Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Piotrovitz]

There are a bazillion ways to break this game, the paralysing fireball is just the cherry on top. If you are looking for a challenge, I suggest not taking a Priest along. The party dynamics change quite a lot without one.

Yeah, the buffs/debuffs Priests get from spell lvl 3 onward are obscene, though the Cipher ones are not falling much behind (lvl 2 paralyze, lvl 3 domination, lvl 4 raw dmg + AoE stun, plus the fucking amplified wave). Add a wizard to the party and with such trio you can CC the shit out of everything all day.

The easiest times I had on PotD were with that trio in the back + MC glass cannon rogue, Eder and Pallegina in the front. After few levels under the belt you don't even need a dedicated tank and can build the whole front line as DPS machines.

 

[Haplo]

When it comes to greatswords I've always preferred Tidefall or St. Rumbalt, but the one you're talking about is invaluable in the WM2 when dealing with Eyeless', that can be instakilled with it.

Eh, I loved those on a Barbarian in PoE1 with Carnage, knocking Prone whole armies on crits!

 

[Fishy]

Woohoo. White March Part 2 cleared last night. Let's say things escalated quickly... Came out of the Iron Flail leader's tent to find the first couple Eyeless, then headed out to the monastery. Damn, those monks absolutely wrecked me in numbers, and even in short numbers I had to make sure to well cc the Tidefist guys. As ever before, diplomacy wasn't my greatest strength, so I ended up cutting and slicing my way into the monastery, scoring a grimoire with that paralyse-frostball spell, and finding the head honcho monastery leader which, at this point, was most definitely hostile, no dialogue options for me. That fight againt Kaoto and his monks was, like, super rough, so I ended up skipping it, going downstairs for the lever instead, leaving the murder-hoboing for later. Below was pretty uneventful, but once at the lever, I had to exercise my save/reload privileges a few times.

First, I just opened the water valves for lulz. Honestly, the only reason I chose to reload afterwards is that by then I knew it made Kaoto happy and from my perspective he's a dick.

Second I opened the gates, causing chaos with the low tide monks escaping. That was more like it. However the problem then is that Kaoto and his minions wait by the Veil of Tears above, with zero combat placement allowed.

So third time's the charm. Before taking the lever, I went back upstairs and carefully pulled Kaoto and his minions to a room with a good chokepoint. That plus proper cc got me through. Opened the gates then, got through the Veil and found out about the Ondra/Abyddon's story. That sucked because from all I'd seen so far, Abyddon was a chill guy and, like, pretty much the only kind of deity my dwarf would actually worship. But then, I got to reforge the hammer. And it's soulbound. And it's two-handed. O... M... F... G... this thing is a beast, plus it fits my dwarf a lot better than swords. I was very disappointed that there were no greathammers, and the greataxes were disappointing. This thing is now my baby. The stats/powers are absolutely insane too...

Eyeless central wasn't anything to write home about really. The hammer just chewed through them. The Kraken had a fantastic entrance though, I loved the sheer size of it. Then it was time to wrech the crystal, and I wasn't about to delegate, so my dwarf took it upon himself to do so, letting the party escape. Turns out, my 21 constitution had me swim out of the frozen water and punch through the ice afterwards. Have to say, I love those CYOA-style vignettes with stats/skill/gear checks. They're fantastic at conveying bits of action that the IE can't really picture, and this ending, with my dwarf swimming out in full plate and with a big fucking greathammer was a great power trip.

Epilogue time then, with a final twist... Ondra's even fishier than she seemed, and I absolutely want to bring Abyddon back so he can tell her where to stuff it. Still went through the motions of pretending to dissuade the Eyeless just to see the dialogues, and I liked that some arguments were denied based on my previous actions: having caused legalisation of animancy and tied the dwarves spirits to the White Forge. I had clicked on the "animancy is bad" and "kith shouldn't have access to the WF" in completely bad faith, just to see where it led, and thought it was hilarious that the Eyless called me up on it.

So, finally, I told them to go ahead, and bring back Abyddon. Yay. I just hope he doesn't come for my hammer, I'd like to keep that thing!

Was about to head over to Act 3 then, but the world map reminded me I hadn't sorted out the Concelhaut tower, so that's where I am now. I mopped up the mercs, and have just entered the undead minion tower. For real. A dungeon choke-full of Vessel type foes when my two weapon quickslots are Abyddon's hammer and the Redeemer greatsword. Poor things... If they only knew...


So, will mop up the lich dungeon tonight. But yesterday was mostly about WM2 and I have to say, it makes for a lovely expansion. The two parts combine really well together, and manage to provide a decent challenge all the way through. I really wasn't prepared for how quickly I could get wrecked by the monks, it was beautiful. Not sure much is gonna stand in my way now that I have my hands on the fully upgraded OP hammer, but... And I really, really love the dungeon size, it's downright perfect for me. Oh, on a note on spells, that paralyse frostball is mighty alright, but I have to say the mass sleep spell remains my clear favourite, due to a massive aoe and being foe-only.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Not sure much is gonna stand in my way now that I have my hands on the fully upgraded OP hammer

Abydon's hammer is pretty meh - there are better endgame weapons. I always used it only for clearing the areas with Eyeless'

What difficulty are you playing btw?

 

[Fishy]

Not sure much is gonna stand in my way now that I have my hands on the fully upgraded OP hammer

Abydon's hammer is pretty meh - there are better endgame weapons. I always used it only for clearing the areas with Eyeless'

What difficulty are you playing btw?

Only playing in standard, like I always do on first runs. I keep higher settings for challenge runs later if need be. From what I see in encounters so far, POTD must be "interesting" the first time round!

Guess I'll see what Act 3 has in store, but for now, the hammer is a fair increase in damage, and with that neato ring ability per encounter. Just the item quality in itself is a big step up compared to my other 2-handed options. And it's a big frigging hammer so it gets extra points from my dwarf fantasy. Also, I had picked soldier's focus and mastery for the greatsword, and warhammers are part of the soldier's weapons. It just fits like a glove.

 

[Piotrovitz]

POTD is pretty tough for the first time, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone tbh.

I think my first run was on standard as well, but mid-game it became too easy, so I've restarted on expert and it was perfect for the first run, when you're still learning the mechanics and figuring stuff out.

Cool to see you're enjoying the game - I had a blast with it as well. It has some flaws, sure, but I still consider it one of the best RtwP crpg of last years (haven't played PFK though), despite the amount of people here shitting on it constantly wherever they can.

 

[Lacrymas]

I'd recommend PotD to any RPG veteran even on a first run. The system doesn't make sense on anything lower.

 

[adddeed]

Nah for a 1st timer PotD would be just frustration.
Normal or even easy is fine so you can get used to the systems.

 

[copebot]

POTD is fine when you learn the math of the game, even quite easy. It is very hard if you are going in blind without understanding things like how all the status effects work. POE1, unlike POE2, lets you stack lots of debuffs and buffs and it totally changes the difficulty of the game when you learn how to do that and how to create a party with good synergy. When you can swing the defenses of the enemy by -40 to -80 and boost your offenses by +20 to +40, the difficulty changes are made trivial.

In POE1 certain consumables like the Major Recovery potions are clutch for making certain enemy types like the totally-not-mindflayers far easier than they would otherwise be. If you are playing POTD blind you won't know when to use them, but if you know when they're clutch you will preemptively chug them and have an easy time with some hard encounters.

 

[Haplo]

Not sure much is gonna stand in my way now that I have my hands on the fully upgraded OP hammer

Abydon's hammer is pretty meh - there are better endgame weapons. I always used it only for clearing the areas with Eyeless'

What difficulty are you playing btw?

Only playing in standard, like I always do on first runs. I keep higher settings for challenge runs later if need be. From what I see in encounters so far, POTD must be "interesting" the first time round!

Guess I'll see what Act 3 has in store, but for now, the hammer is a fair increase in damage, and with that neato ring ability per encounter. Just the item quality in itself is a big step up compared to my other 2-handed options. And it's a big frigging hammer so it gets extra points from my dwarf fantasy. Also, I had picked soldier's focus and mastery for the greatsword, and warhammers are part of the soldier's weapons. It just fits like a glove.

Too bad you didn't go with a Barbarian. PoE1 Barbarian was the most fun I've ever had with a Barbarian in any computer game, by far!


As for difficulty, I'd say Veteran for first gameplay of cRPG... veterans.

 

[Piotrovitz]

I'd recommend PotD to any RPG veteran even on a first run. The system doesn't make sense on anything lower.

Depends on your mileage I'd say.

You said yourself that without Priest it's much harder. Assuming that someone won't recruit neither Durance nor Grieving Mother, because of their personalities or whatever, and he will have a tough time on first run on POTD (due to lack of helpful CCs), no matter how many times he played IE RTwP rpgs before. Sure, for further playthroughs you can experiment with some wonky parties with success, but for the first run, when you're still grasping the mechanics and usefulness of wiz/pri/ciph spells, you have to more or less have an idea about your party build. First lvls of Priest spells are shit, so there's a lot of chance that someone will dump Durance, even if he consider and recruit him, before he starts to gain full potential.

But then again, it also depends on how fast you learn and you overall ability to quickly grasp the new system - it's doable on POTD, but I'd still recommend for first timers to start on hard.

 

[Parabalus]

I'd recommend PotD to any RPG veteran even on a first run. The system doesn't make sense on anything lower.

Depends on your mileage I'd say.

You said yourself that without Priest it's much harder. Assuming that someone won't recruit neither Durance nor Grieving Mother, because of their personalities or whatever, and he will have a tough time on first run on POTD (due to lack of helpful CCs), no matter how many times he played IE RTwP rpgs before. Sure, for further playthroughs you can experiment with some wonky parties with success, but for the first run, when you're still grasping the mechanics and usefulness of wiz/pri/ciph spells, you have to more or less have an idea about your party build. First lvls of Priest spells are shit, so there's a lot of chance that someone will dump Durance, even if he consider and recruit him, before he starts to gain full potential.

But then again, it also depends on how fast you learn and you overall ability to quickly grasp the new system - it's doable on POTD, but I'd still recommend for first timers to start on hard.

But those are arguably the two coolest companions, everyone will probably play with them, even if just for the MCA clout.

Aloth is also very strong and probably a staple for everyone, wizards are as OP as ever.

 

[Fishy]

I'd recommend PotD to any RPG veteran even on a first run. The system doesn't make sense on anything lower.

Depends on your mileage I'd say.

You said yourself that without Priest it's much harder. Assuming that someone won't recruit neither Durance nor Grieving Mother, because of their personalities or whatever, and he will have a tough time on first run on POTD (due to lack of helpful CCs), no matter how many times he played IE RTwP rpgs before. Sure, for further playthroughs you can experiment with some wonky parties with success, but for the first run, when you're still grasping the mechanics and usefulness of wiz/pri/ciph spells, you have to more or less have an idea about your party build. First lvls of Priest spells are shit, so there's a lot of chance that someone will dump Durance, even if he consider and recruit him, before he starts to gain full potential.

But then again, it also depends on how fast you learn and you overall ability to quickly grasp the new system - it's doable on POTD, but I'd still recommend for first timers to start on hard.

But those are arguably the two coolest companions, everyone will probably play with them, even if just for the MCA clout.

Aloth is also very strong and probably a staple for everyone, wizards are as OP as ever.

From a first-run perspective, companion-wise, I picked up Aloth, Durance, Kana, Eder, Sagani, in that order (somehow missed Eder at the start... only found him on going back after killing Roedric). At that point, I just didn't feel like swapping the team. Met Grieving Mother next, and was curious about the character and the class, but the party felt too cosy with my dwarf as melee DPS/off-tank, Eder as tank, Sagani as ranged DPS (now cc with Stormcaller), Durance/Kana buffing, and Aloth casting. I have since found all the other characters including the DLC ones, but the way they're scattered, they come in too late for me. I'm sure on a second run I'll do things differently, but the first time, the order and classes does matter a fair bit. I get attached too, as otherwise I may have swapped Eder for Pallegina for example (haven't looked at Paladin in detail, but can't imagine they make bad tanks). Was tempted to kick out Kana for Grieving Mother, but didn't go with it in the end as the chanting felt handy (and no regrets now that he can paralyse, summon Ogres and rez at will). I guess Sagani could have made room for someone else (that barbarian mofo or the Devil of Caroc), but come on, she's a dwarf, I can't kick her out!

As I understand, companions are basically generated at your level (like, just a tiny bit below your current xp). While this is neat, they don't seem to then level up much in Caer Nuad, even from adventures. I realise it'd be a gemey thing to have them magically keep up with the party's xp, but at least I'd have taken them out in turn for a spin (like to take the barbarian to the monastery), whereas as-is, I don't bother: they're too far below and they would make the main party member they replace miss out on the xp too...


On an update note, Concelhaut tore me a new one. I have conceded defeat for now and left his place to get on with Act 3. I'll go back to try again in a couple levels but I'm not convinced, that's a brutal fight. It's only the second fight I can't deal with (first one being the Alpine Dragon, but at least I got a diplomatic resolution there).

 

[Haplo]

Nonono, cannot replace Sagani. Not only is she a great shot, her pet is also a great backline guardian/flanker. 2 characters in one, basically.

And I thought the keep adventures could help decently to keep one stationed character mostly up to speed. For that to be noticeable, you need to keep assigning the same person, though.

 

[Parabalus]

I'd recommend PotD to any RPG veteran even on a first run. The system doesn't make sense on anything lower.

Depends on your mileage I'd say.

You said yourself that without Priest it's much harder. Assuming that someone won't recruit neither Durance nor Grieving Mother, because of their personalities or whatever, and he will have a tough time on first run on POTD (due to lack of helpful CCs), no matter how many times he played IE RTwP rpgs before. Sure, for further playthroughs you can experiment with some wonky parties with success, but for the first run, when you're still grasping the mechanics and usefulness of wiz/pri/ciph spells, you have to more or less have an idea about your party build. First lvls of Priest spells are shit, so there's a lot of chance that someone will dump Durance, even if he consider and recruit him, before he starts to gain full potential.

But then again, it also depends on how fast you learn and you overall ability to quickly grasp the new system - it's doable on POTD, but I'd still recommend for first timers to start on hard.

But those are arguably the two coolest companions, everyone will probably play with them, even if just for the MCA clout.

Aloth is also very strong and probably a staple for everyone, wizards are as OP as ever.

From a first-run perspective, companion-wise, I picked up Aloth, Durance, Kana, Eder, Sagani, in that order (somehow missed Eder at the start... only found him on going back after killing Roedric). At that point, I just didn't feel like swapping the team. Met Grieving Mother next, and was curious about the character and the class, but the party felt too cosy with my dwarf as melee DPS/off-tank, Eder as tank, Sagani as ranged DPS (now cc with Stormcaller), Durance/Kana buffing, and Aloth casting. I have since found all the other characters including the DLC ones, but the way they're scattered, they come in too late for me. I'm sure on a second run I'll do things differently, but the first time, the order and classes does matter a fair bit. I get attached too, as otherwise I may have swapped Eder for Pallegina for example (haven't looked at Paladin in detail, but can't imagine they make bad tanks). Was tempted to kick out Kana for Grieving Mother, but didn't go with it in the end as the chanting felt handy (and no regrets now that he can paralyse, summon Ogres and rez at will). I guess Sagani could have made room for someone else (that barbarian mofo or the Devil of Caroc), but come on, she's a dwarf, I can't kick her out!

As I understand, companions are basically generated at your level (like, just a tiny bit below your current xp). While this is neat, they don't seem to then level up much in Caer Nuad, even from adventures. I realise it'd be a gemey thing to have them magically keep up with the party's xp, but at least I'd have taken them out in turn for a spin (like to take the barbarian to the monastery), whereas as-is, I don't bother: they're too far below and they would make the main party member they replace miss out on the xp too...


On an update note, Concelhaut tore me a new one. I have conceded defeat for now and left his place to get on with Act 3. I'll go back to try again in a couple levels but I'm not convinced, that's a brutal fight. It's only the second fight I can't deal with (first one being the Alpine Dragon, but at least I got a diplomatic resolution there).

I wouldn't worry too much, you have a very strong party.
Double Vancian casters will make short work of anything. Ciphers are nice because they let you conserve resources in dungeons, but against bosses (where you go all out) they aren't that spectacular.

IIRC usually the rest are about one level below your A-team, which shouldn't be a detriment to swapping them in.

 

[Haplo]

As for Paladins, they are great support. And very durable. Aren't quite as good at keeping the front line as fighters due to limited engagement slots, IMO.

 

[Technomancer]

Not sure much is gonna stand in my way now that I have my hands on the fully upgraded OP hammer

Concelhaut is not the only potentially hostile archmage.

I am not a fan of how easy and unbalanced 4 extra WM levels made the game. That cipher spell that makes your hands into raw weapons that generate focus is absurd, slap it on a monk and you can obliterate anything together, no need for a party. Adra dragon becomes a joke on levels higher than 12, I remember most of the tactics for her involved petrify exploits back in the day. Now you can just wreck her on higher levels, too bad you can't upscale her level like in other parts of the game.

 

[Piotrovitz]

As for Paladins, they are great support. And very durable. Aren't quite as good at keeping the front line as fighters due to limited engagement slots, IMO.

TBH I haven't noticed the engagement slots to be that important, even on POTD and usually build Pallegina as a tank early/mid game and equip her with Shatterstar (1+ engagement slot), and then switch her to 2H DPS, as later on there's no really need for pure tanks.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Question for dudes that finished POTD one or more times - what fight you found the most difficult?

Looking back, for me it was probably the upscaled Alpine Dragon.

Funnily enough I didn't have any troubles with Llengrath and her pack - went into this fight totally unprepared (with lvl cap reached already) and whacked them on first try. Alpine Dragon was a pain though and I had to reload at least couple of times for some reason, but then again I haven't checked his immunities beforehand.

 

[Parabalus]

Question for dudes that finished POTD one or more times - what fight you found the most difficult?

Looking back, for me it was probably the upscaled Alpine Dragon.

Funnily enough I didn't have any troubles with Llengrath and her pack - went into this fight totally unprepared (with lvl cap reached already) and whacked them on first try. Alpine Dragon was a pain though and I had to reload at least couple of times for some reason, but then again I haven't checked his immunities beforehand.

Probably the alpine dragon. The last WM2 bounties might be a bit tricky too.

Earlier parts of the game can be hard as well, Caed Nua at level 3, entering WM at lvl 5 etc.

 

[copebot]

Question for dudes that finished POTD one or more times - what fight you found the most difficult?

Looking back, for me it was probably the upscaled Alpine Dragon.

Funnily enough I didn't have any troubles with Llengrath and her pack - went into this fight totally unprepared (with lvl cap reached already) and whacked them on first try. Alpine Dragon was a pain though and I had to reload at least couple of times for some reason, but then again I haven't checked his immunities beforehand.

The Alpine Dragon is just the toughest because of the little guys that accompany it. Llengrath should be harder, but for whatever reason the Alpine Dragon always gave me more trouble. In my best POTD run Llengrath died almost instantly. The main thing for Alpine is just to figure out a way to take care of the adds first. You can also exploit his low will save and low pierce DR. Beast slaying pierce weapons are good to have -- it's not bad to invest in a full kit just for this fight because nothing else is as challenging.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Probably the alpine dragon. The last WM2 bounties might be a bit tricky too.

Ah, yes - Brynlod bounty was also also hard as fuck - needed a couple of reploads with him as well.

 

[Haplo]

Generally Adra dragon for me.
Well, one big lagufueth encounter also cought me unprepared and I wiped a few times before I go the right tactics.
The WM2 monks were obviously fun as well

 

[Piotrovitz]

Adra was suprisingly easy, especially that you can keep him paralyzed most of the time with scrolls used by your non-casters, given that you have high enough Lore.

True, that Laguafueth encounter with Brodmothers at the north end of the map was also a pain and it took a few tries to figure out the best tactic. Not sure how it looks like in non-upscaled WM, but along with Alpine drac, this was probably one of the hardest fights in WM1 for me.

 

[Haplo]

Well, maybe there is my problem: I don't like using consumables. I hoard them instead.