Yeah, being able to change the NPC stats would freak me out. Thats what the mercanies let you do.
When they make a choice for you, it needs to make sense both within the game world and within the mechanics.
The whole reason they added respeccing was likely to address people feeling forced to rush npc companions because they would make moronic level up choices. Stat choices are mostly pretty bad, but not as bad as the level up choices. Still it is something that should be done.
They don’t need to be min maxed to the extreme, but they need to make sense.
That said, Path of the damned does feel easier now than i remember it from release so it might not matter as much that half the npcs are poorly designed.
robc04
2705
Here’s a videotalking about some of the 3.0 changes Scott talks about above.
Scrax
2706
So I have only started the base game. Should I play it as is, or should I purchase the expansion(s) for the updates?
stusser
2707
You will get all the updates for free, the expansions are just new content.
robc04
2708
If you think you will get the expansions at some point I’d just as soon have them for the first playthrough, but they aren’t necessary. The game was fun without them.
It should also be noted that you can still load up your final save game (the game creates one before you send your party into the final chunk of story) and fast travel to the new areas created by the expansion(s) any time you like - in fact, there is even a “high level” version of all the new content so you’ll still get a challenge if you want one.
Bateau
2710
Do we know when the expansion releases tomorrow?
Not that I can find. I’m assuming noon (PST) for now, that’s the most common unlock time (and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen DLC unlock at midnight, but who knows).
It’s not listed anywhere, so are we certain it releases tomorrow?
Yeah, it releases tomorrow for sure. They did a big live stream just a few days ago and showed off some of the new expansion and talked about it’s release. It’s plastered all over their forums, too. No idea why it’s not listed on Steam yet.
Razgon
2714
The first one wasn’t listed either - I actually think it was you, Scott, who said something about them saying that since its a DLC, it does not get a pre-release page or anything on Steam.
From what I remember, often you can’t PURCHASE something like DLC until the launch day, so that the avalanche of new sales all at once pushes the item up the sales chart and into (hopefully) people’s field of vision. It seems odd to not even have a store page for it, though?
Found it - http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?75596-Pillars-of-Eternity&p=3835706&viewfull=1#post3835706
I was even replying to you, Razgon, so that’s probably why you remembered better than I. I DID say store pages, too, so I assume Past Scott was accurate and Current Scott can’t remember shit. Current Scott still thinks it’s strange to not have a store page for DLC, though.
Current Scott should be aware that it only gets worse when it comes to remembering things. :)
Razgon
2717
Haha, that is fantastic! We both need memory pills it seems ;-)
Ha! I’d just forget to take the damn things.
Future Scott nods grimly.
Memory is the second thing to go.
I bounced off Pillars, but I might buy the Season Pass anyway to get both expansions. Perhaps second time is the charm, huh?
How did the latest patches change the game? I only played the original release unpatched until a certain point, so I’m not sure what happened afterwards.
The patches are excellent. They really fixed up a lot of QoL and balance stuff. I’m overall super-impressed with the job Obsidian has done post-release with PoE.
Yeah, it’s really impressive. It’s not a huge surprise given how much the game grew and matured during the final months in beta, but it’s really great they didn’t just rest on their laurels and start churning out meaningless content.
I really like the way the UI looks now, something about the font is cleaner and tighter, so more information can be shown at a glance. Compare a character sheet from when the game first launched (my first character) to one from a party I rolled up for the 3.0 beta patch, for example:
Note right off that everything fits on a single line, and how they moved skills to reside just below attributes. I really like the color coded defense symbols, too, and the breakdowns you get when you click on just about anything, which they did a decent job with before but is much cleaner and easier to follow now, I think.
Those colored defense-type symbols serve a nice purpose, making the tool tips a bit more useful “at a glance”, too.
The spells and many other items are now wide - this also allows the information to be conveyed a bit more cleanly, and I really like that they cleared up the “base” stat information. I loved it, but it made the spells and abilities a little muddy. Plus, you can still click on the blue info (like damage or range) to get the breakdown of how much is modified by stats and such, and you can still click on purple to get details on rules/mechanics (I just realized these colors might be off; while not color blind myself, I really like the blue selection circles more than the green ones so I have colorblind mode enabled, this may be spilling into the color coding of the linkables in the UI).
Even items have been cleaned up, compare my beloved Azureith’s Stiletto from my first play through to when I just ran into it this last weekend. New artwork even!
Just a ton of little improvements here and there, it’s getting so polished you can see yourself in it.
