Adragan, it's good. It's still an extremely powerful spell, but maybe it'll be harder to kill dragons and end bosses in 10 seconds with it now.

Well, 10 seconds is basically how much time you have in 1.05. In any case, if you really wanted to kill a dragon or an end boss via Petrification, the way to go about it is not Gaze of the Adragan, but the Druid spell Embrace of the Earth Talon which is 5th level rather than 6th, does damage in addition to Petrifying and, most importantly, attacks Reflex rather than Fortitude (so it has better synergy with various debuffs including Petrified itself). The only meaningful advantage Gaze had was its long duration and now most of that is gone (particularly since if you cast Earth Talon twice in a row, chances are the second one will crit).

[Tigranes]

Perhaps. I've seen Arcane Veil mentioned quite often on the forums, but I agree that many people probably play them as glass cannons. I think it's nice that they tried to provide interesting ways to play differently, and AV with this new buff is made a much more viable choice. 

 

Interesting about Earth Talon. The way Petrify works right now as a whole is just a bit weird. 

[HoonDing]

Does it make the game fun?

[Tigranes]

No. Fun was patched out in the beta. You will never have it again. Ever.

[Duncan]

Was hoping to see some sort of fix/workaround for cloaks not showing up in OS X. Looking forward to starting a new game when this patch is released however!

Dude, same. I'm extremely seriously looking forward to this. And very upset that besides acknowledging it once, they haven't seemed to care.

[pedroantonio]

 

 

Please Note: Save games in 1.05 are not compatible with 1.04 or earlier versions. The game will automatically back up your save games in a special folder in the save game directory after converting the saves to the new format.

 

In moments like that I wish Steam hadn't removed the option to disable auto-updates.

 

Why? the update is not gonna delete your saves, just convert them to 1.05 format and make a backup. It couldn't have been made in a better manner, most developers would have gone "Incompatible saves, bad luck" and that would have been it.

 

In fact one has to commend Obsidian for all the care they are putting in making bugfixes as retroactive as possible too, that's something uncommon.

[b0rsuk]

I think he misread, like me. When you save in 1.05, you can't load that game in 1.04. That's what the line says.

[zombo]

The only things that really stands out is the nerf to Cipher focus, the fact that we can name saves, and the utterly crazy way they keep dealing with attributes for CNPC:s. The rest is pretty meh overall. I was expecting some more meaningful balance changes and usability tweaks such as finally differentiating between allies and neutral NPC:s, and toggleable and addable mapnotes.

 

 

 

 

• Added a new color for unique items in the inventory.

 

Now we're even getting colour-coded for stupid?

 

 

What does that have to do with 'stupid'? It's just convenience. Usually I had to mouse-over 3+ pages of items in my stash while selling after a big dungeon/longer time, because I didn't want to sell any unique items. Now this whole process is sped up a lot.

 

But how is Draining Whip now working as intended? Doesn't it apply on Blunderbuss projectiles anymore? Or what happened?

 

Great overall fixes/balance changes

 

 

"It's just convenience" has been the argument for many of the baby-steps to mediocrity. Dividing things into sharp lines of "uniques" and "magicals" and "rares" is the tradition of immersionless games centred on lootwhoring, not RPG:s. PoE already suffers from itemization issues of gear not feeling special, and now the "uniques" gets lumped into a shared subgroup, that is colour-coded for stupid.

Do you like anything? Inventory is not immersion. It's inventory. If there are things that allow it to be done easier then that's a good thing. It allows players to get back to the immersion of the game.

[AgentTBC]

Lots of good stuff!  The Cipher blunderbuss nerf was badly needed.

 

No change to Mental Binding though?  Guess 90% of all casts by my cipher will remain Mental Binding!

[MadDemiurg]

Mental binding is not that OP. Maybe slightly. It's just the only good low level cipher's CC. And because it's cipher you can spam it. Compare to slicken/chill fog or cipher's own ringleader/mind plague/amplified wave.

Edited May 1, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[Luckmann]

 

The only things that really stands out is the nerf to Cipher focus, the fact that we can name saves, and the utterly crazy way they keep dealing with attributes for CNPC:s. The rest is pretty meh overall. I was expecting some more meaningful balance changes and usability tweaks such as finally differentiating between allies and neutral NPC:s, and toggleable and addable mapnotes.

 

 

 

 

• Added a new color for unique items in the inventory.

 

Now we're even getting colour-coded for stupid?

 

 

What does that have to do with 'stupid'? It's just convenience. Usually I had to mouse-over 3+ pages of items in my stash while selling after a big dungeon/longer time, because I didn't want to sell any unique items. Now this whole process is sped up a lot.

 

But how is Draining Whip now working as intended? Doesn't it apply on Blunderbuss projectiles anymore? Or what happened?

 

Great overall fixes/balance changes

 

 

"It's just convenience" has been the argument for many of the baby-steps to mediocrity. Dividing things into sharp lines of "uniques" and "magicals" and "rares" is the tradition of immersionless games centred on lootwhoring, not RPG:s. PoE already suffers from itemization issues of gear not feeling special, and now the "uniques" gets lumped into a shared subgroup, that is colour-coded for stupid.

Do you like anything? Inventory is not immersion. It's inventory. If there are things that allow it to be done easier then that's a good thing. It allows players to get back to the immersion of the game.

 

 

I like many things. The Cipher Focus nerf is great, although I would've expected 1/3, not 1/4; it looks a bit massive. And I also mentioned nameable saves, which is freaking amazing. I also like icecream and long walks on the beach. What's your point?

 

And the inventory is as much part of the game as anything else. As I said, the game already suffers from a feeling of same-y-ness in terms of itemization. Do you also want a little level rank note on the corner of your items, so you know if the item is level 3 or 5? I mean, we wouldn't want you to have to make an educated choice, just follow the markers, line the numbered dots to victory.

 

Is this a terrible crime, the end of everything? No, it's not. The other issues aren't either. But taken together, they just contribute to a more and more shallow game. Instead of fixing real things and adding meaningfully to the game, we get colour-coded-for-stupid magic items, attributes going straight against the narrative of established CNPC:s (instead of fixing the Attribute Bonuses that are causing the problem of "underpowered" characters) and free-assembly CNPC:s - because apparently the characters didn't matter anyway, so do what you want with them, who cares about what's thematic or narratively appropriate?

 

It's reminiscent of gameplay evolution moving towards ARPG:s, not actual RPG:s. I used to say that PoE had a lot of potential, and that ultimately it could go either way, but that there was cause for cautious optimism. But now it seems that it's really just decided to slide into mediocrity and generalized mass appeal, and it's depressing to see, especially when the forum is still filled with quality criticism and solid, often easily implementable suggestions.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Luckmann