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Harrow posted:All right, I think melee Wizard is what I'm going to go with, then. Hm, one other idea: how are Paladins? I like the idea of having as good of conversational stats as possible (Int/Per/Res) and it seems like Paladin builds benefit the most from that kind of thing.
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Nov 23, 2016 01:17
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Harrow posted:Hm, one other idea: how are Paladins? I like the idea of having as good of conversational stats as possible (Int/Per/Res) and it seems like Paladin builds benefit the most from that kind of thing. I am almost done with a run with a paladin PC and they get a little dull at higher levels. Mine was the main healer/buffer for most of the game but now that I am at the cap and healing it isn't as important I can't find a really fun way to respec the guy.
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Nov 23, 2016 01:25
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Seashell Salesman posted:What gear do you use? Heaviest armor and hatchet/shield? If you wanna use a build like this I'd probably go for the following end-game equips: Garodh's Chorus (Preservation Version)/Maegfolk Skull Ryona's Breastplate Boots of Speed/Whatever Ring of Deflection Cloak of Comfort Gauntlets of Accuracy Ring of Protection/Iron Circle Looped Rope Belt Little Saviour Any hatchet (Maybe the WM2 one that fatigues on hit – Captain Viccolo's Anger) Mountain Dwarf probably works well as a race - thought I'm not really a fan of dwarves. Stat wise I'd go for Lowest Dex + Highest Might possible, 17/18 Per + Int and then the remaining points in Con/Res balanced to your taste. I feel like in the early game it's probably better to tone down your offensive stats a little bit and invest more in Resolve (like 13-14) but once you hit level 9 go with stats listed previously. Whether to go for High Con/Dump Res or something more balanced is up to you. With max Con and dumped Res you'll get like an extra 80 endurance at level 16 and super high fort saves – which are great because the worst effects in the game come from Fort (anything attacking you vs will can be countered easily with the prayer spells). A more balanced approach means you'll still be able to get some nice Res dialogue options, a bit higher deflection and won't get interrupted as much (but who cares? Your damage comes from chants).
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Nov 23, 2016 01:42
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Harrow posted:Hm, one other idea: how are Paladins? I like the idea of having as good of conversational stats as possible (Int/Per/Res) and it seems like Paladin builds benefit the most from that kind of thing. Fighters and Pallies are my go to choices for talky MC builds, just because of how increases to defenses get better the more you already have of it, so rocking a shield and maximum Res tends to trivialize a lot of content. Pallies have better overall defenses, Fighters have better deflection. Pallies get to use the 2nd best shield in the game from the get go though, which tilts me their way pretty hard.
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Nov 23, 2016 01:47
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Entropy238 posted:If you wanna use a build like this I'd probably go for the following end-game equips: I'm doing a run where I'm using only story NPCs and my MC is already a wizard, thanks for the gear suggestion though 
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Nov 23, 2016 02:30
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Once im done with wasteland 2 im probably going to copy this build: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/89991-class-build-the-golden-dragon-barbarian-tank/ Seems to get all the talk stats high enough and have max might too.
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Nov 23, 2016 03:56
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So I've had this game sitting in my Steam library for months, and after wrapping up Shadowrun Returns yesterday, I feel like I'm in the mood to start PoE. I have a question for the people that have played the DLC. How important would you say it is to play with it from the start? I've heard some say the end game becomes too easy if you go through the DLC questline, or that it should be considered for a second playthrough only. I don't tend to replay games, and I'm worried about turning the game into a cakewalk by doing extra content.
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Nov 23, 2016 14:13
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We discussed this two pages ago, from here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3706905&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=890#post466639307
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Nov 23, 2016 14:23
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Played around a bit last night and now I'm between Paladin (Darcozzi Paladini for roleplay reasons--why wouldn't I want to be a guy who draws paladin powers from being a hotheaded smartass?), melee Cipher, and Monk, of all things. Any advice on which of those you all find most fun/fitting for the Watcher character? I definitely want to be on the front lines and I'm leaning Paladin or Monk just because I don't super love the Cipher's mechanics, it turns out, but maybe I'd enjoy melee more than ranged Cipher. Harrow fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Nov 23, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2016 16:32
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Harrow posted:Played around a bit last night and now I'm between Paladin (Darcozzi Paladini for roleplay reasons--why wouldn't I want to be a guy who draws paladin powers from being a hotheaded smartass?), melee Cipher, and Monk, of all things. Melee cipher with Bittercut (white march sabre) is pretty amazing plus you have a better connection to souls and get some neat conversation options.
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Nov 23, 2016 16:38
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Sophism posted:So I've had this game sitting in my Steam library for months, and after wrapping up Shadowrun Returns yesterday, I feel like I'm in the mood to start PoE. If you want to maintain the challenge level throughout the best order is probably: Act 1--> Act 2/Endless Paths through level 8 or 9---> WM1 (level scaled)--->Finish Endless Paths-->WM2--->Act3/Cragholdt(level scaled) Some people recommend going to WM1 at level 7 and you can do that and WM1 will be a good challenge and it's fun to get the items that early. The only problem with doing that approach is if you do that then when you come back to finish Act2 you will literally steamroller everything in it.
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Nov 23, 2016 16:38
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Mr.Pibbleton posted:Melee cipher with Bittercut (white march sabre) is pretty amazing plus you have a better connection to souls and get some neat conversation options. Listen to this man. Melee ciphers are the best. Tanky Paladins are second-best. No arguments, it's just an opinion. Paladins are the best tanks in the game BTW, especially as the PC because they get defense bonuses from Faith & Conviction (but totally viable not as a PC don't get me wrong).
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Nov 23, 2016 16:40
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I really liked the extra soul related dialogue as a cipher. It felt proper because it's all similar to Watcher vision. Also, dual wield cipher was like having a rogue for damage that you dont have to babysit. Its awesome.
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Nov 23, 2016 17:30
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All right, I'll give dual-wield Cipher a try. That does sound pretty fun.
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Nov 23, 2016 17:42
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Harrow posted:All right, I'll give dual-wield Cipher a try. That does sound pretty fun. Make sure you use Sabres.
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Nov 23, 2016 18:07
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Sabres got nerfed pretty hard in the last patch (well, second to last, technically). They're still good, but no longer the sole dominant choice for dual-wielders.
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Nov 23, 2016 18:54
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Ginette Reno posted:Some people recommend going to WM1 at level 7 and you can do that and WM1 will be a good challenge and it's fun to get the items that early. The only problem with doing that approach is if you do that then when you come back to finish Act2 you will literally steamroller everything in it. Most of Act II will be steamrollered anyways. Aside from the Lighthouse and maybe some of the bounties or Cail the Silent, everything you find in Act II is basically a pushover. It's rewarding enough that you hit 7ish pretty quickly and at that point you outgun basically everything in Act II because the game doesn't have dynamic level scaling and everything in Act II is balanced so that you can complete it at any time. Most of Act II wasn't even particularly challenging to solo. On top of that, upscaled WM1 gets sloggy. Fights are harder because numbers are higher but they're not that much more interesting on a tactical level. I'd rather hit up WM1 early and then steamroller Act II than steamroller Act II and then slog through upscaled WM1.
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Nov 23, 2016 18:58
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Samuel Clemens posted:Sabres got nerfed pretty hard in the last patch (well, second to last, technically). They're still good, but no longer the sole dominant choice for dual-wielders.
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Nov 23, 2016 19:15
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Yeah, if anything the biggest challenges in Act II are clearing Endless Paths and WM1 (which was definitely a huge slog to do upscaled when I did it during my hospitalization). Maybe the fight on the bridge and the big spirit fights in the Lighthouse if you do them early enough. Act II on its own gets really incredibly easy once you hit about level 7-8. My main regret with WM2 was iirc doing it so late that the new enchantments unlocked were essentially pointless (well that and upscaling because lol I only pulled off the sky dragon by the skin of the teeth). Raygereio posted:Sabres are in the Ruffian weapon group, which also gives you the blunderbuss. Isn't that still a solid weapon choice for melee ciphers to start a fight with and generate lots of focus? Guns and Crossbows in general are good openers, the old Blunderbuss cheese was based on abusing the fact that Focus was gained per hit (and the game counting every blunderbuss hit as an individual hit) instead of by damage. The Blunderbuss from Dyrford Crossing is still utter cheese as a cipher opener but most blunderbuses are going to get screwed due to low penetration; Pistols are good though. Agnosticnixie fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Nov 23, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2016 19:24
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Story-wise, does it make more or less sense for the Watcher to be a Cipher? On the one hand, obviously you get more soul-related dialog as a Cipher, and that's cool. But there's a strange sort of overlap between the two that actually feels kind of weird to me. I've played through this before but I can't remember: does anyone ever go into the hard-and-fast difference between the two? Both of them can read souls, both of them can read the past (in different contexts), both of them can manipulate the souls of others, but they just do so in different ways, right?
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Nov 23, 2016 19:50
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Harrow posted:Story-wise, does it make more or less sense for the Watcher to be a Cipher? On the one hand, obviously you get more soul-related dialog as a Cipher, and that's cool. But there's a strange sort of overlap between the two that actually feels kind of weird to me. I've played through this before but I can't remember: does anyone ever go into the hard-and-fast difference between the two? Both of them can read souls, both of them can read the past (in different contexts), both of them can manipulate the souls of others, but they just do so in different ways, right? Yep, there's a few NPCs that will even go into the differences between the ways a Watcher and a Cipher influence souls. I don't think Cipher necessarily lends itself better to being a PC, I just like them a whole lot because I dislike Vancian casting, I like using weapons and I played one as a PC during the good ol' days of Fast Mental Binding so I literally cannot play this game as anything other than a Cipher PC. It's a mental condition.
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Nov 23, 2016 19:53
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I find both the cone and beam spells straightforward to line up but I can't for the life of me get a handle on Rolling Flame. It seems to frequently just not hit enemies shown as in the path by the indicator, it bounces at random directions, and it takes a long time to cast. Is there some trick to it that I'm missing?
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Nov 23, 2016 23:00
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Seashell Salesman posted:I find both the cone and beam spells straightforward to line up but I can't for the life of me get a handle on Rolling Flame. It seems to frequently just not hit enemies shown as in the path by the indicator, it bounces at random directions, and it takes a long time to cast. Is there some trick to it that I'm missing? You can cast it outside of combat, so maybe you could use it to start fights from a distance and get some buffs going before enemies reach you? I've never tried that.
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Nov 23, 2016 23:21
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Rolling Flame works best in open spaces, definitely. Bouncing effects in general were very frustrating in PoE and they've been improved enormously for the future.
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Nov 24, 2016 00:48
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rope kid posted:Rolling Flame works best in open spaces, definitely. Is there going to be a bounce(s) indicator in the future? 
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Nov 24, 2016 00:52
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The crazy bouncing of rolling flame is great. Sometimes you've gotta just run the whole party outta there. It's certainly difficult to predict but I at least like the idea of a risk/reward dynamic with more spells like that.
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Nov 24, 2016 01:26
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rope kid posted:Bouncing effects in general were very frustrating in PoE and they've been improved enormously for the future. Please add a pool minigame in PoE2.
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Nov 24, 2016 01:46
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I smell a PoE/Rocket League cross marketing opportunity.
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Nov 24, 2016 03:01
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rope kid posted:Rolling Flame works best in open spaces, definitely. I dunno man. There's nothing that says "Baldur's Gate" quite like stumbling over a lightning bolt trap an enclosed space and watching it ricochet off of every flat surface in sight and reduce your party to a fine paste.
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Nov 24, 2016 03:08
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Autonomous Monster posted:I dunno man. There's nothing that says "Baldur's Gate" quite like stumbling over a lightning bolt trap an enclosed space and watching it ricochet off of every flat surface in sight and reduce your party to a fine paste. Or aiming a Lightning Bolt at a round room filled with mind flayers, timing the opening and closing of the door perfectly to do the same to the most frustrating enemies in the game. Few things feel better.
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Nov 24, 2016 04:40
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Mind flayers have 90-95% magic resistance in Baldur's Gate, sooo
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Nov 24, 2016 04:47
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I gotta stop using Antipathetic Field. Last time I did the target decided it'd be a great time to suddenly run through all the rest of the enemies to melee Aloth, which dragged the beam through everyone and did ridiculous damage. It's such a good spell but god drat, even when I'm in melee it's such a huge risk to use it.
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Nov 24, 2016 06:05
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You eventually get a better one that will solve that problem.
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Nov 24, 2016 06:25
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Harrow posted:Story-wise, does it make more or less sense for the Watcher to be a Cipher? On the one hand, obviously you get more soul-related dialog as a Cipher, and that's cool. But there's a strange sort of overlap between the two that actually feels kind of weird to me. I've played through this before but I can't remember: does anyone ever go into the hard-and-fast difference between the two? Both of them can read souls, both of them can read the past (in different contexts), both of them can manipulate the souls of others, but they just do so in different ways, right? Ciphers are more mind than soul, they can do stuff like suppress memories but only a Watcher can erase them entirely (the cipher party member hides from people's sight and makes them forget her but when she needs her memory erased it's you she talks to) and while ciphers can see memories in objects connected to people and read your thoughts somewhat a Watcher can reach into someone's soul and see all their life and past lives. They are pretty similar in the setting, the cipher party member even says that people thought she was a Watcher because she lived in a remote area that hadn't heard of ciphers.
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Nov 24, 2016 06:31
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2house2fly posted:Ciphers are more mind than soul, they can do stuff like suppress memories but only a Watcher can erase them entirely (the cipher party member hides from people's sight and makes them forget her but when she needs her memory erased it's you she talks to) and while ciphers can see memories in objects connected to people and read your thoughts somewhat a Watcher can reach into someone's soul and see all their life and past lives. They are pretty similar in the setting, the cipher party member even says that people thought she was a Watcher because she lived in a remote area that hadn't heard of ciphers. Seems like Watchers are always awakened souls as well. But not every person with an awakened soul becomes a Watcher (Aloth for example isn't one) so it seems like only individuals with strong souls become Watchers. And it seems like souls become strong by being afflicted by traumatic events. The main character has the whole Thaos issue, and Maerwald is afflicted by two strongly conflicting personalities. So it seems like you can become awakened if you're reminded of one of your past lives by something, but you're only going to be a Watcher if that memory is especially powerful. Unless there's something else going on there. That's my theory though. I can't recall if it's ever fully explained how Watchers happen. It also seems like Thaos has the abilities of a Watcher as well, though whether he was originally a Watcher or just has those abilities because of Woedica is up for debate I guess.
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Nov 24, 2016 07:02
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From my fairly hazy understanding it's like sorcerers vs wizards. Ciphers train and learn to harness and enhance the minor innate powers everyone has. Watchers naturally come about extraordinary soul powers. That increased power has a risk/blowback that seems to cause Watchers to awaken easier/stronger. Maerwald seems to have been a watcher before he awakened, as he was seemingly sitting by the hearth at the stronghold when he first awakened.
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Nov 24, 2016 07:48
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Nasgate posted:From my fairly hazy understanding it's like sorcerers vs wizards. Ciphers train and learn to harness and enhance the minor innate powers everyone has. Watchers naturally come about extraordinary soul powers. That increased power has a risk/blowback that seems to cause Watchers to awaken easier/stronger. Maerwald seems to have been a watcher before he awakened, as he was seemingly sitting by the hearth at the stronghold when he first awakened. I thought animancy was the scientific study of souls whereas ciphers have innate talent for manipulating them (and watchers have the acquired ability to manipulate them)
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Nov 24, 2016 07:55
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Enjoy posted:I thought animancy was the scientific study of souls whereas ciphers have innate talent for manipulating them (and watchers have the acquired ability to manipulate them) Ciphers are more of a subset of animancy. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64452-update-65-ciphers/
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Nov 24, 2016 08:11
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Nasgate posted:Ciphers are more of a subset of animancy. Oh cool, I hadn't seen this
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Nov 24, 2016 08:48
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Harrow posted:I gotta stop using Antipathetic Field. Last time I did the target decided it'd be a great time to suddenly run through all the rest of the enemies to melee Aloth, which dragged the beam through everyone and did ridiculous damage. It's such a good spell but god drat, even when I'm in melee it's such a huge risk to use it. You're going to love Ectopsychic Echo.
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Nov 24, 2016 09:51
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