Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions

[demeisen]

Thing is, PoE already has friendly fire, just for (some) spells.  The AI already has to be aware of FF effects.  For your own team, you can choose their positions and targets to minimize the chances.  The FF chance could be dependent on the separation of the target and the friendly, and the accuracy of the archer.  Shooting into a chaotic tightly packed melee of 3 of your own guys and 1 enemy is a dangerous thing to be doing.  Shooting at a lone priest up on a ridge has no FF risk.

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​I wouldn't even mind seeing similar for melee weapons used in close quarters with friendlies.  Swinging a two handed sword around within a meter of a friendly doing similar carries some risk.

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[Chobbs]

Just finished my first playthrough of PoE (yeah, I'm late to the party). While I could probably come up with a few things I'd like to see in the sequel, there's only one major addition I'd like to see show up: class-specific content. I know developers tend to be somewhat reluctant to do class-specific stuff, as it's inefficient resource allocation, but I really love it; it creates a greater narrative sense of what each class is—making them more than just a bundle of stats and abilities—and greatly adds to the replay value of the game for me. So yeah, here's some potential content to add:

 

Class-specific dialogue: there's already some in PoE, but hey, the more the merrier. Having unique ways to resolve certain quests for certain classes would also fall under this.

 

Class subtypes: couldn't think of a better term for this, and I suppose this could partially fall under the dialogue thing, but I'll mention it separately. In PoE we had Priests choosing their god and Paladins choosing their order, with this providing both unique abilities and unique dialogue choices. I'd love to see all classes get similar subtypes (Wizards pick a school, Druids a circle, Warriors an army or mercenary company, etc.).

 

Class-specific quests: doesn't really need explanation, I suppose.

 

Class strongholds: these were easily my favorite part of Baldur's Gate 2, and I'd love to see them make a return in PoE2

 

I agree with that.  But to add more, I'd like to see levels designed in such a way that only certain character(s) could take a path and possibly flip a switch or trigger an event to help the other party members separated.  Seems like parties are always stuck together too often.  I think it'd be incredible to branch off into two or more groups following paths based on their skill sets, but eventually come together to get through the level or solve a problem.  

[evilcat]

Some of the OP suggestions are really bad for me. Like really bad. I would probably dislike such game. A lot of talk about minimax, and having too much gold, and power, power unlimited power.

 

I just want more of the same but a bit different. ;-)

 

I really like 6 pack. Since that allows you to get a basics like front+DPS+support+Control and still have 2 spots to mess around.

 

Using all the improvments the PoE got in WM1&2 like party AI. This time we can get them from the beginning.

 

I dont mind companions having some things preset, since they are their own beings even if that means some optimalization flaw. I would like to see some companion specific unlocks. (after completing companion loyality quest) Companions could be in some way more powerful than minimax dummy but in own way and style.

 

Dont get this Amazon thing. And dont want to Origin anything.

 

Dont mind Endless Dungeon, some people like it others dont, you dont have to. Endless dungeon has value in first run. When i am fed up with story quests i just want to kill and kill and kill. A lot of battles untill to test my party. Untill i have enought fighting and can come back to storymode.

 

Dragons and Bounties are golden, keep them up. Keeping the pirate theme that makes Krakens and Sea serpents

 

From good stuff:

I want to have a ship and a good crew. Could be small ship. And became rogue trader on Valian Republic. Yarrr

The shipping things could be actual quest. Like move goods from port to port.

 

The last barbarian city was a bit stretch out in PoE1. The standard western storyline is:

• Tutorial
• Adventures (this part is long)
• Twist
• Preparation
• Climax
• Resolution

Dont mess with it, it worked for Jesus it will work for you.

 

There could be like 5 major houses or guilds (powers) and we can ally some of them, and they fight each other, and us at some point. We could also make them work together for alliances and remove other from game. Such stuff.

 

It would be fun if we could manipulate our companions and their attirude to us, like make them more mad, bloodthirsty or belovent. (not everything for everyone) More text...Maybe companions could learn some unique tricks, so there will be good reason to keep them over henchmen.

 

Balance of Caster vs Noncaster, none whirwind strike can mach summon demon horde IX or meteor swarm fo doom. If you achieve perfect balance of it, you would be the first. Also there seems to be too many spells which are very similar to each other. (bigger numbers and shape) Maybe we can have less but more important.

 

It comes to good balance of at will, per encounter, and per rest abiliies. Some of Wizzard spells are very strong. (like grease) some of rest talents are meh.

 

Old friends. Some of companions could come as questgivers or companions for new character.

 

Epic loot you need to do something fore (like collect all pieces or atune Soulbound).

99% of corpse loot will be sold, can a game sell it for me? Like regular corpse could have only gold, gems, ingredients and consumables. Usable weapon/armour is rare. Only named mobs will drop usable weapons, also chest will have usable items. Lets say after cutting, smashing and burning Xuirp armour is not suitable for Barbarian.

 

Better support for multiclass, or class-less system (skill trees or something) "make your own class".

Maybe we can have a feat pickable by everyone "Fire acolyte" which allow to cast one spell from short list of fire spells. So we can teach our paladin more fire. Could be picked many times for more uses or of different keyworld.

 

More interesting Godlike. Having more literally Godlike powers/talent.

• Stats being combo of body form and blessing
• Unique quest for our godmother
• racial talents to exeed our powers like SLA "breath fire" or something like that

Player content creator. Do your own quest. Share with others.

 

It may be good to start new IP being everything which PoE is not:

• furure, apocalyptic and scifi (or both)
• action driven
• small party
• loot
• guns, techn and psionic
• MP
• ME2 quality story and quest
• Like Torchlight in space with plot since why not

Edited September 20, 2016 by evilcat

[Jojobobo]

Probably something that's already been mentioned in the thread, but on top of what I've mentioned previously I would like:

 

Random number generator (RNG) items in chests, with those RNG items available from a late game vendor anyway or in fixed locations (I know some are available from fixed locations, but not all). I think the current system of fixed items on fixed days encourages meta-gaming but is also a bit of a punishment for those looking to play the game organically as they can often end up with crummy items. By having an RNG system and those items available from a late game vendor (these items aren't unique and are in multiple chests, so it makes sense a salesman would have got their hands on one) I think people would be happier sticking with what they have.

 

Currently because I want certain items and there aren't fixed locations for them, and I don't want to cheat, I just use the loot lists. However, I would rather just do locations naturally as I come to them. A recent example is that I just took the sacrificial pit on Endless Paths level 2 to get to level 5 in time to get Gauntlets of Accuracy which don't have a fixed location, as far as I know aren't sold by vendors and also are pretty rare on the loot lists on the first place - however ordinarily I would just proceed down the levels as normal. They are valid even for end game on certain builds (probably on my current build I'll be using them from now on), so it's a little odd how tricky they are to get ahold of.

 

While the current system is hardly terrible, I think it could be made a touch nicer on the player.

 

By the same dint the Azzuro system also sucks a little, I think it could be improved by having the current system in place - but you can also pay inflated prices for "special stock". I would rather pay 25k gold for a certain item (Hiro's Mantle, mainly) than spam rest at the stronghold. Again, it's not implemented in a rewarding way for the player.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Jojobobo

[Zack Fair]

Probably something that's already been mentioned in the thread, but on top of what I've mentioned previously I would like:

 

Random number generator (RNG) items in chests, with those RNG items available from a late game vendor anyway or in fixed locations (I know some are available from fixed locations, but not all). I think the current system of fixed items on fixed days encourages meta-gaming but is also a bit of a punishment for those looking to play the game organically as they can often end up with crummy items. By having an RNG system and those items available from a late game vendor (these items aren't unique and are in multiple chests, so it makes sense a salesman would have got their hands on one) I think people would be happier sticking with what they have.

 

Currently because I want certain items and there aren't fixed locations for them, and I don't want to cheat, I just use the loot lists. However, I would rather just do locations naturally as I come to them. A recent example is that I just took the sacrificial pit on Endless Paths level 2 to get to level 5 in time to get Gauntlets of Accuracy which don't have a fixed location, as far as I know aren't sold by vendors and also are pretty rare on the loot lists on the first place - however ordinarily I would just proceed down the levels as normal. They are valid even for end game on certain builds (probably on my current build I'll be using them from now on), so it's a little odd how tricky they are to get ahold of.

 

While the current system is hardly terrible, I think it could be made a touch nicer on the player.

 

By the same dint the Azzuro system also sucks a little, I think it could be improved by having the current system in place - but you can also pay inflated prices for "special stock". I would rather pay 25k gold for a certain item (Hiro's Mantle, mainly) than spam rest at the stronghold. Again, it's not implemented in a rewarding way for the player.

Please, God, no RNG loot! That is like one of the worst ideas in RPGs. When you are grinding your teeth in a difficult dungeon, and you get a ****ty sword in the chest of a powerful wizard. Like, why would he keep that stuff there? The only way that might work if you have hand picked loot table, and you get loot from that table randomly.

[mindswayer]

It'd be very nice if they could clean up the spell effects.

 

Big fights are a complete **** show. You literally can't tell who's engaging who or what the hell is even happening.

 

Also honestly kinda wish they'd label priest spells "Buff", "Debuff", "CC", "Damage". It's kinda of annoying when your priest levels up, you have 7 new spells to memorize.

Either that or make spells of the same kind have similar icons. For example, all the "Prayer" spells have a "leitmotif" in their icon that you can instantly recognize without having to scroll over all of them. Maybe the classic "praying hands" icon on all of them with special drawings related to what they protect against.

 

PS: I'd also really like to filter the combat log by character affected so it's much easier to navigate and find relevant information.

Edited September 8, 2016 by mindswayer

[Loren Tyr]

Please, God, no RNG loot! That is like one of the worst ideas in RPGs. When you are grinding your teeth in a difficult dungeon, and you get a ****ty sword in the chest of a powerful wizard. Like, why would he keep that stuff there? The only way that might work if you have hand picked loot table, and you get loot from that table randomly.

 

Of course they'd use loot tables (or something like it), they'd hardly pick it completely at random. IWD 1 in particular had a good mix of random and fixed loot, I'd be very much in favour of having that in PoE 2. 

[Sannom]

Also honestly kinda wish they'd label priest spells "Buff", "Debuff", "CC", "Damage". It's kinda of annoying when your priest levels up, you have 7 new spells to memorize.

Priests probably won't work the same way in the sequel, so I don't think we need to worry about this.

[mindswayer]

 

Also honestly kinda wish they'd label priest spells "Buff", "Debuff", "CC", "Damage". It's kinda of annoying when your priest levels up, you have 7 new spells to memorize.

Priests probably won't work the same way in the sequel, so I don't think we need to worry about this.

 

Yeah I heard Sawyer talk about that. Glad he's rethinking Priests.

Since we're on the topic of religion, I also kinda hope they give us some sort of physical representations of the Gods. Be it statues, in-game books that talk about them and with drawings representing what the author thinks its looks like, frames on windows in temples, or even when communicating with them - instead of the adra pillar showing up, a sort of silhouette appears on the screen.

I also noticed while looking for concept art of the gods that there only appears to be concept for three of them: Galawain, Woedica and Berath. Anyone know if there's more that just doesn't show up on the wiki, or did they just say "alright screw it" and stop after drawing 3 of them?

[SkySlam]

 

 

Also honestly kinda wish they'd label priest spells "Buff", "Debuff", "CC", "Damage". It's kinda of annoying when your priest levels up, you have 7 new spells to memorize.

Priests probably won't work the same way in the sequel, so I don't think we need to worry about this.

 

Yeah I heard Sawyer talk about that. Glad he's rethinking Priests.

I've missed this, how is he rethinking Priests?

 

I am totally fine with Priests 2.0 because in their current form, after a couple of runs, they become quite boring to play with the same exact repertoire of spells every time.

Also, I hope we'll get more god-specific spells/talents. There is really too little difference at the moment between a Priest of Eothas and a Skaen's one. Teachings so far apart should lead to very different playstyles, not just one talent and one spell.

[mindswayer]

 

 

 

Also honestly kinda wish they'd label priest spells "Buff", "Debuff", "CC", "Damage". It's kinda of annoying when your priest levels up, you have 7 new spells to memorize.

Priests probably won't work the same way in the sequel, so I don't think we need to worry about this.

 

Yeah I heard Sawyer talk about that. Glad he's rethinking Priests.

I've missed this, how is he rethinking Priests?

 

I am totally fine with Priests 2.0 because in their current form, after a couple of runs, they become quite boring to play with the same exact repertoire of spells every time.

Also, I hope we'll get more god-specific spells/talents. There is really too little difference at the moment between a Priest of Eothas and a Skaen's one. Teachings so far apart should lead to very different playstyles, not just one talent and one spell.

 

Pretty sure it's in this panel from last year: https://youtu.be/hOkU8-cOVDo

I don't really have a timestamp, but I'm gonna watch it again anyway so I'll put one up in about 1h.

 

PS: Got it. 48:28

Edited September 8, 2016 by mindswayer

[anameforobsidian]

I really wouldn't mind priests getting different spell options based on God. Right now, priests have a bit too much. They're close to wizards that can also buff everyone and heal. Mixing it up wouldn't be the worst.

[demeisen]

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Right now, priests have a bit too much. They're close to wizards that can also buff everyone and heal.

 

​Indeed, they do get some powerful offensive spells.  OTOH, they tend to be shorter range than the Wiz spells, and far shorter range than the Druid ones, so they are a bit more limited strategically.  (But I agree, I would not mind seeing some Priest changes).

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​Speaking of using the same spells a lot: I feel Spell Mastery in its current form tends to lead to more boring fights.  Since you have to select 1 spell of the level to master, you tend to cast it in almost every fight, since it's "free".  I understand why they limited spell mastery from how it used to be ("any spell from the level per encounter"), and I agree that was too powerful, but the change had the side effect of making many fights cookie-cutter.​  I'm not sure what to suggest though.  Maybe spell mastery = 2-3 more casts of the level per rest, but they're still per-rest?  That's not really ideal either, but at least you wouldn't sling the same ones in every fight because they were free.

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[K-Slash]

A character import/export system. Compatibility with touch screen devices. Modding tools and a community (Like the Gibberlings), where modders can get together and run wild with the product for the years to come.

 

All to be taken with a pinch of salt and dash of good spirits, to be honest.

[mindswayer]

Have they said anything about in-party politics? Maybe companion alignments? Companions who hate each other?

I think it should be introduced with the inevitable increase in number of available companions.

[PIP-Clownboy]

Don't link AOE indicators to Expert mode please. Everything about Expert was great except playing without the indicators, which flat out isn't fun, nor does it make the game anymore difficult. 

[Rolandur]

Don't link AOE indicators to Expert mode please. Everything about Expert was great except playing without the indicators, which flat out isn't fun, nor does it make the game anymore difficult. 

 

If it doesn't make the game any more difficult then why ask for it to be removed?

[PIP-Clownboy]

 

Don't link AOE indicators to Expert mode please. Everything about Expert was great except playing without the indicators, which flat out isn't fun, nor does it make the game anymore difficult. 

 

If it doesn't make the game any more difficult then why ask for it to be removed?

 

 

It's tedious at best, not a difficulty bump. So why link such a thing to a 'expert' mode where all the other changes make actual logical sense. 

[Bonte]

My Wishlist: 

 

• Better diverse companions, because most of them seem to take themselves too serious. I really enjoyed Eder, Hiravias, and Pallegina. I loved all of the White March's companions. I would welcome more companions like the ones in the DLC.
• A ship as our stronghold would be amazing. I would love that it could be unique to our class or race.
• This is a little nitpick personal thing to me, but a better interesting dwarven companion. I like Sagani, but she wasn't very appealing to talk to. 
• Not a popular opinion, but I would love to see romances added to the game. The option could be one male and female who are bisexual, so everyone could be happy. 
• A better insight on the races' cultures and way of living. I love my dwarf watcher and I role play with him the best as I can, but I don't know if I am going so far out of how dwarves usually act in the world of Eora.
• I love the armor in the game, but more variety of armor would always be a plus.

I know I can think of more, but I hit the important ones.

[Uni]

XP scaling slider separated from difficulty selection. I understand wanting to keep the game from being unreasonably hard for people who only do the critical path, but this means doing a lot of sidequests makes you outscale enemies in a really bad way. Would be nice to not have to rely on tools like IEMod to get good experiences as a players that wants to do most of the content and still have endgame battles be challenging.

 

Unique items being more interesting and strong in other ways than just raw damage/accuracy/DR. Soulbound items were a step in right direction so im kind of hopeful.

[AndreaColombo]

in this thread's first page I mentioned I'd like no romances and better A.I. and encounter design in PoE 2.

 

I would like to elaborate a bit more on the latter while making a broader point on game difficulty.

 

Let me start by telling Obs that

 

I get it

 

I completely understand that

• by making the game easier, you enable players to pursue their roleplaying ideas without feeling like they're being pigeonholed into specific choices and optimized character builds;
• the majority of the gamers are casuals who don't do completionist runs and don't spend too much time carefully min-maxing their builds--and the game had to be beatable in this scenario.

However, there is one thing I don't get:

 

Why are PotD and enemy upscaling also balanced around casual non-completionist play throughs?

 

Since launch, casuals have had three (3) difficulty settings geared towards them: Easy, Normal, and Hard. Later on, Story Mode joined the fray. Aren't four game modes enough for one category? Don't veterans, completionists and power gamers also deserve one difficulty setting? Why is PotD not unapologetically hard and balanced around a full party of six optimized characters packed with durganized items? Why isn't enemy upscaling balanced against a party that maxed out at level 16 at the beginning of Act III?

 

As it is now, Act III and Act IV are an absolute joke even at PotD with scaling on if you're running six well-built characters in a completionist run--and my problem is not that I can max out at the beginning of Act III. I mentioned this several times but I actually like it that I can reach my full potential so early as it gives me some time and content to enjoy my being badass before the game is over. Maxing out at the very end with just one encounter left is anti-climatic: I've finally reached everything I've been playing for, I look totally badass and I'm super strong but ... the game is over and there is no more content left to enjoy what I've built. Ouch!

 

The problem is that the game never takes into account how powerful parties can actually get. Which leads me to my PoE 2 wish list--

• The hardest difficulty setting should be unapologetically hard.

  By that I mean that it should be balanced around completionist runs with a full party of six optimized character builds (not necessarily min-maxed henchmen, mind you; companions can get pretty strong in PoE with the right selection of talents, abilities, and equipment.)

• Difficulty settings should change A.I. and encounter design more than monsters' stats.

  It is my understanding this is something Tyranny does. When I crank up the difficulty, I don't want to get more of the same--more monsters with higher stats and that's it. I want smarter A.I. that makes use of all their abilities and items (including scrolls and potions, or spells from spellbind items, etc.), acts synergistically and uses positioning to gain an advantage (perhaps by means of better encounter design: At higher difficulties, the same monsters could be positioned better on the map from the start.)

• Bracketed scaling as a toggleable option.

  Upscaling as currently implemented is immersion breaking and limited in that it can only be selected when prompted, and only if you meet a specific requirement at a specific point in time. If I wanted to rush Act III to get an item, then come back later to actually play it, I may end up being over-leveled for its content and never being offered to upscale it. In PoE2 it would be better to implement bracketed scaling for the whole game from the start, toggleable at will from the options' menu. Scaling may include stat boots as well as smarter A.I..

While we're at it, I'd like to make a separate, lore-related request:

 

Lore-friendly encounters and monster ecology.

 

What is this about?

 

Well,

• A lore-friendly encounter is an encounter comprising only monsters that it makes sense to find grouped together. In PoE it can happen quite often to run into motley groups of monsters that don't seem to have much to do with each other. I would prefer monster groups to make thematical sense.
• A corollary to the above is that it never made much sense to me that all monsters only aggro the player, but never fight each other. It feels artificial, as though some kind of unspoken agreement existed across all non-kith races (whether sentient or unintelligent) not to ever attack each other, and slay all kith at first sight. Now, if monster groups made thematical sense, then it would also make sense for them not to aggro each other--otherwise, let us see them fight (note: I'm not vouching for intra-monster fights as a rule--it would just make the game easier which is the opposite of what I requested above. I'm vouching for encounters where it makes sense for monsters to be allied. However, for the sake of making the world feel plausible, seeing monster fight each other now and again could be good for immersion.)
• Dungeon encounters should make sense.

  This is a pet peeve of mine. If someone's tried to get inside a dungeon before and made some progress, it makes no sense for you to encounter monsters before the point to which this someone got. Sure, if time has passed since the attempt was made, monsters may have repopulated the area ... but how do you explain the raiders on the first level of Od Nua's dungeon? You had to slay LOTS of monsters to get there; you mean to tell me monsters didn't aggro them?

 

Last but not least, monster ecology.

 

One thing that kinda bugs me in fantasy in general is the apparent lack of politics (in the broad sense of the word) within intelligent monster races. In PoE, Vithracks are perfect example of this. I picture Vithrack colonies to be organizationally akin to human nations. How realistic would it be for a human nation to dispatch a small group to search for something that is advertised as being of vital importance for the nation itself (I'm referring to the adra expedition in Od Nua's dungeon)? Who makes the call about the mission's relevance, and about the size and nature of the team who should handle it? Is there no dissent at all? No other opinions (even among those chosen to carry out the mission)? All Vithracks are nationalists with a blind faith in each other and their colony? Everyone thinks seeking the secret of adra is a priority and a good thing for the colony? When they're back, a very small group made a massive difference for everyone?

 

It just felt really simplistic to me. I appreciate this is just a game and everything (a huge part of this "everything" being the resources that would be necessary to implement the Rothfussian level of depth I desire), but if anything could be done in PoE2 to add some depth to the ecology of intelligent monstrous races, I think it would make for a much more interesting game overall.

Edited October 2, 2016 by AndreaColombo

[SkySlam]

I'm vouching for encounters where it makes sense for monsters to be allied. However, for the sake of making the world feel plausible, seeing monster fight each other now and again could be good for immersion.

 

Fantastic post as always, I just chime in to say that I've seen xaurips fighting spiders (and taking the beating) multiple times. I believe it happens for sure on Od Nua level 1, but also somewhere else. And yeah, it is funny to see that, I'm totally fine with it happening more often.

[Sonntam]

One thing that kinda bugs me in fantasy in general is the apparent lack of politics (in the broad sense of the word) within intelligent monster races. In PoE, Vithracks are perfect example of this. I picture Vithrack colonies to be organizationally akin to human nations. How realistic would it be for a human nation to dispatch a small group to search for something that is advertised as being of vital importance for the nation itself (I'm referring to the adra expedition in Od Nua's dungeon)? Who makes the call about the mission's relevance, and about the size and nature of the team who should handle it? Is there no dissent at all? No other opinions (even among those chosen to carry out the mission)? All Vithracks are nationalists with a blind faith in each other and their colony? Everyone thinks seeking the secret of adra is a priority and a good thing for the colony? When they're back, a very small group made a massive difference for everyone?

 

I thought the Vithrack expedition was very well done. 

 

1. You would not send on a dangerous mission people who are known for dissent. 

2. Some Vithracks there can try to backstab you, because while the leader is fine with making deals with outsiders, not everyone is on the same page. 

 

I would not expect to see more than that, though. Even if Vithracks disagree with each other, infighting on such a dangerous mission and (even worse) showing that kind of weakness to some stupid animal passing through? That would be very silly. 

 

The way you talk, one would think the Vithracks that got sent on the missions were just some passerbies picked from the streets. No, they should be trained and well trusted to stay focused on the mission. To expect politics to shatter the group would be like expecting a spec ops team break under the pressure, because they are working in foreign terrain and things got dangerous. It can happen, but it does not have to happen.

 

Besides, we see that Vithracks are basically under siege there. They are well aware that the moment they start to fight each other, they won't get out of there alive. That kind of thing tends to keep people together.

[Anaeme]

I do not think the developers actually play their games on the hardest difficulty.

 

A lot of the issues with PoTD will be resolved if they play and see for themselves. I have no clue why this never happened

[anameforobsidian]

Josh has played on PotD and they have one other dev that does it. The vast majority do not.

 

BTW, updated wish: I want another dialogue check that will obviously fail, like when you can try to persuade the guards that you're not holding a torch in NWN2, when you are obviously and conspicuously holding a torch.

Edited October 4, 2016 by anameforobsidian