Why buy the expansion before finishing the main story?

[PugPug]

What will I get? Will those new talents and abilities and things be unlockable at my level? Any other reasons?

[Gfted1]

You gain access to all the Soulboud weapons.

[Ink Blot]

The expansion is intended for you to start around level 6 or 7 (you can scale encounters for higher level parties, but it's intended to be kind of in the middle of the game). So it's probably best to have it installed for your first run through.

[Messier-31]

 

Why buy the expansion before finishing the main story?

 

Because after finishing the main story the game is over, duh.

[Sedrefilos]

 

 

Why buy the expansion before finishing the main story?

 

Because after finishing the main story the game is over, duh.

 

 

Yeah that's the problem. I'd rather play an expansion that continues the story than adds side stuff to the main game.

It's also not practical. One that has finished the main story before the expansion was out (like me) has to load a save, go back, finish the expansion and then return to finish the game once more. But wait! There's gonna be two parts of the expansion! So even if you've finished part 1 you'd better wait for part two before finish the game, 'cause if you do finish it then you'll have to load a save, go finish expansion part 2 and then re-finish the game for the thrid time! For someone like me who never plays an rpg twice it's a bit annoying. Although I have to admit, Pillars is the only rpg tempting me to re-play it. Sometime.

 

If someone hasn't played Pillars yet, it is better to wait for the 2nd expansion to get published and play the whole package.

[Messier-31]

Yeah that's the problem. I'd rather play an expansion that continues the story than adds side stuff to the main game.

It's also not practical. One that has finished the main story before the expansion was out (like me) has to load a save, go back, finish the expansion and then return to finish the game once more. But wait! There's gonna be two parts of the expansion! So even if you've finished part 1 you'd better wait for part two before finish the game, 'cause if you do finish it then you'll have to load a save, go finish expansion part 2 and then re-finish the game for the thrid time! For someone like me who never plays an rpg twice it's a bit annoying. Although I have to admit, Pillars is the only rpg tempting me to re-play it. Sometime.

 

If someone hasn't played Pillars yet, it is better to wait for the 2nd expansion to get published and play the whole package.

 

 

Sorry, mate. It was known all along that the PoE expansion will be in the same fashion as Tales of the Sword Coast for the first Baldur's Gate - although parted. As far as I know most people like that idea better than any other.

[Ink Blot]

 

 

 

Why buy the expansion before finishing the main story?

 

Because after finishing the main story the game is over, duh.

 

 

Yeah that's the problem. I'd rather play an expansion that continues the story than adds side stuff to the main game.

It's also not practical. One that has finished the main story before the expansion was out (like me) has to load a save, go back, finish the expansion and then return to finish the game once more. But wait! There's gonna be two parts of the expansion! So even if you've finished part 1 you'd better wait for part two before finish the game, 'cause if you do finish it then you'll have to load a save, go finish expansion part 2 and then re-finish the game for the thrid time! For someone like me who never plays an rpg twice it's a bit annoying. Although I have to admit, Pillars is the only rpg tempting me to re-play it. Sometime.

 

If someone hasn't played Pillars yet, it is better to wait for the 2nd expansion to get published and play the whole package.

 

They've changed so much of the game since release (and will probably change a bunch more before part 2 drops) that you'd probably feel like you're playing a brand new game anyway if you started a new run after the second expansion releases.

[PugPug]

I used a backer Steam code to redeem my copy but now also have a backer DVD. I'd rather not buy the expansion through Steam. It seems I should be able to make a new install with my DVD and copy the save over from Steam's folder, wouldn't you think? Probably somewhere in %appdata%....

[Zenbane]

I chose to play through the entire campaign once before buying White March. I want to experience the game fully in its original format, and with each major change. otherwise I feel like I'm losing out on a bit of gaming history, na' mean?

[jsaving]

I'm not sure that anyone would "prefer" that the expansion take place before the end of the critical path.  The issue is that doing it this way takes much, much less dev time to implement and hence gives us more PoE content sooner -- the same reason BioWare's Tales of the Sword Coast took place during the main game instead of after it. 

 

As to whether you should buy the expansion before or after completing the main game, I see no reason not to purchase it immediately if you know you'll stick with the game, but it isn't *that* big of a deal to wait.  If you do the expansion content in the middle of the critical path, you'll be both over-leveled and overpowered for the remainder of the game and will find the rest of the critical path to be a breeze.  Much better to wait until immediately before entering the Pit and then click the option to upscale White Marsh content -- but if you are doing that, then you are essentially waiting until the end of the game to do the expansion content anyway and hence didn't need to have White Marsh along the way. 

[KDubya]

The best way I've found is to do quests until reaching level 9 and then go to White March and upscale the content there. Then I can go back and do the rest of Act III or only some of it and go back and forth to White March however I see fit.

 

As far as waiting until WM II is out before ever playing the game I can't see why you'd do that, I also don't see why you'd only play a RPG like this only once but whatever floats your boat. I find that every class plays different and that leads to many play through opportunities.

[Sedrefilos]

 

Yeah that's the problem. I'd rather play an expansion that continues the story than adds side stuff to the main game.

It's also not practical. One that has finished the main story before the expansion was out (like me) has to load a save, go back, finish the expansion and then return to finish the game once more. But wait! There's gonna be two parts of the expansion! So even if you've finished part 1 you'd better wait for part two before finish the game, 'cause if you do finish it then you'll have to load a save, go finish expansion part 2 and then re-finish the game for the thrid time! For someone like me who never plays an rpg twice it's a bit annoying. Although I have to admit, Pillars is the only rpg tempting me to re-play it. Sometime.

 

If someone hasn't played Pillars yet, it is better to wait for the 2nd expansion to get published and play the whole package.

 

 

Sorry, mate. It was known all along that the PoE expansion will be in the same fashion as Tales of the Sword Coast for the first Baldur's Gate - although parted. As far as I know most people like that idea better than any other.

 

Yeah I know that, I'm a backer from the very beginning, you think I didn't know? I just don't think it is a good idea that's all.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Sedrefilos