2.03 patch changes teased

[AndreaColombo]

So, Josh has been tweeting some changes from the upcoming 2.03 patch. Every single one of them fills me with joy.

 

 

 

It is known that I am a fan of damage immunities (though I do not necessarily agree with all damage immunities in PoE; but I'm in favor of them as a concept.) Affliction immunities were long called for, and will complement damage immunities nicely. I'm all for wanton massacres but that a tiny orlan Fighter could knock a fully grown dragon prone was a tad on the cheesy, non-sense-making side. It was also about time CC stopped being overpowered; I like CC as much as the next guy, but being able to stun-lock my enemies in every encounter was possibly too much.

 

Fighters getting a boost is something many people were asking for. I was fine with Fighters already, and my Lady of Pain build will become even more powerful. "Armored Grace", "Knock Down", and "Clear Out" are abilities I take all the time and they're about to become even better. +5 Deflection is gravy. w00t!

 

 

 

Now to hope TMW II brings even better enemy A.I. to the table

Edited October 19, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[srlapo]

I thought that the lack of affliction immunities was a design goal or something like that? But after they added the damage immunities I guess it was to be expected.

[Gairnulf]

I would welcome a fix for the inventory bug. I just started a game in 2.02 and it's not cool at all. You pick an item from your inventory and, while you are "carrying" it in your mouse pointer, another item pops in its place straight from your stash.

 

Combat is very much broken and IMO needs a redesign from the bottom-up (for PoE2) in order to pose challenge and offer variety in the way the IE games' combat did. TWM was a step in the right direction, mainly thanks to the improved design of encounters and areas, probably a result of Obsidian's experience built up while working on the base game. I'm just skeptical about what can be accomplished with the current base-100 system which granulates effects down to hundreds of a second.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Gairnulf

[Flix]

All I want is bugs fixed.

[KDubya]

Do you think the CC changes will be across the board immunities such as Dragons can not be CC at all? Or more like they can't be knockdowned prone but can still be mind effected like confusion and domination?

 

If it is across the board the encounters will need to be rebalanced as I'm not sure you can take some of the Dragons without locking them down. If it is only physical attacks that get affected then spells become even more powerful and required.

 

One good thing about the Fighters getting a buff is that lots of the enemy are Fighters and will get stronger. I still think a Monk will outclass a Fighter by a bunch even with the proposed changes. Maybe there are some cool details that Josh left out that will make me have to eat crow.

[AndreaColombo]

Not sure about CC immunities; my hope is that they are selective. It doesn't make sense for you to be able to knock a dragon prone but you can probably still stun or blind it.

 

Same with other critters who might be immune to mind control but vulnerable to knock downs etc.

 

After playing Zahua I've come to enjoy Monks quite a bunch. I still have a penchant for Fighters, though, and I too hope there is more to their revamp than Josh wrote. Clear Out could be per encounter, for example.

[Elric Galad]

It sounds good, not OP.

 

I'm just concerned about CC immunities for martial class : a caster could just choose another spell, but martials would "loose" some of their abilities against some monsters. They already have few so it could be a problem.

[jaydee.2k]

I'm not a native english speaker so I don't get what is meant with CC immunities?!?

Could someone explain it to me? I would be really thankfull.

[Berndor]

As far as I know "CC" stands for "Crowd Control" (of monsters) here, but I am neither a native speaker. Maybe there is another abbreviation for it.

[Elric Galad]

CC is for Crowd Control.

 

"Crowd Control" are spells or effects that disable ennemies or weaken their offensive capabilities.

 

For example, paralysis or blindness are crowd control effects.

 

CC immunities means for example that an ennemy could be immune to charm or blind effects.

 

Don't worry. I'm not a native english speaker either. But not understandind "CC" only means that you're not a "native gamer forum" speaker ^^

Edited October 20, 2015 by Elric Galad

[jaydee.2k]

Thank you very much! Now I got the point.

Edited October 20, 2015 by jaydee.2k

[Infinitron]

Immunity to one or two Afflictions isn't that a big deal. 

 

I wonder if in PoE2 they'd add some form of immunity to anything that attacks an entire Defense. That is, complete immunity to anything that attacks Reflex or Fortitude, etc.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Infinitron

[FlintlockJazz]

Not keen on CC-immunities.  I always took things like Knockdown on a Dragon to be representative of like the character climbing the dragon and smacking him on the head or something.  Not sure I like this...

[the_dog_days]

Wish they'd swap the CC immunity for upgrading Wary Defender to +20% damage to disengagement attacks. Heck, they can scrap the +5 to fighter deflation, too.

Edited October 20, 2015 by the_dog_days

[Sabotin]

I just hope they are sensible, some damage immunities seemed kinda random. 

[Sannom]

I wonder if in PoE2 they'd add some form of immunity to anything that attacks an entire Defense. That is, complete immunity to anything that attacks Reflex or Fortitude, etc.

Even damage? I would be more in favor of something more granular, like the Reflex save of Rogues in D&D 3.5 : all crits turn to hit, hits to graze, etc.

[Skie Nightfall]

All I want is bugs fixed.

 

Hehe, as much as I like improvement, we definitely need bug fixes. But, they are working on that too.

The main issue is the regression that happens with the patches (things that worked get broken).

[mosspit]

The thing about CC is not only about applying the effects, but it is also about lowering the saves of the targets. Some bosses already have high saves and deflection so CC is one way to lower their defence so that regular attacks can at least hit them. Seems to me CC immunities will lead to a situation that is more luck-dependent on attack rolls...

 

Combat is getting gradually more asymmetrical now. I would rather see encounters being more interesting (eg something how the final boss battle is done with different phases) than just simply taking options away. There is nothing innovative about it...

Edited October 20, 2015 by mosspit

[Infinitron]

 

I wonder if in PoE2 they'd add some form of immunity to anything that attacks an entire Defense. That is, complete immunity to anything that attacks Reflex or Fortitude, etc.

Even damage? I would be more in favor of something more granular, like the Reflex save of Rogues in D&D 3.5 : all crits turn to hit, hits to graze, etc.

 

 

There's something like that already in the game: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Adept_Evasion

Edited October 20, 2015 by Infinitron

[Njall]

Wish they'd swap the CC immunity for upgrading Wary Defender to +20% damage to disengagement attacks. Heck, they can scrap the +5 to fighter deflation, too.

 

Just grab hold the line and savage attack. It's only -1 engagement limit and you get +20% damage to all of your attacks rather than once in a blue moon.

 

Also, the CC immunity has nothing to do with fighters... it's some monsters that are getting the immunities come the patch.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Njall

[the_dog_days]

 

 

Wish they'd swap the CC immunity for upgrading Wary Defender to +20% damage to disengagement attacks. Heck, they can scrap the +5 to fighter deflation, too.

Just grab hold the line and savage attack. It's only -1 engagement limit and you get +20% damage to all of your attacks rather than once in a blue moon.

Its the fact that you have to use one talent and another ability to in get what should be the logical upgrade to begin with.

 

And I still think CC immunity is silly.

[AndreaColombo]

While we're at it, and because I do not know where else to post news:

 

 

 

 

And from Something Awful:

 

 

Yeah. Most of the critter immunities are grouped by type (e.g. spirits, vessels), but some specific creatures also get their own immunities (e.g. dragons).

If you hit something with an affliction they're immune to, they'll float an *Immune!* message and it will list it in the log. The immunities are also set up as abilities, so they get added to the corresponding bestiary entry.

 

 

The text for Novice's Suffering now states that it doesn't stack with spiritshift weapons. Spiritshift weapons are already burly as hell.

 

In either this patch or the last, the duration on Scroll of Paralysis went down. Dragons aren't all immune to Paralyzed, but one of them is.

 

 

[in answer to, "Huh, I thought the lack of hard immunities was a purposeful thing in PoE, but I guess I hadn't really considered the damage type immunities that were already in. Plus the high-level spells are probably just too powerful across the board without it."]

 

It was, but the reasons for it have mostly disappeared over time. We don't have classes that are so inherently CC-focused that they can't work around immunities (cipher and wizard are closest, but they have a lot of options). We have better feedback for when you hit immunities. Bestiary entries now display abilities, which means you can look at the entry and go "oh hey". Finally, there's actually support for affliction immunities. In the base game, the code didn't support it at all.

What we were trying to avoid was the 3.X situation where your rogues and beguilers throw their hands up because they're fighting swarms of undead/constructs/elementals for hours straight and the majority of your abilities can't affect them.

Edited October 20, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[hilfazer]

Scroll of Paralysis duration going down? Isn't it, like, 6 seconds already?

[Teioh_White]

Flat out immunity for some mobs isn't exactly the solution I'd prefer, but it'll be better than what we have right now.

 

Good to see this stuff run over on Something Awful first, though.

[archangel979]

This sounds good, it seems I will postpone my 2nd play even more :D