Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

The patch fixed Raedric's Keep though!

Currently getting my ass spanked by the Adra Dragon at the end(?) of Dungeon of the Endless. I got my Barbarian, the feathery paladin, the chanter who looks like Sloth from Goonies, Grieving Mother, Eder(my tank) and the Priest. Can't get it below Injured before someone gets dominated by the dragons breath and I'm playing catch up on healing. I only did five tries before I hit the sack, but I started to formulate a plan. I think I'll have it down by the end of tonight though.

So, since I just got it. Any early tips? I've discovered that a crossbow is terrible in close combat with a spider.

 Soladrin wrote:
So, since I just got it. Any early tips? I've discovered that a crossbow is terrible in close combat with a spider.

Yeah I'm struggling as well, I just approached some weird tree thing in the woods and Im only about 3 hours in, it smashed my face in with consummate ease.

I picked a Priest but as far as I'm aware I still cant actually heal anybody, just give them some endurance. It crushed my warrior mate in 5 seconds and then dismembered me and cast my twitching corpse into the bushes.

Also, when disarming traps. Don't step on every other tile.

 Soladrin wrote:
Also, when disarming traps. Don't step on every other tile.

>> Deactivate stealth mode
>> HEY THERE WAIT WE WILL RUSH TO YOU

Boom.

 mattyrm wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:
So, since I just got it. Any early tips? I've discovered that a crossbow is terrible in close combat with a spider.

Yeah I'm struggling as well, I just approached some weird tree thing in the woods and Im only about 3 hours in, it smashed my face in with consummate ease.

I picked a Priest but as far as I'm aware I still cant actually heal anybody, just give them some endurance. It crushed my warrior mate in 5 seconds and then dismembered me and cast my twitching corpse into the bushes.

Endurance is health (sort of). You lose endurance during combat and when you reach 0 you get knocked out and your health gets damaged (your health also gets damaged a little if you lose a lot of endurance). Lose enough health and you become maimed which means that you are permadead if you take any more damage.

You can hire more party members from Innkeepers, they start at 250c, which you can create however you want. Wandering around with just the 2 of you will not get you far

There is an achievement to complete a Path of the Damned playthough solo. I can't see many people managing that.......

Health gets constantly damaged in battle - after all, you're still taking those cuts, bruises, burns and so on. In PoE, there also is Endurance which basically reflects your capability to stand your ground in a single fight.

Just imagine Endurance your "short term" HP and your Health your "long term" HP.

I've managed to clock in 34 hours in my first playthough and I haven't even finished act 2 yet and I'm only on lvl 6 of Od Nua.

I've found health to be pretty meaningless anyway, it feels like the vestigial remains of an earlier/meaner designer and somebody on the team just couldn't afford to kill their baby entirely.I swear it really does just feel like a mechanic meant to pad that games the run time at this point.

Still my UI and design nitpicks aside I'm enjoying this more than I thought I would. Controlling a whole RPG party is nice to get back to and I like that there's room for tactics. I can defintely feel the difference between running in guns-blazing and actually executing on a plan.

The story is a bit bleak for my taste, which is something I've come to expect from most non-jRPGs at this point and it's hardly the worst offender. I like that I got to talk down the giant ogre creature from the cave instead of just beating him to death. Still it'd be prefer to have at least one straight-up pleasant event at some point. Seriously guys not every quest has to have some tragic twist, or poor soul you just can't save. Not every NPC in a quest has to have some shady ulterior motive, gone insane or secretly be a rapist. I mean I get it dead god, cursed world, whatever you're still laying it on a bit thick here. Despite those complaints though it's compelling at least, which is all I can really ask for.

EDIT: Confirmed something I suspected by starting a new game.

The named companions Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I dunno whose idea it was to assign them stats like you couldn't charOP your way out of wet paper bag AND make it so you can't respec them. It's beyond a night/day difference having some competently built characters backing me up. I get those guys are like... supposed to have stories or whatever and I guess I'll catch them on youtube or something if I can be bothered. No way I'm playing any further with the Short Bus squad. You really ought to be able to retool their stats/abilities so you can get the full story experience without having to hang out with a bunch of heads-up-their-butts incompetents.

Serious wtf aloth? You call that rinky-dinky Fan of Flames a 1st level AoE?


Generic moonhead druid says THAT is an 1st Level AoE. You know those targeting issues I was complaining about? NEVER MIND THE CONE HITS EVERYTHING. Even the friendly-fire safe part STILL HITS EVERYTHING and also maybe like some guy in the other room.

 Chongara wrote:


The named companions Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I dunno whose idea it was to assign them stats like you couldn't charOP your way out of wet paper bag AND make it so you can't respec them. It's beyond a night/day difference having some competently built characters backing me up. I get those guys are like... supposed to have stories or whatever and I guess I'll catch them on youtube or something if I can be bothered. No way I'm playing any further with the Short Bus squad. You really ought to be able to retool their stats/abilities so you can get the full story experience without having to hang out with a bunch of heads-up-their-butts incompetents.

http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/1/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fpillarsofeternity%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D1&pUp=1

We used the mod. Allows you to fully respec any hero / companion in the game.

Also: Fan of Flames is insane for a lvl 1 spell in early game. If you got it on the right companion and get a nice arc. Man I love my paladin. Sure, early game, I hit for less (!) than 1 damage (no kidding), but you can really waltz in places and take a beating like the manliest man around.

Also: MOONHEAD? You goddarn racist, you! It's a blessing of our god

Yeah, I think after my first playthrough I'll just use custom party members. I'll just recruit the named characters to breeze through their quests as the appropriate quest maps unlock and get whatever rewards/xp I can from them.

I made my first (almost done)playthrough alot harder than it needed to be, figuring that the developers made competent named party members. It was only as I got deeper into the game and understood its mechanics that I realized I've kind of hamstrung myself. Adra Dragon is unkillable for what I specced my members to be and how their stats are distributed. I think the mod is a must for me at this point.

Going to try for the harder achievements with a proper party, when/if I finish this playthrough.

Also, level 12 seems egregiously low for the level cap. I get that this is the first in whats likely a series and such, but damn, part of my love of RPGs is levelling and getting cool new abilities. I think I hit level cap before act 3.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Chongara wrote:


The named companions Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I dunno whose idea it was to assign them stats like you couldn't charOP your way out of wet paper bag AND make it so you can't respec them. It's beyond a night/day difference having some competently built characters backing me up. I get those guys are like... supposed to have stories or whatever and I guess I'll catch them on youtube or something if I can be bothered. No way I'm playing any further with the Short Bus squad. You really ought to be able to retool their stats/abilities so you can get the full story experience without having to hang out with a bunch of heads-up-their-butts incompetents.

http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/1/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fpillarsofeternity%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D1&pUp=1

We used the mod. Allows you to fully respec any hero / companion in the game.

Also: Fan of Flames is insane for a lvl 1 spell in early game. If you got it on the right companion and get a nice arc. Man I love my paladin. Sure, early game, I hit for less (!) than 1 damage (no kidding), but you can really waltz in places and take a beating like the manliest man around.

Also: MOONHEAD? You goddarn racist, you! It's a blessing of our god

I'm not so much dissing fan of flames, so much as I'm dissing Aloth's Fan of Flames. I dunno how a well built wizard stacks up (found the overall spell selection for class lacking at least up through 3rd levels), but that level 1 Frost spell has a nice long range with a nice big fat safe zone so I can actually shoot it into melee easily, cool knockback effect and I get like bunch of utility spells baseline too. Seriously it's so nice being able to spray down the front line quickly and effectively without wasting time jockeying for position.

Glad paladin is working for you. I found paladin sorely lacking as a tank. It's got no native engagement limit bonus, lower base health,& deflection, accuracy. The way that game likes to throw hordes of enemies at you, the +2 Engagement limit feels really important. Hell I'm going with a pair of fighters with hold the line just so they actually hold everything in place while my deeps go ham. I like the aura, but I'm not sure it's worth the slot. Could be worth trading out one of the fighters -if- it seems like 6 engagements + ranger pets is enough to keep the front line from leaking. That's a big if though, given what I've seen of the game so far.

Rangers are also feeling like a no brainier right now too. Rogues/Monks seem to want to be too close to the fight which doesn't seem to work too well when you're not picking up any defensive stats and putting on the lightest armor for attack rate. Also because of the way things tend to clusterfeth up it's very hard to get multiple melee characters of any stripe on the same target. The ranged guys can focus fire for maximum efficiency without having to worry about clear lanes to their targets, or relying on limited use abilities.

Ciphers & Chanters seem like they might have some utility. Particular given the latters ranged attack buff, given my bow-centric playstyle so far.

Oh, I got two tanks. Due to how tanking works in this game, you will definitely want two tanks. Main char is my primary tank for the big guys. And, as usual, take every single +engagement talent like Hold the Line.

Chanters are very, very good throughout the whole game and also deliver reliable damage via ranged weapons. Ciphers are good too but can be busy work in battles.

Wizards become good later on when their spells become /per fight/. Fan of Flames per fight? Yes please.

I have a paladin, a warrior and a bear as tanks and it works fine. Its quite rare for mobs to break my line unless I get swarmed in the open.

I find the paladin to be quite useful.

I'm trying to play the game solo with my Rogue. Already 1 shot the cave bear before getting to town.

Sneak attack+backstab+crossbow+blinding shot = 1 dead bear.

Rogues definitely are top shots for damage. Their sneak attacks are insane.

And now imagine there was a class who could pull off that damage without any prerequisites. That would be insane, wouldn't it?

Try Cipher.

Very annoyed with the rogue now. I picked the Escape ability and it turns out it's completely fething useless.

Rogues in PoE are all-in heroes. You throw them in the fight and hope your enemies die before they do. I wouldn't take more than one, though, as they require quite a bit of micro management and might quickly turn out to be a hassle to deal with.

I've played a couple more hours now, got the Stronghold (which is really cool!) and have started exploring Od Nua.
Party so far is:
Balor (Me) - 4th Level Aumaua Barbarian mostly speccing into passive abilities
Brigid - 2nd Level Nature Godlike Cleric of Eothas
Daghda - 2nd Level Dwarven Fighter
Morrigan - 2nd Level Orlan Rogue
Durance
and that Aumaua Chanter.

So far it's pretty great, but I'm quite interested to see where they got the linguistic inspiration from. There are a lot of welsh or Irish gaelic words thrown around (Nua is the word for new, for example). Or if they're not words, the spelling conventions track pretty clearly. Nice touch, helps immerse me, especially since I'm naming my group after various celtic mythological figures!

Christ, what level of difficulty are you guys playing? I'm in "for the ride", I only made one adventurer to try out how it looks / works (fighter) because I needed a tank. Currently I'm a rogue, wizard (the elf), a fighter and the fighter that later joins you.

I like the NPCs that join us, so there's no way I'm creating "useful" adventurers and use them as a party, so I hope it doesn't make a difference on normal difficulty level.

Heck, but the bear was awesome. "A bear you say?! I shall slay it!" - *sneaks in * *bears spots me* *SLAP* critical *BITCH-SLAP* Dead

Had to wait until I got the wizard and created a fighter before I tackled that monster

I am playing on Easy with zero shame because I've not really played games like this in a long, long time. I never got to finish the original Baldur's Gate in college so I'm a total noob!

I might up it now that I have a party of 6 though, because that makes things a lot easier.

It took me 20 attempts to beat that fething mental bloke in the cellar of that old crypt and I've only got it on normal. It was pissing me off because I couldn't save it after the massive amount of dialogue before the fight starts.

I think from looking at everyone elses shots I am going wrong by only having two lads with me. It looks like the aim is to go around massively mob handed!

Anyway, long story short if you have just started the game seems hard to me, make sure to hire an extra bloke at that first inn, because its hard going with two.

Buy camping supplies as well because you cant heal or use your spells if you don't get enough kip, I had to walk all the way back to buy help and supplies at the Inn after walking for miles to fight a deranged pensioner and realizing it was impossible to beat him.

Yeah, you need a full party of six. I've hired three dudes and am using two pre-made ones.

There are two NPC companions in the first town

A tank and a wizard.

 Da Boss wrote:
Yeah, you need a full party of six. I've hired three dudes and am using two pre-made ones.

You get an exp bonus for every empty party slot you have (IIRC its 10% per slot). You don't need an full party, well most of the time

You should always take a full party though. The XP bonus is pretty neglible compared to the power you miss out on. Unless you plan to take a Monk. I'd then...consider the XP bonus.

I'll echo about the Rogue doing the most raw damage. My main is a rogue, and he consistently dishes out the most damage. He is also consistently the one knocked out the most...

Have you played a Cipher yet? Insanely broken, Rogue damage without restrictions, i.e. backstab. Tons of AoE. Druid is similar, skyrockets soon.

I'm in for about 8 hours now...man the game is so awesome. It's just amazing. If I didn't get it for free and if not for the problematic handling of the tombstone issue, I'd buy it a few times just to support the developer more D:

Update on the adventures of solo rogue. I killed almost all of Raedrics keep on my own. Hired some goons to kill both Korc and Raedric (because Anarachy for all). Ditched the party after that and just went through all the effort getting my own keep.

Careful not to spoil stuff