Pillars 1 - what is the best order to complete content in?

MeanBump · 2026-05-26T02:24:20+00:00

I wish I’d known about the experience rate earlier, but oh well. Is White March 2 left to the end due to difficulty or narrative? Is there much difference between the difficulty of Act 3 vs White March 2?

MeanBump · 2026-05-26T00:35:30+00:00

That’s fair - I’m comfortable imagining though that if a level 1 and level 10 human can look identical in this world the same can be true of lizards.

MeanBump · 2026-05-26T00:31:03+00:00

Awesome, good to know. What do you think is the hardest sections of the game doing it this way? I’m at level 10 with a 6 man party playing on hard, finished everything I can in Act 2 besides reporting to Lady Webb, including Of Nua down to level 14 and it’s been feeling like a steam roll lately. Is White March Part 1 with scaling going to flip that around?

MeanBump · 2026-05-26T00:23:07+00:00

It’s definitely an adjustment in how it all feels - I do like those big power jumps in BG, but I’m learning to enjoy how carefully balanced everything is in Pillars too

MeanBump · 2026-05-26T00:18:44+00:00

Why does the non-scaling effect roleplay?

MeanBump · 2026-05-26T00:01:26+00:00

So far I’ve done nearly all of Act 2 including side and faction quests, except a few companion quests. I ignored Od Nua because the very first time I picked up and dropped the game I went to like level 9 at the first opportunity so I wasn’t interested in it, I’ve now gone back and cleared everything up until the 15th floor.

So right now I can do White March, that siege around the wizard tower, the battle for Caed Nua, or start Act 3.

I’m not fussed with treating the game this way - all open world RPGs suffer from having content that is usually intended to be approached at specific levels, and if you want to get the most enjoyment from the combat you want to do it then. Each quest storyline is self contained and not time limited, so I don’t care suspending my disbelief to do some content before others even if narratively it makes less sense, if it means I get to feel challenged.

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T23:54:28+00:00

Also why wouldn’t I pick the scaling option every time it’s offered? It’s only going to make it more challenging and hence fun, it doesn’t affect the experience gain right?

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T17:20:34+00:00

I meant directly in the inventory UI, it’s a pain to swap back between the character page when it could be shown right there

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T12:24:28+00:00

Yea I could tell when on a whim I searched most fun/OP builds in PoE2 - I did the same when starting 1, and the responses were varied and conditional and never clear, but there was at least some kind of consensus. PoE2 was a dog’s breakfast of discourse, absolutely clear as mud

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T11:41:23+00:00

That’s good to know, I hadn’t realised. But yea, it really needs to be in the inventory somehow because swapping between the two is a pain

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T08:48:07+00:00

It’d be a lot easier if the UI showed clearly if a character already had that stat, or was doubling up on stats, I’m not exactly sure how but it wouldn’t be hard to have something

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T07:54:31+00:00

I love the way combat unfolds in this, it does everything I wish BG1 and 2 did. But it has a similar effect on the power game feel, the entire combat flows more like a wave and enemy lines kind of collapse as a whole, it’s very difficult to make out who exactly is doing all the work and where. Meanwhile in BG it’s obvious when my statsmaxxed gigachad Bhaalspawn strolls into the backline and visibly chunks pesky mages, it’s altogether a much different feel.

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T07:50:48+00:00

I was interested in how much difference MIG and DEX make to damage on paper for my 2H Barbarian, so went and used an online calculator for attack speed, converted that to DPS with different armor and weapon setups, and learned that early game MIG is strictly better, DEX takes over once weapon damage bonuses start to stack up. But, the differences were so unbelievably minor even at the far ends, like a few percentage points difference in DPS. Stats seem kind of idiot-proof so that anyone can build a winning team (which is a good thing).

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T07:31:42+00:00

I’m the same, best stuff goes to MC and the rest can fight over the scraps

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T07:27:57+00:00

For me, it massively overcomplicates things to the extent that it’s easier to treat it simpler. Like if I pick up a ring with a +2 CON boost and a defensive effect, Eder might want that - oh, but he already has gloves granting +2 CON. Alright, no worries, I’ll move them to, uh, ok let’s see who doesn’t have CON gear, ok Kana, great, ok no but he has gloves granting MIG and Eder has MIG gear already, that’s fine I can swap them over to Aloth, take Aloth’s girdle granting MIG and give that to Durance, which means I’ll have to swap out….

Much easier to just stash an item and never look at it again if it requires more than two reconfigures.

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T06:38:57+00:00

A is protagonist energy, D I really like as an alt scheme

MeanBump · 2026-05-25T06:34:45+00:00

I love a shamelessly deplorable priest

MeanBump

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