Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Lacrymas]

The thing that most stands out to me up to now is the very, very trimmed down text dumps. I began asking questions with dread at the potential mountainous walls of text and relentless words and words and words, but every question is answered succinctly and to-the-point. Which is great, gives me BG1 vibes. I still don't want to talk to the companions, though, they have no place in my current party setup, so whatever. I'd imagine that we'd buddy, buddy it up with the Devil, in the context of my character, but I don't need another rogue, I'm enough of a rogue. I also found it shockingly novel and fresh that the Ondrians reacted to my prodding and searching (I kinda threatened them a little bit) by barricading themselves in the temple and discussing me.

 

[ilitarist]

The thing that most stands out to me up to now is the very, very trimmed down text dumps.

You mean White March dialogues compared to main game? True. Glad Obsidian learned I don't want text dumps brought upon me every time I talk to somebody. Feels like I'm back in Morrowind, but there I could quickly see that NPC doesn't have anything new to say about The Sixth House, here I'm practically required to exhaust dialogue options to trigger quests or deepen relations with companions. It works well with some characters, like Durance who has some actual backstory he reveals, strong opinions and unique opinions. And most of it feels just like talk without real reprecussions, and sometimes he asks something of you. Grieving Mother was definitely the scary companion, an early taste of Torment Numenera.

 

[Lacrymas]

No idea why lagufaeth (aka sahuagin) are so dreaded, one prayer against imprisonment totally negates their whole shtick, kinda like all the other tough enemies in the game until now.

 

[CptMace]

Don't you just feel good casting the hard-counter ?
I think that was one of the main requests for the game, hard-counters. I'd like not to bring back the fact many requests were mostly based on That was(n't) in IE games, but I just can't help myself.
I think I prefer it that way than in Vanilla anyway. Back then there was no way to counter an enemy, and yet no threat in sight during the whole game. At least with counters I have the benefit of the doubt Maybe they would have completely wrecked me without this well-timed instant prayer.

 

[Lacrymas]

Prayer against imprisonment is disproportionatelly more useful than any other prayer, the vast majority of mobs CC in a way that it counters. No wonder you get access to it so late.

 

[Haplo]

They are still quite fierce & furious attackers. Of course they also die quite easily. Well, except the Broodmothers.
Refreshing to see such an offensive mindset.

 

[Delterius]

Thaos speaks in a very condescending way and all the gibberish that is bursting from his mouth is even more annoying.

Kinda like the chosen one of the goddess of sovereignty is supposed to have a condescending and evangelist tone. The VO is the one thing they nailed about the villain.

 

[almondblight]

I don't see why Durance should be so intent on annihilating Eothas anew in the second instalment. If anything, the denouement of his quest makes it clear that Magran is his new bête noire along with Woedica. He is no less a victim of the gods' machinations than the Shattered God himself.

I thought that revelation was pretty terrible. OK, so you had a visions of eleven out of twelve circles fading out. You know that Durance's soul is screwed up. And Magran doesn't recognize him. Because of these three facts, you decide that Magran had teamed up with Woedica to kill Eothas (huh?), and is now killing the architects of the bomb in order to hide her collusion (except they seem to be unaware of her collusion). Maybe I missed something, but it seemed as stupid as the "Maybe Eothas was trying to stop Woedica all along!" line of thinking.

 

[Lacrymas]

I like Galvino, he's awesome. Too bad he's trying to do

Spoiler

the exact same thing every other animancer in this game wants to do, but with androids instead of fleshy bodies.

He's obviously trying to evoke the Renaissance man, a man of many talents and masteries, but apart from traveling and dealing with the spoiler I don't really see it. Where is he getting all the funds for this shit? He said himself he doesn't have academic backing or the support of a patron, soooo.

 

[Parabalus]

No idea why lagufaeth (aka sahuagin) are so dreaded, one prayer against imprisonment totally negates their whole shtick, kinda like all the other tough enemies in the game until now.

It's a shock when you run around WM as a low level 5-6 and they start combat by casting Minor Avatar, wait untill you get to the pull with 3 Broodmothers and get hit with triple Cleansing Flame.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, the sahuagin really aren't a problem, I cleared the hot springs without much trouble, the Gleaming Society is. Is it even possible as a level 10ish?

 

[Iznaliu]

Btw. my wish for Durance cameo was

I think Durance needs to be controlling Eothas like a puppetmaster.

 

[Prime Junta]

Yeah, the sahuagin really aren't a problem, I cleared the hot springs without much trouble, the Gleaming Society is. Is it even possible as a level 10ish?

Haha, you really /are/ feeling the two-priest party.

 

[LESS T_T]

?: https://steamdb.info/app/291650/history/?changeid=3205803

Changed Depots

• 482238/name: Pillars of Eternity Torment
• 482238/dlcappid: 683500

And it pushed to public depot, only available to KS backers: https://steamdb.info/app/291650/history/?changeid=3206512

 

[ilitarist]

Hope it means triple the wordcount of every text in the game.

 

[FreeKaner]

They are still quite fierce & furious attackers. Of course they also die quite easily. Well, except the Broodmothers.
Refreshing to see such an offensive mindset.

Deprive the unworthy / dampen their avatar and broodmothers die fast too.

 

[FreeKaner]

Yeah, the sahuagin really aren't a problem, I cleared the hot springs without much trouble, the Gleaming Society is. Is it even possible as a level 10ish?

I did it at 10 but I didn't have any priests. You can't win that fight with war of attrition I think, you have to take out the monks fast.

 

[Lacrymas]

I did it. I blocked the incline leading up to them and they couldn't overwhelm me with damage, but their spells were quite a nuisance so thank everything for scrolls of moonwell. The pushback the monks do is quite buggy, my barbarian "phased out" and I couldn't move him, I had to rest for him to reset.

 

[Lacrymas]

Is PotD balanced around having a specific class or something? Some fights (like the 3 broodmothers one, the Gleaming Society etc.) are overwhelmingly difficult, to the point of wondering what am I doing wrong for the odds to feel so skewed in the favor of the mods. They do SO much damage, even through some buffs. I can't even CC them fast enough with the cipher.

 

[Parabalus]

Is PotD balanced around having a specific class or something? Some fights (like the 3 broodmothers one, the Gleaming Society etc.) are overwhelmingly difficult, to the point of wondering what am I doing wrong for the odds to feel so skewed in the favor of the mods. They do SO much damage, even through some buffs. I can't even CC them fast enough with the cipher.

I think in the final state the classes are remarkably well balanced, so any non-skewed (1-2 of each class) composition should have a similar time.

Priests are the strongest class by far. Like you mentioned, ACC is king, and they cause a 40 ACC differential with one spell (Devotions of the Faithful). Add Crowns of the Faithful (I still can't believe that +25 RES is intentional, I thought it was a bug and supposed to be +5), them having immunity spells AND extreme damage spells it's no wonder they take the crown.

All casters are somewhat better than the martial classes, so stacking them will likely lead to a easier experience, but nothing shifts party balance as much as the lack of a priest. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's balanced around priests, but they make scrolls unnecessary and the ACC buffs are almost essential if your tackling enemies who outlevel you.

The martial classes are all similar with rogues being outright the worst class, barbs probably being the best of them.

Stacking classes easily breaks stuff so I'd avoid it, otherwise it really shouldn't matter, especially if you use custom NPCs instead of Obsidian's.

 

[Projas]

Gleaming Society is a bounty, isn't it? Bounties are generally higher level than the areas they are in, so of course it's very difficult at this point.

 

[Haplo]

Is PotD balanced around having a specific class or something? Some fights (like the 3 broodmothers one, the Gleaming Society etc.) are overwhelmingly difficult, to the point of wondering what am I doing wrong for the odds to feel so skewed in the favor of the mods. They do SO much damage, even through some buffs. I can't even CC them fast enough with the cipher.

That's where a mage, who can chain cast large aoe CC, would come in handy.

 

[Delterius]

they take the crown

Crowns of the Faithful

I see.

 

[Lacrymas]

When I have enough time to cast my buffs, sure, but sometimes the damage my party takes is so much that I have to concentrate only on outhealing it and I'm doing 0 damage then. Should I wear some heavier armor?

Gleaming Society is a bounty, isn't it? Bounties are generally higher level than the areas they are in, so of course it's very difficult at this point.

Yeah, but the other bounty wasn't nearly as tough as this one.

 

[Parabalus]

When I have enough time to cast my buffs, sure, but sometimes the damage my party takes is so much that I have to concentrate only on outhealing it and I'm doing 0 damage then. Should I wear some heavier armor?

PoE combat difficulty is very frontloaded, if you can survive the initial clash it gets easier. Use a DAoM potion on your priests to buff up easier in tougher encounters, it makes all the difference.

Heavy armor on spellcasters isn't worth it imo since it makes casting spells slower and you can't stack modifiers to reduce recovery like on attacks. For melee there is little reason not to use it, except if you want micro somebody heavily.

Healing damage is in my experience futile, only the paladin abilities are potent enough to make a difference - with a priest it's better to buff defense and resurrect if needed.

Yeah, but the other bounty wasn't nearly as tough as this one.

Wait until you get to the TWM2 optional encounters, you're in for a treat.

That's where a mage, who can chain cast large aoe CC, would come in handy.

I think druids and ciphers are just as good, if not better, for AoE CC, along with specialised Barbs.

Don't disagree about wizards being good, just that there are a lot of other viable options.