Eternity Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Pre-Release Thread [BETA RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Lacrymas]

It breaks balance at around 9th level and the higher you go the easier it gets, yeah. PoE2's PotD might be balanced with the assumption you will be munchkining, who knows, at least I hope so. What's the point of 5 difficulties if one of them isn't a masochist's dream?

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

People don't min-max because it's necessary to beat the game, people min-max because they enjoy min-maxing.

 

[Grunker]

It's pointless to create your own party in PoE because the difficulty doesn't support it. There would have to be a setting harder than PotD to justify munchkining your companions, currently it just breaks all semblance of balance.

To be fair, this is also the case for all of the IE games. Even the IWDs which assume you're building your own party. Make a really properly optimised one and it is a bit of a snooze.

It's not pointless in PoE because I usually make my builds even more gimped than the companions by making weird off-kilter stuff. Having the freedom to build doesn't mean you min-max, and if you do... why the hell not?

And you're entirely incorrect about the IE-games Prime Junta, because: SCS.

 

[Parabalus]

It's pointless to create your own party in PoE because the difficulty doesn't support it. There would have to be a setting harder than PotD to justify munchkining your companions, currently it just breaks all semblance of balance.

To be fair, this is also the case for all of the IE games. Even the IWDs which assume you're building your own party. Make a really properly optimised one and it is a bit of a snooze.

It's not pointless in PoE because I usually make my builds even more gimped than the companions by making weird off-kilter stuff. Having the freedom to build doesn't mean you min-max, and if you do... why the hell not?

And you're entirely incorrect about the IE-games Prime Junta, because: SCS.

Only thing PoE companion respec doesn't have is priest/pala orders. Races/Attributes are immaterial if you're making gimped stuff since they only change numbers, not flavour.

I don't see how SCS changes anything, even with the more autistic Weimer's Tactics I used stock NPCs. Munchkining just your PC is more than enough. Can't imagine what a breeze the game would be with shit like 6 sorcerers or kensai/x dual.

 

[Grunker]

It's pointless to create your own party in PoE because the difficulty doesn't support it. There would have to be a setting harder than PotD to justify munchkining your companions, currently it just breaks all semblance of balance.

To be fair, this is also the case for all of the IE games. Even the IWDs which assume you're building your own party. Make a really properly optimised one and it is a bit of a snooze.

It's not pointless in PoE because I usually make my builds even more gimped than the companions by making weird off-kilter stuff. Having the freedom to build doesn't mean you min-max, and if you do... why the hell not?

And you're entirely incorrect about the IE-games Prime Junta, because: SCS.

Only thing PoE companion respec doesn't have is priest/pala orders.

At least read the discussion if you're going to partake in it

 

[Prime Junta]

SCS

Sure, it's different if you include mods.

 

[Lacrymas]

There's no SCS for Icewind Dale, unfortunately. I've always wondered why nobody hired the modder who created SCS, I think he did a great job with the AI and utilizing the combat system. I'd love to see an SCS mod for PoE.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

It's a bit of a dead-end of a discussion honestly. We're basically all arguing to have a game tuned towards our personal gameplay preferences, so it's not even a debate, it's a collection of extremely biased opinions.

My usual playstyle is as follows:

First playthrough on Normal or Hard, so I can figure out the systems in a relaxed way and enjoy a bit of storyfagottry. I also absolutely refuse to read or use any outside resources, build and itemization advice, walkthroughs, let's play, whatever. I play it oldschool like it's 1985, no internet unless I'm really totally stuck.

If I like the game enough I do another playthrough, but this time on max difficulty, everything min-maxed to the bone and use every resource available to pimp up the party and make it steamroll the content in most efficient way possible. In PoE this also means using custom companions.

So for my playstyle unlocking companion customization only on subsequent playthroughs is a nice compromise, but for somebody else it might just not work.

 

[Ulfhednar]

It's a bit of a dead-end of a discussion honestly. We're basically all arguing to have a game tuned towards our personal gameplay preferences, so it's not even a debate, it's a collection of extremely biased opinions.

My usual playstyle is as follows:

First playthrough on Normal or Hard, so I can figure out the systems in a relaxed way and enjoy a bit of storyfagottry. I also absolutely refuse to read or use any outside resources, build and itemization advice, walkthroughs, let's play, whatever. I play it oldschool like it's 1985, no internet unless I'm really totally stuck.

If I like the game enough I do another playthrough, but this time on max difficulty, everything min-maxed to the bone and use every resource available to pimp up the party and make it steamroll the content in most efficient way possible. In PoE this also means using custom companions.

So for my playstyle unlocking companion customization only on subsequent playthroughs is a nice compromise, but for somebody else it might just not work.

This is pretty much exactly how I played PoE.

 

[Krzysiek]

There's no SCS for Icewind Dale, unfortunately. I've always wondered why nobody hired the modder who created SCS, I think he did a great job with the AI and utilizing the combat system. I'd love to see an SCS mod for PoE.

IIRC DavidW had higher aspirations than to be part of the game industry.
Btw, SCS is what make BGII true timeless game for me.

 

[Iznaliu]

And you're entirely incorrect about the IE-games Prime Junta, because: SCS.

For the last time, a game with a major difficulty-increasing mod cannot be compared to a game without one.

 

[Quillon]

 

[Urthor]

Yeah, because on a first playthrough you are going to know which stat/feat/talent is useful and which isn't.

lolwut. Just because you haven't learnt the system inside and out doesn't mean you don't want full control over the stat sheet. I love spending 5h staring at my statsheets and googling the damage formulas before I even play the tutorial, then rerolling my entire party after the tutorial or replaying the tutorial, and I'm definitely not a Path of the Damned player because I rarely ever have multiple playthroughs of a single RPG to learn the mechanics inside and out. Sure 90% of players might not be like me, but I'd love to have full control over Eder's stat sheet on my first play through and have full control of the stat sheet of 5 voiced party members, not just the Watcher. And there should be an option in the menu to cater to that.

 

[Sentinel]

Prepare for unforeseen consequences.

 

[santino27]

Wildrhymer? Really?

Chanter Druid, I guess?

 

[Rivmusique]

"Wildrhymer"

Rein him in.

 

[TT1]

First columm is Chanter.
Second is Cipher
Third is druid

 

[TT1]

Cantor, Transcendent and Ascetic are monks, for sure

 

[Sentinel]

Loremaster, Hierophant and Sorcerer are fighter 100%.

 

[santino27]

First columm is Chanter.
Second is Cipher
Third is druid

That must make wildrhymer chanter-ranger or chanter-barbarian then, and theurge = chanter-druid, given the null entry in the third column for that row.

Edit: I guess Beastmaster (ranger-druid? barb-druid?) makes that even more apparent.

 

[TT1]

Barbarian/ Chanter = Howler
Barbarian/ Cipher = Witch
Barbarian/ Druid = Tempest
Barbarian/ Fighter = Brute
Barbarian/ Monk = Ravager
Barbarian/ Paladin = Fanatic
Barbarian/ Priest = Shaman
Barbarian/ Ranger = Savage
Barbarian/ Rogue = Marauder
Barbarian/ Wizard = Warlock
Rogue/ Druid = Pathfinder
Rogue/ Ranger = Scout

A LOT more to come

Pathfinder = rogue/druid. So, that row is rogue

 

[TT1]

My bets on the Visible rows:

Druid
Paladin
Priest
Monk
Ranger
Rogue
Wizard

 

[santino27]

My bets on the Visible rows:

Druid
Paladin
Priest
Monk
Ranger
Rogue
Wizard

Agreed. The "ranger" row is just weird though. Cipher + ranger = seer? Seems like there could have been a better choice there.

 

[Hyperion]

Wildrhymer is by far the worst of the bunch. Minstrel, Troubadour, Jongleur actually make sense. I highly doubt all 3 were used. Seer is awkward as fuck, Sawyer should have used a thesaurus because Haruspex fits the outdoor / 'nature' phenomenon of Ranger better. I suppose it's possible he's looking to avoid using words whose origins are specific to real world cultures, but Wildrhymer is bad enough that I wouldn't choose that multiclass based entirely on how shitty the name is.

 

[Prime Junta]

They probably came up with these names in order to ensure that the rage is focused on something inconsequential.