Josh Sawyer Something Awful PoE2 Posts

[IndiraLightfoot]

I love the idea behind the new targeting system! It always was frustrating to me how in many games I had to recast long spells, simply because I had to pick a new target.

Yeah, this very good news!

[Ganrich]

Josh talking about interrupt changing. He said it will now cancel instead of delay the action. I wonder if, seeing that everything is per-encounter now, it will now remove the cancelled ability from the cast bar. So, if you only have 1 use per encounter, and you're interrupted, it will consume that cast and you can't cast that ability. So, an interrupt is much more devastating to the one being interrupted in PoE2.

[morhilane]

Josh talking about interrupt changing. He said it will now cancel instead of delay the action. I wonder if, seeing that everything is per-encounter now, it will now remove the cancelled ability from the cast bar. So, if you only have 1 use per encounter, and you're interrupted, it will consume that cast and you can't cast that ability. So, an interrupt is much more devastating to the one being interrupted in PoE2.

Yeah, my favorite infinity game feature. I abused Melf's acid arrow and archers against casters just because interrupt was so good to stop them from casting anything.

[Ganrich]

 

Josh talking about interrupt changing. He said it will now cancel instead of delay the action. I wonder if, seeing that everything is per-encounter now, it will now remove the cancelled ability from the cast bar. So, if you only have 1 use per encounter, and you're interrupted, it will consume that cast and you can't cast that ability. So, an interrupt is much more devastating to the one being interrupted in PoE2.

Yeah, my favorite infinity game feature. I abused Melf's acid arrow and archers against casters just because interrupt was so good to stop them from casting anything.

Yup, but with interrupt being more intentional, and probably attached to specific abilities, it will be less easy to abuse in this game. Not saying casters in the IE games didn't need to be as shut down as they were. They needed that level of interrupt to be happening sometimes.

[Infinitron]

[anameforobsidian]

I can see why they're doing that, and the possible benefits.  However, I worry that they could make itemization less interesting.  There are 6 primary stats and 5 defenses (deflection, fortitude, reflex, will, concentration).  There are going to be 9 armor slots.  (head, necklace, cape, armor, gloves, rings, belts, grimoires / class, boots).  What's going to be the challenge?  Always equip the highest primary stat item and move on.  

 

Weapons don't have this primary because many more derived stats are devoted to only one or two slots.

Edited February 4, 2017 by anameforobsidian

[rjshae]

 

So it means.. out of a sudden watcher not only lost the stronghold.. he was also being erased all of his memories that brought him/her to his level?

Technically, every power of every class in Eora is fueled by their soul, and if a god sapped the strength of your soul it would be the equivalent to a level drain. It has nothing to do with knowledge. This lore was indeed laid down in the beginning of Pillars of Eternity's original kickstarter campaign.

 

I'm not saying it makes the writing good, or 100% realistic, but it makes sense based on the setting and its lore.

 

I'm not sure I buy that for, say, your skill point allocation or basic combat training. Those shouldn't just vanish unless something more fundamental happened, like your entire form is reconstituted and soul re-attached to the new body. On the other hand, it should give your character a powerful motivation to track down the root cause and get his or her experiences back. Or at least to think that is what they are trying to do.

 

Maybe later on you will meet your true form, and find out you were soul-cloned? 

[L4wlight]

[injurai]

Two thoughts based on two of Josh's SA posts.

​

​1. I really like the idea of auto-pause before cast. It should probably be done as setting, and it'd be really nice setting to have. Especially with the combat changes that they want to make. Interrupts and all that.

​

​2. Death occuring on KO with 3+ injuries. For some reason I thought injuries would be adding more numerously than just a couple. In some ways I really liked the endurance/health model for vitality last game. It's a more continuous spectrum than having 3 injury blips replace health. When I first heart of the injury system I thought of them more as abrasions, bruises, sprains, fractured ribs, punctures, cuts, minor burns. I do like the idea of building up "afflictions" that need to be cleared with a rest. But dieing with 3 injuries seems too few. I suppose the team could be seeing all injuries as "major" ones. Which would explain their choice of 3+. But I'm coming at this more from the perspective of having an in-game narrative that justifies why the party needs to rest for a night before venturing forth. Having injuries conveyed as "major injuries" sounds like you need to go to a hospital. Where I could totally see you dieing from 3. But if simply resting is enough to recover ones injuries, I'd think of those as injuries relatively as minor. I'd was anticipating 6+ injuries to be the critical point of exhaustion that really demands the party take a rest. Because you'll likely rest as soon as 1 character badly needs it. Otherwise it was probably an encounter that took a lot out of everyone. But how often is that happening? If that is happening after every encounter, then resting after every encounter will be annoying. It seems much better to granulate injuries more and have more accumulate before you finally need to rest. At which point you can get back all your empowers. Because if your resting both for just a few injures and empowers, then I don't see how we are solving "stock pile daily and avoid run back vs enjoy your spells and never fight fatigued" dilemma.

​

​I'm sure there is an age old adage that there are no hospitals in role-playing games.

​

[hilfazer]

one slot has the "major" bonus

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

[v-anus]

 

one slot has the "major" bonus

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

 

You poor thing!

If only there were things like spells and class abilities you could use to work around that problem.

[fiddlesticks]

 

one slot has the "major" bonus

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

 

 

If items work similarly as they did in PoE, the highest stat boost you will get from a piece of equipment is +4. That's nice, of course, but there are plenty of non-stat bonuses I would take above that.

 

In your example, it's not even a contest. What would you rather have? A grand total of 9% extra speed or protection from one of the most debilitating status effects?

[JerekKruger]

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

 

If PoE2 is like PoE, your character is never going to really rely on any attribute, so you'll be fine.

[hilfazer]

 

 

one slot has the "major" bonus

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

 

You poor thing!

If only there were things like spells and class abilities you could use to work around that problem.

 

In order to get a class ability i need to be that class and it's not like every class will have some prone protection option.

Also remember it was just an example it does not need to be prone protection it could be something else.

If they did it like POE1 i could handle such situation by equipping, say, Ring of Major Dexterity Bonus, even if there was just one such ring in the game.

By this new, restrictive design we are loosing such options.

 

 

 

one slot has the "major" bonus

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

 

 

If items work similarly as they did in PoE, the highest stat boost you will get from a piece of equipment is +4. That's nice, of course, but there are plenty of non-stat bonuses I would take above that.

 

In your example, it's not even a contest. What would you rather have? A grand total of 9% extra speed or protection from one of the most debilitating status effects?

 

Answer to this question quite obviously depends on amount of protection. I didn't specify it so it should be assumed it is something comparable to major bonus to DEX.

BTW I can think of several more debilitating effects - paralize, stun, charm to name a few.

And again - it's just an example.

 

 

So if my hero relies on DEX and really needs prone protection and there's only one item with prone protection - "Boots of Prone Protection" i'm basically f**ed?

 

But wait, i can use those gloves of +1 DEX! Whole one point of DEX...

 

If PoE2 is like PoE, your character is never going to really rely on any attribute, so you'll be fine.

 

I assumed, probably foolishly, that something called by developer "major bonus to and attribute" is going to be substantial.

 

But if it's going to be meh again then allowing the player to stack several with items with same bonus wouldn't break anything.

I'm pretty sure this design decision was made to prevent stacking.

[JerekKruger]

But if it's going to be meh again then allowing the player to stack several with items with same bonus wouldn't break anything.

I'm pretty sure this design decision was made to prevent stacking.

 

Yeah, I assume it's to avoid the rather arbitrary anti-stacking rules of PoE (which were, in turn, inherited from older IE games and, presumably, AD&D). Instead of having a rule that says "two items with the same bonus can't stack", you allow stacking then make sure there are very few opportunities for it to actually happen.

[L4wlight]

Josh posted some stuff on Tumblr:

 

1)

 

 

2)

 

 

3) & 4)

 

[L4wlight]

[MaxQuest]

 

 

The advantage of a proficiency is access to it's related modal

Seems really interesting. 

Although on the other hand.. no longer Penetrating Shots with Blunderbuss... as that modal will be used with Warbows now.

 

 

 

We have our new Inspiration set to counter Afflictions and a lot of personal and group buffs have been reworked to support Inspirations

Sounds good. It's one step away from [you cast the same list of spells every encounter]. I like it.

 

 

 

There are other changes that are more subtle: changing Minoletta's Minor Missiles to a no-roll (and thus, no Crit/Miss)

Aand, we have a first entry to our [stuff that can be potentially abused] list. Max power_level wizard, with lots of damage penetration; who no longer cares how big are his target defenses. In before, main bosses are immune, or have very, very high DR against crush and corrode.

[Boeroer]

Great! I love to abuse game mechanics.   Gogo Missileneous Wizard who's blind as a bat and can't even hit an adra titan with a sawed off blunderbuss at point blank! 

I mean... he can literally stand there with his back to the enemies and still hit them. Awesome!

 

 

Paladins get all zealous auras with one single ability and can switch between ACC/DR/speed: that's cool with me - good idea.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Boeroer

[morhilane]

For the weapon modal, there was way more weapons (30) than modals (Savage Attacks, Vulnerable Attacks, Penetrating Shot, Dangerous Implements) in the first game. I doubt they made 26 new modals. Saying that, Rapid Shot wasn't in the first game, but it sound like Swift Aim (a Ranger ability). Of course, ti doesn't mean blunderbuss gets penetration shot. It probably makes sit easier to balance that way too.
 
Sound like MMM was turned into its D&D counterpart: MMNM (magic missiles never miss).

Edited February 9, 2017 by morhilane

[Archaven]

The way i see it.. MMM wouldn't have very high damage either. The reason to make it confirm hit, probably to account for being so unlucky in the dice rolls that you are unable to finish off an enemy which you would normally have. It would also be a strategic spell that you actually have to keep in mind the remaining HPs of said enemy.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Archaven

[Gfted1]

Good ole never missing magic missiles!    The ultimate caster interrupter.

[Archaven]

Good ole never missing magic missiles!    The ultimate caster interrupter.

 

If it does that... it be actually great. I'm actually thinking on chances to interrupt would be much lower if said enemy casters are much higher level? So.. it would actually be great if instead of adding additional missiles, it would increase the chance to interrupt? But yes increasing number of missile does increase chance to interrupt.

 

Level 8 Wizard vs Level 8 Enemy Spellcaster

Chance to interrupt 20%

 

So if you have like 5 missiles.. that would have quite a high chance in interruption.

 

VS

 

Level 8 Wizard vs Level 11 Enemy Spellcaster

Chance to interrupt 12%

 

So by maybe empowering.. the chance of interrupt can be increased to 18% per missile?

Edited February 9, 2017 by Archaven

[Dr <3]

Lol in bg2 magic missiles were One of the best dragon slaying tool... At least in Poe dragons have both High defences and great health pools... Nice news btw

[Gfted1]

It was the instantaneous casting speed that made them so devastating. Whats the cast time of MMM?