Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i decided to redo the rogue and go with this:

13 10 15 17 9 14

Hearth Orlans get bonuses on perception and resolve, so i figured i might as well see if i can roleplay that way. Intellect takes only the slighest dip (again, RP reasons. Trying to keep those custom companions on a level with the story ones) which shortens blinding strike for like half a second.

So i got a rogue and a barbarian. Still got room for one more though i'm close to picking up Durance again. I wonder if i should just make a bunch of them now. They are so cheap at low level, and i assume custom adventurers level up in the stronghold much like story companions do. I assume if i get all of them now i will save thousands in gold later on.

 

[Decado]

Summary of thoughts since I last posted here and read the new posts:

1) Agree that no prebuffing is fucking gay. You should be able to throw down a preemptive blessing before fighting a fucking dragon. Praying before a battle is as old as battle.
2) Barb is a great class.
3) You can easily get to a full party pretty quickly, there is no real need to pay for additional party members unless you really want a custom party. You pick up Aloth and Eder right away. Durance is easily grabbed. Then you can get Kana in Caed Nua, and Sagani and/or Hrivavavavavisisasaas out in the wilderness. Having a full party for Raedric's Hold is not difficult, and you can get to six without running into story-gated characters like Pallegina, Grieving Mother, or the expansion party members (Zahua is the best of them). Hrivaviavaivavias is a really great caster, BTW. Druid spells are fucking brutal, he is worth picking up for them alone. Plus his shapeshifting ability does excellent DPS when needed.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, custom companions help you in the stronghold, right? Like they go on their own adventures and bring back loot and shit. This means there's no reason not to make them even if you don't use them (which i likely won't besides a couple of trial excursions to test builds and stuff like that).

I'm also trying not to go out of my way to pick up story companions. I want to meet them naturally, not make a beeline to them. Last time i was forced to pick up Kana (after googling his location) to clear Raedric's Hold and with four i could still barely do it. Bringing a couple of custom companions with me seems logical.

Also, i don't have anyone i want to max stealth with, so i need the rogue at least to rob houses and shit lol.

 

[Lios]

Agree for Hiravias. If you wanna get him asap, though, be careful of those druid savages at the top of the map, they can really wreck the shit out of a low level party.

 

[Hagashager]

I like to beat Raedric's Hold preferrably before going to Cad Nua. This is mainly because after Cad Nua the story picks up and you'll want to go to Defiance Bay or White March.

To that end I usually make a paladin to join my wizard, Eder, Durance and Aloth (who is specced differently.)

Yes, you can send your customs on unique quests. In the beginning it may be even be useful.

 

[Decado]

I didn't think of sending custom characters on unique quests, that's true. But also, I always had plenty of characters to spare. By the time Caed Nua was up and running and I started getting those quests, I always had at least 1 extra person (usually Sagani, because she sucks).

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Honestly, I would just beeline for White March and skip the rest.

 

[Lacrymas]

Meeting Hiravias "naturally" will take a while because iirc you don't have a reason to go to his location before having finished the whole of Defiance Bay. As for beelining to White March, honestly I'd do the same if you are already having trouble with enduring this game. Which is totally justified and understandable.

 

[Vulpes]

I've never actually played the DLCs for PoE 1. Is White March still a noticeable improvement over the base game if you never liked the combat to begin with?

 

[ColonelMace]

No it is not.

 

[Decado]

I've never actually played the DLCs for PoE 1. Is White March still a noticeable improvement over the base game if you never liked the combat to begin with?

It depends on the reason(s) why you didn't like the combat in the base game. There are some insanely difficult fights in the DLCs, ala the Demogorgon from Throne of Bhaal. Probably harder than that, actually.

 

[Lacrymas]

WM1 is infinitely better paced than base game and has a more classic tabletop module feel.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Meeting Hiravias "naturally" will take a while because iirc you don't have a reason to go to his location before having finished the whole of Defiance Bay.

Mmmh, i might make an exception for him, we'll see how i feel like it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, while i was looking up builds and shit a while back, i stumbled upon this thread:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/84292-order-to-play-the-game-through/

So there's like a large dungeon with many levels and you have to try to mix it up with the regular progression of the game. Not sure how i feel about this.

 

[Parabalus]

BTW, while i was looking up builds and shit a while back, i stumbled upon this thread:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/84292-order-to-play-the-game-through/

So there's like a large dungeon with many levels and you have to try to mix it up with the regular progression of the game. Not sure how i feel about this.

You can do the dungeon in one go as well, nothing is really stopping you from doing so.

Grieving Mother, or the expansion party members

You can get grieving Mother as soon as Hiravias.

 

[Grunker]

I've never actually played the DLCs for PoE 1. Is White March still a noticeable improvement over the base game if you never liked the combat to begin with?

I'd say no. White March takes the content from good to great. If you think it's shit to begin with, it won't fix anything. It's just a refined version of the base game.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

No matter the order of doing things, your progression is always going to get screwed up. It's really a collection of 4 disconnected minigames (Cad Nua, WM, Defiance Bay and Twin Elms)

 

[Decado]

BTW, while i was looking up builds and shit a while back, i stumbled upon this thread:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/84292-order-to-play-the-game-through/

So there's like a large dungeon with many levels and you have to try to mix it up with the regular progression of the game. Not sure how i feel about this.

You can do the dungeon in one go as well, nothing is really stopping you from doing so.

Grieving Mother, or the expansion party members

You can get grieving Mother as soon as Hiravias.

Yes, you are correct. I forgot that Stormwall Gorge is only partially blocked until Act 3, you can still get to Dyrford in Act II.

 

[Haplo]

I enjoyed PoE 1, but I am finding so much about PoE2 that makes me just not want to do this.

I utterly despise that *every class* has a "resource" to be expended for abilities. Whether it's Fighter, Paladin, Mage or Rogue, you've got a bootleg Mana pool to work around.

I absolutely hate that mages have to carry multiple grimoire. Fuck this. It makes zero sense to be flipping through three books in combat and completely kills the Roleplay of being a wizard building up *his own* grinoire of knowledge.

I find the skills bloated and so granular as to be practically useless 90% of the time.

Lastly, and this is more a nitpick than anything else- The Critical Role voice acting. I can't separate them from the Ex Machina characters. I'm being narrated to by Pike. I can't divorce that and it kills much of the dialogue for me.

PoE 1 has its problems, but I find it far more fun just to *play* than PoE 2.

the only good thing POE 2 is itemization. It's really good.

One of the best in all crpgs ever, actually.
Perhaps THE BEST.

 

[Haplo]

I absolutely hate that mages have to carry multiple grimoire. Fuck this. It makes zero sense to be flipping through three books in combat and completely kills the Roleplay of being a wizard building up *his own* grinoire of knowledge.

Huh? Never got to dedfire, what was wrong with the original system of copying shit from other grimoires into your own?

You tell me. Accprding to Sawyer it was to balance wizard multi-classing but I don't think it works at all.

You start out with a worn grimoire that has the unique spell "Arcane Blast" (the same one from PoE 1. You can only cast Arcane Blast from the worn grimoire.

You'll later find other grimoires either as loot or rewards. Many of these grimoires have unique spells that can only be cast from that grimoire. An example would Ninagouth's Shadowflame (Blue fireball).

Additionally, when you level up you can pick an "ability" you know. Typically this'll be innate versions of spells that you just know without a grimoire.

So a strategy that many mage players do, a dogshit, meta-strat, is you *respec your wizard* everytime you find a new grimoire so that your innate spells complement the grimoire you're favoring.

Later on you're gonna want to have at lwast two grimoires on hand because there're very good spells between multiple books. It's exactly as cumbersome and obnoxious as it sounds.

PoE 2 managed to ruin my favorite class. Just spectacular game design Josh.

There is an easy solution. Use a single grimoire with spells you like (like Ninagauth's or Iron-Clasped) and learn the other spells relevant to you on level-ups. Voila, no need to switch grimoires, like ever.
You're welcome.

What you've been writing is describing the unique class advantage of the wizard class (ability to save level up ability points by using grimoires and potentially switch some spells on the fly via grimoire-swapping) and paint it as a problem.

 

[motherfucker]

I absolutely hate that mages have to carry multiple grimoire. Fuck this. It makes zero sense to be flipping through three books in combat and completely kills the Roleplay of being a wizard building up *his own* grinoire of knowledge.

Huh? Never got to dedfire, what was wrong with the original system of copying shit from other grimoires into your own?

You tell me. Accprding to Sawyer it was to balance wizard multi-classing but I don't think it works at all.

You start out with a worn grimoire that has the unique spell "Arcane Blast" (the same one from PoE 1. You can only cast Arcane Blast from the worn grimoire.

You'll later find other grimoires either as loot or rewards. Many of these grimoires have unique spells that can only be cast from that grimoire. An example would Ninagouth's Shadowflame (Blue fireball).

Additionally, when you level up you can pick an "ability" you know. Typically this'll be innate versions of spells that you just know without a grimoire.

So a strategy that many mage players do, a dogshit, meta-strat, is you *respec your wizard* everytime you find a new grimoire so that your innate spells complement the grimoire you're favoring.

Later on you're gonna want to have at lwast two grimoires on hand because there're very good spells between multiple books. It's exactly as cumbersome and obnoxious as it sounds.

PoE 2 managed to ruin my favorite class. Just spectacular game design Josh.

There is an easy solution. Use a single grimoire with spells you like (like Ninagauth's or Iron-Clasped) and learn the other spells relevant to you on level-ups. Voila, no need to switch grimoires, like ever.
You're welcome.

What you've been writing is describing the unique class advantage of the wizard class (ability to save level up ability points by using grimoires and potentially switch some spells on the fly via grimoire-swapping) and paint it as a problem.

As I understood it, the problem is when you have several spells you like but you can't put them in the same grimoire because they can't be copied, so switching becomes mandatory

 

[Grunker]

I enjoyed PoE 1, but I am finding so much about PoE2 that makes me just not want to do this.

I utterly despise that *every class* has a "resource" to be expended for abilities. Whether it's Fighter, Paladin, Mage or Rogue, you've got a bootleg Mana pool to work around.

I absolutely hate that mages have to carry multiple grimoire. Fuck this. It makes zero sense to be flipping through three books in combat and completely kills the Roleplay of being a wizard building up *his own* grinoire of knowledge.

I find the skills bloated and so granular as to be practically useless 90% of the time.

Lastly, and this is more a nitpick than anything else- The Critical Role voice acting. I can't separate them from the Ex Machina characters. I'm being narrated to by Pike. I can't divorce that and it kills much of the dialogue for me.

PoE 1 has its problems, but I find it far more fun just to *play* than PoE 2.

the only good thing POE 2 is itemization. It's really good.

One of the best in all crpgs ever, actually.
Perhaps THE BEST.

It's at least a strong contender. You can always tell whether people criticizing PoE2 are worth taking even the least bit serious depending on whether they trash itemization or not.

 

[Haplo]

I absolutely hate that mages have to carry multiple grimoire. Fuck this. It makes zero sense to be flipping through three books in combat and completely kills the Roleplay of being a wizard building up *his own* grinoire of knowledge.

Huh? Never got to dedfire, what was wrong with the original system of copying shit from other grimoires into your own?

You tell me. Accprding to Sawyer it was to balance wizard multi-classing but I don't think it works at all.

You start out with a worn grimoire that has the unique spell "Arcane Blast" (the same one from PoE 1. You can only cast Arcane Blast from the worn grimoire.

You'll later find other grimoires either as loot or rewards. Many of these grimoires have unique spells that can only be cast from that grimoire. An example would Ninagouth's Shadowflame (Blue fireball).

Additionally, when you level up you can pick an "ability" you know. Typically this'll be innate versions of spells that you just know without a grimoire.

So a strategy that many mage players do, a dogshit, meta-strat, is you *respec your wizard* everytime you find a new grimoire so that your innate spells complement the grimoire you're favoring.

Later on you're gonna want to have at lwast two grimoires on hand because there're very good spells between multiple books. It's exactly as cumbersome and obnoxious as it sounds.

PoE 2 managed to ruin my favorite class. Just spectacular game design Josh.

There is an easy solution. Use a single grimoire with spells you like (like Ninagauth's or Iron-Clasped) and learn the other spells relevant to you on level-ups. Voila, no need to switch grimoires, like ever.
You're welcome.

What you've been writing is describing the unique class advantage of the wizard class (ability to save level up ability points by using grimoires and potentially switch some spells on the fly via grimoire-swapping) and paint it as a problem.

As I understood it, the problem is when you have several spells you like but you can't put them in the same grimoire because they can't be copied, so switching becomes mandatory

So unique, often overpowered spells you can only find/buy in the world, rather then learn on level ups are the problem?

I understand the desire to hoard them, but frankly needing to make a choice sometimes is good. And since you can actually swap grimoires, its not that painful of a choice even.

Other caster classes don't have this "problem" (or similarly unique spells and ability to save ability points because of grimoires - like a gish multiclass wizard hardly needs to invest in spells at all with the Llengrath's Martial Masteries grimoire).

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Hardly a difficult choice anyway, it's between blue fireball and Llegranth's.

 

[Hagashager]

I absolutely hate that mages have to carry multiple grimoire. Fuck this. It makes zero sense to be flipping through three books in combat and completely kills the Roleplay of being a wizard building up *his own* grinoire of knowledge.

Huh? Never got to dedfire, what was wrong with the original system of copying shit from other grimoires into your own?

You tell me. Accprding to Sawyer it was to balance wizard multi-classing but I don't think it works at all.

You start out with a worn grimoire that has the unique spell "Arcane Blast" (the same one from PoE 1. You can only cast Arcane Blast from the worn grimoire.

You'll later find other grimoires either as loot or rewards. Many of these grimoires have unique spells that can only be cast from that grimoire. An example would Ninagouth's Shadowflame (Blue fireball).

Additionally, when you level up you can pick an "ability" you know. Typically this'll be innate versions of spells that you just know without a grimoire.

So a strategy that many mage players do, a dogshit, meta-strat, is you *respec your wizard* everytime you find a new grimoire so that your innate spells complement the grimoire you're favoring.

Later on you're gonna want to have at lwast two grimoires on hand because there're very good spells between multiple books. It's exactly as cumbersome and obnoxious as it sounds.

PoE 2 managed to ruin my favorite class. Just spectacular game design Josh.

There is an easy solution. Use a single grimoire with spells you like (like Ninagauth's or Iron-Clasped) and learn the other spells relevant to you on level-ups. Voila, no need to switch grimoires, like ever.
You're welcome.

What you've been writing is describing the unique class advantage of the wizard class (ability to save level up ability points by using grimoires and potentially switch some spells on the fly via grimoire-swapping) and paint it as a problem.

You just described the meta-strategy that I consider very badly designed. Having to respec to be optimized is not good game design.

Sure, you can get by fine swapping Grimoires but the system is still cumbersome. It shouldn't take that to balance spell availability between multiclasses. It didn't work that way in the the first game and it was fine, too fine even given how aggressively balanced that game is.

It's obvious in reading retorts to my complaining though that this is an apples and oranges situation. I do not personally like the system, but evidently other people do and do not see it as flawed. We can argue under the table but we're clearly not going to reach consensus.

You do you beau