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For all of you Solasta Fans, today the Primal Calling DLC has been released on GOG, and probably on other platforms as well. Barbarians, Druids and Half-Orcs are joining the roster. https://www.gog.com/game/solasta_crown_of_the_magister_primal_calling

Finally the offensive component, including +damage, decreased recovery, increased action speed, etc. Due to the huge number of abilities and weapons with unique enchantments, lash effects, per rest/encounter abilities and power levels to consider, I've not included their effects however powerful, unless they fall into one of the categories below. Increased Crit chance (Hit to Crit) : Gambit (rogue ability), - 40%+ hit to crit Scales with number of remaining guile Frenzy, etc (Barbarian abilities), +30% Crit Disciplined Strikes (fighter ability), +25% Crit from inspiration Potion of Perfect Aim (potion), +25% Crit Bloody slaughter (Barbarian passive), +20% Crit against <25hp targets only against <25hp targets One-handed style (passive, all), +20% Crit with single 1h weapon use single 1h weapon only Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (ring), +15% Crit Scales with wealth, 200k gold for 15% Merciless Gaze (wizard spell), +15% Crit Potion of Merciless Gaze (potion), +15% Crit Min's Fortune (weapon, sabre), +2% Crit stacking per hit Stacks +2% Crit/hit but reset on crit Curent's Rush (weapon, scepter), +1% Crit stacking per second Stacks +1% Crit/sec but reset on crit Exalted Focus (paladin modal), 5%-10% chance (10% in community patch) The Willbreaker (weapon, morningstar), +10% Crit Ngati's Tusk (weapon, pike), +10% Crit Aldris blade (weapon, sabre), +10% Crit Dirty fighting (rogue passive), +10% Crit Fair Favor (helm), +10% Crit Crossbow (weapon, any), +10% Crit Just hold any crossbow Sanguine Greatsword (weapon, greatsword), +10% Crit Uncanny Luck (passive - all classes) - +5%-10% chance (10% in community patch) The third eye (necklace), +10% Crit with spells Spells only Bone Setter's Torc (necklace), +5% Crit Twin eels (weapon, greatsword), +5% Crit+ Milx (pet), +5% Crit with spells/abilities, self Pes, etc (pets), +5% Crit with weapons, party effect Increased Hit chance (Miss to Graze) : Fleetbreaker crossbow (weap, crossbow) 30% miss to graze Sanguine Greatsword (weapon, greatsword), 30% miss to graze Saucco (food/drink), 25% miss to graze Potion of Spatial alacrity (potion), 25% miss to graze ranged only Potion of Perfect Aim (potion), 25% miss to graze The Willbreaker (weapon, morningstar), 25% miss to graze Whispers of Yenwood (weapon, sword), 25% miss to graze Duskfall (weapon, sword), 25% miss to graze Gauntlets of reliability (gloves), 15% miss to graze with proficient weaps Noah, etc (pets), 5% miss to graze chance, party effect Increased Hit chance (Graze to Hit) : Discipline Barrage, etc (fighter abilities), 50% graze to hit from inspiration Dire Blessing (Priest ability), 50% graze to hit AOE from inspiration Eldritch Aim (wizard ability), 50% graze to hit from inspiration Tactical Meld (Cipher ability), 50% graze to hit from inspiration Cog of Cohh (necklace), +50% graze to hit when nearby ally score kill Confident aim (fighter passive), 30% graze to hit Flail proficiency (weapon, all flails), 10%-30% graze to hit (30% in community patch) using flails Potion of Perfect Aim (potion), 25% graze to hit Whispers of Yenwood (weapon, sword), 10% graze to hit Decreased Recovery time duration (%): Streetfighter sneak attack (rogue passive), -50% recovery against flanked/afflicted when self flanked/bloodied Hunting bow/pistol modal (weapon, hunting bow/pistol), -50% recovery hunting bow/pistol only Scordeo's Trophy (weapon, pistol), -5% recovery per hit Stacking, -5% recovery/hit, all for 30s Mob Stance (fighter modal) - -5% recovery per threatened target for attacks Scales -5% recovery per threatened target Contender's Armor (medium armor) -30% recovery (approx max) Scales with Athletics skill Whispers of the endless paths (weapon - greatsword) -20% recovery 10 stack max, -2% recovery/hit Mohora Wraps (food), -20% recovery Blade of the endless paths (weapon - estoc) -15% recovery Two weapon style (passive, all) -15% recovery with dual wielding dual wield only Devil of Caroc Breastplate (medium armor) -10% recovery Pale Hide (light armor) -10% recovery during night Miscreant's leather (light armor) -10% recovery Changeling's Mantle (light armor) -10% recovery Helm of the Falcon (helm), -10% recovery for 2h weaps with 2h weapons only Orishia (necklace), -10% recovery random effect per encounter Wizard specialization (class specific spells) -10% recovery spells specialist class specific spells only Swift Hunter's Garb (light armor) -5% recovery Necklace of the Harvest moon (necklace) - 5% recovery On crit Decreased recovery / recover immediately: Scordeo's Edge (weapon, sabre), 5% chance to ignore recovery on hit (notable that this effect can be prolonged) on hit Weyc's Wand (weapon, wand), on empowering an ability when empowering an ability Blood thirst (barbarian passive) on kill on kill Eager blade (weapon, estoc), 10% chance on hit on hit Sun and moon (weapon, flail) 5% chance on hit to repeat attacks depends on day/night Ball and chain (weapon, flail), 10% chance when critically hit when crit hit in melee Sungrazer (weapon, flail), 10% chance on hit on hit Rannig's Wrath (weapon, rapier), 10% chance when missed in melee when missed in melee Stalker's Patience (weapon, spear), 20% chance on crit on crit Veilpiercer (weapon, war bow), 50% chance on crit on crit Saint Omaku's Mercy (weapon, war bow), 50% chance on crit on crit Increased action speed (%). Most apply to all actions, unless otherwise stated for weapon or spells. Reckless Brigandine (heavy armor) +5% action speed per engagement Scales with more engagements Spiritshift Cat flurry (Druid ability), +33% action speed 1 per encounter Frenzy, etc (Barbarian abilities), +25% action speed Time Parasite (Cipher ability), +25% action speed ..And sip from the marrow (chanter invocation), +25% action speed Captain's Banquet (food), +20% action speed High Harbringer's Robes (cloth armor), +20% action speed Scales with decreasing health Bloodlust (Barbarian passive), +20% action speed on kill On kill Pukestabber (weapon, dagger), +20% action speed under effect of alcohol Squid's escape (weapon, rapier), +20% action speed when threatened by 3+enemy when threatened by 3+ enemies Eager blade (weapon, estoc), +20% action speed 4 stack max, +5% action speed/hit Potion of Spatial Alacrity (potion), +20% action speed with ranged ranged only Modwyr (weapon, sword), +20% action speed 2% stack/hit 10 stack max, +2% action speed/hit Swift strikes, etc (monk ability), +15% action speed Griffin's blade (weapon, sword), +15% action speed Rust's Poignard (weapon, stiletto), +15% action speed stack on flanked 3% stack/hit 5 stack max, +3% action speed/hit Xoti's sickle (weapon, hatchet), +15%+ action speed near kill Scales with religion skill Deleterious Alacrity of motion (wizard spell), +15% action speed Saint Omaku's Mercy (weapon, war bow), +15% action speed to allies, AOE Scales with decreasing health Chromoprismatic staff (weapon, quarterstaff), +5% action speed+ Scales with metaphysics skill Sasha's singing scimitar (weapon, sabre), +2% action speed stack per held phrase, AOE Potion of Relentless striking (potion), +15% action speed Potion of deftness (potion), +15% action speed Champion's Helm (helm), +3% action speed per engagement Scales with more engagements, non-godlike Champion's Cape (cloak), +3% action speed per engagement Scales with more engagements, godlike only Shroud of the Phantom (cloak), +10% action speed with spells Spells while having mind inspiration Duskfall (weapon, sword), +10% action speed Kahua Hozi (weapon, spear), +10% action speed Rapid casting (passive, all casters), +10% action speed with spells spells only Violet Redemption (cape), +10% action speed melee when stationary 2% stack/hit Max 5 stacks, +2% action speed/hit Coral Snuff (drug), +10% action speed Aegor's Swift Touch (gloves), +5% action speed with weapons Orishia (necklace), +5% action speed random effect per encounter Zealous charge (paladin aura), +5% action speed AOE (community patch only) Increased AOE (spells, chants, abilities, etc): These all stack, including 2x rings as well as with intelligence-affected increased AOE. Shared nightmare (cipher passive), +1% AOE per focus Scales with focus Aloth's leather armor (cloth armor), +15% AOE Crusted Swordfish (food), +20% AOE Loki (pet), +15% AOE self Ring of overseeing, +10% AOE Luminous Bathhouse The Abyss (rest), +10% AOE Misty, Peter, etc (pets), +5% party effect AOE Spell Echo, recast spell a second time : Evoker/Priest of Magran Thaumaturge's evocation keyword spells actually stack with all three, giving 1 - (1 - 0.15)*(1-0.1)*(1-0.05) = ~27% chance of spell echo Evoker (wizard class), 15% chance on evocation spells evocation spells only Marux Amanth (weapon - dagger), 10% chance with priest spells priest spells only Vithrack Silk Slippers (shoes), 5% chance Increased penetration (all sources): Driving echoes (Cipher ability), +8 pen! to ally ally only And with furious... (Chanter invocation), +3 pen all AOE Their champion, etc. (Chanter invocations), +2 pen all from inspiration Thunderous blows (monk ability), +2 pen all from inspiration Frenzy, etc (Barbarian abilities), +2 pen all from inspiration Champion's boon (priest ability), +2 pen all to ally from inspiration The arrow sings.. (Chanter phrase), +1 pen all AOE Orishia (necklace), +1 pen all random effect per encounter Increased penetration (conditional: spells/weaps): Crusted Swordfish (food), +2 spell pen Caster specific elemental or cipher spells (passive), +1 pen (eg. Scion of flame -> fire keyword) Hot Razor skewers (food), +2 weapon pen Potion of Piercing strikes (potion), +2 weapon pen weapon modals (many weap types), +1 or 2 pen with weap Ring of the Marksman (ring), +1 pen with ranged ranged weap Harming thoughts (cipher passive) +1 pen with weap Increased damage dealt (all sources): High Harbringer's Robes (cloth armor), +10% damage Crusted Swordfish (food), +10% damage Xoti's Lantern (shield - light), +5%+ damage AOE aura Scales with religion skill Baubles of the Fin (necklace), +3% damage AOE aura AOE aura Increased damage dealt (with spells): Captain's Banquet (food), +20% damage spells Griffin's blade (weapon - sword), +10% damage spells Blightheart (wizard soulbind), +10% corrode lash spells Harley (pet), +10% ranged damage including spells Increased damage dealt (with weapons): Streetfighter sneak attack (rogue passive), +50% damage against flanked/afflicted when self flanked/bloodied The red hand (weap passives), 20-40% damage until rest Greatsword modal (weapon, greatsword), +30% damage greatsword only Sneak attack (rogue passive), +30% damage against flanked/afflicted against flanked/afflicted targets Blooded (barbarian passive), +25% damage When <50% hp Retribution (paladin passive), +5%-25% damage weapon when damaged Max 5 stacks, 25% max Reckless Brigandine (heavy armor) +20% damage weapon Scales with decreasing health One stands alone (Barbarian passive), +20% damage when near 2+ enemies Pukestabber (weapon, dagger), +20% damage melee under effect of alcohol Sworn enemy, etc (paladin passive), +20% damage to marked enemy Soul whip (cipher passive), +10%-30% damage weap depending on upgrade Akola's Apex Ward (large shield), +15% damage weapon When <50% hp Potion of relentless striking (potion), +15% melee damage Melee weaps Grog (food/drink), +15% melee damage melee weaps Mouth Char (drug), +15% weapon damage Two-handed style (passive, all), +15% melee damage, 2h weapons only Two-handed weaps only Weapon specialization (fighter passive), +10% damage with specialized weapon weapon proficiency with equipped weapon Champion's Helm (helm), +3% damage weapon per engagement Scales with more engagements, non-godlike Champion's Cape (cloak), +3% damage per engagement Scales with more engagements, godlike only Violet Redemption (cape), +2%/stack melee when getting hit Max 5 stacks Claim and Refusal (necklace), +10% damage melee also +10% damage taken Pes (pet), 10% melee damage, self Harley (pet), +10% ranged damage, self Cog of Cohh (necklace), 5% damage AOE aura AOE aura Mercedes, etc (pets), 5% melee damage party effect Bernhard (pet), 5% ranged damage party effect

PS: if you summon an Essential Phantom after you sumoned the staff you can play tennis with the enemies as your ball.

I haven't been able to find any lists of items/abilities, etc that give certain immunities, resistances, or stackable effects, which I always prefer to refer to before planning a new run, and try out new fun builds. So I made my own list based off of own extensive excel notes, and some wiki details. I've only completed 6 playthroughs so am no means familiar with all the abilities and classes, especially since I multiclass most of the time, so if any of the abilities listed are off or mistakenly listed, please let me know. Firstly, the exceedingly strong immunities, that prevent adverse status effects and afflictions, and prevents your own inspirations from being removed by debuffs. And resistances to afflictions, that downgrade an affliction by a tier, which is exceedingly useful to have partywide resistances to prevent the corresponding strong Tier 3 afflictions, while shrugging off annoying Tier 1 afflictions. Immunity to Engagement / being engaged by enemies: Grog (pet) also prevents any engagement Magnificent Escape Cape (cape, <50% hp, 1/encounter) Escape, etc (Rogue/Priest of Skaen abilities) Deleterious alacrity of motion, etc (Wizard spells) Wild sprint (Barbarian ability) Potion of invisibility (potion) Immunity to Disengagement attack: (disengagement attacks still proc but turn into miss) Gipon Prudensco (light armor) Nomad's brigandine (heavy armor) Immunity to Flanked: Gipon Prudensco (light armor) Squid's escape (weapon - rapier) Kapana Taga (weapon - club) Immunity to Push/pull: Horns of the Aurochs (helm) Upright Captains belt (belt) Immunity to Interrupt: Rekvu's Fractured Casque (helm) Immunity to Reflex attacks: Eder's Saint's War Armor (medium armor) Immunity to fire damage: Rekvu's scorched cloak (cloak), fire damage heals instead Immunity to disease/poison: Spider silk robe (cloth armor) Righteous soul (paladin passive) Khapa tea (food/drink) Antidote (potion) Purge of toxins (druid ability) Immunity to Might afflictions: Effigy's Husk (cloth armor) Shark soup (food) Immunity to Constitution afflictions: Rekvu's Stained Grasps (gloves, while injured) Bardatto's Luxury (weapon - mace, >50% hp) Shark soup (food) Immunity to Dexterity afflictions: Spider silk robe (cloth armor) Sandals of the water lily (boots) Shark soup (food) Form of the Delemgan (druid ability) AOE Shatter their shackles... (chanter invocation) AOE Immunity to Perception afflictions: Effigy's Husk (cloth armor) Captain's banquet (food) Slippery mind (rogue passive, <50% health) Immunity to Intellect afflictions: Modwyr (weapon - sword) Captain's banquet (food) Slippery mind (rogue passive, <50% health) Immunity to Resolve afflictions: Cap of the laughingstock (helm, applies to all including enemies) Captain's banquet (food) Effort (weapon - greatsword, <25% health) Slippery mind (rogue passive, <50% health) Rejoice my comrades... (chanter invocation) Resistance to Might afflictions: Coastal aumaua (race) Boots of the Stone (boots) Garari Cuirass (light armor) Magnera's Chain (medium armor) Unflinching (barb passive, >50% health) Body Control (fighter passive) Potion of the resilient body (potion) Seven men.. (Chanter phrase) AOE Resistance to Constitution afflictions: Mountain dwarf (race) Devil of Caroc's breastplate (medium armor) Iron gut (paladin passive) One dozen.. (chanter phrase) AOE Unflinching (barb passive, >50% health) Potion of the resilient body (potion) Resistance to Dexterity afflictions: Wood elf (race) Gwyn's bridal garter (belt) Engwithan bracers (gloves) Cipher's shackle (necklace) Boots of the white (boots) Lucero (pet) Unflinching (barb passive, >50% health) Unstoppable (fighter passive) Seven men.. (Chanter phrase) AOE Resistance to Perception afflictions: Defiant Apparel (helm, while not flanked) Blinky (pet) Ring of mule's wit (ring) Eder's Saint's War Armor (medium armor) Clear head (paladin passive) They shielded.. (Chanter phrase) AOE Svef (drug) Resistance to Intellect afflictions: Devil of Caroc's breastplate (medium armor) Ring of mule's wit (ring) Mental fortress (paladin passive) They shielded.. (Chanter phrase) AOE Svef (drug) Potion of the focused mind (potion) Resistance to Resolve afflictions: Wild orlan (race) Horns of the bleak mother (helm) Wahaki Tua (necklace) Eviee (pet) Ring of mule's wit (ring) One dozen.. (chanter phrase) AOE Fearless (fighter passive) Svef (drug) Potion of the focused mind (potion) Next are the defensive buffs that may be useful for min/maxing or planning builds. Note all active effects/abilities do not stack, including chants, modals, food, etc. Although some such as Crit to hit %, etc sometimes do stack. And some %s are for all effects, while some are specific to certain weapons, styles or other conditions, which I have listed. However, all passive skills, equipment enchantments and abilities do stack. Refer to this for more details: Stacking Rules - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Walkthrough & Guide - GameFAQs (gamespot.com). Incoming Crit to Hit : Critical Defense (fighter passive) - 10%-25% chance (25% in community patch) Potion of Insubstantial Form (potion), 25% chance Nerian's Ward (medium shield), 15% chance Girdle of mortal protection (belt), 15% chance Robies of the Weyc (cloth armor) - 10% chance Swift Hunter's Garb (light armor) - 10% chance Bonnie, etc (pets), 10% chance, party effect Incoming Hit to Graze ： Llengrath's displace image (wizard/trickster/priest of wael ability), 30% chance Deflection or reflex targeting only Potion of Insubstantial Form (potion), 25% chance Pale Hide (light armor) - 20% chance Nomad's Brigandine (heavy armor) - 20% chance No allies within 4m Garari Cuirass (light armor) - 15% chance Nerian's Ward (medium shield), 15% chance Helm of the Falcon (helm), 15% chance against Ranged Against ranged weap only Robies of the Weyc (cloth armor) - 10% chance Swordsman's bracers (gloves) - 10% chance Fleshmender (light armor) - 5% chance Bonnie, etc (pets), 5% chance, self Chauncy, etc (pets), 5% chance, party effect Incoming Graze to Miss: Potion of Insubstantial Form (potion), 25% chance Wintertide Bulwark (large shield) - 20% chance while afflicted Nerian's Ward (medium shield), 15% chance Robies of the Weyc (cloth armor) - 10% chance Helm of the White Void (helm), 10% chance Enemies Engaged / increased engagements: Defender stance (fighter modal) +3 engagements One Dozen Stood (heavy armor) +3 engagements max Scales with decreasing health Tactical Meld (Cipher ability), +3 engagements Barbaric shout, etc (barbarian abilities), +3 engagements Champion's boon (priest ability), +3 engagements to ally to ally Kapana Taga (weapon - club) +2 engagements Contender's Armor (medium armor) +1 engagement Reckless Brigandine (heavy armor) +1 engagement Blackened plate armor (heavy armor) +1 engagement Blackened Plate Helm (helm) +1 engagement Hold the line (fighter passive) +1 engagement Unbroken (fighter class) +1 engagement Persistent distraction (rogue passive) +1 engagement Spear modal (weapon, spear) +1 engagement spear only The silver knight.. (Chanter phrase) +1 engagement AOE Last Word (weapon, warhammer), +1 engagement Shield (shield, any) +1 engagement Maura's Grasping Belt (belt) +1 engagement Druid spiritshift bear/boar (druid ability), +1 engagement The King's Coffin Sailor's Berth (rest), +1 engagement Thick skinned (barbarian passive) +1 engagement Engagement mastery (paladin shieldbearer passive) +1 engagement Reduced damage (all sources): Take the hit (figher ability), 50% DR to allies - redirected to self Applies to allies only, at cost of self damage Defender stance (fighter modal) 5% DR per engaged target Scales with more engagements Forgetful Night (food/drink), 20% DR all sources Death's Maw (helm), 15% DR for 10s when nearly enemy killed Honey Wine Hen (food), 15% DR Furrante's Breastplate (medium armor), 10% DR to allies, at cost of self DR Apply to allies only, at cost of self DR Cadhu Scalth (large shield), 5% DR Scales with Metaphysics skill Pallegina's armor variations (medium armor), 5% DR Scales with decreasing health Mouth Char (drug), 5% DR Reduced damage (conditional): Large shield modal (large shield only), 50% against ranged or reflex targeting only large shield, and against ranged or reflex targeting only The Undying Burden (belt), 10-30% DR against weapon Scales with decreasing health Wahai Poraga (weapon, pollaxe), 20% DR against melee when launching attack every time when launching attack Nerian's Ward (medium shield), 15% DR against weapons Scales with decreasing health Saint's war armor (medium armor), 10% crush and slash DR Claim and Refusal (necklace), 10% DR against melee also -10% damage output Pukestabber (weapon, dagger), 10% DR against melee under effect of alcohol Garari Cuirass (light armor), 5% DR against weapon or spells Rekvu's scorched cloak (cloak), 100% fire DR - Iridescent Scale (medium armor), 10% corrode/shock & 10% burn/freeze DR Vampiric (% damage converted to heal): [2 different types, received damage vs attack damage] Unbending, etc (fighter ability), 25%-33% [received damage] converted to HP Steel Garrote (paladin steel garrote passive), 15% [attack damage] converted to HP flanked/afflicted targets Old siec... (chanter phrase), 12% [attack damage] converted to HP, AOE Resistance (or miss chance/evasion): Miscreant's leather (light armor) -5% chance ALL Uncanny Luck (passive - all classes) - 5% chance ALL Medium shield modal (medium shield only), 30% chance against weapons medium shield only Humility (cloth armor), 10% chance slash/pierce/crush Cabalist's Gambeson (light armor) -5% chance against ranged Aegor's Swift Touch (gloves) - 5% chance against ranged Spell resistance (passive, all) - 10% chance against spells Spell reflect (hostile spells): Arcane reflection, etc (wizard spells) - 100% chance for 15-50 spell levels - reflect up to 15-50 spell levels Potion of Arcane reflection, etc (potions), 50%-75% chance Wild Mare Konstanten's Massage (rest), 30% chance Cabalist's Gambeson (light armor) -10% chance Pearlescent Helstone Helm (helm) - 10% chance Collar of Eothas' Light (necklace) - 10% chance daytime only Mirrorback (cape) - 10% chance Hostile effect duration decrease (% or value): Clarity of agony (monk ability), -50% duration Ring of solitary Wanderer (ring), -35% duration no allies within 20m Mohora Wraps (food), -30% duration Svef (drug), -25% duration Potion of cleansing Purge (potion), -25% duration Tikawara Gentle Breeze (rest), -25% duration Orishia (necklace), -20% duration random effect per encounter Outworn Buckler (small shield) - 5% or 10% duration (Darcozzi Paladin) AOE Strand of Favor (necklace), -10% duration Cabalist's Gambeson (light armor) -10% duration Streetsweeper (weapon, quarterstaff), -10 seconds on hit Clarity of agony (monk ability), -5 seconds Minor Intercession (prirest ability) -5 seconds Beneficial effect duration increase (% or value): Luminous Bathhouse The Abyss (rest), +25% duration Mari Crudia (food), +15% duration Roe (food), +15% duration Cabalist's Gambeson (light armor) +10% duration Strand of Favor (necklace), +10% duration Effigy's Resentment - sacrifice Zahua, +5% duration Ooblit (pet), +3 seconds, self Salvation of time (priest ability), +10 seconds Wall of draining (wizard ability), +1 second per enemy drained effect

Hi! So... why not summon Llengrath's Warding Staff as a Warlock, right? Just because nobody else does. And also because every hit with it pushes the enemy into their own Carnage area. That means you are not only doing the normal weapon damage to the initial target but also the Carnage dmg (which ususally only hits enemy bystanders and not the initial target). I think that's not overly powerful but a pretty good use for that staff - and most of all: it's fun.

Sounds like something emo-types tell themselves to feel superior, to be honest.

I'll always take quality over quantity. Look at Portal, that game is only about 3 hours long, but those are 3 GLORIOUS hours. I'll take that over 40 hours of mediocrity any day. The same goes for open worlds. Ryu Ga Gotoku's open worlds are some of the smallest out there, but they can take the Pepsi challenge with any giant open wotld because they are filled to the brim with atmosphere and have fun and engaging activities and stories around every corner. That's not to say that you can't make a giant open world fun and engaging, we've seen it done, but more often than not you wind up with a lot of ctrl+c & ctrl+v throw away content when there is 1000 square kilometers of open world to fill.

I don't understand why everyone thinks they need to have an opinion on the vaccine and they need to explain it. I leave all my medical decisions to medical professionals. My doctor told me to get it or my doctor told me not to get it is literally the only thing anyone should have to say about it.

Open-world is this concept that sounds good but rarely turns out interesting. If you let players to do anything at any point and go anywhere it's difficult to create something worth doing or experiencing - story wise you can't create a good one, as you have little control over story progression - a good story has to have arcs and developement and how do you create that stuff, if everyplayer can experience story in a different order (see Deadfire)? Gameplay wise - it's all about building complexity. You can't do that if you have no control over content. There is a reason, I think, why open-world games tend to have a depth of a puddle. And if you have progression system: how do you make sure that no matter where player goes the content will be sufficiently easy/challenging? And as stunning as open-world can be for first couple hours the spell quickly wanes as we realise how static the world is, how repetitive activities are, and one just wishes he could get to interesting stuff quicker. For example I prefered Metroidvenia like, developing world of Arkham Asylum over either of it's "open world" sequels, which felt more artificial and more static to me. So I like games which make you FEEL like you can go anywhere, but generally not open world - in that regard first half Dark Souls1 was all that it needed to be. There are open world games that I did enjoy: Witcher3, Gothic1&2, New Vegas. I do feel that while set in the open world, those games are more linear in nature, with open world being "a stage" rather then game itself. And there are sandbox games like Mount&Blade, but I think their nature is a bit different then your ususal Open World. There are also Metroidvanias - I tend to like those. So in case of Elden Ring, I am asking myself: what positive thing will be added to Dark Souls formula by going open world? Nothing comes to mind as of now, but I was sceptical about WItcher3 and it turned out to be the best in the series.

I think it was posted here somewhere, but this sums up what sucks about OW game design pretty good.

Carol and Tuesday ep.1. It didn't really grab me, it all seems kind of generic so far. I'll give this a couple of more episodes and see where it goes. Yeah I was expecting a story where he made the "right" choices but still didn't make the odds, but what I got was certainly more realistic and soul crushing.

we need these. that is all.

it should be changed to holding down b to remove blue prints. having it as a tap just means i unintentionally remove blueprints i've placed. it's super annoying and i can't fathom why it's like this. it really sucks to accidentally remove a blueprint that was one item away from being finished.

No named attack will ever top SPACE RIPPER STINGY EYES.

Summons scale with character level, not Power Level. So summons of any kind (weapons, creatures) are no problem with multiclassing.

Thanks! @Boeroer

Yes, Phantom is one of the easiest ways because its AoE is so huge. Battlemage can also use Chillfog.

Well, you're not a critical thinker like Rodgers, you sheep! But at worst Rodgers seems like an idiot. Better than this **** bag - https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32543330/henry-ruggs-iii-drove-156-mph-seconds-fatal-car-crash-prosecutors-say Would be nice if he got the heaviest sentence, but eh.

Cool. I haven't checked everything but just flew over it - but it looks good. Two things I noticed that aren't quite correct: Gipon Prudensco and Nomand's Brigandine don't give immunity to engagement but instead give immunity to disengagement attacks. This sounds like the same but it isn't: While immunity to engagement prevents enemies from engaging you entirely, immunity to disengagement attacks lets enemies still engage you (and thus you might still profit from stuff like Entonia Signet Ring) and they will also do disengagement attacks if you break engagement - but all those attacks will be turned into misses. This opens up some synergy with abilites like Imagined Pain, Riposte and so on but also with item enchantments or modals like Offensive Parry (Whispers of the Endless Paths) or the small shield modal for example. I could't find Edér's armor in the list (maybe I missed it). It provides immunity vs. Reflex attacks via the enchantment Veteran's Maneuver. This can be used with stuff like Keeper of the Flame + Whispers of the Wind + Imagined Pain (Imagined Pain gives 1 wound per miss against you, the flame AoE of the flail will also hit you but targets reflex so it gets turned into a miss -> +1 wound). --- The pet's name is Ooblit, not Ooblist. I couldn't find Harley (the dog pet). It raises ranged damage by 10% - but actually works with all sorts of damage that's not melee, including spells. Several pets give increased AoE size as secondary, party-wide effect (like Loki does as primary, but to everybody and weaker - I think 5% or so). As I said I just flew over it...

In terms of a 5th melee-damage dealer, rogue mutliclasses are great, because Escape is such a useful ability. You can pester the enemies' backlines (archers, mages), which are the ones who really wreck you. The benefits of sneak attack mean mobs die faster. Swashbucklers are good at this, and the classes mentioned above in the thread are all good. I personally enjoy having the helmet slot free, for different playstyles and equipment, so I don't usually choose Godlike. Again, this is just a minor benefit, so I say choose what fits with you thematically. I didn't know about Petrify being Tier 4, and Paralyze being Tier 3, so that is goo to know. I still find that DEX affiliations are fairly common, and very annoying throughout the game, so I think Wood Elf is a solid choice. On the other hand, there is a lot of equipment that gives you DEX resistance ,so you can negate such afflictions easily. It depends if you want the utility wood elf offers, and the nice +DEX and +PER. Perception is an incredibly useful stat all game, especially early on. More hits land, you take less dmg, and spells land more easily. +DEX is great for melee. You can feel a difference between mid range vs. high DEX melee fighters.

No, it doesn't properly stack it seems. I guess the longer push from Force of Anguish overrides the shorter one from the staff, no idea. At least nothing noteworthy happened when I tested it. Also Clear Out + Ll's Staff doesn't do multi-push it seems. One weird effect I noticed: if you use knock-ups with the staff ( for example Skyward Kick) there will be no knock-up animation: the target will stay targetable, but the knockup "CC" effect will still get applied to the enemy for a few secs (is hard-cc'd then as if prone but really isn't). I guess the push animation overrides the knockup animation. This can prevent the usual problems where allies try to attack the enemy but will miss because it gets knocked up (and becomes untouchable while in the air). I also tried a Rogue with Arterial Strike and pushed the melee enemies away from me. Most of them are stupid enough to try to reach me again... and again.

The good example of small scale openworld is also the Yakuza series. You can do pretty anything you like in almost any order, but you are always very close to the story and it does not take you 15 minutes to get where you want. On the other hand, Fallout 3 became to me one of the most boring games I have ever played. The only fun were the DLCs, which were "closed-world". But that made them very balanced and fast pacing compared to everything else in the vanilla game

this is a weirdly catchy and fun song

I'm home for a couple days so I took a ride just across the border to Fort Mill SC and hit up Frugal MacDoogal's for some early X-Mas shopping: The Laphroaig isn't for anyone in particular, I'm just bringing it so everyone can try it. I can almost guarantee my mom (if she even tries it) & my sister (she'll try it) will hate it, I don't know if my dad will like it... I don't know if I like it and I've had it before. It's such a distinctive flavor (I call it "drinking a campfire") that every drinker should try it at least once. The Campari is for mom, the Camarena for sis, and the Suntory Toki isn't for X-Mas. This will be the second Japanese whisky I've tried; I'll have some tonight while watching AEW Rampage. I'll report back if it's any good.

Please report how it went. Funny side effect: if you use the Helm of the White Void then every attack you do with the staff gets +10 accuracy (Rymrgand's Influence) - because the staff causes a hobble effect with every strike. That's a really nice bonus to have.

Avon was a classic character and an inspiration for several PC's I've played over the years...

As you said, the reality of the story was that he actually lived and essentially wrote the story as an apology...and maybe confession? His childish pride combined with the heavy guilt no doubt creates the unusual characters and story. Interesting that Takahata specifically stated that he wanted to "dispel" the idea that characters like Seita and Setsuko were somehow "more noble" than normal people of the modern age. Even in desperate times, people still make plenty of stupid and life-altering/ending errors of their own making. I had thought about it more, and more came to the conclusion that animation is a wildly varied medium in of itself - some animation would definitely be closer to comics/manga, but other animation would be closer to live action, so it kinda just depends. Regardless, between all the different moving parts involved (changing medium, direction, actors, music, style, what you to decide to keep or cut, all of it - adaptations/remakes of all kinds (books, comics/manga, movies, television, games, it doesn't matter) are inherently unlikely to satisfy those that loved the original. Those that do that are also attract new fans are unicorns. As for live action that successfully made a good adaptation from animated... Uh, I have absolutely nothing. Yeah, but what about being angrier than [the character known as] Black Lady?

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Bolsonaro just granted himself the Medal of the National Order of Scientific Merit and the title of Grand Master. No, I'm not joking.

My Jets on a Thursday night game against the Colts. I think the short week will make the Jets look a bit better than they are but given how good the Colts defense is the final score gets out of control in the 4th quarter. 28 - 19 Colts. Mike White does not throw for 400 yards in this game and unlike last week the 2 ints he throws tonight will be solely his fault.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, episode 10: Uhm, wow.

I started the video and expected to see the <TO BE CONTINUED]. Music in JoJo is strong all around. Since there's so many music references in JoJo, everytime you look at a video on youtube a good amount of the comments will be JoJo references. Like Savage Garden's I want you will be filled with people remembering the bizarre summer of 1999.

Indeed, and I would heartily recommend Dark Matter as a live action sci-fi show that goes balls to the wall with these tropes. I would, if it had not been cancelled. It was totally awesome in the way they played everything straight. That's just most writers writing uninteresting things, female, male or otherwise, and you won't get any argument from me. 50 Shades of Grey was writen by a woman, for women, after all. It was widely successful for a reason I won't ever be able to fathom. Part of what I liked about Sailor Moon so much is that the character concerns are easily relatable. Not for all, but like someone once said, there's a Guardian for everyone. I guess people will eventually get bored of me talking about it, but even though it's almost thirty years old it does so many thing so much better than even the "wokest" of current entertainment that it's beginning to be slightly ridiculous, and it never stops being relatable in certain ways, even though its characters are teenagers and the target audience were girls roughly the same age. Every now and then something that's so wildely successful deserved to be it. Not that it's without issues, the storyline is... eh, enough about that now. I found more sucess in finding interesting interactions and relationships - in anime, at least - in shoujo anime. Shoujo specifically, because josei looks like it's an insane mess that puts most seinen to shame, but that's only a general rule of thumb. For every CCS or Sailor Moon, there's also a, uhm, X or Rose of Versailles. I liked X, but that's me liking bastard hybrids that should never have seen the light of day. Remakes make a certain amount of sense when something in any given medium changed in a significant manner that would allow expansion of core concepts. I think that's also partially why some 80ies and earlier remakes are really good, especially for earlier sci-fi and horror works. The The Fly remake with Jeff Golblum beats the original, but a lot improved in the time in between. Technology got a lot better, budgets were different, acting changed - but such improvements in films have been minute in the past thirty or so years, except CGI, which is a tool that in theory is a great addition, and in practice almost always terrible. Not counting 3D here because that's been showing up every 20 years only to fade away eventually. Sure, polarized filter glasses 3D beats out the red/blue filter from the past, but even that is a slightly improved version of a 60ies technology, and I don't see shutter tech improving to the point where it's not annoying to use, so current 3D tech is the best it'll be, and yeah, that can go take a hike. Sure, Avatar showed what would be possible if used properly, but Avatar wasn't a great movie, it was a great three hour tech demo that took ages to make, just not really feasible. On medium switches: "Travel distance" matters a good deal, as I've mentioned before, just in a different context - like why Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card feels so much worse than it probably is from a more objective point of view. Going from manga to animation is much less of a step than from animation to live action. Arguably, it's also a larger step to go from comic to live action adaptation, but it's a gap that got smaller in recent years, mostly due to CGI. As much as I prefer practical effects, for superhero comic adaptations it was a way to make them happen in a better manner than in the past, albeit at the loss of grounding an already silly medium in a more realistic context - what happens at its worst is seen in Avengers: Endgame, one of the movies everyone I know loved but I didn't like. Particularily not when compared to the first part, which was not only much better but also really good, and ranks very high on my list of Marvel films. It's like Mike and Jay said in their Half in the Bag, Infinity War is better than it has any right to be. I just did, so feel free to agree. I don't find that determination difficult to make at all. I won't, however, touch the subject of book adaptations. The biggest criticism I often hear is that the adaptation doesn't look like what the reader imagined, which is a complete non-factor for me. I wish it wasn't, but there's nothing to be done about that. I often annoy people when I do that while talking about films and actors. I don't even do that on purpose, but I tend to call Malcom McDowell just Admiral Tolwyn and Mark Hamill is Colonel Blair, which is kind of funny, seeing how often I've seen Star Wars (and at the very least I watched Star Wars movies with Mark Hamill more often than I played Wing Commander 3 to 5 by a factor of a hundred). It's not the first role, just my favorite one, I guess. Depends a bit on the mood, there are times when Malcom McDowell is His Divine Shadow. Heh. Never is Alex for me though (in spite of it probably being his best film). I don't think I could come up with a single transition from animation to live action that I really liked. I mean, not counting Masters of the Universe, because that film was, is and always will be absolutely fantastic, but... I don't think that counts, objectively speaking. Or am I missing something obvious? There are the terrible Transformer movies, the terrible new Disney live action films, there are the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles dumpster fires, uhm, that epic Fullmetal Alchemist film... yeah. It wasn't for me either. When I saw it, I did not go in blind because I already knew how it would end. That probably proved to be a slight detriment to the film experience, but not the the overall atmosphere of the film. Well, sort of, yeah. Now imagine Takahata made children's TV earlier in his carreer.

I don't watch enough anime to recognize tons of voices...that said, I am pretty good at recognizing voices (if the VA does not ever change it up, or if they're not super vanilla VA's...) but even if I recognize a voice, it does not imprint a character onto another character. A character remains a separate entity for me if there is no facial imprinting. Hearing James Earl Jones does not make me unable to view an animated chr as anything but Darth Vader. Seeing a live-actor's face after 2 or 3 movie roles ... he later then never becomes Neo, Bill, or John Wick - he's always Keanu. I love Tom Hanks, but yeah...he is always just Tom Hanks and what I'm doing while watching the movie is loving Tom Hanks performance, not a character.

So pwetty. I suppose I won't know how I feel about it until I try it. Looks good - like they are expanding pure dungeon crawling of Dark Souls into a more well rounded aRPG. Will it be better for it, though? We shall see.

is not hard to find a syllabus. https://blogs.brown.edu/amst-2220j-s01-2017-fall/syllabus/ is also taught at harvard law school, which is not surprising as were invented by harvard law school lawyers with intention of teaching future harvard lawyers to take a different perspective and look critical at systemic racism. crt is not being taught to public school students in virginia. kudos if it were 'cause the syllabi you were asking for reveal this is material which requires a level o' analysis and evaluation way beyond what we expect from most high school and middle schoolers. admitted, tell a bunch o' virginia voters that crt ain't even part o' typical curriculum for undergrads at college but is maybe a graduate seminar at university o' virgina or william and mary would probable still anger a small number o' voters, but is doubtful such would become an election issue worth even breitbart's time to lambast. wouldn't have fox news fabricating outrage. wouldn't have folks like dp parroting the silliness. but don't get distracted. point is voter fears 'bout crt being taught in virginia public schools, regardless o' what crt is or is not, is the result o' republicans and right-leaning media willful misrepresentations. doesn't matter what crt is if is not actual being taught to kids in virgina schools or anywhere else, yes? crt is just an example. at the moment, US republicans got nothing, so they are selling fear and relying on ignorance. sure as hell can't sell themselves as the party o' fiscal responsibility and limited government after trump. what is most terrible is that the new politics o' grievance and divisiveness is at least in limited ways a successful strategy for republicans, so their motivation to abandon such is limited. why let little things like honesty and integrity get in the way o' victory, eh? HA! Good Fun!

Thats what they get for not cutting through the ring crust.

No Time for Bullies: Baboons Retool Their Culture - The New York Times (nytimes.com) or for the actual science article on it: Emergence of a Peaceful Culture in Wild Baboons (nih.gov) Troop of Kenyan baboons experiences temperament shift after all dominant adult males die in accident;

I'm loving this new season and especially the new rules. Jumping into the defensive player should have never been a defensive foul.

What makes them nostalgia based? It's fine if you don't like them, but why are they nostalgia based? I don't see it. In my view, Deadfire is graphically the most gorgeous game I have ever played.

Biggest step back? 1) Reused maps(especially bog and rocky mountain). It feels very cheap and Pillars as series doesn't deserve such treatment. 2) Full voice acting. No disrespect to the actors but the overall performance is bad. So bad that i actually had to to drop the voice volume down to zero for my current and my last 3 games. Way more immersive and relaxing experience now. 3) Unity Engine. 25-30FPS combat in a pseudo 3D game is a disaster, plain and simple. Even more so when you know that your machine is able to run the likes of Cyberpunk and Dishonored 2 at 60FPS 4) Nostalgia based graphics. Pick a road and go either 2D or 3D. Beautiful pseudo 3D renders for maps in combination with low tier fully 3D models for characters just looks ugly. Favorite improvements 1) Resource based combat system. 2) Level gated semi open world. The game gives you the freedom to find some nice 'exquisite' uniques at low and mid levels but you still need a high level team for the serious 'superior' and 'legendary' stuff. 3) Rest buffs and crafting system. Tons of hidden power in there but you have to dig first. 4) Economy loop and pirating. Hunting random expert and master captains to sell their loot will net you more money than you'll ever need. 5) Ship to ship combat. I find it relaxing, addicting and i can spend an entire gaming session just sinking ships and selling loot.

I turn the music and voice down, as I find the ambient noise more immersive (turning the other two down lets me raise the volume). Anyway for me the biggest improvement is without a doubt the full voice acting, that's a game changer. It's more immersive, gives more personality to characters, and lets you relax more in a game that has a lot of writing.