Discuss!

From a recent MCUK-interview:

Josh: “We always have to think about the future even if we are not necessarily working on it,” Sawyer says. “If Deadfire is successful, we are probably going to make a third game, but I also think that there are other possibilities for this IP. I’m working on a tabletop RPG set in the Pillars world. We are also looking at options for things like an exploration first-person style of game set in the Pillars universe. We’re also interested in a turn-based tactics game that is less focussed on exploration and more on tactical combat. A lot of fans have offered opinions on that and I think a game like that could have a broader reach. So really we view the Pillars IP not as something that is just strictly for this style of game, there’s lot more potential for it.”

 

More PoE-games on the way, it seems.

 

And from a recent Kotaku-interview:

"So that has already been that way since Pillars I, but we still find that the majority of players make white, human, I think typically men, which is fine, but it's also interesting to see what they don't make. Almost no one makes dwarves.

We hear people say that they like dwarves, they like the dwarves in the world, everyone seems to be like, "Yeah, fantasy dwarves." But they don't make them. They want a companion who's a dwarf, but they don't want to make a dwarf. So it's an interesting sort of dichotomy where you see like, well they like priests, but they don't necessarily like making priests. They want to have a healer, they want to have a support character – but they want to make the two-handed sword-swinging psychotic.

We find this overwhelming tendency towards making devoted fighters who are the single weapon crazy people, and assassins. It's like the concept is very appealing, they do a tonne of damage, and people are just like, "Yeah, assassin. White dude assassin."

 

I make dwarves, truly I do!

Edited February 20, 20187 yr by IndiraLightfoot

From a recent MCUK-interview:

Josh: “We always have to think about the future even if we are not necessarily working on it,” Sawyer says. “If Deadfire is successful, we are probably going to make a third game, but I also think that there are other possibilities for this IP. I’m working on a tabletop RPG set in the Pillars world. We are also looking at options for things like an exploration first-person style of game set in the Pillars universe. We’re also interested in a turn-based tactics game that is less focussed on exploration and more on tactical combat. A lot of fans have offered opinions on that and I think a game like that could have a broader reach. So really we view the Pillars IP not as something that is just strictly for this style of game, there’s lot more potential for it.”

 

More PoE-games on the way, it seems.

 

And from a recent Kotaku-interview:

"So that has already been that way since Pillars I, but we still find that the majority of players make white, human, I think typically men, which is fine, but it's also interesting to see what they don't make. Almost no one makes dwarves.

We hear people say that they like dwarves, they like the dwarves in the world, everyone seems to be like, "Yeah, fantasy dwarves." But they don't make them. They want a companion who's a dwarf, but they don't want to make a dwarf. So it's an interesting sort of dichotomy where you see like, well they like priests, but they don't necessarily like making priests. They want to have a healer, they want to have a support character – but they want to make the two-handed sword-swinging psychotic.

We find this overwhelming tendency towards making devoted fighters who are the single weapon crazy people, and assassins. It's like the concept is very appealing, they do a tonne of damage, and people are just like, "Yeah, assassin. White dude assassin."

 

I make dwarves, truly I do!

 

Hmmm that's interesting. I rarely play as a white dude. And I play a lot of female protagonists i my cRPG walkthroughs. I can admit that dwarves are not my favourite fantasy face, but I don't mind them. And also I play as priests a lot of time. My current PC in Baldur's Gate: EE is a priest/ranger. And I'm planning on playing a ranger/priest in Deadire. ^^'

Sawyer discusses overpenetration on tumblr, stating that the damage bonus from may be changed soon, and also shares his thoughts on the varying importance of penetration bonuses under certain circumstances. He also states that Fessina/Fassina has the Conjurer subclass.

 

Multiclassing her will also be a possibility; this isn't particularly surprising given the current approach to companion class options, but I'm still glad to see some confirmation of flexibility in options for sidekicks. An earlier update that associated single classes (or a single multiclass combination in Ydwin's case) had me wondering.

Ha! For a longest time I was playing as white dudes only - because I was trying to make my avatar. It wasn't until couple years ago, that I stopped trying to recreate myself (mostly due to premature boldness - maybe thats why I choose an orlan for my first PoE playthrough - hard compensation for my insecurities). I still find it rather odd to play as female - I usually do it, if I want to detatch myself from a character for an easier roleplay - usually evil characters.

I never make dwarfs. I don't find dwarfs interesting nor relatable. 

It is true that I don't make my main character a support one. I usually aim for him/her to be promary DPS. I even know someone who would intentionally not recruit companions in BGates to overlevel them with his PC. 

I make a completely different PC every run. I like to try all races and classes and I like to match their aesthetic choices to the Pic I choose for them.

 

I like Dwarves a lot. Usually choose them as one of my first 3 runs.

for poe we rare played human, 'cause the human racial ability were relative weak. in deadfire we are unlikely to play as a human 'cause the racial ability is suck. 

 

Gromnir is not a complicated man.

 

HA! Good Fun!

The race had barely any impact in the game in my opinion and a lot potential of potential is still untapped. Why should i play a small stout human rather than a normal human if it only changes one or two lines in the game that bare no consequences ? Id rather have fewer options that actually feel unique in comparison to different "human cultures" disguised as races. 

 

I usually play non-human races but was rather disappointed how little it mattered. I would expect racism and prejudices to me more common in a medieval setting with tons of races. 

 

It is also easily explained why assassins/attackers are often favored. They are usually proactive classes that don't have to wait for the enemy to do something before they can decide on their course of action. Healers/supporters usually react to something that is happening or will happen, they rarely take the initiative which is usually perceived as less rewarding in comparison to immediate action. 

Funny enough I never used to make myself as an in-game avatar and I never played Dwarves. In the last two fantasy rpgs that I played, though (DA:I and DOS2), my character was a dwarf who looked like me :D
As years pass and the games you've played amass, your habits change. You get bored of what you usedd to play 10 times in a row  

From a recent MCUK-interview:

Josh:

And from a recent Kotaku-interview:

" Almost no one makes dwarves.

We hear people say that they like dwarves, they like the dwarves in the world, everyone seems to be like, "Yeah, fantasy dwarves." But they don't make them.

My first playthrough was human, my 2nd was a dwarf, my next few (the ones I didn't play all the way to the end) were orlan, elf, human (again).

I wonder where Josh gets the info?  Is it Steam statistics?  I guess dwarves play offline

And he says we want a dwarf companion and then doesn't give us one?  Boo! (LOL)

And from a recent Kotaku-interview:

"So that has already been that way since Pillars I, but we still find that the majority of players make white, human, I think typically men, which is fine, but it's also interesting to see what they don't make. Almost no one makes dwarves.

We hear people say that they like dwarves, they like the dwarves in the world, everyone seems to be like, "Yeah, fantasy dwarves." But they don't make them. They want a companion who's a dwarf, but they don't want to make a dwarf. So it's an interesting sort of dichotomy where you see like, well they like priests, but they don't necessarily like making priests. They want to have a healer, they want to have a support character – but they want to make the two-handed sword-swinging psychotic.

We find this overwhelming tendency towards making devoted fighters who are the single weapon crazy people, and assassins. It's like the concept is very appealing, they do a tonne of damage, and people are just like, "Yeah, assassin. White dude assassin."

 

People don't play Dwarves because in most media, Dwarves are depicted as jokes or punch lines, always secondary to elves and humans, or humans and orcs, or humans and other humans. People don't like to play short hairy guys who get made fun off, a lot of their player base role play as that in real life anyway lol so I don't see it as surprising.

 

As for white, 90% of their player base are American or European white men, people play characters that reflect or look like them, despite what people insist, fantasy is about going to a fantasy world, it is not about being a fantasy being, people create things they can relate to, white men can't relate to black Dwarf women. Women play female characters most of the time.

 

And for the priest and people's obsessions with assassins and doing damage with fighters, people play these games to go on adventures, they don't play them to support other characters having all the fun, healing and buffing isn't heroic, it isn't what people think of when you think fantasy, they want to be the powerful wizard or the mighty warrior, or the cool assassin, they don't want to hide behind their party healing them or making them do more damage.

 

tldr; people want power fantasies that are relatable to them.

 

From a recent MCUK-interview:

Josh:

And from a recent Kotaku-interview:

" Almost no one makes dwarves.

We hear people say that they like dwarves, they like the dwarves in the world, everyone seems to be like, "Yeah, fantasy dwarves." But they don't make them.

My first playthrough was human, my 2nd was a dwarf, my next few (the ones I didn't play all the way to the end) were orlan, elf, human (again).

I wonder where Josh gets the info?  Is it Steam statistics?  I guess dwarves play offline

And he says we want a dwarf companion and then doesn't give us one?  Boo! (LOL)

 

They've got logistics from poe and deadfire. Think of Big Brother but it's that Joshengina portrait someone made when romance came up after the deadfire update.

 

I have to say I've made one priest but my main is always a white dude(like my first PnP character) who either dws or uses a greatsword and I don't like playing dwarves. Maybe he really is onto something, but the option of making a mercenary dwarf is pretty cool and I hope the expansion(s)/DLC brings a dwarf companion.

Here are all the Companion and Sidekick multiclass options. 

 

Sweet that Pallegina gets Herald and Crusader options.

 

Edit:  Subclasses not included, with the exception of Fassina (whose Conjurer subclass is probably mentioned because he revealed that in a different post earlier today).  We already know that all the new-in-Deadfire companions have at least 1 unique subclass, but they're not mentioned here.

 

Edit2:  Seemed significant enough for its own thread, so I made one. 

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by Enoch

Another recent Josh Interview with Kotaku :

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2018/02/15/obsidians-josh-sawyer-on-pillars-of-eternity-ii-publishers-and-dwarven-discrimination

People don't play dwarves in PoE because they are a mechanically poor choice without any interesting special abilities. I play plenty of dwarves in other games.

 

 

Although that might be to do with me being short and beardy in RL.

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by Fardragon

People don't play dwarves in PoE because they are a mechanically poor choice without any interesting special abilities. I play plenty of dwarves in other games.

I don't have the metrics that Obsidian have access to of course, but it doesn't surprise me that there are few dwarves and I think it has little to do with mechanics.

 

I've played a lot of different online RPG's over the years and dwarves are never plentifull. Of the traditional races, humans and elves are in a vast majority. I'd rather think it has to do with being able to identify with those races, rather than mechanics.

I find it much easier to identify with short grumpy people with beards than skinny tree-hugging namby-pambies.

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by Fardragon

I don't usually play Dwarves myself, but i LOVE them as companions.

 

Much prefer them over pompous elves.

Bloody elves. Thinking they're so much better than us.

... I'll show them... I'll show them all!

I also never play dwarven MCs but I like to have them as companions.

I like to play big and scary characters (half orcs in DnD or trolls in Shadowrun) and a dwarf is only half that. I require more Grrrh! in my characters.

People don't play dwarves because in most cases they don't make them look that distinct. They usually look like short humans. In Warhammer Dwarves are more unique with their proportions right and their beards covering their entire bodies. DOS2 had great Dwarves too imo. Just look how they walk. I mean I played one! And they are unique in the world; you can do a lot as dwarf with others dwarves too. You can feel like one. WoW had very good dwarves also.

Pillars' dwarves are some of the worst I've seen in fantasy tbh and they didn't even made them stand out as a race. This goes for Pillars' elves too. Only maybe Boreal dwarves and Pale elves are somewhat more interesting because of culture if anything.

My first choice was a human fighter with a greatsword, so... guilty as charged. He's not white, though... more like brown? He's from Ixamitl.

 

I do like playing dwarves, though, and I'd much sooner play one than an elf. Though I haven't played one in Pillars. My second character was an orlan, and my third playthrough never came to be. But if I do try it before Deadfire comes out, it may well be a dwarf. Perhaps a dwarven priest?

 

Even more than humans, though, I like playing goblins and similar. Which isn't an option in Pillars, as orlan are more like fuzzy halflings. 'Course, it very rarely is an option, so I default to humans or dwarves.

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by MortyTheGobbo

There are people who want pre-buffing actually in Pillars II. I'm like, "No, dude." Because it's these things that create gulfs. We have buffs, and they're powerful buffs, but you can't pre-buff. You have to do it in combat. So there's an opportunity cost. The smart character can still time the things out and be crafty and clever, but it doesn't create this enormous gap between players.

 

 

True. Example with Neverwinter nights 2 :

 

 

16 pre-buff. 60s / level = ~ok

 

6 pre-buff 6s / level = Generally each big battle if not you rest extremly often...

 

Pre-buff break the rythm and promotes full knowledge of the game.

 

absurdly long ! Sawyer is right.

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by theBalthazar

My first playthrough is almost always a dwarf and his name is always Poomchucker. In PoE he was a mage. Second playthrough, I try to find something that is good for roleplay, in the case of PoE a female, black human that I called Seeräuber-Jenny. At first that was meant as kind of a joke, but she became my favourite character and will replace my beloved dwarf as my new default. Third playthrough is for humor and powergaming, in PoE I plan to play a gay barbarian named Calas. No mocking of homosexuals intended, I just had that idea that Calas would be a good name for a gay barbarian.

So my characters are very different and of course that includes dwarfs. The cliche characters (Mental disturbed necromancers, dumb barbarians and stuff like that) are for my third playthrough as it is always the humorous one, where I try out how far the game lets me go.

I think it is good that they reduced pre buffing. In the IE games and NWN1+2 sometimes this took longer than the fight itself.

This was my favourite main char in NWN2: http://nwn2db.com/build/?180624

At higher levels you enter a dungeon and than you cast tons of spells (persistent bless, divine favour, mass aid, prayer, haste (by your wizard) and stone skin (not persistent, but it lasts long), maybe some other spells. Then I could clear the whole dungeon without problems.

My first char was a fighter/berserker/weapon master with a huge weapon and tons of str and con, but he was much weaker than my "priest" because I did not know the advantages of eternal pre buffing.

 

Now you have some opportunity cost. In combat, should I deal damage right away or should I cast some buffs while enemies attack me. At least in theory.

In practice the chars used their instant self buffs (disciplined strikes, thunderous blows, mirror image type spells and so on, the priest cast dire blessing on the party and then everybody bashes the enemy like crazy. At the moment I have no good idea how to balance this.