termokanden

I'm glad to see a few people acknowledge that the moon godlike racial is quite good. I've read that the heal doesn't matter because "if you're getting hit that much, you're doing something wrong". Well, it happens, and I know for a fact that it saved my butt a few times already, for example in the lighthouse fights.

At the moment (changes a bit with levels): Cipher: Mental Binding Druid: Returning Storm Wizard: Confusion Priest: (Brilliant) Radiance Chanter: Sure-Handed Ila

While I think the druid definitely has the advantage after this, I don't believe it's going to ruin the wizard class or anything. I've been doing fine without those spells so far, and more range doesn't sound all that bad - often I've been having issues with Aloth having to run around a lot to cast spells. While we're at nerfing, I don't really get the nerf to Mind Blades or Brilliant Radiance. The latter was one of the few things I enjoyed about having a priest in my party, and as for Mind Blades, it never struck me as overpowered. Mental Binding on the other hand! Not that I really want Ciphers nerfed. Ridiculously overpowered things might need to be nerfed, but I really hope Obsidian don't turn this into the endless cycle of overnerfing and overbuffing we see in some games (typically MMOs). Oh and speaking as a frequent (all the time) user of Sure-Handed Ila, yep, it needs a nerf, and the nerf sounds quite fair to me. It's one of the few things I think absolutely should be nerfed, and afer the patch it will still be good.

"Three guys in a dress, but I know THAT guy has two less HP than the others because... I saw him cough?" It's funny you should mention it though, because aggro works exactly the opposite in Dragon Age: Origins. There, heavy armor (but most of all proximity) generates extra aggro. I don't really know how the AI manages to single out my cipher among my 3 squishy casters, but I seem to have stumbled upon the solution. I got Durance killed and needed a sixth party member. I picked a really squishy moon godlike, and sure enough, enemies just love her. The thing about the moon godlike passive is, it's totally useless if you're not getting attacked, but if you are a squishy aggro magnet, it actually gives you one heck of a heal in each tough battle. It saved me in that pesky lighthouse.

Try to consider what this thread was originally about. Lead Spitter generates bonus focus from Draining Whip x 6, and additionally it deals a ton of damage. Basically, I'm getting crazy amounts of focus. Doubt a bow can even get close. In my experience, if you have the ranged buff chant (Sure-Handed Ila Knocked Her Arrows with Speed or whatever), guns and arbalests in general are overpowered, but even without that, a blunderbuss is pretty much ideal as a focus-generator. Yes, it's slow to reload, but the 6 x bonus focus makes up for it. Now, my chanter is a wood elf with Weapon Focus: Ruffian, so I don't miss much, and on top of that, Mental Binding and other debuffs decrease deflection. I don't really remember the last time I was out of focus because I missed.

It's also a matter of how many mobs the tanks can hold. I gave both my tanks Hold the Line and find everything much more manageable now. Together they can now hold 6 mobs.

I don't know about the Crucible Knights, but I got Mob Justice already in Defiance Bay after doing 2 quests for the Dozens. Quite early in the game I would say, before even going to Dyrford. I thought you could get the other two at roughly the same point in the game (but only one talent total of course).

Yeah this was a major issue for me until I started adapting to it. I always keep a little focus to cast Mental Binding one anyone who gets close. I don't know how the enemies instinctively know who is squishiest. PS: Have you ever heard of Beagle Power? No? Then let me tell you about Beagle Power. There is a cloak in this game that summons a "noble animal". Well, turns out that noble animal is a beagle, and I've lost count of the number of times my enemies have stopped in their tracks to pet the beagle instead of hitting me. You can only summon it once per rest, but it really is a life-saver.

Biting Whip and Draining Whip are both good. The max focus thing seems entirely unnecessary though.

Anyone tried this combo? It's pretty crazy. I use it with Biting Whip for that 1.2^2 damage multiplier. I almost want to respec to something less insanely overpowered, but it's too late for that

1. Bugfixing. 2. Some balancing changes to the stronghold. 3. Expansion(s) with higher level cap. We already know that one expansion is coming, so yay. And of course I'd love to see a sequel, but I agree with k1rage that we're getting ahead of ourselves here

A lot of people love the game, but in every forum ever, people will talk about problems. It's not surprising really. Obviously I too hate the terrible bugs and really hope they get sorted out (I'd rather get it sorted out well than quickly to be honest). I backed this game because I've seen that Obsidian can make some great RPGs, and in my opinion they came through. I haven't enjoyed a game this much in a very long time. After playing this game for a few hours, I thought "instant classic", and now at the 30 hour mark I haven't changed my opinion. Of course you'll also have people who want a completely different type of game. They won't like it, and that's OK. There are also legitimate issues with the game balance in a few places, but I don't think it really spoils the fun.

That sounds true. I haven't been keeping track of the exact time, but I know that last time they were paid was when I rested in the wild.

The problem is that hirelings are pretty much broken. They are paid per day (but when exactly they are paid, I don't fully understand either), but you only get your taxes per turn. So say you travel 22 hours from Defiance Bay to visit your stronghold, rest there and return. That's > 2 days pay for your hirelings but no money for you. Additionally, I hired a lot of them because I was losing so much to bandits. After doubling my security, I actually lost much more to bandits. Where's the logic in all of this? Getting a hireling seems to be a net loss. As a result, I don't use hirelings at all. I am happy to have a stronghold, but I am regularly baffled by the punishing game mechanics surrounding it.

1. Cipher 2. Chanter 3. Druid Don't know about the rest yet.

I find it impossible to completely avoid aggro. I've had fights where my cipher got hit by 5 ranged attacks before I could even do anything. Instant death. Thing is, I could have had 10 more con and it wouldn't have saved me.

I wouldn't say it's bad prose, but I will admit that they confused me at first. I thought they were supposed to be related to the story somehow, but I couldn't see how. Took me a while to figure out it was a backer thing. I don't mind them so much, but they are a bit too much for my tastes. They're everywhere!

I'd argue that wood elves are a top pick for a ranged cipher due to the accuracy bonus. Nothing's worth than missing a shot and being low on focus. My other top pick is aumaua for their high might and the extra weapon set. And no resolve is not particularly useful for a cipher, nor is perception. Sure you get a bit of deflection but you're still squishy and shouldn't be getting attacked if you can at all avoid it.

That's actually exactly why he works well with a cipher. I can easily protect him with my arsenal of insane debuffs. The confusion spell at level 4 is pretty crazy, by the way. I just had a fight where he took 5 out of 6 enemies out of the fight with it. I have to admit, I didn't think much of wizards at first but I'm starting to come around. No they're probably not as overpowered as ciphers or even as good as druids, but they're still fine.

Aloth starts out a bit helpless, but he gets better. I often use my level 3 and 4 spells with great success. Fan of Flames is also pretty good (excellent with Scion of Flames or whatever it's called), I just needed some practice to recognize the best opportunities to use it.

Am I the only one who is actually happy with the current system? I'm finding that for me it works exactly as intended. I don't rest constantly as I did in BG just to be able to spam my most powerful spells, and I use my spells pretty naturally as needed, resting when my party is too worn-out to continue. As for the realism, I find it semi-important but... meh. There comes a point when I'd rather just have fun gameplay.

I doubt it was intended. Good find, but I won't be using it, seems unfair.

Yes. That's what I meant. So many Mind spells. Also, Recall Agony is level 2 It's funny, the level 2 spells are by far the best so far and I'm up to level 4 now. They just can't beat Mental Binding and Mind Blades in overall usefulness.

Honestly, ciphers need to be micromanaged a bit. Because they can cast an unlimited number of spells, they are really at their best when you spam your spells and control the battlefield. A ranged rogue would probably require less micromanagement. Some recommendations from what I've seen so far: Level 1: Mind Blast Level 2: Mental Binding (must-have), Mind Blades Level 3: Puppet Master, Recall Agony Level 4: Silent Scream As for talents, depends on what kind of weapons you want to use. I have a guns build with the following (I'm level 7): Biting Whip Draining Whip Weapon Focus: Ruffian I use a blunderbuss mainly for the crazy amount of focus it builds with Draining Whip. To boost my reload speed, I have the ranged buff chant running at all times from Kana.

Maybe security is only related to attacks and not bandits. Last time I earned just shy of 500. Bandits took 400-something. Hirelings cost about 400 for the same period. Even without the bandits, my earnings are almost non-existent, and with hirelings I'm losing money. It just doesn't make any sense to me. As for the adventures, I love the idea, but so far I've done two and I've gotten ONE adra gem total as a reward. Really? It seems like the stronghold is quite perfectly designed except for the rewards being ridiculously poor. As you say, however, the bounties seem like a really nice idea and I look forward to doing them.