So how do you guys feel about Obsidian not making more expansions after White March Pt 2?

[Dinky Dino]

Since PoE 2 is their next main focus, white march part 2 is likely the last bit of support the game gets. We will NEVER EVER see tier 9 and 10 spells in the spellbook (those slots should be removed in the grimoires) and tier 6 + invocations/phrases from chanters (you can see the placeholders go up to tier 8 in the level up screen for phrases/invocations)

 

What do you think led to this decision? Do you think you will be satisfied with everything once the PoE 1 ride ends? Will PoE 2 still use that unity engine and have long load times?

Edited September 26, 2015 by Dinky Dino

[LaSpeakeasi]

They may follow the BG1-BG2 tradition, which means PoE2 is a continuation of PoE1: you can import your character, and they will just add level 9-10 spells right on top of the level ~8 ones.

 

I do hope that's the case.

 

I'm impartial as to engine choices. Load time is a problem by today's gaming standards. But it's not intolerable. Idiotic AI and abundance of bugs are.

 

Which brings me to my biggest worry post WM2: that they'll give up on bug support on PoE1 altogether after that. And judging from OBS' track record that may very well be the case.

[pi2repsion]

I understand the business rationale for DLC and bite-sized content expansion that can be consumed in a few hours, but I cannot say I like it, or that I desire a game engine to be sequentially tweaked and the game rebalanced in steps after release, each enticing the player to pay up and play just a few more hours. But it is the business reality of today's market, and that's all there is to it.

 

So I am perfectly fine with POE1 being over now and not ever seing tier 9 or 10 spells in the spellbook or seeing tier 6 invocations in POE1.

 

I prefer full fledged new games to expansions every day of the week, and would have been more than happy not to have seen one for POE1. POE1 tells a decent story, has quite interesting companions, has a very decent combat system, has ample scope, and is all taken together, and after the first month's bugs were fixed, a great game. Why would I not be satisfied with that?

 

And when it was to have one, I'd have been happier to get one larger than to get two smaller, regardless of whether they were billed as separate entities or part one and part two.

 

 

As for POE2, I expect it to use much the same game engine, as it would be folly to redo everything from scratch. Depending on Obsidian's long-term planning, it might make sense to bite the bullet and port it to Unity 5.

 

Regardless of whether they continue with 4 or upgrade to 5, they'll undoubtedly be improving on the game engine as a whole for the simple reason that they are now much more experienced with the Unity framework. Project Eternity was their first project with this framework, and it takes superhuman effort to get anything near optimal performance out of a new framework when you work with it first. Even if you discover halfway through that you could do something much smarter in another way, there may well be no time to try it out without disrupting the schedule, and you have to shelve it for the next major project with a significant budget.

[Quantum Hog]

I am fine with it with the hope that Obsidian will be better versed with the Unity Engine so that when patching is needed it will not cause headaches like 2.01 has been.  From what I understand about Unity 5 it is better all around than 4 but as pi2repsion points out that due to their deep workings with 4 they may optimize it that there is greater stability.

 

There is a lot of good to great ideas in PoE.  I hope they continue to optimize what works and implement changes based on what they observe from the myriad of issues with the current game.

[Karkarov]

Totally fine with it ending at white march 2.  I would rather they focus on a full new game/sequel than another expansion pack.

[sp3cw4r]

My first reaction to hearing that the WM 2 would be the last DLC for the game was one of disappointment. The only reason being because I'm happy with the engine and all that they've implemented with it and would like to see what they could accomplish with that trusted framework where they solely concentrate on content. With WM 1, they were still adding systems... soulbound weapons, individual stealth, fixing bugs, performance optimizations, etc. I'd just like to see them happy with the engine with all systems go and trade the programmers and techies (sorry Adam) for a couple more writers and artists and go content wild.

 

So that's what I'm hoping for PoE 2. Use the same engine and systems (with the exception of stronghold systems upgrades) and chuck it full of content with an expansion or 2.

[pi2repsion]

So that's what I'm hoping for PoE 2. Use the same engine and systems (with the exception of stronghold systems upgrades) and chuck it full of content with an expansion or 2.

I like your idea, but how about going one further, with no expansions but a PoE 3 etc... OR even better yet, a series of mutually independent games each telling their own story using the same engine, like SSI's old Gold Box games did, rather than trying to expand on existing storylines and changing a story that already works by bolting on DLC. (Yeah, right. Not going to happen. But a man can dream.) Edited September 27, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Oralaina]

 

So that's what I'm hoping for PoE 2. Use the same engine and systems (with the exception of stronghold systems upgrades) and chuck it full of content with an expansion or 2.

I like your idea, but how about going one further, and with for no expansions, but a PoE 3 etc... OR even better yet, a series of mutually independent games each telling their own story using the same engine, like SSI's old Gold Box games did, rather than trying to expand on existing storylines and changing a story that already works by bolting on DLC. (Yeah, right. Not going to happen. But a man can dream.)

 

 

I'd LOVE that.  The SSI Gold Box games were my first adventure in CRPGs.  LOVED them.  If I could figure out how to play them today, I would.  DosBox supposedly slows machines down enough to play stuff like that, but I've never been able to get it to work.... *sigh*

 

On topic, I'm perfectly happy with it ending with WM 2, and going on to PoE 2 afterward.

[Labadal]

After they are done with the second expansion, I am happy to see their next game. Be it Pillars of Eternity 2 or something else.

[Caerdon]

I'd LOVE that.  The SSI Gold Box games were my first adventure in CRPGs.  LOVED them.  If I could figure out how to play them today, I would.  DosBox supposedly slows machines down enough to play stuff like that, but I've never been able to get it to work.... *sigh*

 

http://www.gog.com/game/forgotten_realms_the_archives_collection_two

Edited September 27, 2015 by Caerdon

[Oralaina]

 

I'd LOVE that.  The SSI Gold Box games were my first adventure in CRPGs.  LOVED them.  If I could figure out how to play them today, I would.  DosBox supposedly slows machines down enough to play stuff like that, but I've never been able to get it to work.... *sigh*

 

http://www.gog.com/game/forgotten_realms_the_archives_collection_two

 

 

Oh wow.  Thank you!

[Caerdon]

 

 

I'd LOVE that.  The SSI Gold Box games were my first adventure in CRPGs.  LOVED them.  If I could figure out how to play them today, I would.  DosBox supposedly slows machines down enough to play stuff like that, but I've never been able to get it to work.... *sigh*

 

http://www.gog.com/game/forgotten_realms_the_archives_collection_two

 

 

Oh wow.  Thank you!

 

Don't thank me, thank CD Projekt. They've done a huge amount of work to gain the rights and to port the games for modern systems despite of how unlikely it is they'll ever make any real profits from doing so.

[Oralaina]

Don't thank me, thank CD Projekt. They've done a huge amount of work to gain the rights and to port the games for modern systems despite of how unlikely it is they'll ever make any real profits from doing so.

 

 

Well, I'll thank them all right - I'll donate assuming they have that option somewhere!

 

[Oboy, sorry for the total derail there....]

Edited September 27, 2015 by Oralaina

[gkathellar]

I feel absolutely fine about it. Expansion packs are nice and all, but stories shod be Llowed to end when they're complete.

[globalCooldown]

It will be sad to see bug support for PoE1 disappear, but that aside I'm quite happy to see Obsidian focus on PoE2.

[AndreaColombo]

I'm fine with it.

 

I like expansions in the vein of those we had for IE games (not modern-day DLCs), and I'm glad PoE got The White March; but releasing more expansions after TWM would feel like beating a dead horse. Part of being a good storyteller is understanding when a story is over and needs to be let go. PoE + TWM feels good and I'm enjoying it, but I don't see much room for extra content around it.

 

As for PoE II, I'd be happy to stick to Unity and VERY happy to stick to the same graphic design/style. I'm neutral toward its continuing the story of PoE's main, or telling a whole new story. So long as it brings interesting characters, good prose, and a compelling story to the table, I'll be happy gamer.

[general_azure]

They may follow the BG1-BG2 tradition, which means PoE2 is a continuation of PoE1: you can import your character, and they will just add level 9-10 spells right on top of the level ~8 ones.

 

That would be awesome, I loved how you could combine the individual BG games into one huge adventure. Bonus points if they keep the ruleset consistent this time (or just also patch any needed changes into the first game).

[MadDemiurg]

I think PoE2 is a good opportunity to correct the design problems of PoE1 which are not so easy to fix in a simple expansion. I hope it launches with epic content and level 10 spells from the start .

[Cottonmouth]

It's good. I like the content in White March I, the music, the story, the characters and I'm going to buy the next expansion if it's more of that. But two adons are enough.

 

If you think about it, the White March I is similar to Tales of the Sword Coast.

Stalwart = Ulgoth's Beard

Durgan's Battery = Durlag's Tower

 

Surely POE2 will continue to the trend and be the modern day BG2.

[Teioh_White]

Fine with it here, would much rather have a PoE 2. PoE has a ton of issues, which I'm hoping would be worked out with a second, perhaps better funded, go at it.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Teioh_White

[Night Stalker]

I am OK with it, PoE is good game, but its engine needs a lot of work, and a sequel would allow the developers to rebuild into something far better. Also, the developers have learned a lot of how to make IE-like games by making PoE, so hopefully PoE 2 will be a better game.

[wanderon]

I'm fine with it - I would like it if they don't re-invent the wheel in PoE 2 and carry on with the look and feel of PoE1 so that it's not necessary to figure out a completely new system and I'm actually hoping they don't follow in BG2 style and start us off at close to the level we finish PoE 1 since I'm not a fan of the uber high level playstyle that would likely result if we start PoE2 at level 13-14ish but then that's probably wishful thinking if they are planning to let us import PoE characters.

[DrakenKin]

To the original question : I am fine with it if it means a PoE 2 sooner.

[Flix]

I'm fine with no more new content after WM2, I just hope they continue to squash all the bugs and don't introduce any more.

[MunoValente]

My issue with more expansions is that my load times were mostly fine until White March was added but since then they have been poor, at least later in game.  I read somewhere that load times were related to how many places  you've visited and explored and if that is the case more expansions would just make things worse and worse.

 

The load times aren't too big of a deal in places like Durgan's Battery or Cragholdt or other wilderness areas, where you don't load much, but doing the Twin Elms content after the expansion content has been a horrible slog of slow loading screens.  If they want to add more expansions, they need to work out a way to make the late game loading times much better.  It kind of reminds of playing New Vegas on a console after several of the DLC came out.