Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Nihiliste]

I enjoyed the expansions quite a bit. But with the patches, I also enjoyed the base game quite a bit as well this time around. I think they took enough steps in the right direction to give hope for PoE2.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

The base game was great already, the patches and expansions made it even greater.

 

[prodigydancer]

Some things are still annoying though. Like all those Ogre Druids on the ogre level of the Endless Paths - freaking damage sponges. 500 HP/10 DR and decent defenses. They can cast all kinds of druid spells and their Acc is absurdly high so they lolcrit tanks all the time.

 

[tdphys]

Heh , just had my level 11 party "trolled" by xaurips in Stalwarts mines on potd... the expansions really have better thought out encounters and areas... now to see if my priest can get a prayer against imprisonment off before he gets drilled by a bunch of xaurip snipers

 

[ushas]

For those interested in buying the base game, it's discounted on GOG right now. 50% off for another ~28h

https://www.gog.com/game/pillars_of_eternity_hero_edition
https://www.gog.com/game/pillars_of_eternity_champion_edition
https://www.gog.com/game/pillars_of_eternity_royal_edition

 

[FreeKaner]

I enjoyed the expansions quite a bit. But with the patches, I also enjoyed the base game quite a bit as well this time around. I think they took enough steps in the right direction to give hope for PoE2.

Yes, the way they rapidly improved on the base product makes me even more hopeful of a PoE2.

 

[Mexi]

I just had to restart from that save game I had at Defiance Bay. Man, I had that save from February or March 2015.

I totally forgot what the hell I was doing and where I was going. Anyways, hopefully the expansion packs are on sale by the time I get to level 8 or so. I think I want to visit the White March around this level. Is this is a good level without being overly powerful?

I'm playing on Pillars of the Damned instead of Hard this time. Hard was just too easy, from picking back up on my old save game, and I was slaughtering everything without using any heals or tactics. I actually got pretty far before deciding to restart.

Since then, I've had some close encounters in that cave tutorial. Pillars of the Damned is pretty tough I'm assuming?

 

[Prime Junta]

I just had to restart from that save game I had at Defiance Bay. Man, I had that save from February or March 2015.

I totally forgot what the hell I was doing and where I was going. Anyways, hopefully the expansion packs are on sale by the time I get to level 8 or so. I think I want to visit the White March around this level. Is this is a good level without being overly powerful?

I'm playing on Pillars of the Damned instead of Hard this time. Hard was just too easy, from picking back up on my old save game, and I was slaughtering everything without using any heals or tactics. I actually got pretty far before deciding to restart.

Since then, I've had some close encounters in that cave tutorial. Pillars of the Damned is pretty tough I'm assuming?

Crit path on PotD isn't all that hard, but there are some pretty punishing optional encounters especially if you go into them early.

Level 8 is good for WM on PotD.

 

[Bleed the Man]

I just had to restart from that save game I had at Defiance Bay. Man, I had that save from February or March 2015.

I totally forgot what the hell I was doing and where I was going. Anyways, hopefully the expansion packs are on sale by the time I get to level 8 or so. I think I want to visit the White March around this level. Is this is a good level without being overly powerful?

I'm playing on Pillars of the Damned instead of Hard this time. Hard was just too easy, from picking back up on my old save game, and I was slaughtering everything without using any heals or tactics. I actually got pretty far before deciding to restart.

Since then, I've had some close encounters in that cave tutorial. Pillars of the Damned is pretty tough I'm assuming?

8 is good for White March on PotD, but be careful, the expansions completely fuck the balance of the main game. I left about half of the main quests of act 2 before doing WM1 (Heritatge Hill and all the Dyrford stuff), and completed them without even resting once, just auto-attacking, and after entering act 3, I went to WM2 directly, so when I finished it, even activating the level scaling of acts 3 and 4, it was a breeze.

So i wouldn't really recomend going to the expansions before half way act 3. The expansions scale way better than the main game, even though it's not ideal.

After going through the two parts, I really question the logic behind putting them in the middle of the game. The first part works as a Tales of the sword coast type of affair, but with part 2, it works a lot more similar to a stand alone expansion-pseudo-sequel. It just breaks the flow of the plot too much if it's put in the middle of it, as well as the balance.

 

[retamar]

Well.
I have been playing this game for the last 2 weeks. Patched to 3.02, I barely played vainilla at game launch, did not have much free time back then.
Just ended the White March Part 1, I am just about to end Chapter 2.
I am really enjoying the game, despite all the bashing in the codex, is by far the best crpg from the big three kickstarted. Is not Baldurs Gate 2 , thats for sure, but no game is perfect and this one is lots of fun.
Is a really good update to the IE games formula, and I really hope to see more games and improvements on top of this one.

Pros and Cons (All mixed together)
Excellent art, the backgrounds are amazing, but somehow is a little bit too clean and dull, I would like to see a litle bit more dirtiness and exotic architecture.
Combat is fun, lots of spells, abilities buffs and debuffs, but is not really difficult, White March is quite more challenging.
Writing is not really good, less voiceovers and more proper writing for the next time please. Plot is not bad not good, lets see how is the end of the second chapter and the next ones.
Itemization is shit, people says that in white march improves, but I havent seen more than a couple of nice soulbound objects, thats it.

So yes, I am enjoying pillars quite a lot, Is not as close to the baldurs gate games as I thought it would be, and this is, I think the main reason why so many people is being so belligerent against the game but hey ho, who cares, I only hope for more and better.

 

[retamar]

I just had to restart from that save game I had at Defiance Bay. Man, I had that save from February or March 2015.

I totally forgot what the hell I was doing and where I was going. Anyways, hopefully the expansion packs are on sale by the time I get to level 8 or so. I think I want to visit the White March around this level. Is this is a good level without being overly powerful?

I'm playing on Pillars of the Damned instead of Hard this time. Hard was just too easy, from picking back up on my old save game, and I was slaughtering everything without using any heals or tactics. I actually got pretty far before deciding to restart.

Since then, I've had some close encounters in that cave tutorial. Pillars of the Damned is pretty tough I'm assuming?

8 is good for White March on PotD, but be careful, the expansions completely fuck the balance of the main game. I left about half of the main quests of act 2 before doing WM1 (Heritatge Hill and all the Dyrford stuff), and completed them without even resting once, just auto-attacking, and after entering act 3, I went to WM2 directly, so when I finished it, even activating the level scaling of acts 3 and 4, it was a breeze.

So i wouldn't really recomend going to the expansions before half way act 3. The expansions scale way better than the main game, even though it's not ideal.

After going through the two parts, I really question the logic behind putting them in the middle of the game. The first part works as a Tales of the sword coast type of affair, but with part 2, it works a lot more similar to a stand alone expansion-pseudo-sequel. It just breaks the flow of the plot too much if it's put in the middle of it, as well as the balance.

Well shit, I was just wondering if the expansion would fuck the balancing, I have not even finished Chapter 2. I Started at lvl 7 and I am currently at lvl 10. Better leave the second part of the White March after the end of the game?

 

[Bleed the Man]

I just had to restart from that save game I had at Defiance Bay. Man, I had that save from February or March 2015.

I totally forgot what the hell I was doing and where I was going. Anyways, hopefully the expansion packs are on sale by the time I get to level 8 or so. I think I want to visit the White March around this level. Is this is a good level without being overly powerful?

I'm playing on Pillars of the Damned instead of Hard this time. Hard was just too easy, from picking back up on my old save game, and I was slaughtering everything without using any heals or tactics. I actually got pretty far before deciding to restart.

Since then, I've had some close encounters in that cave tutorial. Pillars of the Damned is pretty tough I'm assuming?

8 is good for White March on PotD, but be careful, the expansions completely fuck the balance of the main game. I left about half of the main quests of act 2 before doing WM1 (Heritatge Hill and all the Dyrford stuff), and completed them without even resting once, just auto-attacking, and after entering act 3, I went to WM2 directly, so when I finished it, even activating the level scaling of acts 3 and 4, it was a breeze.

So i wouldn't really recomend going to the expansions before half way act 3. The expansions scale way better than the main game, even though it's not ideal.

After going through the two parts, I really question the logic behind putting them in the middle of the game. The first part works as a Tales of the sword coast type of affair, but with part 2, it works a lot more similar to a stand alone expansion-pseudo-sequel. It just breaks the flow of the plot too much if it's put in the middle of it, as well as the balance.

Well shit, I was just wondering if the expansion would fuck the balancing, I have not even finished Chapter 2. I Started at lvl 7 and I am currently at lvl 10. Better leave the second part of the White March after the end of the game?

Level 10/11 is good for a scaled act 3 I believe, but the remaining content for act 2 would be the easiest shit ever, as I said, I completed almost 6 hours of content without even resting (didn't want to activate the dream sequence that let's you start part 2) . If you do WM2 now you won't enjoy the vanilla combat outside for maybe the final boss, so you shouldn't do it before reaching the point of no return.

 

[Prime Junta]

retamar Look again at the items. They may not be all that blingy, but many of the unique abilities can be super-useful if you combine them with each other or your character's abilities. Some more or less easy-to-overlook ones to look out for:

• Marking. Use this tactically and you attack an effective 3 levels higher than you would normally. Easily the king of unique abilities.
• Coordinating. Easier to use than Marking but less impressive, still pretty good though.
• Overbearing (or whatever it was called, prone on crit in any case). Combine with a crit-focused build and it's devastating.
• Wounding. Combine with a build or abilities that build on DoT and it's devastating (hint: that one Ranger pet talent that gives + 50% damage on enemies afflicted with DoT)
• Retaliating. Combine with a high-DR character and abilities that add elemental damage, and it's very powerful.
• Rending. That's bonus damage basically.

Also look for Spellbinds. They give you per-rest abilities which can effectively make up for not having a particular class in your party.

Look for ways to stack particular types of elemental damage.

 

[Infinitron]

Sadly, the best way to deal with this might just be to restore a game from before you started The White March content and continue the main quest from there.

It's like there are two games that start in Act 2, Main Quest or White March. Pick one or the other.

(actually three games with the Endless Paths )

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I'm replaying the whole thing now that both expansions are out, I gotta say I'm amazed with the improvement this game has seen in a year from all the - balancing patches.

Skills are improved and it's no longer no brainer whether to max athletics, sneak or survival. Fortress interactions are improved quite a bit. Combat is less shitty, enemies on PoTD seem to be using their abilities more wildly, making things more entertaning. It's all fun and games until your Priest gets chain stunned. Immunities make a difference too. AI for companions is a welcome addition. Itemization got a lot more interesting, thanks to all the new loot from WM, but bounty loot in particular.

Also, for all the mockery about - balancing - it does have a positive impact. There's a lot more variety with team builds and char builds now, you can't just min-max your way to everything and have no downsides. Just see Steam forums and all the weirdass builds people are making.

Overall, I'm impressed.

 

[prodigydancer]

Itemization is shit, people says that in white march improves, but I havent seen more than a couple of nice soulbound objects, thats it.

I wouldn't say so. There are all sorts of crazy ability/item and item/item synergies. Some are more obvious (Carnage + Forgemaster's Gloves), some are less (

Spoiler

Essential Phantom + Shod in Faith

). There are even items that make rather weird builds viable. In a way, "no bad builds" is almost true now, and itemization that allows you to experiment wildly and succeed deserves some credit even if you don't like how exactly things are implemented.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Itemization is shit, people says that in white march improves, but I havent seen more than a couple of nice soulbound objects, thats it.

I wouldn't say so. There are all sorts of crazy ability/item and item/item synergies. Some are more obvious (Carnage + Forgemaster's Gloves), some are less (

Spoiler

Essential Phantom + Shod in Faith

). There are even items that make rather weird builds viable. In a way, "no bad builds" is almost true now, and itemization that allows you to experiment wildly and succeed deserves some credit even if you don't like how exactly things are implemented.

Yup. I usually have a policy to never read any outside information when playing, but since so much has changed with patches I decided to take a peak at Steam forums. Holy fucking shit, did people brainstorm the shit out of this game. With expansions there's whole new layer of depth that just wasn't there on release.

 

[Prime Junta]

Yup. I usually have a policy to never read any outside information when playing, but since so much has changed with patches I decided to take a peak at Steam forums. Holy fucking shit, did people brainstorm the shit out of this game. With expansions there's whole new layer of depth that just wasn't there on release.

Yes and no. Most of it was there on release, it's just that the balance was so out of whack that exploring any of it was entirely optional. You could just tank-and-spank your way through the whole thing and miss all of it. It also was -- and still is -- too easy on any difficulty below PotD to make you look for it.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yup. I usually have a policy to never read any outside information when playing, but since so much has changed with patches I decided to take a peak at Steam forums. Holy fucking shit, did people brainstorm the shit out of this game. With expansions there's whole new layer of depth that just wasn't there on release.

Yes and no. Most of it was there on release, it's just that the balance was so out of whack that exploring any of it was entirely optional. You could just tank-and-spank your way through the whole thing and miss all of it. It also was -- and still is -- too easy on any difficulty below PotD to make you look for it.

That's a good point too. One synergy I didn't even bother with on release, was rogues having increased damage on debuffed targets. My two rogues were exploding everything anyway so I just didn't care. On release you could just roll with a generic fantasy RPG team.

The only things you had to worry about in vanilla PoE, were shadows and mobs with dominate spells. But now, on PoTD at least, there's seems to be metric fuckton of stuns, against which there's no easy defense. There's a lot more mobs than just shadows with hard engage that buttfucks your backline (pun intended). And there's immunities to deal with too, which can be pain in the ass.

RTwP is never going to be great fun, and I still went for build based around passive skills to avoid as much micro as possible. But combat is actually sort of enjoyable now.

One remaining problem this game still has, is XP balance. But just as Infintrion said, PoE now is basically 3 in 1 package. 1st game is main campaign, 2nd game is WM, and the 3rd game is the mega dungeon. If you focus fully on one, you're going to overlevel the others. At least they realized this is going to be a problem and added scaling options, but I'm not far enough yet to figure out if scaling will be enough.

 

[Atchodas]

You can now upscalle WM1 , WM2 , ACT 3 & ACT 4 .
If you play on PoTD with all the parts upscalled you are not gonna overlevel anything , Order of difficulty when upscalled goes like this : WM1-ACT3-WM2 .
You need to be level 9 to Upscale White March . The only part of the game that u can overlevel this way is The Endless Paths
Edit : also u can use console for turning high level scaling on , even if your level is to low , without turning achievements off

 

[prodigydancer]

I think it's worth mentioning that the game is still buggy as hell. I haven't run into any showstoppers but minor issues are literally everywhere. Abilities and items that don't work or work incorrectly. Enemy buffs that stack indefinitely with every save/load. Stronghold visitors that re-appear after being executed. Companions that re-appear after getting killed.

Many of those things are actually vanilla stuff and some of them have never worked properly.

Not that I want to discourage people from trying PoE. Just a heads-up: expect the unexpected.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I think it's worth mentioning that the game is still buggy as hell. I haven't run into any showstoppers but minor issues are literally everywhere. Abilities and items that don't work or work incorrectly. Enemy buffs that stack indefinitely with every save/load. Stronghold visitors that re-appear after being executed. Companions that re-appear after getting killed.

Many of those things are actually vanilla stuff and some of them have never worked properly.

Not that I want to discourage people from trying PoE. Just a heads-up: expect the unexpected.

this is why I think they will release tons of patches before PoE2.

 

[Roguey]

They won't, it's unheard of to give a single player game that much support this long after release.

Unless a new patch beta gets released sometime this month, I expect things to be over. Still waiting for my drm-free disc patch.

 

[Fry]

They won't, it's unheard of to give a single player game that much support this long after release.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...the-old-republic-2-gets-a-surprise-huge-patch

You should probably wait until 2025. Just to be safe.

 

[Roguey]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...the-old-republic-2-gets-a-surprise-huge-patch

You should probably wait until 2025. Just to be safe.

Obsidian didn't work on that patch, Aspyr did. It's also not much of a bugfix patch, more of an "updating it for modern machines" deal.