PoE Reviews

[MicoSelva]

I think Berathian Priest Robes (from Readric Hold quest) are the best light-medium armor in the game when it comes to DR to recovery penalty ratio, and they can still be enchanted.

They look pretty good too.

 

[Hatred]

I would agree about their effectiveness. Not the looks though. I thought they were straight up fuggers personally.

 

[J_C]

People are intentionally playing the game badly to increase combat diversity ? And then call the rest of us retarded...

What the fuck are you talking about? I (and some others) just said that I play on normal difficulty so playing with the most optimal build, using only the best spells is not mandatory. I'm playing more casually. You can say that I'm a casual faggot.

 

[Hatred]

What the fuck are you talking about? I (and some others) just said that I play on normal difficulty so playing with the most optimal build, using only the best spells is not mandatory.

uh even playing on PotD doesn't require optimal builds J_C.

 

[AN4RCHID]

It does seem a little funny to claim on the one hand that the game is too easy, and on the other that the only way to play is a single party configuration.

Yeah, it's not too difficult if you play in the safest and most boring playstyle possible. Other party builds are just as viable and more fun. After experimenting a little I wouldn't even say the two ultra-heavy tanks + 4 ultra-light ranged is even the optimal party, just the easiest and safest.

My current party configuration is: PC Monk in hide armour with fists, Eder in Saint's War armor and sabre/mid shield, Durance in gambeson and mace/small shield, Pallegina in breastplate and morning star, Grieving Mother in padded armor with crossbow, and Aloth in leather armor with a wand. GM and Aloth are my most squishy characters and even they can stand up to some melee combat. Everyone has good damage output, including my frontline. Everyone except my monk and Eder have both ranged and melee abilities.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'm sorry, but there is no such thing in this game as "other party builds", unless we talk about silly things like 6 wizards.

 

[Athelas]

I don't see how playing without a dedicated tank would be impossible, unless you find the game extraordinarily difficult for some reason.

 

[Ziem]

It does seem a little funny to claim on the one hand that the game is too easy, and on the other that the only way to play is a single party configuration.

2 tanks 4 dpsers is just the easiest, most foolproof way, not "the only way"
i didnt want to ruin my first playthrough with some stupid minmaxed character builds so i decided not to use any hired adventurers, and finished the game on hard with 1 tank (eder) and 5 damage dealers (druid pc, aloth, grieving mother, durance, kana)
everything is viable as long as you have a tank
even a party with 5 tanks should be viable, the fights are going to take fucking forever though, since tanky characters dont have good damage output (inb4 retaliation )

 

[Whisper]

Anyone uses Medium armor?

It looks like only Heavy armor for tank is useful, for ranged dps its best to not put any armor at all.

 

[Irenaeus]

I do this with nearly every RPG in order to get enjoyment out of them. You probably do too.

I don't play 2 tanks and 4 ciphers because I want to experience more classes, have more variety, so yes - it's normal to a degree. But I'm not gonna use a brigandine instead of full plate for diversity, not when full plate has a clear defense advantage at the loss of 5% attack speed. And probably neither would you.

My Kana wears a Brigandine and doesn't give a shit. Enjoy being trapped in your own autistic limitations.

 

[Lord Andre]

I do this with nearly every RPG in order to get enjoyment out of them. You probably do too.

I don't play 2 tanks and 4 ciphers because I want to experience more classes, have more variety, so yes - it's normal to a degree. But I'm not gonna use a brigandine instead of full plate for diversity, not when full plate has a clear defense advantage at the loss of 5% attack speed. And probably neither would you.

My Kana wears a Brigandine and doesn't give a shit. Enjoy being trapped in your own autistic limitations.

So? You enjoy the game, good for you. Other people have different standards. If the point is to let everyone know that you like it "sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much", mission acomplished I guess. If the point is to let us know that we're retards for having different standards than you, then guess what we think of you...

 

[Sensuki]

If everyone was saying they love the game, he'd probably be saying he hates it

 

[Irenaeus]

I'm not Roguey. I speak what I actually feel. Never said anyone who min/max is a retard (just autistic), but people complaining the game is easy should get a reality check. Mission Accomplished.

 

[AN4RCHID]

Anyone uses Medium armor?

It looks like only Heavy armor for tank is useful, for ranged dps its best to not put any armor at all.

Medium armor is completely adequate for frontliners. Seems like a lot of people around here cannot into striking a *~balance*~ in a system that has tradeoffs.

 

[Sensuki]

I avoid the need to wear anything higher than robes in 90% of cases through positioning and controlling enemy targeting. Wearing heavier armor would be detrimental in that case because it just means I kill things slower and end up taking more damage.

 

[Irenaeus]

I avoid the need to wear anything higher than robes in 90% of cases through positioning and controlling enemy targeting. Wearing heavier armor would be detrimental in that case because it just means I kill things slower and end up taking more damage.

Yeah, but you are insane.

 

[AN4RCHID]

I avoid the need to wear anything higher than robes in 90% of cases through positioning and controlling enemy targeting. Wearing heavier armor would be detrimental in that case because it just means I kill things slower and end up taking more damage.

For your front line / tanks?

 

[Sensuki]

They're always in the heaviest armor. In my current save I have Exceptional Plate and Fine Plate or something on them and whatever items boost defenses/DR. Hadn't found the Sanguine Plate that everyone else uses at the stage of the game I was in.

 

[tdphys]

This whole discussion on what's hard or easy is totally moot. The game is brutally *hard* if your underleveled. It's simplistically easy if your overleveled. The problem is, the target range of just right between the two is fairly narrow. This is a 4e mindset, which works a little better when an actual DM can actively tune the encounter. I rather like the 5e DnD mentality of Bounded Accuracy, where one tightens the range levelling, so that lower level monsters remain meaningful, and higher level ones are accessible. Then interesting things can happen with encounter design. However, I can see the game designer attitude, where higher power scaling allows them to "level" the game easily. In POE, due to the massive amount of possible XP, it can make it get trivial fast. It also allows some crazy power swings when buffing/debuffing.

I just finished the last battle. It took me 20+ tries, since I was doing it the hard way... kill bottom golem using will based attacks, kill top golem using reflex attack, stand up characters knocked down by Thaos... I had almost done it a few times.

Then I tried an anti-magic debuff on thaos, which dropped his def by 50ish (greatest debuff in the game) and nuked him down in 10 seconds while some figurine summons ran screens against the golems. There is some huge swings in power levels in this game. You might even say, I had a hard counter ... and used it.

 

[Sensuki]

Lol that's what I was planning to do for the final battle when I get to it, actually use Arcane Dampener, which I've never used once in the game.

Still sounds like a pretty shitty fight though.

 

[tdphys]

well, I was really enjoying trying to do it the hard way... but it was a relief to finally end it. I actually hated Thaos way more then Irenicus by the end of this game. It was some good schadenfreude to put him away. If you don't take care of him quickly, he really puts the boot to you though...

 

[Ninjerk]

Making medium armors worthwhile seems like a struggle that's never been satisfactorily resolved. Whether D&D, Arcanum, DA:O, New Vegas, etc. I always either go light or the heaviest I can find. Sawyer's one in a long line of designers who couldn't answer the question. Oblivion/Skyrim did the obvious and just streamlined it to light and heavy.

The obvious answer I saw, in this very system, is not giving armor sets a "default" DR and maybe going back on armor not giving avoidance.

 

[Irenaeus]

Shit solution.

 

[tdphys]

IMHO the best way to make midrange/lighter armor meaningful is to allow talent investment in removing recovery penalties, going up the chain of light->medium-> heavy. At least it would allow a build for which that type of armor was *optimal*.

 

[Irenaeus]

IMHO the best way to make midrange/lighter armor meaningful is to allow talent investment in removing recovery penalties, going up the chain of light->medium-> heavy. At least it would allow a build for which that type of armor was *optimal*.

That's what D&D 5ed does.