Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta Leveling abilities

Please correct me if this has changed, but do users still need to save up points to increase abilities past level 1? I've seen some confusion about this on the forums before so Larian may have addressed it. If not, I think there is a pretty easy UI fix that would make a lot more sense.

I think it is counter-intuitive to have to NOT spend points at each level. Past games (computer and paper) have taught us that when we get points to put into something, we put those points into something. Furthermore, the current D:OS interface also suggests that we assign points immediately by displaying a green "+" until we do.

Solution #1
I believe that users should be able to assign fractions of a total towards the next ability level. The Character Sheet doesn't leave much room for any more pixels so the progress might need to be shown in the tooltip at mouseover.

If Man-At-Arms is level one, a user should be able to assign a single point which then updates the UI to show something like:

Man-At-Arms 1 (1/2)

Or even better, show a series of orbs that are clear/filled to indicate progress:

Base: 2, Next: (*) () ()

What does everyone think?

**Edit** Based on feedback from Stabbey and Hiver, I have a second solution:

Solution #2
Simply add a disabled "+" button next to abilities that a user does not have sufficient points to increase. Then in a tooltip, mention that the user needs to spend X points to increase this ability.

What if before you reach the next level, you decide you need something else instead? That's certainly happened to me a few times.

I don't think there's any real upside to being able to put points towards a thing one at a time when you can't use it until you have them all anyway.

Its a minor thing, and i think devs might have too many things on their hands right now.


But maybe, speaking theoretically there could be some sort of progression "bar" with smaller, simpler orbs for points in between level and nice bigger ones for actual level up.

But its really a minor issue overall.


(- you can take these in between points back if you change your mind, before reaching the bigger level up one)

Stabbey, yours is a good point; it's silly to put points into something without a benefit. My first reaction was similar to Hiver's, that you can just take points back. But that adds complexity and just changes the face of the problem.

I would like it if we could add points towards the next level and get something in return -- like +2% to range (or whatever), but that is totally out of the question at this stage of the game (as well as essentially significantly increasing the number of ability-levels and making smaller increments to the bonuses). So I propose another fix (and will update my original post):

Solution #2: Simply add a disabled "+" button next to abilities that a user does not have sufficient points to increase. Then in a tooltip, mention that the user needs to spend X points to increase this ability.

Thanks for this. My inability to put point 2 in my main skills made me think they were level capped. This makes more sense.