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Update Notes: 3.00


BAdler

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New Features

  • New content for the Stronghold that has you, as lord or lady of Caed Nua, decide the fate of your vassals and send your companions on new and exciting adventures.
  • There is also a new quest line that allows you to defend your claim to Caed Nua (will be released in 3.0 final).
  • Knockout Injuries have been added as an option for those that want it. Injuries are added to characters that are knocked out in battle and are only removed by resting.
  • Story Time mode has been added. This difficulty setting is for people that want to experience the Pillars of Eternity story without having to build a party of adventurers focused on combat.
  • Athletics has been revamped so that it allows characters to cast Second Wind. A powerful healing ability. A higher Athletics skill increases the size of the heal.
  • Survival now grants rest bonuses. A higher Survival skill will unlock more rest bonuses or increase the strength of existing bonuses.
  • Many new creatures have been added to the Bestiary.
  • The Action Bar has been reorganized so that it is easier for players to see their Per Encounter, Per Rest, and Watcher abilities.
  • The end of the game (Act 3 and second half of Od Nua) has been revised to remove the number of "trash" encounters and increase their difficulty.
  • A high level scaling option has been included for anyone that enters Act 3 at a high level.

Survival:

  • Damage Reduction bonuses have been halved (was +2/+4/+6, now +1/+2/+3).
  • Heal Multipliers are now +20%, +40%, +60%.

Athletics

  • Athletics now heals a base of 20 + (Athletics*4) Endurance. At 1 Athletics, it will heal base 24. At 12 Athletics, it will heal base 68.

Cipher:

  • Ciphers have been rebalanced so that their powers cost 10 focus per level. E.G. 10 focus for 1st level power, 50 focus for 5th level power.
  • Increased the base amount of Focus gain per point of damage dealt from 0.25 to 0.35.
  • Whisper of Treason changed from long cast time to short cast time.
  • Puppet Master changed from long cast time to an instant cast.
  • Puppet Master base duration increased from 10s to 16s.
  • Soul Shock radius increased from 1.25 to 1.75 (2.5m to 3.5m diameter).
  • Tenuous Grasp Frightened base duration increased from 6s to 15s.
  • Antipathic Field minimum damage increased from 10 to 13.
  • Amplified Thrust damage increased from 30-40 to 40-55 Pierce.
  • Mental Binding AoE Stuck duration increased from 4s to 6s.
  • Mental Binding targeted Paralyzed duration to 8s base.
  • Mind Blades base damage raised from 10-20 to 18-28. Each bounce reduces the damage range by 10% (still 5 bounces).
  • Psychovampiric Shield Deflection bonus from 10 to 25.
  • Soul Ignition from 17 Burn to 22 Burn damage per tick.
  • Mind Lance projectile radius increased from 0.5m to 0.75m.
  • Silent Scream AoE damage raised from 15-25 base to 28-40 base. Target damage raised to 35-50 base, Stunned duration 8s base.
  • Disintegration from long to short cast, 5m range to 10m range.
  • Disintegration Raw damage increased from 30 per tick to 40 per tick.
  • Amplified Wave Prone duration to 8s base.
  • Borrowed Instinct from 15s to 25s base duration.
  • Detonate base damage from 30-50 Raw to 50-75 Raw. AoE base damage from 30-50 Crush to 45-60 Crush.
  • Ringleader AoE Charmed duration from 8s base to 12s base.
  • Tactical Meld base duration from 20s to 25s.
  • Time Parasite from 5s base duration to 12s base duration.

Companions

  • Zahua gained +3 to con (now 17) so he has 75 attribute points like all other companions.

Creatures

  • Added correct audio bank to animal companion antelope so it should play proper SFX now.
  • Dragons will now wait a minimum of three seconds at the start of combat before using a breath weapon.
  • Immunity: Ground added to a large number of spirits, drakes, wurms.
  • Immunity: Prone removed from dragons, replaced with Immunity: Unconscious and Resist: Prone (+20).
  • Removed Prone immunity from spectres, shadows, shades, phantoms, cean gwla, and battery sirens.

Gameplay

  • Drugs have been rebalanced in the following ways:
  • Blacsonn: +3 Perception, +25 Resist vs. Ground, -2 Dexterity, Crash: -3 Might, -2 Dex
  • Carow Golan: +20% Focus Gain, +10 Deflection, +20 Reflex, -4 Intellect, Crash: -5 Might
  • Goldrot Chew: +3 Might, +1 Movement, -2 Perception, Crash: -4 Dexterity
  • Ripple Sponge: +10% Max Stamina, +25 Resist vs. Poison and Disease, - 4 Resolve, Crash: -1 Movement
  • Snowcap: Confused Immunity, +40 Resist vs. Charmed, +20 Resist vs. Dominated, -5 Perception, Crash: -2 Constitution, -2 Intellect
  • Svef: +15% Attack Speed, +0.5 Movement, -4 Resolve, Crash: -6 Resolve
  • Whiteleaf: Frightened, Sickened Immunity, +25 Resist vs. Terrified, Weakened, -10% Attack Speed, Crash: -15% Max Stamina
  • The following equipment mods have been tuned up: Preservation, Defiance, Fenwalker (resistance mods), Freedom, and Healing Bonus.
  • Fixed an issue where you could cast "ally only" spells on party members before they joined your party.
  • Animation for picking locks now plays whether or not your character uses lockpicks.
  • Fixed an issue where talent-granted abilities were not being removed correctly on retraining.
  • Put a retroactive fix for fighter made before Update 2.03 so they now properly receive a +5 buff to base Deflection.
  • Fixed inflated Accuracy calculations when the player placed traps or cast certain spells.
  • Fixed a problem where some status effect usages didn't take trigger adjustments into account.
  • AI will now choose more appropriate actions if they are unable to move.
  • Fixed redundant immunity listings on animated weapons.
  • Added the "Ground" keyword and associated it with a whole bunch of spells and abilities that are ground-based: Tanglefoot, Web, Slicken, the various priest Seals, etc.
  • Fixed a problem where some equipment would disappear after a shapeshift but still provide its bonuses.

Spells and Abilities

  • Suppress Affliction base duration reduced from 10s to 5s, AoE radius reduced from 2.5m to 1.75m.
  • All Prayer Against _____ spells, scrolls, and abilities now grant immunity rather than resistance.
  • All Prayer Against _____ spells now have a base 20s duration (was 30s) and radius increased from 2.5m to 3m.
  • Constant Recovery, Rapid Recovery, and Veteran's Recovery now all heal more Endurance per tick and all scale with level.
  • Ancient Memory now heals double the Endurance and scales with level but has a 45s duration.
  • Beloved Spirits now also heals twice as much and scales with level.
  • Removed an unnecessary restriction on stacking Weapon Type Specialization abilities. This should fix issues like Flick of the Wrist being suppressed by Prey on the Weak.
  • Fixed some stacking inconsistencies with Cipher powers that caused some spell effects to suppress other valid effects.
  • Holy Radiance now heals base 15 Endurance.
  • The Sword and the Shepherd (Kind Wayfarer talent) now scales with level (+7 every 3).
  • Shielding Touch deflection bonus increased from +8 to +12 (Shieldbearers of St. Elcga talent)
  • Renamed Duty's Bond to Aegis of Loyalty and the talent now grants 15s of immunity to confused/charmed/dominated instead of a +20 defensive bonus for 20s.
  • Sworn Enemy range dropped to 10m, set to 1/encounter instead of 3/rest.
  • Added the paladin talent Wrath of Five Suns (modifies Sworn Enemy). It is only available to Pallegina.
  • Flagellant's Path attack is now more likely to place the character between him and his destination instead of off to the side.
  • Set the duration of Dichotomous Soul to base 15s.
  • Fixed a few abilities (Like Crippling Guard) that improperly claimed to apply effects to Self.
  • Faith and Conviction now scales for NPCs, +1 def and +2 to all other defenses at 5th, 10th, 15th level. Base Faith and Conviction bonuses reduced from +5 defenses, +10 to all other defenses to +4 def, +8 to all other defenses.
  • Knock Down is now a full attack (was only a primary attack previously) meaning that dual-wielding characters will now perform two attacks.
  • Play Dead should be be removed correctly when you retrain.
  • Miasma of Dull-mindedness penalties reduced from -10 to -6 and duration from base 20s to 12s.
  • Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment adds perception penalty. Penalty against subsequent targets increased and jump range increased from 5m to 8m.
  • Arkemyr's Capricious Hex now has variable durations for each of its afflictions.
  • Chanter skeleton summons set to 2nd level (were previously 1st).
  • Reny Daret's Ghost duration from 20s base to 12s base.
  • Clear Out base damage increased from 15-22 to 30-40.
  • Into the Fray base damage increased to 22-30 and damage type switched from crush to pierce. Into the Fray base dazed duration increased from 5 to 12.
  • Constant and Veteran's Recovery reduced from base 90s to base 45s duration.

Miscellaneous

  • Updated Watcher Vision VFX to reduce chances of blowout on a light background.
  • Adding a melee attack for pigs
  • Fixed a problem where game camera control could be renabled when moving from a conversation to a store directly. This should prevent zooming-in while scrolling in the store.
  • Fletcher's Stay rest bonus from The Goose and Fox now removes correctly.
  • Fixed issue where you could duplicate cloaks on corpses using quick loot.
  • Fixing big head mode on Sky and Alpine dragons.

UI

  • Fixed a problem where immediate effects from characters with high Intelligence could show a duration in the short combat log.
  • Fixed an issue where aggregated effects in the combat log could overlap if longer than the width of the combat log.
  • Fixed grammatical errors in some ability and spell descriptions. (Master's Call, for example)
  • Fixed issue where unarmed accuracy wasn't being shown properly in the accuracy breakdown.
  • Fixed problem where players were not being notified when a guest hireling leaves the Stronghold.
  • Keywords (such as Poison or Disease) have been added to ability tooltips and affliction descriptions that require them.
  • Fixed problem where a stack of food would drop if you attempted to feed Devil of Caroc the food. The proper use case is that she cannot eat the food, but the stack should not be dropped.
  • Bestiary percentage notifications in the combat log are always green now.
  • Items can no longer be dropped on the paperdoll from the stash if it's forbidden. For example, you cannot drop food from the stash on a player's portrait.
  • Spells and abilities that have bounces now properly communicate that information in their descriptions.
  • Added an action icon on party portraits and an option for it (default on).
  • Fixed world map button icon not depressing in the Area Map.
  • Adra Beetles no longer render on the Area Map.
  • Fixed problem where icons on a trapped container incorrectly displayed a looting icon.
  • Added an ingredients filter to store UI.
  • Fixed a bug where Stronghold log dates and times would show up incorrectly.
  • Fixed a problem where Resolve was not calculating Deflection correctly due to a rounding error.
  • Reformatted the action bar so that abilities are split up by usage.
  • Fixed some issues with summoning spell description formatting.
  • Expanding entries in stronghold UI lists now works when clicking anywhere instead of on the little arrow.
  • When opening the stronghold UI, the report for the last completed adventure will automatically show.
  • Changes to some Chanter Phrases so their effects will collapse properly in the UI.
  • Stronghold adventures in UI can now expand if they have long descriptions.
  • Ability descriptions will use a special line when different targets duplicate the same effect text.
  • Debuffed and buffed values in ability descriptions now use different colors.
  • Added "if successful" as a prefix to secondary attack effects in the inspect UI
  • Changed Ctrl+Drag to deselect instead of add to selection.
  • Arcane Veil piercing attacks are now identified in descriptions.
  • You can now see the full breakdown of Defenses in the Character Sheet by mousing over them.
  • Added damage threshold breakdowns to the Character Sheet and Inventory.
  • Steam Keyboard should now be integrated for those that are playing the game with Steam controllers.
  • Fixed some animal companion character sheet errors.
  • Text in Character Sheet now formats correctly after changing text sizes.
  • Weapon Specialization damage multipliers now work in the damage breakdown.
  • Added immunities and resistances to character tooltips.
  • Added level scaling information to the tooltips for scaled values.
  • Fixed an issue where the Fighter's abilities could be listed as Barbarian in Character Creation.
  • Item mods with effects that are complicated to display now have a name with a link to the mod in a new window.
  • Immunities are now hidden in Expert mode.
  • Fixed an issue where hidden loot stashes would sometimes highlight before they were discovered.
  • Passive status effects with durations now show on the party bar.
  • Like 14

42 Comments


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Guest FlorianGh

Posted

Loving the story mode: now I can play to test different outcomes for the quests. Please do fix the combat / dialogue re size window that is in the bugs section since the begging! 

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The cypher change don't sound like fun at all.

 

Sixty focus for a L6 spell? Most of the fights will be over by the time you get there, unless you're playing on Damned. And if you are, then getting that much focus will be very hard - nearly impossible on boss fights.

 

Also, melee cyphers would need to remain locked in combat longer before being able to cast - playing a melee Cypher might turn into quite the pain.

 

It doesn't make much sense to me. If somebody thinks the class's spells are too powerful, weaken the spells somewhat, don't make the class duller by inhibiting it from casting at all.

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can i activate story mode for just 1 fight and afterwards change it back ?

You sure can! Just as long you haven't already been to the area. 

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The cipher powers recent buff sounds actually quite good. There are a lot of fun and diverse tools now.

 

A nice and subtle change is what Obsidian did for Whisper of Treason and Tenuous Grasp. Now you have a CC followed by debuff versus a slighter longer CC with faster cast, but without debuff.

Both are nice, you will probably not select both, but each of them has its purpose.

 

Now it seems that Cipher are meant to be the top dog for Single Target CC.

They have a lot of excellent spells for this, with slightly different uses (Whisper of Treason/Tenuous Grasp for quick and cheap CC, Mental Binding to deal more demage to the target, Puppetmaster for complete, quick and long domination, Silent Scream to kill some stuff around.)

 

AoE CC are a bit less noticeable, but Amplified Wave is still valuable, and Mind Plague is still a crazy spell (It was the best cipher power IMHO, even if less convenient than the old amplified wave. Multi-target Hard CC with crazy duration is priceless.)

 

They also have a wide range of (mostly) ally friendly AoE damage powers, from echo to Detonate, which is rather cool too. 

But still no love for this poor stasis field ? 70 focus for a single target hard CC which prevents from attacking the target ? This power's concept is not bad, especially after adding immunities to the game (I don't think that a single creature is immune to stasis).

My suggestion would be either longer duration or greater bonus to accuracy.

 

60-70 focus will happen in most fights. Cipher will start at 45 at max level. So you barely have to deal about 45 - 75 damages to cast them (without even counting draining whip... or greater focus). That's not so much.

But I agree major Power will become more rare. But I don't think it's so bad. Spamming Amplified Wave was strong but boring.

 

But please consider that 10 focus from greater focus is a lower amount of focus if all powers cost more. It could be better to raise it to 15-20 bonus focus. 

Anyway, I feel that 3.0 will make the class probably neither stronger nor weaker, but nicer to play. I was tired of spamming Amplified Wave.
Nice job, Obsidian !

  • Like 1
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60-70 focus will happen in most fights. 

It might do on POTD with larger mob sizes but is rare on Normal difficulty as there aren't enough enemy squishies to harvest focus from. When it does happen it is usually because the fight was a walkover anyway and there is no need for a *nuke* from the cipher.

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For Spell Mastery could it be raised from 1 use per encounter to 3? Right now it just forces me to grab longer lasting spells with a CC tied in, like Chill Fog for level 1 so it covers all my bases. Having it at 3 would open it up and make it more viable to choose a specialized damage spell like Fan of Flames. This would open up my options quite a bit.

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Cipher:

  • Disintegration from long to short cast, 5m range to 10m range.
  • Disintegration Raw damage increased from 30 per tick to 40 per tick.

Oh... w... too strong.

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Is everything detailed on that notes... i m ean, for example:

 

Some Chanter changes I've noticed:

  • Phrases have been significantly shortened, to the point where a 1, 1, 3 chant can complete 5 phrases fairly quickly.
  • The Dragon Thrashed phrase's base damage has been increased to 50 for each type.

There's no change to the Seven Nights She Waited Level 5 invocation however, which does a lot of damage. 

 

Put all of the above together and these changes may be overpowered. I understand that the amount of time it took to complete phrases made high-level phrases and invocations less useful but if you can complete phrases a lot faster, surely invocations need to be nerfed.

 

Would be good if a full list of the Chanter changes was provided. 

 

 But i dont see any of this on the notes. 

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^ Nope. Notes are incomplete. Not the first time for a Pillars patch—they fix a thousand bugs and add a thousand features, so it's hard to keep track of everything and compile comprehensive change logs.

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^ Nope. Notes are incomplete. Not the first time for a Pillars patch—they fix a thousand bugs and add a thousand features, so it's hard to keep track of everything and compile comprehensive change logs.

 

well, thank you, is just i read that this were the "full patch notes", so thought that maybe they removed some of that "changes" on the beta.

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Been playing since the patch with my melee cipher, and while at first I was concerned, the changes have been pretty damn good. For reference, I'm using Tall Grass with the weapon focus talent, soul whip damage talents, and two-handed weapon focus.

 

On PotD, I've been able to deal decent damage, quite easily, to gain enough focus to cast several high level powers in combat (only access to level 5 powers, still costly but doable). The increase to mental binding means I can lock down a more dangerous foe for longer, and even make the largest brute on the field my focus battery.

 

In one fight, against 2 Ogre's and 1 Ogre druid, I locked down the druid while my other melee kept the ogre's engaged. I was able to cast mental binding (20), silent scream (40), borrowed instinct (50), and detonate (50), all in the same fight. I probably could've done more, but I didn't have to at that point. Focus gain isn't an issue, though I am annoyed that all the Blacsonn I bought is now useless for her...

 

About to enter the fight with the Ogre chief, Zolla, so I'll have to see how my powers stack up against her, but still, no real complaints here.

 

Edit: Zolla was a breeze. Melee tanks kept what Ogres got through at bay, while Aloth kept up oil slicks. I managed to raise upwards of 110 Focus quite quickly in the initial start of combat and dropped a borrowed instinct (50), 3 mental bindings (60), a silent scream (40), and 3 detonates (150) . Total of 300 focus used, with some to spare. Focus gain is fine, and the CC is crazy powerful now. Zolla never got a single spell off in that time.

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Are people complaining that Cipher this patch is a ridiculously and oppressively powerful class ?

 

So far I've destroyed everything on my path with my min max Cipher

 

- ranged Cipher, Max Perception + Might + Int

-Amplified thrust 60 pierce dmg + fast cast speed + gain back 20 - 30 focus :D

-in case focus is not enough, Mental binding should rekt their defense + a few hits -> full focus again

-Psychovampiric shield (-10 Resolve -> -20 Will -> our Will attacks - trademark of Cipher - absolutely pummel their defense, also that -30 concentration, our melee will interrupt them- they cant even fight back ), psycho shield + whisper of treason trivializes many encounters early and mid game.

 

With the current scaling, Focus cost for the OP skills (which are at tier I and II Cipher skills like Antipathetic and Whisper of treason) are actually cheaper, I cast whisper of treason like 5+ times in many fights...

 

At mid game, tier III, IV and V skills are pretty much into the trash, I just picked those with fast cast time and save them for later.

 

tier VI, amplified wave and disintegration are still ok

tier VII time parasite is still ok (70 focus will be gained back in no time with our superspeed)

 

tier VIII, Cipher became literal god :D give Reaping knives to the rogue -> at this point it will be rather difficult to spend focus as fast as we gain it...(hence earlier i picked the fast casting skills)

Defensive Mindweb, combo with the above 

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I totally hate this patch.

 

I really, really loved being able to use level 1 and 2 spells at every encounter without having to rest after every fight. When I reached that point in leveling up playing got a lot more fun. And I hoped for level 3 spells to maybe also get to per encounter at White March levels. To have it suddenly replaced with absolutely no warning with the practically totally useless ability to cast just 2 spells once per encounter is extremely annoying and takes a lot of fun away from playing this game. If I had known that I very much doubt that I would have paid for the White March extension. (I know that wouldn't have saved me from this patch, but at least I would have been at the game end sooner.)

 

So could you please change the so called Spell Mastery to something useful? For example so that this one spell can at least be cast per encounter as many times as you can cast spells of this level. That would make the fact that it does not have to be in the grimoire a real advantage. And if you could also extend it to 1 spell for every two character levels and make it possible to chose those not only in spell level 1 and 2 but up to level 6, then it might not be so bad anymore. (Or maybe at least starting with char level 6, so that at char level 12 we have 4 spells in the spell level 1 to 4.)

 

Or maybe you could make it configurable. (Like you made the injuries for being knocked down optional, which was a change with a lot less impact.) After all this is not a multiplayer game where everyone has to use the same setting and where the tanks might get understandably jealous of the abilities of the casters.

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The Cipher "rebalance" is bad. You upped some of the dmg and some radius/duration but the +10 focus cost per spell lvl is too significant, there will be a point where focus cost vs efficiency will render higher spells useless when you compare the focus cost vs efficiency of the lower tier spells. What we end up with is ciphers not touching their high tier spells, and that's not fun!

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