Fampyrs, Engagement, and frustration

[rheingold]

Put me in the engagement fan club, I like it, could be better implemented but it makes sense as opposed to characters running all over the screen with no consequences. My major gripe with combat (which I like) is the vfx which is seriously over done. Sometimes you just have to scratch your head and click randomly cause you can't see anything! And if you have a melee rogue Orlan, you're all outta luck, they absolutely disappear in some fights.

Edited December 2, 2015 by rheingold

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Fampyrs are easy, the only things that gave me real trouble were the mushroom things. Dunno what you're doing, but blasting them with a debuff should leave them open to being pulverized.

 

Engagement is awful and it's mind-boggling why a turn-based solution was used in a real time game otherwise built with real time mechanics. Its way to easy to exploit and takes away from the combat experience.

[anameforobsidian]

I'm in the engagement fan club.  I like the way it creates zones of control and elevates the importance of positioning.  Moreover, I like the decision it creates when the optimal move is to break it; do you wait and use a CC ability or do you just suck up the hit?  It feels like it has nice synergy with many of the caster spells.

 

I hope they get increased engagement range with polearms working in the next one.

 

 

Furthermore, it's not like defenses from disengagement attacks are impossible to find either.  There's Wild Sprint, Escape, Grimoire Slam, and the Fox chant.  A full 1/3 of the classes have some means of dealing directly with engaged foes, and that's without using indirect methods like CC.  It's entirely possible to build a party around laughing off disengagement attacks if it really bugs anyone that much; however, that requires a strategic choice in build and party composition, which is apparently anathema.

[PrimeJunta]

@KaineParker you had trouble with the mushrooms? What kind of trouble? What happened? I just pull the little ones away from the big ones, slash them to death (immune to Crush, or as good as), then rush the big ones one at a time; they don't have time to charm more than one or two party members at a time which doesn't matter.

[Bleak]

With the way CC work in this game, I kinda miss the Illithids. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

@KaineParker you had trouble with the mushrooms? What kind of trouble? What happened? I just pull the little ones away from the big ones, slash them to death (immune to Crush, or as good as), then rush the big ones one at a time; they don't have time to charm more than one or two party members at a time which doesn't matter.

They'd charm half the party. It was on PotD so there was enough of them to make pulling and rushing unviable as a tactic.

[0rangekun]

Fampyrs are easy, the only things that gave me real trouble were the mushroom things. Dunno what you're doing, but blasting them with a debuff should leave them open to being pulverized.

 

Engagement is awful and it's mind-boggling why a turn-based solution was used in a real time game otherwise built with real time mechanics. Its way to easy to exploit and takes away from the combat experience.

The trouble with fampyrs is there are about half a dozen of them all using charm near-instantaneously. A "hit them before the hit you" sort of strategy is extremely RNG dealing with them, as it relies heavily on a key character not getting charmed before they can land a spell or ability on the fampyrs.

 

In my case, I cheesed the fight with line of sight and lucked out that none of them were successful in charming my tanks. By the time I brought my casters into view, the fampyr AI was spazzing out too hard to do anything.

 

On the other hand, mushrooms never gave me much trouble. Just pull the small ones first. Once it's down to the big, confusion-inducing ones, it's just a process of patience really. They can even be knocked down (somehow).

 

Definitely agree about engagement; it's based on something that only worked because it was used in a turn-based medium.

[Ineth]

On Hard difficulty, I had some good success against fampyrs by combining

• choke points
• stationary AoE damage spells (like Wall of Flame)
• Slicken

 

 

 

 

Not sure if it would work on PotD though.

 

---

 

PS: Of course if there's too many of them, some will break through and attack your weaker party members, which is another reason why those party members should pick spells and talents for defending themselves in melee when necessary:

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2015 by Ineth

[Zenbane]

Badass post, and killer screenshots, Ineth! That was some good inspiration, and now I'm gonna binge play me some PoE tonight

 

 

which is another reason why those party members should pick spells and talents for defending themselves in melee when necessary

 

 

That would probably solve 90% of the Engagement complaints.

[Fenixp]

Look at that magnificent hat!