I have finished the game on normal and finished some chapters again to change my choices..... anyway, a have used my tech points in this way: in the sign tree i maxed the trap and the shield sign, and have gotten the sign which slows time when adrenalin is maxed...
the rest i have used into the swordman tree....

I didn't put any points in Alchemy, and i don't see why should i..... can someone explain if i really need tech points there? and for what reasons/ abilitys?

Well, the ability that increases bomb & trap damage is killer.

That's all I can say, as I haven't explored this branch much, either. Alchemy seems the weakest of the three.

IMO the most important ability in that tree is the one that increases your ingredient gathering by 100%. So every time you pick up herbs you get x3 of them. The rest of the tree is useless, requiring you to get poisoned for some stat benefits, which doesn't happen often or for too long.

Not so sure about the Gathering ability; I get gobs & gobs of everything except Aether ingredients anyway. I suppose it's a nice ability if you want to earn lots of orens by selling your excess ingredients.

Again my vote is the bombs & traps. Invest two levels in it (+100% damage) and it's nasty.

It'd be nice if people would talk ONLY after knowing the truth about things.

You DON'T need to be "poisoned" to use all the abilites, you just need to be *INTOXICATED*, i.e.: be under the effect of at least 1 potion, 25 intoxication is enough.

I specced full Alchemy, and put just 1 point on the gathering ability instead of 2, there're far more useful talents in the tree. And, except for one point (due to bad design, not spoilering it here though), you can kick asses maximizing the Alchemy tree.

Unless one isn't able to go over the "one button mashing", then stick to the sword tree only + easy mode on.

Well, I was expecting poisoned and intoxicated to be different terms, since that's what the final abilities of the tree state.

LOL

The english manual and in game translation uses the word "poisoned" for intoxicated. The confusion is understandable. (Intoxicated does mean "filled with toxins" after all.)

Semantically, yes, they're different terms. I was disappointed, too, in reading in game the term "poisoned" whereas my paper manual said "intoxicated".

Then, I just made a simple try in game, and it was clear that the talents are active as soon as you get intoxicated.

Experimenting, imo, is a part of any game, unless you prefer the "go here, then turn there" type of games. Which I do NOT want TW2 to be.

It's sure that the whole potion system has been dumbed down from TW1 (no more secondary effects, no intoxication maluses, less potions, etc.), but to say that's useless it's an (uninformed) statement.

Where the hell has gone the "experiment" side of any good game experience?

I miss the secondary effects, it made brewing interesting.

I very much DO wish it'd remember what ingredients I want to use, and not keep trying to use up the special ingredients I absolutely need to keep. One formula (either Tawny Owl or Petri's Philter) it kept switching in three special ingredients on me that I had to keep switching back out! Grrrr.

As for me, I like Alchemy - the concept - and am glad to hear you can kick butt with it maxed out. Reason for another playthrough!

I was doing a swordsman plus some alchemy and zero sorcery on Hard. Pretty manageable. Didn't go that far up alchemy tree but found the one which enhances potion benefit and reduces side-effect pretty good. Gadwall-swallow-virga was not too bad after the talent upgrades.

Btw does anyone find the 4-th potion slot useful? The useful potions usually already add too much toxic.

True, that's a real pain in the ass, to switch the ingredients needed for every friggin' potion you brew.

If you want to make your new playthrough maximizing Alchemy, be sure, as soon as possible, to get Mutation AND Amplification, max them out, then decide which other talents you want to max out. I even left out the trap/bomb talent, and I'm kicking asses the same, I can't imagine what I'd be able to do with 2 more points in that talent.

If I may give you another advice, just avoid the Taster talent: it gives you the possibilit to drink another pot (so 4 max), BUT your max intoxication is still capped at 100, so unless you plan to use always 4 pots with 25 Toxicity each, it's pretty useless.
Lol, I just anticipated your question while I was answering to Slacker about the Taster talent. :D

i'm playing an alchemy heavy build in my first playthrough right now, it's really been interesting.. making sure i've got enough bombs and traps for the fights ahead and making sure I track down the best plans for both :)

definately max the bomb/trap damage.. stuff just dies once you get this

I can only agree with the above about the taster talent, it's tough to use since some of the better potions are alot more poisonous

once i'm done with this.. i'll go swordsmanship on my 2nd play through ;D

Run number 3 begins...now!

Alchemy here I come!

(#4 will be Mage again, now that I know how to play ;p)