Two weeks ago, Josh Sawyer and Brian Heins ran a Pillars of Eternity II Q&A stream to answer questions about the recently released backer beta. It looks like Josh spent so much time responding to questions about mechanics changes that Obsidian had to run another stream the following week to finish covering the topic they had originally meant to discuss, which was showcasing various multiclassing options. For the first time ever Josh was absent, replaced by systems designer Nick Carver.


But that wasn't very interesting compared to this week's stream, where Josh and Brian returned once more to give us our first look at the upcoming next version of the beta. Josh demonstrated many of the changes he announced on Twitter last month, including the addition of more spell selection opportunities for Priests and more grimoires for Wizards, and the replacement of Might with Strength. He also revealed previously unseen features for the first time, such as the game's new Dragon Age-like character AI customization system (which even allows sharing AI script files like the Infinity Engine games) and the much-demanded walk toggle. Other topics discussed include traps, penetration, recovery time, and the return of grazing.


It's a pretty important stream for Pillars of Eternity II beta testers. Unfortunately it looks like Fereed from Reddit hasn't come around with a transcript this time. The new beta version itself will hopefully be released in the not-too-distant future. According to Josh, it was almost released this week but for some last minute issues.