Pillars of Eternity - New Beta Patch Released

Brian Adler of Obsidian posted information about a new Backer Beta patch.

Hey, everyone. The latest Backer Beta update is now live. We hope you enjoy. I have included some patch notes.

Thanks for all of the help in testing the game and providing useful feedback.

Talents and Core Abilities

Over a hundred Talents have been added to allow more options for class customization during the level up process. We've adjusted how the core class abilities are granted to allow for more flexibility within each class.

Revised Skill Progression

You can no longer spend points to upgrade skills during level up. All skill advancement is now done through Talents, and thematically grouped Talents will award additional skill points if chosen during level up. Your background choice during character creation will also reward additional skill points.

Fog Of War

The Fog of War has been upgraded to obey the sight visibility for the party members. No more cheating by looking over walls and closed doors in dungeons!

Experience Points

We decided to add a few more ways to gain experience points to increase the regularity that XP is rewarded throughout the game. We've added minor bestiary, exploration, lock, and trap XP rewards. Bestiary XP is rewarded when new entries are unlocked in the Bestiary page in the Journal, and will stop being rewarded if the entry is complete. Exploration XP is given out when new areas and landmarks are discovered in the world.

Glossary

An in game glossary has been added with explanation and definitions of game and combat rules. These entries are hyperlinked so you can easily find information on what you are looking for. You can click directly on keywords in the combat log, or open up the Journal's Glossary page.

Hotkeys

Hotkeys can be assigned to any ability on the hot bar and additionally be access through a quick hotkey menu. We still intend to revise how this system works, but please provide feedback if you like or dislike our direction.

EDIT: I forgot to add that the Mac build is now available for download from Steam! The Linux build still has a problem with loading and unloading asset bundles. Unity knows about the issue and we will release the Linux build once they post a fix. Thanks for the patience.

Visit the link above for the full change list as it's to long to fit in the news-bit.