Looking over the roadmap again, I can't help but think that so much of what we think we know, is going to change come 3.0 in September. What we have seen & tested so far is just the tip of the iceberg, as you well know Hydra. Right now, without knowing exactly how the power level system will actually fit into the overall game, I find it difficult to comment on it now.

I really wish there was a way to PM each other. Since I have your attention, I have some questions. I'm a few purple drops away from power lvl 2 on both my characters. I'm curious to know, currently, what happens when a character gets there ? Currently, what happens if you hit PL 2 on Attack, but are stiil 1 on Defense ? My assumption is that in both cases it only effects the challenge handicaps in the higher lvl star systems.

Why not break it down to how power level is defined as a lingual construct for an established medium of communication and then compare that to the current state. If things change in 3.0 then the thread can always be revisited, that is what is nice about polite discourse.

Power can be influence, strength, other physical prowess, belongings, etc.

Levels are a way of demarcating difference in power.

In the case of Martyr they already influence systems and the "power level" system is correlated directly to your gear and that is all.

It's a number stuck on a weapon that does as much damage as any other, but because my Loyalty Impl--Err, bionic Implant was rewarded back in Schola Gitgudium for giving the Inquisitor an apple it for some reason does 25% less damage. When that brain implant is replaced with something newer though my power level raises to 2 and I no longer suffer the damage reduction against other power level 2's.

So far it makes some sense to me and provides progression in a way where I can fight more difficult maps. Constantly needing to get stronger gear to do more difficult areas is a big thing in many ARPGs so I'm with it so far..

If you need mostly purples, artificer items, to get to that next power level then it means you'll be replacing old artificer with better artificer.. makes sense so far to me.

Only real problem I see is the fact it is called power level when it doesn't take in anything else you've accumulated. If it is specifically for ONLY rating gear, then I would like it to be more intuitive with how it is named.

Thx. I did watch the video, but it brought up some additional questions/clarifications. So, once my character is P2, is there currently a path towards P3 ? If there is, how does it work ? Does the purple gear continue to increase in Att/Def strength, or does something else happen ?

Ok, got it. Final question for now. Once a character hits P2 is it locked in ? What I mean is, if I used an it to get there, that I don't want to continue using, will I lose P2 if I go back to the other item ?

I would really like to start discussing this "Tier" system(end game ?) and it's potential effect on the persistent open world, but I think that might to going to far off topic here.

Problem with current system is that it strictly requires you to get a full set of purple gear to advance to next level, with well rolled ratings to boot. Which means you have very low chance of getting gear that suits your play style or your build. If your build requires very specific enchants, then... welcome to grinding hell. You'll either have to wait for eternity to get your perfect purple set with which you'll farm your next perfect purple set, or abandon your build and play optimum overperforming build for which gear isn't as important. The build you probably don't like at all.

After boosting an Assassin (with largely found gear) to PL2 in about seven or eight hours from level 1 yesterday, a lot of the felt weakness comes down to how gear isn't quite... right... yet.

Without beating a load of dead horses, I'm noticing that because a blade-assassin can be quite effective essentially regardless of what you throw on her (your damage mitigation being an active dodge with no cooldown), the drawbacks of throwing higher "power" gear are lower than a more gear-dependant build--and I'd like Neocore to take a long look at that, perhaps making sword+board gear more "powerful" in terms of the rating (not the stats, just please weight the stats properly guys). It took a lot of juggling to reach PL2 in Att and Def on my crusader, and in the end I had to minmax my ranged off-set loadout to do it because the best of the purple 1h and shields plus the best of literally everything else I could slot brought me two points shy. That's... odd, and a potential shortcoming of the system itself, at least as currently implemented.

Most of my assassin's gear is, outside of some minor survival tweaks in the form of +adrenaline and heal on hit, just there to make those numbers bigger--the largest amount of my damage is the second mouse DoT cleave, so I spend most of my time dodging actively, stacking dots on things, and then dropping the distortion field (far more effective for melee assassin than stealth suit for my playstyle) on the medium/elite enemies and pounding them with a combination of DoTs and death marks until I can kill them outright with the "finisher" combo (I forget what the ability is called, Death Cult blade 2 key attack that stacks damage per mark).

As a result, I've had to revise my views on power level and itemization a bit; I still feel that there are things that are clearly borked (seeing +deflect on assassin armor, when it should be +dodge--and deflect does not raise dodge so it's a wasted enchant) that need to be addressed, some QoL tweaks to make life suck less for a couple of the specializations.

Unrelated to the topic of the thread, Hydra... I've made it my goal to boost my DoT damage to the point where Nurgle Mark regen can't outheal it. In the Distortion field effect, it works, but even at +25% I'm still not quite there otherwise.

Good points. Based on my reading of the roadmap, many of those "current" issues will be addressed in 3.0

Probably, but we should keep providing as much feedback as possible so that the experience can be as finely tuned as possible!

Ok first, and I hate to nitpick, but I think it is necessary for clarity....It is my understanding that each Tier is a different sub-sector(each sub containing several star systems). Then, if that is correct, my question would be: Does each sub-sector need to be unlocked or are they all available from the start ? If they need to be unlocked, how does that effect the open world ? Is it no longer truly an open world, but instead, just a series of "chapters" in a linear campaign ? How would a Sector wide, Grand Investigation fit into such a system ?

In summary, I know you have mentioned "end game" several times in the recent past. So, how would an open world game with "seasons" have an end game ? Is the game "over" once all the Tiers(Sub-sectors) are unlocked and completed ? Have the Devs given up on the open world concept for the game ?

I guess unlocking more Tiers through missions will simply increase the map where you can roam free. Although it's more sandbox like, open world doesn't fit multiplanet system we have. I guess you will be able to seamlessly go from one mission to another within planet. It will be "open-worldy" in that sense.

Yeah, this sounds a lot more linear than I think we were led to believe at the beginning. I real wonder how Grand Investigation & Seasons are going to work in a system where many parts of the star map may be locked.

Just re-read the roadmap again. I just noticed that there is no longer any mention of Grand investigations & Seasons. Not a good sign I think for those of us who were expecting a true open world experience. Worried now this is going down the road that EC did.

I get the feeling based on the information I have (which may be erroneous/out of date) that the "seasons" and such will be set up in such a way that they'll be (at some level) accessible to both casual players and those of us putting in the grind; keeping a somewhat "open" world--though remember that in many cases, "open" does not mean "easily accessible to all".

Look at notables such as Just Cause, Grand Theft Auto, etc. While you may be able to get there, you're probably going to have problems with content difficulty when you do get there.. so it's important to keep that in mind while we discuss that aspect of the game.

Grim Dawn (again! I know!) has an open world, with very little in the way of loading screens... but there are parts that are locked to progress until you reach a certain threshold.

I think part of the issue with the term these days is that it's come to mean "go anywhere at whenever", when originally it referred to games with sprawling zones (often with progress-locks to prevent early entry to the next) rather than narrow linear corridors.

So we'll definitely need some clarification on that part, I think.

I'd personally like to see difficulty added or expanded with the higher power levels within a Tier, as it stands once you start to acquire a higher power level the content doesn't provide as much of a challenge as I would like.

Perhaps by moving up in power levels the enemies we face also increase and unlock new ability sets, attack speed increases, reinforcement mechanics be in the form of physical or psychic shields, squad reinforcements or upgraded weaponry, I dont just want to face identical enemies of higher hit points but those enemies with different or 'smarter' abilities would be great to see imo.

But also indeed a reward for the player is required to entice, could come in the form of gear/weapon skins both craftable and found, specific relic items only found in certain tiers and sectors.

Higher tiers should also unlock certain abilities and perhaps set items within the inqisitor  ability examples could include 3rd and 4th weapon loadouts, reduced global cooldowns or even alternate global abilities like deployable squad or vehicle/dreadnought reinforcement or simple modifiers to existing ones, flamer, plasma or rocket tarantulas for example.

Not only could it give incentives but also create diversity among the inquisitor builds.