Josh Sawyer's tweets and teasers, part 2

[VincentNZ]

Just to share a an anecdote I had with dwarfs: I used to play Lord of the Rings Online and they naturally had a larger portion of roleplaying people. So you got somewhat used to people talking in chat in character.

I then went on a raid or something with a few randoms and this dwarf fellow had a really squeaky voice and I thought his Teamspeak must have been messed up until somebody told me that this guy was actually roleplaying a female dwarf. I never looked at dwarves in the same way. :D

[Juodas Varnas]

Just to share a an anecdote I had with dwarfs: I used to play Lord of the Rings Online and they naturally had a larger portion of roleplaying people. So you got somewhat used to people talking in chat in character.

I then went on a raid or something with a few randoms and this dwarf fellow had a really squeaky voice and I thought his Teamspeak must have been messed up until somebody told me that this guy was actually roleplaying a female dwarf. I never looked at dwarves in the same way. :D

[Aramintai]

Well, it's obvious that maining a dwarf isn't a popular choice in most rpgs (unless it's a game where you can only play as a dwarf). If devs love dwarves so much they could have shown us how cool they can be by putting more dwarves companions into the game. But no, we only got boring Sagani and a sidekick without any quests.

[Aramintai]

Who's that candle-cranium dude?

That one is weird indeed. But I'm more curious about the demon creature, I saw some demon portraits in beta files as well. Wonder what those are. A new race of creatures?

[Juodas Varnas]

 

Who's that candle-cranium dude?

That one is weird indeed. But I'm more curious about the demon creature, I saw some demon portraits in beta files as well. Wonder what those are. A new race of creatures?

It's probably an imp, we've seen some in the short videos they've released, haven't we?

[Wormerine]

But no, we only got boring Sagani and a sidekick without any quests.

Well, at least Sagani showed that dwarfs can be interesting. I was creating a new character in PoE1 and I was considering creating a dwarf femal mage, just to mess with Obsidian's data but sadly no good portraits for a mage dwarf. Had to go with old good wizard elf.

[Aramintai]

 

 

Who's that candle-cranium dude?

That one is weird indeed. But I'm more curious about the demon creature, I saw some demon portraits in beta files as well. Wonder what those are. A new race of creatures?

It's probably an imp, we've seen some in the short videos they've released, haven't we?

 

What are imps then?

[Juodas Varnas]

 

 

 

Who's that candle-cranium dude?

That one is weird indeed. But I'm more curious about the demon creature, I saw some demon portraits in beta files as well. Wonder what those are. A new race of creatures?

It's probably an imp, we've seen some in the short videos they've released, haven't we?

 

What are imps then?

 

https://twitter.com/WorldofEternity/status/953749003010637824

[Aramintai]

 

 

 

 

Who's that candle-cranium dude?

That one is weird indeed. But I'm more curious about the demon creature, I saw some demon portraits in beta files as well. Wonder what those are. A new race of creatures?

It's probably an imp, we've seen some in the short videos they've released, haven't we?

 

What are imps then?

 

https://twitter.com/WorldofEternity/status/953749003010637824

 

Ok, new creatures then. Judging from the portraits files you can have one on the ship.

[Juodas Varnas]

 

 

 

 

 

Who's that candle-cranium dude?

That one is weird indeed. But I'm more curious about the demon creature, I saw some demon portraits in beta files as well. Wonder what those are. A new race of creatures?

It's probably an imp, we've seen some in the short videos they've released, haven't we?

 

What are imps then?

 

https://twitter.com/WorldofEternity/status/953749003010637824

 

Ok, new creatures then. Judging from the portraits files you can have one on the ship.

Yeah, worthless idiot.

[Sedrefilos]

In Icewind Dales I always had at least one dwarf fighter in my frontline. In BG2 I had Korgan with me (mostly because he was a broken fighter). All you need is lore and personality. Eora dwarves are boring that's for sure. Except Sagani. I kept her with me a lot because I liked her character; as ranger she was meh.

[rjshae]

You'd think, given the Dwarven reputation as underground dwellers, that they would have a reputation for a deeper intimacy with Adra and its properties.

[Sedrefilos]

You'd think, given the Dwarven reputation as underground dwellers, that they would have a reputation for a deeper intimacy with Adra and its properties.

Dwarves aren't well though out in Pillars. They're very generic. They just put them because people expected the game to have underground dwarves. Good thing, though, they put in the boreal ones. And its obvious they liked more than the generic dwraves because they put Sagani in the game.

[JerekKruger]

Honestly I'd say dwarfs are better thought out in Pillars because they are generic. I've always hated non-human races having some stereotype they all fit, with only humans being able to be completely rounded and varied individuals.

[Blades of Vanatar]

 

 

 

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!

I always try to play an unusual class and after getting my ass kicked a few times in the first fight, I start over as a fighter (or a rogue so I can scout ahead and don't get stumped by traps or locks). I'm doing it right now in the Deadfire beta. If you have to count on magic protection and good attacks that run out mid fight you have no choice but to hang back. That's a little like you're in the game's game if you know what I mean.

 

I look for characters that promise exciting interesting play and storyline. I don't play dwarves because they are (traditionally) slow and don't feel different enough to be compelling in spite of that. I've played Godlike in PoE but (I don't think) you can change the appearance so it hasn't become my thing. Everyone who plays is playing the same character and that doesn't appeal. I don't think I've ever played a human in an RPG. I've also never played as a white dude though I do in fact make the character resemble me as much as possible.

I currently have 3 play throughs as a dwarf. A Barb, a Battle Priest of Magran and a Chanter (Solo). I love Dwarves. Borreals for exceptional DPS builds and Mountain Dwarves for more of a RP/Story experience. BGEEs brought us Dwarven Defenders. Played that class first upon the EE releases. I have 3 close friends who played PoE, they all played at least one completed game with a dwarf. I guess they can track metrics these days via Steam and what have you but that they are saying no one plays dwarves and no one plays Priests seems very odd to me.

It doesn't seems odd to me. Play any MMORPGs and watch how many DPS they are compared to tank and healers (answers: healer and tanks are super rare) and the race distribution: dwarf is always at the bottom.

But this isn’t a MMORPG. I fully understand the DPS solo play of the MMORPG. POE is a completely different type of monster.

[morhilane]

 

[skip]

 

It doesn't seems odd to me. Play any MMORPGs and watch how many DPS they are compared to tank and healers (answers: healer and tanks are super rare) and the race distribution: dwarf is always at the bottom.

But this isn’t a MMORPG. I fully understand the DPS solo play of the MMORPG. POE is a completely different type of monster.

 

Game type has nothing to do with why people pick mostly DPS classes and why they mostly play humans. It's psychological.

[Yosharian]

 

 

 

 

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!

I always try to play an unusual class and after getting my ass kicked a few times in the first fight, I start over as a fighter (or a rogue so I can scout ahead and don't get stumped by traps or locks). I'm doing it right now in the Deadfire beta. If you have to count on magic protection and good attacks that run out mid fight you have no choice but to hang back. That's a little like you're in the game's game if you know what I mean.

 

I look for characters that promise exciting interesting play and storyline. I don't play dwarves because they are (traditionally) slow and don't feel different enough to be compelling in spite of that. I've played Godlike in PoE but (I don't think) you can change the appearance so it hasn't become my thing. Everyone who plays is playing the same character and that doesn't appeal. I don't think I've ever played a human in an RPG. I've also never played as a white dude though I do in fact make the character resemble me as much as possible.

I currently have 3 play throughs as a dwarf. A Barb, a Battle Priest of Magran and a Chanter (Solo). I love Dwarves. Borreals for exceptional DPS builds and Mountain Dwarves for more of a RP/Story experience. BGEEs brought us Dwarven Defenders. Played that class first upon the EE releases. I have 3 close friends who played PoE, they all played at least one completed game with a dwarf. I guess they can track metrics these days via Steam and what have you but that they are saying no one plays dwarves and no one plays Priests seems very odd to me.

It doesn't seems odd to me. Play any MMORPGs and watch how many DPS they are compared to tank and healers (answers: healer and tanks are super rare) and the race distribution: dwarf is always at the bottom.

But this isn’t a MMORPG. I fully understand the DPS solo play of the MMORPG. POE is a completely different type of monster.

 

 

It's pretty obvious that most people like to play a character that is similar to their own physiology.  It's basic psychology.

 

As for healers, same psychology applies, people want to be leaders, not support characters.

 

Of course this doesn't mean everyone plays like this but we are talking about averages, not individuals.

[KDubya]

Dwarves are my go to race in most any game. 

 

That said, i believe that Pillars of Eternity and their whole world would have been better off if they had kept both Dwarves and Elves out of the game and just stuck with Human, Aumaua, Godlike and Orlan. Would have been original and the lore would have fit just fine. Pandering to nostalgic backers made for some bland races.

[PneumaticFire]

 

 

 

 

 

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!

I always try to play an unusual class and after getting my ass kicked a few times in the first fight, I start over as a fighter (or a rogue so I can scout ahead and don't get stumped by traps or locks). I'm doing it right now in the Deadfire beta. If you have to count on magic protection and good attacks that run out mid fight you have no choice but to hang back. That's a little like you're in the game's game if you know what I mean.

 

I look for characters that promise exciting interesting play and storyline. I don't play dwarves because they are (traditionally) slow and don't feel different enough to be compelling in spite of that. I've played Godlike in PoE but (I don't think) you can change the appearance so it hasn't become my thing. Everyone who plays is playing the same character and that doesn't appeal. I don't think I've ever played a human in an RPG. I've also never played as a white dude though I do in fact make the character resemble me as much as possible.

I currently have 3 play throughs as a dwarf. A Barb, a Battle Priest of Magran and a Chanter (Solo). I love Dwarves. Borreals for exceptional DPS builds and Mountain Dwarves for more of a RP/Story experience. BGEEs brought us Dwarven Defenders. Played that class first upon the EE releases. I have 3 close friends who played PoE, they all played at least one completed game with a dwarf. I guess they can track metrics these days via Steam and what have you but that they are saying no one plays dwarves and no one plays Priests seems very odd to me.

It doesn't seems odd to me. Play any MMORPGs and watch how many DPS they are compared to tank and healers (answers: healer and tanks are super rare) and the race distribution: dwarf is always at the bottom.

But this isn’t a MMORPG. I fully understand the DPS solo play of the MMORPG. POE is a completely different type of monster.

It's pretty obvious that most people like to play a character that is similar to their own physiology. It's basic psychology.

 

As for healers, same psychology applies, people want to be leaders, not support characters.

 

Of course this doesn't mean everyone plays like this but we are talking about averages, not individuals.

True, and a reason I made the post asking why people play the classes that they do.

 

I'd say that perhaps the DPS popularity is more commonly associated with a need to feel empowered and strong, being able to enforce one's will over others. A leader can be the healer/buffer/speaker like real life leaders who orchestrate the team to their strengths.

Edited March 19, 2018 by PneumaticFire

[Yosharian]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

I always try to play an unusual class and after getting my ass kicked a few times in the first fight, I start over as a fighter (or a rogue so I can scout ahead and don't get stumped by traps or locks). I'm doing it right now in the Deadfire beta. If you have to count on magic protection and good attacks that run out mid fight you have no choice but to hang back. That's a little like you're in the game's game if you know what I mean.

 

I look for characters that promise exciting interesting play and storyline. I don't play dwarves because they are (traditionally) slow and don't feel different enough to be compelling in spite of that. I've played Godlike in PoE but (I don't think) you can change the appearance so it hasn't become my thing. Everyone who plays is playing the same character and that doesn't appeal. I don't think I've ever played a human in an RPG. I've also never played as a white dude though I do in fact make the character resemble me as much as possible.

I currently have 3 play throughs as a dwarf. A Barb, a Battle Priest of Magran and a Chanter (Solo). I love Dwarves. Borreals for exceptional DPS builds and Mountain Dwarves for more of a RP/Story experience. BGEEs brought us Dwarven Defenders. Played that class first upon the EE releases. I have 3 close friends who played PoE, they all played at least one completed game with a dwarf. I guess they can track metrics these days via Steam and what have you but that they are saying no one plays dwarves and no one plays Priests seems very odd to me.

It doesn't seems odd to me. Play any MMORPGs and watch how many DPS they are compared to tank and healers (answers: healer and tanks are super rare) and the race distribution: dwarf is always at the bottom.

But this isn’t a MMORPG. I fully understand the DPS solo play of the MMORPG. POE is a completely different type of monster.

It's pretty obvious that most people like to play a character that is similar to their own physiology. It's basic psychology.

 

As for healers, same psychology applies, people want to be leaders, not support characters.

 

Of course this doesn't mean everyone plays like this but we are talking about averages, not individuals.

True, and a reason I made the post asking why people play the classes that they do.

 

I'd say that perhaps the DPS popularity is more commonly associated with a need to feel empowered and strong, being able to enforce one's will over others. A leader can be the healer/buffer/speaker like real life leaders who orchestrate the team to their strengths.

 

 

Isn't it one of the reasons the D&D Cleric was made into a heavy armor tank that could bash people's brains in with a mace, and gradually became an all-conquering, all-powerful meat grinder at higher levels?  Because nobody wants to be a wimpy healer?

 

I'm sure I read that somewhere about the original design of the Cleric.

[George_Truman]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

I always try to play an unusual class and after getting my ass kicked a few times in the first fight, I start over as a fighter (or a rogue so I can scout ahead and don't get stumped by traps or locks). I'm doing it right now in the Deadfire beta. If you have to count on magic protection and good attacks that run out mid fight you have no choice but to hang back. That's a little like you're in the game's game if you know what I mean.

 

I look for characters that promise exciting interesting play and storyline. I don't play dwarves because they are (traditionally) slow and don't feel different enough to be compelling in spite of that. I've played Godlike in PoE but (I don't think) you can change the appearance so it hasn't become my thing. Everyone who plays is playing the same character and that doesn't appeal. I don't think I've ever played a human in an RPG. I've also never played as a white dude though I do in fact make the character resemble me as much as possible.

I currently have 3 play throughs as a dwarf. A Barb, a Battle Priest of Magran and a Chanter (Solo). I love Dwarves. Borreals for exceptional DPS builds and Mountain Dwarves for more of a RP/Story experience. BGEEs brought us Dwarven Defenders. Played that class first upon the EE releases. I have 3 close friends who played PoE, they all played at least one completed game with a dwarf. I guess they can track metrics these days via Steam and what have you but that they are saying no one plays dwarves and no one plays Priests seems very odd to me.

It doesn't seems odd to me. Play any MMORPGs and watch how many DPS they are compared to tank and healers (answers: healer and tanks are super rare) and the race distribution: dwarf is always at the bottom.

But this isn’t a MMORPG. I fully understand the DPS solo play of the MMORPG. POE is a completely different type of monster.

It's pretty obvious that most people like to play a character that is similar to their own physiology. It's basic psychology.

 

As for healers, same psychology applies, people want to be leaders, not support characters.

 

Of course this doesn't mean everyone plays like this but we are talking about averages, not individuals.

True, and a reason I made the post asking why people play the classes that they do.

 

I'd say that perhaps the DPS popularity is more commonly associated with a need to feel empowered and strong, being able to enforce one's will over others. A leader can be the healer/buffer/speaker like real life leaders who orchestrate the team to their strengths.

 

 

Isn't it one of the reasons the D&D Cleric was made into a heavy armor tank that could bash people's brains in with a mace, and gradually became an all-conquering, all-powerful meat grinder at higher levels?  Because nobody wants to be a wimpy healer?

 

I'm sure I read that somewhere about the original design of the Cleric.

 

Golly that's a lot of quotes

[Night Stalker]

Hey Josh, played a bit of the backer beta and noticed that multiple weapon sets no longer show up on characters. Was it taken out or just not implemented in the beta? I personally loved the "Armed to the Teeth" vibe our characters could have in PoE, and its absence in DF would be a darn shame IMHO.

[George_Truman]

Imagine how goofy you would look with 4 2handers on your back

[Juodas Varnas]

Imagine how goofy you would look with 4 2handers on your back

[Guest]

Imagine how goofy you would look with 4 2handers on your back

Not to mention the more things you render the more strain you put on your graphics card.