[Deadfire Polishing Poll]

Curious to know if lore factors were considered during the choice of new keywords. Some consequences like keybreaker scepter allowing to reflect a skaens finishing blow raise an eyebrow, although I can see an argument as to why it might be justifiable lore-wise. Just one example.

I know this board generally favors gameplay considerations over in-universe consistency, but I personally don't believe Obsidians choices were all completely random or mistakes (although some clearly were).

If a spell / ability can never benefit from any +PL due to faulty keywords, it's bad, sure. But if new interactions created by adding keywords don't make sense, it's also bad, imho.

I don't think there's a perfect answer or that Obsidians approach was 100% consistent either, but I'm interested to know if anyone else shares this concern.

[Feature Request: Choose Subclasses for Companions]

This is the type of feature that belongs in a mod but not in the game, for lore reasons.

[Priest weak?]

Actually unlike other priests xoti has some high impact at low levels in the form of blessed harvest

[What are barbarians good at?]

great passives when multi classed and great actives when single

 

carnage is inconsequential but that's ok

[Any builds that use new subclasses ?]

bellower + sasha scimitar + all the "on empower" gear from FS + every source of PL you can grab is funny if you wanna see big numbers

[Playing order (Main game + DLCs)]

You might wanna consider item acquisition order, in particular for soulbound items (you wont level certain items if you have no content to play after acquiring them). Of course, you'd have to read spoilers.

[Eder builds/equips? (Now build advice in general)]

I love doing this with him, it's dumb but it works extremely well: fighter regen + ring of regen + ring of greater regen + troll cape + troll belt + whiteleaf 

 

That + resistance to every affliction through fighter passives and items, the 30% medium shield resistance, and the rogue reflex and his hp is permanently stuck to max. With a sabre or warhammer and deathblows he can also do respectable dmg.

 

As far as making things stick, it works this way in my experience: fighter-type enemies never disengage, rogue/barb-type enemies will disengage to pursue low hp or low armor targets. There's nothing you can do to force rogue-type enemies to stay stuck to a tank, ie. no deterrence, only punishment. Just focus them with your dps/cc. The point of a tank is to lock down the pala/fighter types and bosses.

[Struggling to enjoy the game - too easy or too hard]

My actual setup at level 11 is:

Eder main tank sword and board

Pallegina herald off tank two hand or sword and board

Xoti priest main healer, pistol

Aloth damage

My character is a herald, dual wielding pistols ranged damage dealer (flames of devotion)

You don't have a damage dealer.

[Are Beckoner summons worth it?]

Yes, 2x dmg on animated weapons is OP

[Konstanten as a chanter]

There are a lot of synergies you can compound when multiclassing him, but they take a while to realize

 

barb + chanter + morningstar modal + chant that debuffs might/weakens + brute force + barbaric blow + bloody slaughter + eld nary is pretty good

[No Pen. Damage Calculation Doesn't Add Up]

The math doesnt work that way, look up "inversion", for example here.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/inversions

 

base roll : 14.6

inversion of negative mod: 1-1/(1-.75) = -3

addition of all mods: .03+.2+.5+.15-3 = -2.12

inversion of final mod, for negative result: 1/(1+2.12) = 0.3205

final result: 14.6*.3205  = 4.679 = 4.7

[Favorite part of game]

The objectively best part has to be fort deadlight. That is the peak rpg experience in terms of approaches, choices, reactivity, freedom.

 

My favorite is the bridge in BoW. Very ambitious to decide to present such an iconic moment of the lore and it was well executed. Reassured me that there was talent left at Obsidian

[Frustrated by the game design]

damage spells feel like a weak aoe attack that casually misses even if they are limited per combat - only CCs are somewhat worth it

Yeah, removing the bonus acc from spells made this even worse. The dps provided by spells isnt high enough to justify using limited casts on them rather than improving infinite auto attacks by casting debuffs instead, especially when enemy vulnerabilities and weaknesses are flattened by the potd bonuses. Whenever you can do decent damage with a spell, the fight usually didnt matter anyway.

[Thoughts On Tekehu As Pure Chanter?]

chanter is always great to have in the fights that matter, but having that foe aoe chill fog as early as possible is so good it's hard to pass

[Need help with game difficulty in the early missions (second run/POTD/Upscale)]

these early encounters are designed to teach you non lethal ways

 

goretti street is cleared after dealing with the mob boss, diplomatically or no, the other thugs will disappear upon returning to the area

 

the excavation mobs are placed in such a way that you can sneak past them into the ruins, deal with the adra pillar and come out and they'll be gone. The fights inside the ruins are either sneakable through or doable by a party of 3 with proper tactics

[Chanters are op, priests, not so]

I dont think it's a priest problem but a wizard/priest/druid compared to chanter/cipher, on POTD, vs bosses. The number of spells the regular casters have for each level is simply pathetic. Having only 2-3 per fight is a joke against bosses, compared to the classes that have an infinite amount. The spells are not better by enough of a margin to justify their scarcity.

[The Oracle fight]

On potd I got him to 50 stacks of combusting wounds using wall and hazard spells. Most of my party died but so did he. If you’re not playing beraths challenge this is the way to kill bosses.

[Izzia's missing]

I have been running between every possible locale in Nekataka for half an hour with no joy. Are these encounters this unlikely or is my savefile just bugged?

[Couple gripes with this game (balance/gameplay, not quality or content)]

I wish druid/priest/wizards just had spell slots like 5e. Use a spell slot to cast whatever you want, with the accompanying powerlevel boost from casting at higher level. I mean the power level mechanic is already in there.

 

It's just bad design to have 2 casts of iconic abilities like xoti's harvest. Or to have entire fights rely on your 3 combusting wounds not missing

[Anyone finish Forgotten Sanctum yet?]

I liked it. Interesting story and lots of lore, although like previous DLCs sometimes it feels like you're skipping a few steps as to "why". Definitely need heavy investments in arcana/lore/history to get everything out of the dialog.

 

Cool maps but I was a little disappointed by the lack of puzzles. My favorite part was the combat in fact: fights were challenging but weren't awful grind-fests, many enemies were clearly designed to be glass cannons which made direct damage abilities feel rewarding, and a welcome change of pace from buff debuff auto attack gameplay. Loot is not game breaking but pretty nice.

[Izzia's missing]

Same here

[Is there a mod to fix the experience gain Abomination]

I wish xp beyond lvl 20 would go towards some form of a choice between additional power level, skill points or abilities. A way to have every xp gain be rewarding without the trouble or imbalance of "real" additional levels.

[Master Thread of Keyword Inconsistencies]

I just don't think there's anything "frosty" about iconic projection as described in the spell card. The devs would have the final word, but my assumption has always been that it was similar to cold damage from spirits/ghosts/phantoms etc. Are those "frosty"? Are they seen as creatures of frost/ice? I believe cold dmg is simply used because there's no "shadow", just like burn is often used because there is no "light".

 

There's a limited amount of dmg types in the system and they are used for a larger amount of spell types. I think some spells follow the pattern of boiling spray and the lack of keyword corresponding to the dmg type is not an inconsistency but intended. 

[Master Thread of Keyword Inconsistencies]

I would disagree about having the frost keyword on iconic projection, and acid on the minoletta spells.

 

I'm sure I dont need to explain the argument about dmg type != keyword (see boiling spray)

[Combat flow is all screwed up, pause and auto-pause need to be fixed]

I agree with everything you said. I noticed some UI improvements in 1.1, like the chanter phrase indicator moving a bit, so there's hope for the future.