Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Fry]

Picking it up again since maybe a month after original release. The early game seems to perform a lot better than I remember, but I haven't been in any huge fights yet.

I completely missed that every class now seems to have access to one (or more?) low level spells from every other class. Is that a 3.0 thing? Not sure I love it.

 

[Urbanolo]

Picking it up again since maybe a month after original release. The early game seems to perform a lot better than I remember, but I haven't been in any huge fights yet.

I completely missed that every class now seems to have access to one (or more?) low level spells from every other class. Is that a 3.0 thing? Not sure I love it.

It's a 2.0 thing.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The game was fine even in earlier versions.

Depends on what difficulty you played and what amount of challenge you expect and can take.

The main thing that made combat very easy in the early versions was the absence of enemy AI and the ease with which the player could create choke points or use a fighter to lock most of an enemy group in Engagement, and then the enemies would never target another character. This in turn led me to the feeling that none of my decisions mattered - how I'll equip my party, what abilities I'll use, etc. But this state of things ended with patch 2.0 in August.

There is one thing no one can honestly deny about PoE - Josh Sawyer put a lot of effort specifically into making the game in such way that the difficulty can be tuned for pretty much any kind of player. You have five difficulty settings, then all these options related to things like the UI cues, Stash accessibility, trial of iron mode, the option to play with a custom party vs the NPCs. Players have a lot of liberty to fine tune the level of challenge, and most of these options are available all the time during gameplay (with the exclusion of going down from PotD to an easier difficulty and disabling Trial of Iron).

 

[Urbanolo]

WM pt 2 is pretty bug ridden unfortunately. The Abyddon's hammer, which is supposedly a 2 handed weapon (it says so in the description) works as a 1 hander on my rogue, though the offhand animation looks like my char is hitting with a fist.

And my party members got white squares on the side, where the debuffs are that are bugged and don't represent anything (except saying 20 base damage without doing anything). Plus shitload of performance/corpse flickering issues.

But the fights are pretty hardcore so far (at least on the level scaled PotD) and that's nice, still better to wait for a patch or two if anyone's curious.

 

[Prime Junta]

The game was fine even in earlier versions.

Depends on what difficulty you played and what amount of challenge you expect and can take.

I'd have said that the game was fine since 2.00. The 1.x versions were problematic for the reasons you listed -- mainly the AI, as well as balance issues which made rote brute-force tactics viable. There were other major warts there as well, like the lack of per-character stealth.

I've played a bit in 3.00 and so far it's very much an incremental update. Not something that dramatically changes things. Bit of polish, bit of fine-tuning. Kind of surprising they even bothered -- I mean, it's clearly an improvement overall but pretty minor considering the work that must've gone into it.

Haven't gotten into WM yet so can't comment on how that's changed, if at all.

 

[tdphys]

Holy, Prayers against * grant Immunity ?! this will make hitting above your level so much easier... sawyer's a heretic , where's the balance!!

 

[Prime Junta]

I like the changes I've encountered so far.

• Knockout injuries are annoying enough that now I'm actually trying to avoid getting knocked out.
• Second Wind is a handy way to avoid getting knocked out. It does make things a good deal easier though, and devalues Lay on Hands and Savage Defiance etc.
• Survival bonuses from camping are neat-o.
• Getting rid of travel/combat fatigue is also good.

Together these changes mean that (1) I'm resting more strategically because I want to keep those Survival bonuses as long as possible, and fatigue doesn't gum up the works, and (2) I'm being more careful to avoid getting knocked out. It's a subtle change but it adds up to more dynamic play. It kinda makes the game easier, but it also raises the stakes for playing carelessly so overall it's a distinct improvement. I'm also distributing my skill points more evenly and actually thinking of my choices there which is also a nice improvement.

So yeah, 3.00 is an improvement. Not a dramatic improvement like 2.00, but it does add depth and polish.

 

[Arkeus]

Do tell what you think of the changes for chanter (that new talent looks super needed) as well as Wizard spell mastery later on.

 

[Prime Junta]

Do tell what you think of the changes for chanter (that new talent looks super needed) as well as Wizard spell mastery later on.

I don't have a wizard in my party, but I do have a priest. I think they get Spell Mastery also.

 

[Rev]

The game was fine even in earlier versions.

Not really. Just ask Sensuki.

Yeah, I know some people here had problems with the first version of the game, but to be honest I enjoyed even the 1.0 and if I have to point out any flaw it would be the useless stronghold and the lack of companions' interactivity (they have potential, but they should've interacted more with other NPCs and should've had more reactions to your choices instead of just following you whatever you do).

 

[Roguey]

I wouldn't call it a bug, more of a feature (PLEASE DON'T PATCH THIS OUT, OBSIDIAN!): If you forge the Hammer of Abydon while using a 1H-weapon and shield, the Hammer would only replace the weapon, allowing you to not only wield a 2H-weapon along with a shield, it's a 2H-giant fuckoff GODHAMMER. And that's fucking awesome!

If you don't want them to patch it out don't mention it at all you idiot!!!

Check your lease, man. Because you're living in

 

[Arkeus]

Freaking shades in Eothas temple have super high deflection and high DR I might have to come back later for those.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Freaking shades in Eothas temple have super high deflection and high DR I might have to come back later for those.

Fire mang. Burn those fuckers up.

 

[Prime Junta]

Freaking shades in Eothas temple have super high deflection and high DR I might have to come back later for those.

So find a way to reduce the deflection or DR, increase your ACC or DR reduction, or attack some other defence.

They're a pretty good practice enemy IMO actually. Once you've figured out a few ways to beat them, you know how the game works and will be able to figure out the rest.

Edit: if you go there at level 3 with only Edér and Aloth though you will be in real trouble

 

[AwesomeButton]

Freaking shades in Eothas temple have super high deflection and high DR I might have to come back later for those.

Fire damage, a tank with high DR, and someone with an estoc, that's how I got past them (PotD). A priest will help a lot too.

Another advice is to craft and use a Bulwark against the elements potion, it raises your DR vs cold (and other elemental) damage to crazy levels. Use it on Eder and your other front liner (one clicking "Craft" produces two potions).

I crafted a couple of Fan of Flames scrolls too, and gave them to my front line characters. The ones with the best Perception and Might is who you should give them to anyway, for maximum chances to hit and maximum damage.

I beat them with 4 party members (myself, Aloth, Eder, Durance) on lvl 3, I used consumables (food and drinks) and potions to raise some base stats and DR mostly.

I was also kind of lucky to find Rymgrand's Cloak at some early point, as random loot in some container. It gives +5 DR vs cold (Shadows, Shades and Phantoms only do cold damage), and returns 20% of the cold damage as healing, so Eder was pretty much untouchable, unless flanked.

 

[dragonul09]

Alright,why the fuck is this shit bogging down to 30-40 fps in the city and some other parts? Last time I played there weren't so many fucking fluctuations when it comes to performance,so what gives?

 

[Gentle Player]

I've started playing for the first time since release. Whilst I like many of the new changes, it seems that the only class which I personally found fun to play has been Balanced and is now much more plodding, duller, and less dynamic. All of the other classes that I've been able to try are as dull as they've ever been.

 

[CptMace]

Are they as dull as the fighter from IE games tho ?

 

[Bleed the Man]

Either I've been victim of the best bug ever, or Searing Falls has been drastically modified in terms of encounters. In PotD I've only encountered one combat close to the north entrance (one drake, three young drakes, and a few flame blights), and a patrolling young drake near the cave entrance. That's it. No xaurips in the center of the map, no more drakes, no more blights.

If this is intended, that's really good, but I thought they had only rebalanced the act 3/4/low od nua encounters.

 

[Infinitron]

Either I've been victim of the best bug ever, or Searing Falls has been drastically modified in terms of encounters. In PotD I've only encountered one combat close to the north entrance (one drake, three young drakes, and a few flame blights), and a patrolling young drake near the cave entrance. That's it. No xaurips in the center of the map, no more drakes, no more blights.

If this is intended, that's really good, but I thought they had only rebalanced the act 3/4/low od nua encounters.

Hmmm, looks like somebody complained about Searing Falls on Something Awful back in December, when Josh was canvassing for suggestions: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...06905&pagenumber=683&perpage=40#post453489290

 

[Orma]

Either I've been victim of the best bug ever, or Searing Falls has been drastically modified in terms of encounters. In PotD I've only encountered one combat close to the north entrance (one drake, three young drakes, and a few flame blights), and a patrolling young drake near the cave entrance. That's it. No xaurips in the center of the map, no more drakes, no more blights.

If this is intended, that's really good, but I thought they had only rebalanced the act 3/4/low od nua encounters.

I noticed there are like 2 missing encounters in the crossroads near the defiance bay entrance as well, don't know if it's a bug or they are just removing trash mobs

 

[Bleed the Man]

Either I've been victim of the best bug ever, or Searing Falls has been drastically modified in terms of encounters. In PotD I've only encountered one combat close to the north entrance (one drake, three young drakes, and a few flame blights), and a patrolling young drake near the cave entrance. That's it. No xaurips in the center of the map, no more drakes, no more blights.

If this is intended, that's really good, but I thought they had only rebalanced the act 3/4/low od nua encounters.

I noticed there are like 2 missing encounters in the crossroads near the defiance bay entrance as well, don't know if it's a bug or they are just removing trash mobs

Woodened Plains, right? I thought I was rememebring things wrong, but now that you mention it, I also noticed some encounters missing, most notably another fight with lurkers (or trolls? don't remember wich) and pwgras similar to the one you have near the north entrance.

 

[Immortal]

Either I've been victim of the best bug ever, or Searing Falls has been drastically modified in terms of encounters. In PotD I've only encountered one combat close to the north entrance (one drake, three young drakes, and a few flame blights), and a patrolling young drake near the cave entrance. That's it. No xaurips in the center of the map, no more drakes, no more blights.

If this is intended, that's really good, but I thought they had only rebalanced the act 3/4/low od nua encounters.

Hmmm, looks like somebody complained about Searing Falls on Something Awful back in December, when Josh was canvassing for suggestions: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...06905&pagenumber=683&perpage=40#post453489290

This was one of the most obnoxious instances of useless trash encounters. I applaud trimming the fat but that just makes the area look even more barrren and empty..
There is nothing there except a background image and a cave entrance.

 

[Infinitron]

Now I'm curious to see whether the Skaen Temple has been changed.

 

[Immortal]

Now I'm curious to see whether the Skaen Temple has been changed.

But Skaen temple is totally fine.. Not every dungeon can be Beneath the Beef or whatever.
Like remember in Skaen Temple you can decide how you do it.. do you go left or right?

Much Choices, Such Depth ~ Wow!