Wishlist and Suggestions for PoE2

[barafundle]

 

1) In PoE1, most battles play out the same way over and over again, it gets boring. We should have less battles, but more interestingly-designed  encounters with more variety. 

 

Hope to see more enemies with more pronounced strengths and weaknesses, e.g. extremely high hp and regen, low hp but extremely hard to hit, oozes that multiply, glass cannons, a huge army of weak enemies etc, that will require different strategies and gear, even on easier difficulty settings.

 

Another aspect is to create interesting battle scenarios, e.g. split your party into groups to defend different entrances, escort a caravan, protect a fragile character. Perhaps a few epic battle scenarios which allow a 10 member party.

 

 

2) PoE's artwork is the best out there. However the maps and dungeons all follow very similar and predictable designs, the same thing in different skins. Please do not limit maps to the same dimensions. Create more variety, each dungeon should have a unique distinct archiecture, e.g. a huge open cavern, a claustrophobic labyrinth. For good map/dungeon design, please check out Wizardry 7/8 and Dark Heart of Uukrul. Good dungeon design is a lost art. 

 

3) Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive. 

 

4) PoE1 had too much text and uninteresting details. Just 1 interesting line will do, rather than 10 monotonous ones. 

 

5) Rename enchanted items, customize look of item, more enchantment options such as stun and crit.

 

6) A workshop where we can craft various golems, which we can deploy in battle, or to carry out tasks.

 

7) Allow more traps to be set. Deploy temporary defensive structures such as ballistas, cannons or magic totems. Tower defense-like battle scenarios where we need to build up defenses and withstand waves of enemies. 

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by barafundle

[daven]

Already have this topic...

 

I've been replaying again recently and I do agree that the pages of text describing things get's old really fast. A portrait should be enough to describe what someone looks like, I believe they are giving all NPC's portraits in Deadfire so this should be rectified? Or the way that character actually acts and talks should be enough.

 

I don't remember this amount of descriptive text in Baldur's Gate. LESS IS MORE!

[Wormerine]

I do like descriptive text very much. I wouldn't like for it to go away. What would improve quality of writing is better content design overall. I didn't feel like PoE suffered from too much writing but that they conveyed through writing too much. So many of games concept, events and characters were described to you rather than introduced via game content. Hopefully, bigger budget and more time to develop the sequel will fix that up.

[Katarack21]

"Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive."

As long as it's not critical path, sure, I'm down for that. I'll never ever play it or attempt to beat it, because dungeons where you can't heal just *SUCK* to me, but for people who are into that, seems like a good idea. Just making that critical path would be *terrible*.

[rjshae]

How about a reverse dungeon? It can be a dungeon that's been mostly cleared out beforehand, but once we reach the end it turns out there's a vital reason why we need to keep it out of the hands of other potential adventurers. We then need to go around fixing the trap machinery, adding barrier puzzles, bringing in denizens to guard the levels, and generally making life miserable for all who follow.

[Valmy]

"Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive."

 

As long as it's not critical path, sure, I'm down for that. I'll never ever play it or attempt to beat it, because dungeons where you can't heal just *SUCK* to me, but for people who are into that, seems like a good idea. Just making that critical path would be *terrible*.

 

You would never even try it? What if you find out you like it?

 

I would give it a shot at least.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Valmy

[Katarack21]

 

"Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive."

 

As long as it's not critical path, sure, I'm down for that. I'll never ever play it or attempt to beat it, because dungeons where you can't heal just *SUCK* to me, but for people who are into that, seems like a good idea. Just making that critical path would be *terrible*.

 

You would never even try it? What if you find out you like it?

 

I would give it a shot at least.

 

 

I've played a lot of no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc. games in my life. It's not like this is a gameplay style that is new or untouched to me. I've been playing RPG's for a long, long time now and I'm extremely well versed in what attributes of a system I like and what attributes of a system I don't like.

 

Being unable to heal isn't fun for me. It's just irritating and frustrating. If you make that part of the critical path, it will be the section of the game I hate the most and might be the part that stops me from completing the game, if it's frustrating enough. This isn't an assumption; this is learned from that having been the case literally dozens of times.

[Wormerine]

 

"Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive."

 

As long as it's not critical path, sure, I'm down for that. I'll never ever play it or attempt to beat it, because dungeons where you can't heal just *SUCK* to me, but for people who are into that, seems like a good idea. Just making that critical path would be *terrible*.

 

You would never even try it? What if you find out you like it?

 

I would give it a shot at least.

 

Lets be honest, this kinda of design doesn't have place in a game like PoE. A danger of going into a dungeon and getting stuck there clashes with the rest of the game. I love rogue-likes. Played way too much ADOM many moons ago. But you either create a game with save states or you create a one-life run. Shaking up core game design that much within the same game is a bad idea. 

 

If the game had a more modular nature, it might have been an interesting idea for a "weekly dungeon" feature. 

 

That said I would love to see non-indy rogue-like. And I mean rogue-like in its original meaning (we can have nice graphics though!)

[kanisatha]

"Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive."

 

As long as it's not critical path, sure, I'm down for that. I'll never ever play it or attempt to beat it, because dungeons where you can't heal just *SUCK* to me, but for people who are into that, seems like a good idea. Just making that critical path would be *terrible*.

Yeah I also would never ever play it. But even if it were not part of the critical path I'd still be unhappy because if you're going to include content only for the subset of players who enjoy this sort of thing then why not some similar exclusive content for other subsets of players? The combat aspects of crpgs are my least liked parts, so for me more content involving simple exploration, puzzle-solving, using skills/talents/spells outside of combat and the like would be awesome, whereas such content may not be at all enjoyable for others. I especially love stronghold/resource management elements in crpgs, but many others really hate those aspects of games.

[barafundle]

"I've played a lot of no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc. games in my life. It's not like this is a gameplay style that is new or untouched to me."

 

I also dislike permadeath, no-save roguelikes. The suggestion was not exactly to have a no-heal, no-save rogue-like challenge.

 

I enjoy the oldschool rpg experience where you save after every battle, come up with tactics to ensure your party takes as little damage as possible, carefully manage your limited spells and resources and fight your way out.  I enjoy reloading and trying out different strategies to solve a difficult battle without sacrificing too much hp. Managing the health of your party across a dungeon run with limited heal spells and potions is a fun aspect that is missing in pillars. 

 

I guess this has been discussed before. Being able to go back to your stronghold and rest whenever your health is low takes away all the challenge. I can micromanage and optimize strategy for a challenging battle, but why bother when I can just throw all my spells at them, soak up all the damage and then stroll back home for a snooze if i'm out of camp supplies. There is no incentive to perform well in battle, and no sense that I am ever in danger.

 

Instead of full-heal camp supplies, I would prefer limited healing spells, potions and food (for health, not endurance), and some dungeons that do not allow you to return to base as and when you like, or a difficulty setting that enables this.

Edited September 27, 2017 by barafundle

[Wormerine]

I enjoy the oldschool rpg experience where you save after every battle, come up with tactics to ensure your party takes as little damage as possible, carefully manage your limited spells and resources and fight your way out. I enjoy reloading and trying out different strategies to solve a difficult battle without sacrificing too much hp. Managing the health of your party across a dungeon run with limited heal spells and potions is a fun aspect that is missing in pillars.

 

I guess this has been discussed before. Being able to go back to your stronghold and rest whenever your health is low takes away all the challenge. I can micromanage and optimize strategy for a challenging battle, but why bother when I can just throw all my spells at them, soak up all the damage and then stroll back home for a snooze if i'm out of camp supplies. There is no incentive to perform well in battle, and no sense that I am ever in danger.

 

Instead of full-heal camp supplies, I would prefer limited healing spells, potions and food (for health, not endurance), and some dungeons that do not allow you to return to base as and when you like, or a difficulty setting that enables this.

Obsidian tackles this issue in a different way. There is no health/endurance, meaning if you do well and no one falls in battle you will be just as good as you were before the engagement. If one of your characters fell he/she will gain a wound which can be removed via camping.

 

More importantly though, the way spells work has been changed. While we will have to wait until beta to see how exactly it will work, we know that spells are no longer "per rest" resource. Instead you can cast up to two spells from each spell level every fight. More powerful spells will come with cast time and you can get interrupted which will result in loosing the spell. The renewable resource will allow you to empower spells (make them more effective/accurate) or use the same resource to cast a spell from a level you have already depleted.

 

Hopefully, it will make engagements more interesting instead of either not using you abilities in easier fights or burning through tougher engagements by throwing everything you have at the enemy and then resting.

Edited September 27, 2017 by Wormerine

[Valmy]

I've played a lot of no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc. games in my life.

 

 

 

 

I guess I missed where it was no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc...

 

I thought it was just where it was the regular game system just where you had to ration your resources a bit.

[Katarack21]

 

I've played a lot of no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc. games in my life.

 

 

 

 

I guess I missed where it was no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc...

 

I thought it was just where it was the regular game system just where you had to ration your resources a bit.

 

Jesus. ****ing. Christ. Let me explain it for you in small bites and tiny words. Like for a child.

 

I was not being literal.

 

Literal means "representing an exact meaning in reality".

 

I was providing a list of examples of that type of gameplay.

 

"Gameplay" means "the manner in which a game is played, separate from it's technical and narrative aspects".

 

In Pillars of Eternity, the *only* way to heal is to rest. If you can't rest, you can't heal. This is because actual damage requiring healing--as opposed to stamina regain--is difficult to do. Stamina=regeneration, real easy. Hitpoint=healing, real hard. There is no weapons degradation in Pillars of Eternity, just as there is no reset levels, so when I listed those it should have immediately identified it as not being a list of actual game play elements included in the game but rather a list of similar thematic--****, I lost you, didn't I?

 

Just keep in mind roguelikes haven't been popular since they developed other forms of RPG.

[anameforobsidian]

 

 

1) In PoE1, most battles play out the same way over and over again, it gets boring. We should have less battles, but more interestingly-designed  encounters with more variety. 

 

Hope to see more enemies with more pronounced strengths and weaknesses, e.g. extremely high hp and regen, low hp but extremely hard to hit, oozes that multiply, glass cannons, a huge army of weak enemies etc, that will require different strategies and gear, even on easier difficulty settings.

 

Another aspect is to create interesting battle scenarios, e.g. split your party into groups to defend different entrances, escort a caravan, protect a fragile character. Perhaps a few epic battle scenarios which allow a 10 member party.

 

 

2) PoE's artwork is the best out there. However the maps and dungeons all follow very similar and predictable designs, the same thing in different skins. Please do not limit maps to the same dimensions. Create more variety, each dungeon should have a unique distinct archiecture, e.g. a huge open cavern, a claustrophobic labyrinth. For good map/dungeon design, please check out Wizardry 7/8 and Dark Heart of Uukrul. Good dungeon design is a lost art. 

 

3) Create some challenging dungeons where we cannot rest or escape, forcing us to prepare carefully, test our limits and come up with strategies to survive. 

 

4) PoE1 had too much text and uninteresting details. Just 1 interesting line will do, rather than 10 monotonous ones. 

 

5) Rename enchanted items, customize look of item, more enchantment options such as stun and crit.

 

6) A workshop where we can craft various golems, which we can deploy in battle, or to carry out tasks.

 

7) Allow more traps to be set. Deploy temporary defensive structures such as ballistas, cannons or magic totems. Tower defense-like battle scenarios where we need to build up defenses and withstand waves of enemies. 

 

 

Well, here's what I know the dev team has said so far, and I may be wrong:

1.  They're working on it.  But high hp enemies get boring after a time, try playing the Seiken Densetsu 3 bird boss 3 times in a row.

2.  They're working on it.

3.  They're not doing this.  In fact, they're removing the health endurance split even though the designers aren't sure it's a good idea.  Forumites are split over the decision, I am against.

4.  They're working on exposition vomit, that will come with actually doing a second pass, which they didn't for the first game.

5.  They're working on making enchantments more unique to the weapon but it comes at a cost, you are less free to enchant a weapon with anything.

6.  No word.  I doubt it fits the whole pirate theme.  Also, where are you getting the souls for those constructs?

7.  I'm not sure.  They're reworking skills.

[Ancelor]

Something very minor, but as a Priest enthusiast I would love a god specific avatar spell with different effects per god (avatar of eothas etc)

Also some more self buffs for priests would be lovely

[Messier-31]

Here's a thought.

 

Wouldn't it be mindblowing to fight THE EFFIGY as one of the boss fights?

[blotter]

Here's a thought.

 

Wouldn't it be mindblowing to fight THE EFFIGY as one of the boss fights?

 

Yeah, but the execution of that encounter would probably depend a lot on the buildup, I think. Perhaps it would involve an extended preamble in which you first investigate a series of bizarre murders and track presumed culprits. When you finally do come across it, maybe you wouldn't even recognize it as being alive until it stirs after you kill the person who seems to be the true suspect (who seemed poised to become an Effigy in order to throw you off the scent of the real one behind the scenes, perhaps barring a successful Religion check).

 

What would be even more epic is the option to become the Effigy yourself in an effort to gather enough power to make Eothas pay for what he did to you (if you make the appropriate sacrifices, have the appropriate dispositions, and a relatively cordial relationship with Skaenites). It's a pretty drastic option, especially considering the assured death that lies at the end of it, and the associated character model changes ensure that it'll never happen unless they have everyone switch over to a single shared Effigy model, but a guy can dream.

[DigitalCrack]

 

 

1) In PoE1, most battles play out the same way over and over again, it gets boring. We should have less battles, but more interestingly-designed encounters with more variety.

 

Hope to see more enemies with more pronounced strengths and weaknesses, e.g. extremely high hp and regen, low hp but extremely hard to hit, oozes that multiply, glass cannons, a huge army of weak enemies etc, that will require different strategies and gear, even on easier difficulty settings.

 

Another aspect is to create interesting battle scenarios, e.g. split your party into groups to defend different entrances, escort a caravan, protect a fragile character. Perhaps a few epic battle scenarios which allow a 10 member party.

This one always scares cause I feel like no one has done a great job imo with less but more interesting encounters. Primarily I think devs just havent done a great job coming up with content more interesting than "trash mobs." Or they just make the game shorter which is irritating when its good. This is one that I would like to have my cake and eat it too... same amount of combat and better encounter design.

[PangaeaACDC]

VASTLY reduced loading times.

 

 

 

Apart from a quick line sort-of about it in a video, they've not talked about this as far as I know, which is a little disconcerting.

 

It's actually my biggest wish for improvement/change in POE2.

[smjjames]

VASTLY reduced loading times.

 

 

Apart from a quick line sort-of about it in a video, they've not talked about this as far as I know, which is a little disconcerting.

 

It's actually my biggest wish for improvement/change in POE2.

 

They have talked about it a bit (forget where) and we've seen in the videos that there are near-instant loading times between areas (indoor-outdoor transitions for example), like travelling between parts of Neketaka. Haven't really seen it for larger transitions yet.

[Abel]

"I've played a lot of no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc. games in my life. It's not like this is a gameplay style that is new or untouched to me."

 

I also dislike permadeath, no-save roguelikes. The suggestion was not exactly to have a no-heal, no-save rogue-like challenge.

 

I enjoy the oldschool rpg experience where you save after every battle, come up with tactics to ensure your party takes as little damage as possible, carefully manage your limited spells and resources and fight your way out.  I enjoy reloading and trying out different strategies to solve a difficult battle without sacrificing too much hp. Managing the health of your party across a dungeon run with limited heal spells and potions is a fun aspect that is missing in pillars. 

 

I guess this has been discussed before. Being able to go back to your stronghold and rest whenever your health is low takes away all the challenge. I can micromanage and optimize strategy for a challenging battle, but why bother when I can just throw all my spells at them, soak up all the damage and then stroll back home for a snooze if i'm out of camp supplies. There is no incentive to perform well in battle, and no sense that I am ever in danger.

 

Instead of full-heal camp supplies, I would prefer limited healing spells, potions and food (for health, not endurance), and some dungeons that do not allow you to return to base as and when you like, or a difficulty setting that enables this.

 

This. I like to manage whole dungeons without resting at all too. With your limited pool of potions and healing spells. But with this resting system, where a nap heals everything, i'm just frustrated. And the new thing about injuries doesn't look any better to me. I still don't know why they feel the need to revamp the good old health system. Just because it's old does not mean it's bad. Wasteland 2 allows this kind of gameplay, and i like it a lot. Looks like i pretty much play the same way as you. And i loved priests in IE games, with their self buffs and healing spells pools.

 

Aside from this, looks like they're working on the encounter designs. Though it's pretty hard to do throughout a whole game. I was ok with Pillars 1 in this regard.

[PangaeaACDC]

I like to play like the above posters too. Always preserve spells and so forth, and try to go as long as possible (within reason) without resting. It was the same in Baldur's Gate and the like. When we were on our last legs, without spells (or near enough), I would rest.

 

Don't understand why people would be rest-spamming. What's the fun in that?

[rjshae]

 

"I've played a lot of no-heal, permanent-death, weapon-degradation, reset-levels, etc. games in my life. It's not like this is a gameplay style that is new or untouched to me."

 

I also dislike permadeath, no-save roguelikes. The suggestion was not exactly to have a no-heal, no-save rogue-like challenge.

 

I enjoy the oldschool rpg experience where you save after every battle, come up with tactics to ensure your party takes as little damage as possible, carefully manage your limited spells and resources and fight your way out.  I enjoy reloading and trying out different strategies to solve a difficult battle without sacrificing too much hp. Managing the health of your party across a dungeon run with limited heal spells and potions is a fun aspect that is missing in pillars. 

 

I guess this has been discussed before. Being able to go back to your stronghold and rest whenever your health is low takes away all the challenge. I can micromanage and optimize strategy for a challenging battle, but why bother when I can just throw all my spells at them, soak up all the damage and then stroll back home for a snooze if i'm out of camp supplies. There is no incentive to perform well in battle, and no sense that I am ever in danger.

 

Instead of full-heal camp supplies, I would prefer limited healing spells, potions and food (for health, not endurance), and some dungeons that do not allow you to return to base as and when you like, or a difficulty setting that enables this.

 

This. I like to manage whole dungeons without resting at all too. With your limited pool of potions and healing spells. But with this resting system, where a nap heals everything, i'm just frustrated. And the new thing about injuries doesn't look any better to me. I still don't know why they feel the need to revamp the good old health system. Just because it's old does not mean it's bad. Wasteland 2 allows this kind of gameplay, and i like it a lot. Looks like i pretty much play the same way as you. And i loved priests in IE games, with their self buffs and healing spells pools.

 

Potentially they could enhance the Trial of Iron mode to include specialized supplies and talents for dealing with certain types of injuries. That would make the resource management more challenging, while leaving the simplified rest/healing system for the rest of us.

[Torm51]

I like to play like the above posters too. Always preserve spells and so forth, and try to go as long as possible (within reason) without resting. It was the same in Baldur's Gate and the like. When we were on our last legs, without spells (or near enough), I would rest.

 

Don't understand why people would be rest-spamming. What's the fun in that?

I play the same as you guys I dont cheese resting.  I just rest when on my last leg.

[injurai]

Yeah, I hate cheese resting. The problem in poe1 though was I wanted to scratch on by healthwise but often had to heal up in order to reset per-rest abilities. In pillars1 two things would trigger the need to rest, abilities and health, so the need to do so was more frequent than it needed to be and thus it prevented you from scrap nearly as low as you would like.