Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Colour Spray]

Like Lacrymas said the xp penalty isn't a huge deal. Even the gold you spend is only worth maybe one item. At one point i had a level 4 wizard with a level 2 barbarian, but now everybody is on the brink of level 5 and my main character is only half a level ahead.

Speaking of items, I think i should probably find the local Adventurer's Mart soon now that I'm sitting on 10k gold. All of my characters only have between 3 and 1 items equipped (discluding weapons). This game really keeps its loot to itself; C'mon man, i've got 6 characters each with 8 item slots and you've barely given me 3 rings so far. A pair of boots? Can i just get a pair of boots at least?

 

[Lacrymas]

I found the missing xp negligible at the start and completely irrelevant by level 5, after 5 everyone is the same level at basically the same time.

 

[cannondwarf]

Like Lacrymas said the xp penalty isn't a huge deal. Even the gold you spend is only worth maybe one item. At one point i had a level 4 wizard with a level 2 barbarian, but now everybody is on the brink of level 5 and my main character is only half a level ahead.

Speaking of items, I think i should probably find the local Adventurer's Mart soon now that I'm sitting on 10k gold. All of my characters only have between 3 and 1 items equipped (discluding weapons). This game really keeps its loot to itself; C'mon man, i've got 6 characters each with 8 item slots and you've barely given me 3 rings so far. A pair of boots? Can i just get a pair of boots at least?

I'd rather use that money on Tall Grass or The Hours of St. Rumbault, rings aren't really worth much at that level anyways

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

XP penalty, crippling? WTF? You can't even have a full party until you run into Sagani, and you have to run with 4 companions until you run into Kana. Meanwhile, it's trivial to have a 6-man group of custom made adventurers right after arriving to Gilded Vale. 6 beats 4, even if they are slightly underleveled.

 

[Colour Spray]

I'd rather use that money of Tall Grass or The Hours of St. Rumbault, rings aren't really worth much at that level anyways

Sounds like Dyrford village is where all the sweet items are at. I ended up buying Telda's Ring and Belt of the Stelgaer before i read your reply but i am still in the market for a good two-handed weapon. Probably not gonna get a pike though, as much as I like spears; three of my spell casters have bows already so mono-piercing damage doesn't sound like a good idea. Thanks for the heads up; I probably would have missed those before moving on to the White March otherwise.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I'd rather use that money of Tall Grass or The Hours of St. Rumbault, rings aren't really worth much at that level anyways

Sounds like Dyrford village is where all the sweet items are at. I ended up buying Telda's Ring and Belt of the Stelgaer before i read your reply but i am still in the market for a good two-handed weapon. Probably not gonna get a pike though, as much as I like spears; three of my spell casters have bows already so mono-piercing damage doesn't sound like a good idea. Thanks for the heads up; I probably would have missed those before moving on to the White March otherwise.

The reason pike is so good is the passive.

 

[Colour Spray]

It does sound really good. I like the fact that both of the unique properties synergize with each other, too; whereas the sword seems better if you can already enable crits well enough. Hmm, well if it's that much better than the sword i could always swap back to scepters and rods.

I do like the flexibility of two damage types; Although now that i think about it I could just switch between damage types in weapon sets, even if that sounds a little aids.

 

[Haplo]

Like Lacrymas said the xp penalty isn't a huge deal. Even the gold you spend is only worth maybe one item. At one point i had a level 4 wizard with a level 2 barbarian, but now everybody is on the brink of level 5 and my main character is only half a level ahead.

Speaking of items, I think i should probably find the local Adventurer's Mart soon now that I'm sitting on 10k gold. All of my characters only have between 3 and 1 items equipped (discluding weapons). This game really keeps its loot to itself; C'mon man, i've got 6 characters each with 8 item slots and you've barely given me 3 rings so far. A pair of boots? Can i just get a pair of boots at least?

I'd rather use that money on Tall Grass or The Hours of St. Rumbault, rings aren't really worth much at that level anyways

True, true. So you need to reach Dyrwood for some serious shopping methinks. Both those weapons are awesome and, after some upgrades, very end-game worthy (Hours of St. Rumbaldt is my favorite weapon in PoE overall). Of course my last game was with a Barbarian, so I may be skewed.

 

[Haplo]

Chromatic Orb, Magic Missile and Friends stay relevant throughout the BGs. Some PoE spells do, too. From the priest spells, Withdraw, Armor of Faith, Blessing etc.

Or Wizard's Eldirith Aim and Chill Fog, to a lesser degree Slicken and Spirit Shield.
But I cast Eldirith Aim in every serious combat.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

Eldritch aim doesn't stack with any other accuracy boosting spell. I use blessing/radiance/scroll of valor instead.

 

[Lacrymas]

Just completed White March 1. All in all it wasn't that different from the OC, it was like a slightly better version (less text). I wouldn't say the encounters were incredibly well made or memorable tbh, the Durgan Sirens were incredibly annoying, though, high defenses and almost being able to spam AoE stuns. The hardest battle was the Gleaming Society, every other fight and bounty paled in comparison (I haven't seriously tackled the Alpine dragon yet), I 2-shot the last battle of Durgan's Battery and that's because I wasn't ready for them to spawn directly on me and didn't position myself at all on the first try. Speaking of Durgan's Battery, it reminded me of IWD in a good way. What was massively different and better was the sense of adventure, you aren't being led by the nose but actually going around doing stuff on your own accord (mostly). It also surprised me with its length (that's what she said), I thought it was going to be shorter because of the "part 1" tag.

I'll finish act 2 now and then go to part 2.

 

[Haplo]

Eldritch aim doesn't stack with any other accuracy boosting spell. I use blessing/radiance/scroll of valor instead.

I believe it did for me. I did use Devotions of the Faithfull in every fight + Gallant's Focus aura. And often Inspiring Radiance.
But I believe Eldirith Aim still helped.

 

[Lacrymas]

Devotions for the Faithful + Crowns for the Faithful + Shields for the Faithful is absolutely broken, you become an unstoppable force.

 

[Prime Junta]

Devotions for the Faithful + Crowns for the Faithful + Shields for the Faithful is absolutely broken, you become an unstoppable force.

You still have a certain amount of trouble with Lagufaeth broodmothers and sirens. Or so I've heard anyway.

 

[Haplo]

Devotions for the Faithful + Crowns for the Faithful + Shields for the Faithful is absolutely broken, you become an unstoppable force.

Yeah, those are golden. Though I didn't use Shields for the Faithful much. It competes with the Prayer against Imprisonment and Salvation of Time (and Revive the Fallen).
But I also loved using Spark the Souls of the Righteous in the rare event when I had the time to properly buff.

 

[Lacrymas]

You still have a certain amount of trouble with Lagufaeth broodmothers and sirens. Or so I've heard anyway.

Once I used DAoM pots the broodmothers weren't a problem anymore and that's only the fight with 3 of them. While sirens are annoying (due to high defenses) I wouldn't say I had difficulty with them.

 

[Iznaliu]

XP penalty, crippling? WTF? You can't even have a full party until you run into Sagani, and you have to run with 4 companions until you run into Kana. Meanwhile, it's trivial to have a 6-man group of custom made adventurers right after arriving to Gilded Vale. 6 beats 4, even if they are slightly underleveled.

Some people seem to wait a bit until getting companions.

 

[Jason Liang]

XP penalty, crippling? WTF? You can't even have a full party until you run into Sagani, and you have to run with 4 companions until you run into Kana. Meanwhile, it's trivial to have a 6-man group of custom made adventurers right after arriving to Gilded Vale. 6 beats 4, even if they are slightly underleveled.

Some people seem to wait a bit until getting companions.

You get 50% more xp if you solo, and in 3.0 when you do finally recruit the pre-made companions get that full xp.

Not that you need that much xp- or companions- to beat the game. It took me < 10 hours to beat the game (not WM) the first time, playing solo rogue PotD.

 

[Lacrymas]

The Ultimate is also done in 10 hours as a rogue. If you skip most of the fights it's going to be fast.

 

[Jason Liang]

The Ultimate is also done in 10 hours as a rogue. If you skip most of the fights it's going to be fast.

Yes but what's the fun in that? I killed everything that I could.

 

[Galdred]

XP penalty, crippling? WTF? You can't even have a full party until you run into Sagani, and you have to run with 4 companions until you run into Kana. Meanwhile, it's trivial to have a 6-man group of custom made adventurers right after arriving to Gilded Vale. 6 beats 4, even if they are slightly underleveled.

So am I really shooting myself in the foot in taking companions instead of no name adventurers?
They managed to show that "no dump stat" was just empty talk by designing such a cast of incompetent characters.
I have to edit their stat, decrease their XP, and decrease gold appropriately to have capable party members that talk?

 

[Seaking4]

No you're not. You can beat the game just fine with the companions. They are each (or at least the one's I've used) more than capable of holding their own in combat. In fact, it probably gets too easy if you use only created adventures.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

XP penalty, crippling? WTF? You can't even have a full party until you run into Sagani, and you have to run with 4 companions until you run into Kana. Meanwhile, it's trivial to have a 6-man group of custom made adventurers right after arriving to Gilded Vale. 6 beats 4, even if they are slightly underleveled.

So am I really shooting myself in the foot in taking companions instead of no name adventurers?
They managed to show that "no dump stat" was just empty talk by designing such a cast of incompetent characters.
I have to edit their stat, decrease their XP, and decrease gold appropriately to have capable party members that talk?

That's entirely another conversation though. The premise was that xp penalty is too crippling early to take custom adventurers. That's not the case at all, as 6-man min-maxed party with items looted of companions will beat 4-man party made with just companions. But that is not to say that full-companion party isn't viable. It's in fact quite fine even on POTD, although some are better than others obviously.

 

[Lacrymas]

You can finish PotD with the companions, why would you is the question, though. "They talk" is a negative thing in this context, lol, and they have subpar stats.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I frozen crowned it with a rogue MC and 5 obsidian companions. I also did a 6 custom run.

The custom guys are moderately stronger. 90% of the difference came from having a custom priest. DEX is the most important stat for a priest and Durance has 9. 9....