Pillars of Eternity

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rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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We've considered doing something similar to that, with the partner gaining a debuff (rather than simply losing Endurance/Health) but there have been enough bugs in how shared Endurance and animal companion-specific Abilities were working that I didn't want to switch over quite yet.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 22:52

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:02

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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In general, I think it's risky to draw conclusions about anything from the fight with Medreth et al. It's about the most advantageous setup the player could ever ask for.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 00:15

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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I don't think there's anything where we specifically do some sort of "Gotcha!" setup where we move everyone apart onto platforms or [insert your own sucker punch]. There are certainly situations where you can walk into an area out of formation, enter into a convo, and come out of it in a really bad position for a fight.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 00:30

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Diomedes posted:

One thing that would make the Ranger more of a tactical challenge to go up against would be if they were particularly good defensively against ranged attacks. If rangers were naturally good at evading enemy projectiles and had particularly good reflexes against ranged attacks etc, but were squishy or at least not so tough against melee opponents, they'd be a right nuisance to fight, with their animal companion engaging your melee units as they try to approach, and the ranger moving about continuing to fire off hopefully respectably damaging ranged attacks.

One of the last pure "dud" abilities on my list is Defensive Shooting, which doesn't really come up enough for a ranger to take advantage of it. I was thinking of changing it to grant a Deflection bonus against ranged attacks (only) while the ranger has any ranged weapon equipped.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 21:32

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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No, we will be sticking with the current list of >50 general Talents + >65 class Talents.

If you really, sincerely look at the list and go "Yeah, there's nothing to take," please suggest ways to improve what's already there.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 16:48

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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If it ever works consistently, fighters do have Into the Fray ability specifically to yank runaways into melee with them.

Not every class needs to be appealing to every player. There's a subset of people who say, "I hate priests. I hate support characters." and expect us to get rid of/change all of them because of that. If you don't like them, don't play them. There are ten other classes for you to play in various configurations. If you want a character that dishes out a ton of damage to single targets, play a rogue. If you want a character that's really good at dealing with mobs in melee, play a barbarian. If you want a mixed support/off-tank/light offense character, play a paladin. If you want to coordinate nasty attacks with an animal companion, play a ranger. If you want reliable damage output and the most consistent tanking ability, play a fighter. If you really wish the rogue were actually called "fighter", there's not much I can do for you.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 23:06

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Yeah, Might adjusts damage and healing done by 3% per point. 10 is average, so an 18 Strength is +24%.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 23:18

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Into the Fray is a fighter Ability, not a Talent.

Rangers were the most complex class for us to implement and they still have some bugs to work out.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 23:31

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Monks are a lot better and pretty tough -- arguably a little too tough right now but I tuned down their Turning Wheel power. The revised Wound system is straightforward and most of their abilities work well. A few of their higher level ones (like The Flagellant's Path) are wonky.

Jorge Salgado played one for his play week and he was wrecking faces.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2014 00:38

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Stealth is a little too generously tuned right now, I think. It's pretty easy to get up on dudes even with modest Stealth.

We're not going to bend over backwards to try to deal with kiting, but the AI changes that went into our local build on Thursday/Friday seem to solve the basic lack of AI re-evaluation while moving. The removal of increased Engagement range on Defender and the timer to prevent chain Disengagement solved a lot of those issues as well.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2014 22:45

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Skills are broad and all classes have access to them, though some classes start with a bonus to those Skills and your chosen Background also grants a bonus. Skills may have combat applications, but generally they are used in dialogue, interactions, or during exploration. Our original system granted 6 points to spend on Skills per level in a weighted (triangular progression) system. We experimented with using Talents as a means of advancing Skills, but it was not well received. In our next BB update, it will be something similar to the original system but with a better interface.

Abilities are always combat-oriented and always class-specific. All classes start with one fixed Ability. Non-casters (now) also pick one additional Per Encounter ability at 1st level. Casters pick one or more spells/powers/chants/invocations or receive a fixed list of them. Every odd level, non-caster characters receive an additional Ability. At odd levels, they usually receive two additional choices to add to their existing pool. There are exceptions to this (e.g. all fighters pick one Weapon Specialization group at 5th level) and some of the level 9 and level 11 Abilities may be moved to lower levels, giving more options at lower levels. Casters receive new spells/powers at different rates.

Talents may be class-specific or general. Most are combat-oriented. The class-oriented Talents may modify an existing Ability. Some Talents grant new active Abilities of their own. All classes receive one every even level. Talents are (now) divided into four categories: Class, Offensive, Defensive, and Utility. In the next BB update, these will appear on their own tabs during level up for easier sorting.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 06:57

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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We're a lot more likely to tune existing Talents than add new ones at this point.

There are a few common ways that options fail to appeal to players:

* Fundamentally unappealing. Whatever the math behind the option is, the basic concept of it just doesn't get a player excited. This is okay as long as the lack of appeal isn't widespread among all players.

* Narrow application. The math may be appealing, but the player doesn't see many opportunities for it to come up. The "slayer" type Talents fall into this category for some players, but there are only five creature "types" in PoE (Beast, Spirit, Vessel, Primordial, and Wilder) and they get pretty broad representation. If the application truly is narrow, broadening it can be a solution.

* Mathematically unappealing. This is actually the most basic thing to tune but gets overlooked by a lot of players. There was someone early on who said, "If Might affects all damage, I'm always going to max Might for all characters." I asked him if he would do that even if each point of Might only increased damage by 0.5% and other attributes affected their spheres of influence by 5% or 10% per point. He said no, of course not -- then it would be worthless.

If the idea of an option is appealing and it has a broad enough application, that usually means the answer is simply to tune the math.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 07:24

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Sensuki posted:

There is no way to increase Spell Accuracy like there is Weapon Accuracy. A Spell Focus talent that increases Accuracy of spells (Wizards, Druids, Cipher, Priests etc) would be cool. Monk's unarmed attack is not part of a weapon group, so you can't increase the accuracy of unarmed Fighting. I'd recommend adding it to Peasant or Ruffian talent group. And is unarmed a part of a weapon style? (such as single weapon style?) because I'm not sure if any weapon style talents work on it (unless you equip a shield).

All classes will likely receive a level-based bonus to Accuracy on any ability that does not use a weapon to provide its Accuracy bonus. Spells would be affected by this, as would offensive Abilities like the paladin's Deprive the Unworthy (but not something like the paladin's Flames of Devotion, since that's a weapon-based attack).

We have a bug in for fully unarmed fighting not falling under "Two Weapon". When that gets fixed we can likely address the Weapon Focus issue as well.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 07:39

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Sensuki posted:

I don't like Frenzy in Pillars of Eternity at present. It reduces your (already horrible) Deflection, has a long cast animation and is a per-rest ability.

Frenzy now has a Zero Recovery 45 frame animation and is Per Encounter. Carnage is the default starting Ability for all barbarians and they choose between Barbaric Yell and Frenzy for their Per Encounter.

Sensuki posted:

Barbarians are one of the most underpowered classes at the moment (incredibly squishy due to low Deflection, and don't have the greatest damage output either), with some tweaking they could be a bit better though. Conceptually and design wise they are fine, they just need some buffs.

The people who played barbarians in our play week all loved them. They don't shine unless they're in the middle of a mob, but when that happens (and it happens often), they tear things up.

rope kid fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Dec 8, 2014

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 19:22

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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There are three classes that are really designed to "hang out" up front for long periods of time: fighter, paladin, monk (arguably chanter, but their Endurance doesn't support it as well) -- all have base 35 Deflection. Rogues and barbarians can be up front, but they can't sustain being the center of attention for long (base 25 Deflection). Barbarians have the Endurance and Health to take the hits, but they need to dish out damage faster than the dudes around them. Rogues really can't deal with groups at all -- they have neither the Deflection nor the Endurance. But if they can isolate individual targets, no one is better equipped to take them down quickly.

Bobby Null played a barbarian with four companions and a rogue adventurer that he created and loved it. The barbarian would draw most of the attention and deal with the mob. If there was one really dangerous enemy in the group, the rogue would help the barbarian double-team it and take it out quickly.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 19:38

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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CottonWolf posted:

Putting aside the dense theorycrafting that this thread has become for a moment, I was looking at the ranger talents. So a question to the people in the beta, if you pick all of the companion-based ones can you essentually turn the ranger into a more or less pure pet class (sort of like a beastmaster specc'd hunter in WoW)?

You can definitely choose to emphasize the animal companion much more. Rangers can be built to emphasize their own offensive abilities or they can be built to emphasize the animal companion/synergy with the animal companion.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 19:40

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Sensuki posted:

Well they only have 5 Base Deflection

I don't think they've had 5 for quite a while. The strings were recently updated to reflect the current values, but the spread is currently:

code:

Fighter	35
Rogue	25
Priest	25
Wizard	20
Barb	25
Ranger	30
Druid	30
Paladin	35
Monk	35
Cipher	30
Chanter	35

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 19:51

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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No. They're extremely durable in melee with weapon and shield, but are decent on offense (while still being pretty tough) with other setups.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 21:05

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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I don't think the typeface in SitS is particularly bad. IMO it's better than the one used in Darklands and benefits from not being constrained to 320x200.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 15:24

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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There should be a new BB build rolling out soon with a lot of improvements and bugfixes. The character sheet and enemy stat displays have been cleaned up a lot. Many new icons and voice sets. Non-caster classes have more front-loaded options for abilities at levels 3 and 5 (e.g. at 3rd level, all Zealous paladin auras become available). "Old" DR has been removed and DT has been renamed -- check this out -- DR. Base weapon damage values and many spell damage values have been reduced. AoEs don't spam the combat log but present a brief message (e.g. Aloth (Fireball) 2 Crits, 1 Hit, 1 Miss) that can be expanded. Wizard self-buffs are now all (really) 20 frame casts with no recovery. Unarmed attacks are covered under the Peasant group so monks can gain Weapon Focus in it. Complete unarmed fighting is now recognized as dual-wielding. All "fast" weapons, including unarmed attacks, now have Weak Interrupt ratings. Interrupt values are displayed on all relevant attack stat blocks now. There have also been a few additions/modifications to existing Abilities and Talents. E.g. fighters have access to Weapon Mastery to augment Specialization by 10%. The ranger's Defensive Shooting was replaced with Arrow Sense, a passive bonus to Deflection vs. ranged attacks.

E: Oh, and monks have more unarmed attack variations.

rope kid fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Dec 18, 2014

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 15:41

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Blotto Skorzany posted:

How can someone who has entered the novitiate of an order go around adventuring (I don't have a dictionary in front of me, but I assume 'Beruf' in this context means 'vocation')

The lifepath goes where it goes. You can eventually be an abbot or hold some other lofty positions and then decide that what you really need is to roll around the HRE murdering Raubritter.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 15:43

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Diomedes posted:

It still works as a threshold though right? I've always hated % based damage resistance.

Yeah, it's just subtraction down to 20% of the original damage, i.e. 20% of damage will always get through no matter how strong the armor is.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 17:04

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Diomedes posted:

I like the ranger change! And can't wait to see the monk attack animations - please tell me they're inspired more by muay thai and boxing rather than shaolin or TKD type dancy nonsense To see a monk punch from and return to the guard rather than punch from the waist, and get some hip torque into it rather than just arm punch would be wonderful... and powerful shin kicks instead of tippy tappy toe slaps...

Due to the size of the character and the variety of sizes of opponents, the unarmed attack animations tend to be exaggerated and mid-height.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 21:13

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Sensuki posted:

Are there any more plans for alternate weapon swings? So far I know that the dagger has two, but I don't think any others do.

I believe all melee attack types have at least one alternate now.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2014 08:40

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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New Backer Beta build is up. ~*

quote:

Hello, all. Build 392 is now live for the Backer Beta. Currently, we only have the Windows build up on Steam, but we are looking into the Mac build. If we place it up I will update this post.

Important Changes
You will notice quite a few combat balance changes in this build. Be on the lookout and let us know what you think.

You will notice many UI polish changes. Some screens may even be entirely new (loot screen, I'm looking at you).

Most of the icons are now in the game. There are still a few that are missing, but those should be few and far between.

Some final VO is in the game. You will also notice sound sets are in and hooked up.

Skill system has changed back to a point-buy system.

Talents are now organized during level up.

Important Known Issues
It can be difficult to loot bodies sometimes. It can help to try to loot the bodies toward their feet. One workaround is to do a save/load. The body will turn into a loot bag and you will be able to loot it properly.
Saving with a modal active will cause the modal to appear to be non-functioning. If you deactivate and reactivate the modal a couple of times it will start working again.
Pressing the "Take All" button in the Loot UI, if a lootable body is underneath the "Take All" button, will cause the cursor to get stuck. This can prevent you from opening doors or interacting with objects. To clear this you can do a few things: mouse over a loot container, loot anything, transition, or save/load.
The "proof" mods (e.g. Pierce-proof) are not stacking correctly and will have problems after a save/load. Best to avoid those mods for the time being.
Fixed Issues
If an issue has "Needs Verification" after it. It means a fix has been checked in, but QA hasn't checked it yet. These issues are likely fixed, but a few may fail the verification process.

Save/Load/Persistence
After loading a game all party members revert to their first weapon set - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Save/Load before transitioning to Dyrford Village causes 0 seconds travel time and a black screen (Workaround in Thread) - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Save/Load causes the inventory paperdoll not to show weapons and shields until another character is selected - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Enchanted Mods disappear after loading the game - Thread Link

Area Design
Korgrak's attacks are not causing recovery - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Force Attacking Medreth, just after attaining the quest, A Cat and Mouse, causes you to be unable to complete the quest - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Can't pick the Pilgrim's Crown plant in the southern central area of Dyrford Village - Thread Link - Needs Verification
The Temple Skaen entrance is visible on the area map without first moving the statue - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Boar companion is left behind when Medreth leaves - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Dengler's Store cannot be accessed after returning to the Dracogen Inn - Needs Verification

Spells/Abilities/Classes/Gameplay
AI does not consider Range bonus from Perception when moving into range to cast a spell - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Dexterity is currently not properly affecting action speed (animation times and recovery times) - Thread Link - Partially Fixed
Exiting Scouting Mode causes a loss of FPS that persists until Load or Transitions - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Hired adventurers spawn inside the player character - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Chanters cannot use the Cautious Attack modal while chanting - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Chanter's talent Ancient Memory causes the party to twitch consistently - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Trap Triggered and other similar bark texts persist for too long - Thread Link
The Goldpact Paladin talent Enduring Flames is causing Flames of Devotion to apply a permanent DoT effect - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Best of Weapons are not showing the proper damage type in the combat log - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Talents Resilient Companion, Faithful Companion, and Painful Interdiction are not working properly - Partially Fixed
Some new class abilities have been added for the druid, fighter, paladin, and wizard. These abilities have missing strings and temp icons - There were a large number of these, they should all be fixed
On death load doesn't function if an entire party is knocked out while one party member is dominated

Art
Scouting Mode causes targeting recticles to appear at character's feet when activated/deactivated - Thread Link - Needs Verification
VFX art shown during Scouting Mode does not align well with selection circles - Thread Link
Male Moon Godlike head 4 is missing a model - Thread Link
The Cladhaliath Spear is not visible in game, only in the paperdoll - Thread Link - Cannot Reproduce
The Health bar indicators feel somewhat unpolished and appear to overlap the portrait - Thread Link - Needs Verification

Items
The Sabre will sometimes strike for 0.0 damage negating the attack entirely - Thread Link - Needs Verification

User Interface
Combat HUD and "Injured, Near Death" indicators do not correctly match character Endurance values - Thread Link - Needs Verification
HUD effects and glowing elements (such as Level up and glowing active ability) show when inventory etc are open - Thread Link - Needs Verification
"Best of" weapons do not display their change in damage type in the combat log when the alternate type is used - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Accuracy shown in the Inventory and Character sheet do not reflect the bonus for single 1 Handed weapons and Enchant/Mod accuracy effects - Needs Verification
Character Creation attribute allocation arrows continue to make SFX sounds if clicked after they have disappeared - Thread Link
Item tooltips often appear behind the inventory and loot UI

Audio
Dyrford Ruins hallway plays the SFX of footsteps splashing through puddles, even though there is no water - Thread Link - Needs Verification
Combat Music is no longer playing - Needs Verification

Other

Mac
Launching the client through steam while running OSX Yosemite causes the client to crash (workaround in thread) - Thread Link - Needs Verification

Known Issues
These issues have been reported by the community, but have not been addressed in the current build.

Save/Load/Persistence
Save/Load causes character shadows to disappear on the East and West sides of Dyrford Village - Thread Link - Open
Saving a paused game, closing and reopening the client, then loading that game via the Continue causes the game to load in paused - Thread Link - Open
Save Files can become unreadable if PC loses power supply while the game is running - Open

Area Design
Critters in the wilderness do not always react to the party - Thread Link - Open

Spells/Abilities/Classes/Gameplay
Some spells and abilities (Jolting Touch, Knockdown, etc...) always display a movement spell icon - Thread Link - Open
Mods affecting attacks are applied multiple times if a character is knocked prone/petrified etc... before the hit frame of an attack - Thread Link - Open
Dexterity is currently not properly affecting action speed (animation times and recovery times) - Thread Link - Partially Fixed
Wizards in character creation are not holding Grimoires - Thread Link - Open
The Bloody Slaughter talent has a blank description - Thread Link - Open
Medreth's Boar Companion is following the party from scene to scene and causing combat issues - Thread Link - Open
Miss/Graze/Hit/Crit Ranges are off by 1 value - Thread Link - Open
Talents Resilient Companion, Faithful Companion, and Painful Interdiction are not working properly - Partially Fixed
If the Ranger or their Companion are knocked out near an enemy while the other is far away, they will repeatedly fall unconscious - Open
If you hire an Adventurer when you have a full party, the Adventurer will be made with no items - Open
Changing difficulty level in-game doesn't scale the number of opponents correctly - Open

Art
Models for Doors, Weapons, Shields, etc... change texture quality/mip at improper zoom ranges - Thread Link - Open
Items held by NPCs can be seen through the Fog of War - Thread Link - Open
The Wizard's Grimoire is held in the offhand even when a weapon or shield are equip in that hand - Thread Link - Open

Items
Cape/Cloak items do not align with character's shoulders and clip through character models - Thread Link - Open

User Interface
Descriptions for spells and abilities presented in character creation and level up screens cannot be scrolled - Thread Link - Open
When wielding a single weapon in your offhand and nothing in the main hand the UI indicates that you are dual wielding - Thread Link - Open
The Area Map in Stormwall Gorge often displays lines through the Fog of War on the outer edges of the map - Thread Link - Open
Feedback is not clear that clicking portraits in shop allows you to compare examined items - Thread Link - Open
Combat HUD occasionally displays a "stuck pip" on the right side of the HUD even though the character is injured - Thread Link - Open
Spell and ability tooltips in character creation display "Right-Click for details" when this function has no effect - Thread Link - Open
UI elements and selection circles can be partially or completely obscured by spell VFX and distortion effects - Thread Link - Open
Culture bonuses are always factored in character creation, even when the user hasn't reached that step in the process yet - Thread Link - Open
Double-Clicking on a character while the game is paused, causes the party's shadows to jitter slightly - Thread Link - Open
Resizing the Combat Log after hiding/expanding the Central HUD allows you to overlap UI elements - Thread Link - Open
Assigned Action Bar Hotkeys are duplicating ability UI and not unassigning previously assigned keys - Thread Link - Open
UI screen borders are shifted offscreen in higher resolutions causing quest updates etc to become clipped - Thread Link - Open
The level up button in the character sheet appears available even if you cannot level up - Thread Link - Open
Paladin's description is missing the word "Health" after the health multiplier - Thread Link - Open
White damage values in the combat log only display whole numbers and not decimal values (Makes DoT effects misleading) - Open
Time stamp font is small in when viewing saved games - Thread Link - Open
Traps and Hidden Secrets change the mouse cursor when hovered over (before they are discovered) - Thread Link - Open
Saved games are not ordering properly and are sometimes resetting their play time - Open
Stash access in the Shop UI needs to be switched to page format - Open

# ¿ Dec 23, 2014 03:09

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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If that's true, that's a bug. Backgrounds are supposed to grant skill bonuses.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2014 22:56

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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We're trying, but we still have a lot of A and B bugs (mostly B) to get through.

Beetles all have DR bypass on their attacks but -10 is too macho. I'll tune it down and make sure the bestiary entry mentions it.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2014 01:58

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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They used to be DoTs but now they just accumulate as you take damage. You can either spend them on Active abilities or take Turning Wheel and let them add Burn damage to your attacks.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2015 00:30

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Sensuki posted:

I recall it being stated that the game was going to be designed around Hard difficulty and then tuned down for other difficulties. While I realize that tuning/balance is far from finished, it kind of seems like normal difficulty has the most attention payed to it by designers. When you do go to tune creature values, will you be looking at Hard encounters for a reference, or altering the encounters after you change the value?

Individual creatures are tuned for Normal difficulty since only PotD modifies their stats. The encounter sizes/compositions are tuned for the individual difficulty levels. I do not believe that the Hard encounters have a substantive enough increase in a) population and b) positioning. It's one of the things I've been focusing on over break.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2015 00:32

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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A lot of those side effects of Wounds were confusing to players so we drastically simplified how they work. Every X amount of damage (default is 20, IIRC) that a monk takes (after DR) adds a Wound to the monk. Wounds are a resource that can either be spent or can sit on the monk for about 30 seconds (again IIRC). Wounds do not prevent or absorb damage.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2015 00:46

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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There's background information in books and currently no codex equivalent. I've tried to steer the designers away from using NPCs as firehoses of lore. They typically only talk about things in which they have some sort of emotional/personal interest.

We have a lot of background material but other than the books, I don't think it's important for most of it to be in the game. Even if it's just trivia, it can act as a means of defining the world outside of the context of the game, potentially limiting us in expansions and sequels.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2015 03:27

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Sensuki posted:

That's not what I meant. Because encounters on Hard have more / better monsters, the damage output of enemies in those encounters becomes a lot higher. More damage taken by the party means less health they have to work with over the course of the adventuring day, and much higher risk of characters being KO'd very quickly in encounters.

It's pretty difficult to circumvent that extra damage output, no matter how you build your characters or how you play the encounter, aside from cheesing the game or using the current OP abilities. Also because the damage is spread across more creatures, it's more difficult for characters to control encounters due to the engagement system and the way the game penalizes or actively discourages movement in combat.

This build is the least fun build for Hard difficulty for me, and there's been half a dozen or more people on the Obsidian boards reporting the same thing.

I'm not sure what you're expecting. Individual creatures are tuned around the idea that their level is "worth" an equivalent PC level for a challenging Normal encounter. E.g., a party of five 5th level characters should be reasonably challenged (but ultimately win out) against a party of five 5th level monsters. That's one of the most straightforward ways we can establish a baseline of equivalency for what a creature's level means. On Hard difficulty, the party should be facing superior numbers in terms of overall levels in one of three ways a) more creatures of the same level b) the same number of creatures but some are higher level or c) fewer creatures who are mostly/all higher level. Whether a) b) or c) are used depends a great deal on the individual level and creatures that make sense there. We can't flood a map with creatures if it's cramped. We can't use a higher level companion creature if the jump in levels is too severe (e.g. Wood, Stone, and Adra Beetles all span several levels).

I can personally test things on Hard, as can Bobby and a few other folks, but most of the other devs cannot. Or rather, they wouldn't really get anywhere. If I listened to them for tuning advice, Hard wouldn't be hard at all.

The areas in the Backer Beta are now being tuned for the final game, so the content across the areas is targeted at different levels. You will likely enter Dyrford around 4th level (though you will probably have six characters, so I should add another BB character). Some of the content is tuned for 4th level, but a good amount is tuned for 5th and higher (e.g. the ogre cave). That means if you dive into certain areas with 4th level characters, things are probably going to be tough for you whether you're on Normal or Hard. Easy really is pretty darn easy almost everywhere IME.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 01:56

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Additionally, specifics in terms of:

* What's too hard, specifically.
* What abilities are too powerful, specifically.

are helpful. There are several hundred abilities in the game and dozens of encounters utilizing a lot of prefabs in the Backer Beta.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 01:58

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

The Lurkers' damage was tuned down a while ago, so I'm surprised it still seems too powerful. I haven't found that, personally, but I can look at them again. Most critter weapons haven't been tuned in a while. Their damage may be too high. AoE disabling spells seem like the perfect answer to fast-moving high-damage low-armor enemies because they are. IIRC, lions are sacks of Endurance with little to no armor and very damaging attacks. Even if their damage is lowered, wading in to go toe-to-toe with them is dangerous unless you can dish out damage really quickly.

PoE does take Graze into account. It's one of the more reliable ways of normalizing overall damage output. If characters are taking too much damage, it's because the damage ranges are too high, not because we didn't account for Grazes.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 07:07

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

It feels very strange that save-or-die effects from spells have been removed, and spells in general aren't really that powerful, but a single creature attack (from a Lion, of all things) can drop you in one hit.

There are a lot of powerful spells. I also don't know why you think it's strange that save or literally die effects aren't in the game, but single-attack KOs are possible. The former removes the characters from the game, the latter typically only removes them from the fight.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 19:56

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

The Backer Beta isn't the start of the game. Depending on which direction you go, you could be fighting lions, druids, forest lurkers, a variety of beetles, a variety of spiders, small adventuring parties, spirits, or cultists.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 20:26

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

They can kick the BB starter party's rear end on Hard, but the encounters aren't anywhere near as gnarly on Normal.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 21:05

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Unless your PC is a Druid anyway. Tanglefoot + Ranged weapons/spells = no damage taken from beetles.

And maxed Resolve, and an entire party of characters focus firing Fine War Bows against a group of relatively slow-moving melee-only enemies. This also works well in the Infinity Engine games. Regardless of how Tanglefoot, Binding Web, or other spells get tuned, this will likely always be the ideal tactic for dealing with such groups.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 22:00

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

I've always found wading the majority of characters into melee and wrecking stuff way more fun

There is no circumstance I can think of where doing this against melee-only enemies would be more efficient than slowing/holding them and using ranged attacks against them. I mean, you can wade in and wreck stuff in melee in the IE games but it's always likely to be more efficient to Entangle/Web them and shoot bows/slings at them, even at low level. Even if you want to melee them, thinning their approach is extraordinarily beneficial in the IE games (especially the IWD games).

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 22:20

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:02

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

You almost always wind up getting hit quite a bit in the IWDs, meaning you wind up casting one+ healing spells after the fight. Compared to a single Entangle, that's a pretty easy choice.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2015 22:31

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