Madscientist

https://imgur.com/a/BvEHQ In character creation when you select the second class for an multi class character, the area with "chosen first class details" is empty. expected behaviour: I assume you should see the details of your class you chose first.

The description of the ability "soul annihilation" has missing string 335. Beta version 3

I already play the beta. Will the game be updated to the full game at release day automatically or do I have to do something in the backer portal or on fig?

In D:OS2 in the options menu there are two sliders: One for quick saves and one for auto saves and you could chose how many you want to have, somewhere between 1 and 99 I think. I think it would be nice to have this in PoE too. I think in PoE2 when you do a quick save in a new area it creates a new save file but if you do a quick save in an area where you already have a quick save the old one will be overwritten. I think you should have X auto and quick saves and you should be able to select X. Until you have X files it will create a new one and when you have X files you should overwrite the oldest file, independent on the area you are now or the area where the old save has been made. Of course you can make as many manual saves as you want and they get only overwritten or deleted if you do it manually.

I do not speak korean, but anyway: - Will we be able to change the language in game (like PoE1)? - Does it mean that other languages can be added later without problems? For the koreans if it comes not on release day, but also for community translations ( like the improved german translation I used in PoE1).

good news: Different weapons are more balanced now. Its not like dual wielding anything is much better than any other option any more. bad news: All recovery increased by 1 second. An extra slow mode in combat is not needed anymore, we have it all the time . Are the different combat style talents ( dual, 2h, single) equally good or is one much better than the others?

- I guess you mean the summoned blights. I see no reason why dual wands should be worse than wand+melee and you attack only with the wand. - I think this might be a bug. Lets say a wand is like an automatic gun. With a gun in both hands you can shoot more bullits in the same time compared to using only one gun. But having a gun in one hand and a sword in the other does not let you shoot faster. Dual wielding reload weapons means only that you can shoot twice before reloading. You need both hands for reloading, so having a weapon in the other hand does not make reloading easier. ( . . Aaaand another BIG minus point for me for referring to realism . I should collect them in a box.))

(FIXED) Rod's Blast Weapon modal does not grant any bonus. Did they also fix Citadels spirit lance? The extra hits of blast and the lance used to work together with every bonus. Does the monk buff where crits cause another attack still stack with itself infinitely so some AoE attacks can cause a huge chain of crits? I also wish that summoned weapons have a much shorter casting time. You already have the disadvantage that you spend 1 of 2 spells of a spell level just to have a weapon while other chars can attack right away and still have all of their resources. No changes to specialized wizards? The penalties are so big and the advantage is so small. Great, a conjurer can spend one of his spells to summon a useless random familiar. Only the evoker feels useful now. lets compare: DnD: specialized wizards lose 1 out of 8 spell schools but they gain 1 spell slot per spell level. PoE2: specialized wizards lose 2 out of 5 spell schools and have a recovery penalty for the other 2 spell schools, they gain 1 power level for their specialized school and a talent that may be useful or not.

Can you dual wield them together with a 1h ranged weapon too? It feels strange when you fight with ranged+melee weapon in close combat. @IndiraLightFoot: MaxQuest posted a link to his table here. I think some ranged weapons give a penalty in close combat and some do not. I am not sure which ones and what the penalty is exactly. ( I think it was a defense malus when being attacked in melee.)

Devoted is supposed to work with melee weapons only. (devoted is buggy right now) Dunehunter created a monk/paladin: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/94602-beta-build-monkpaladin-helwalkerkind-wayfarer-build/ (This was for the first beta version) I have read somewhere that it works with sceptres too. so we have: helwaker/kind wayfarer dual wielding sceptres. Sceptre modal on/off to gain damage and wounds, but not kill onself. Retribution for extra damage when taking damage. With eternal devotion you get a permanent fire lash ( plus the permanent shock lash from lightning strikes) and you heal yourself with FoD A monk talent gives you also extra penetration (name forgotten, was it thunderous blows?) I would prefer a kind wayfarer as multi class with your helwalker (compared to fighter/helwalker) FoD + eternal devotion gives you lots of damage + healing and you could use the upgraded defensive aura as constant recovery, though I think other talents may be better. But having damage and healing on seperate stats makes it a bit harder for him. Mig bonus of helwalker does not improve your healing when doing FoD any more. Ok, maybe both choices are equally good: fighter gives you disciplined strikes, weapon style, constant recovery, weapon specialisation, stances and armored grace. kind wayfarer gives you FoD + healing + fire lash, retribution, LoH, auras and higher defenses in general. paladin is also more useful for the party (LoH, auras, other buffs). The sceptre suicide bomber should work best from second row behind a meat shield. Edit: OK, speed wise the fighter is better (dual style, armored grace), to stick at least a bit to the topic.

I have my info from the videos that were posted as official backer update, which was some time ago. If something new has been posted in the meantime I do not know it. I do not look much into social media. If you have a link to the info that multi classing companions is more restricted than the stuff I wrote, would you please post it here.

MaxQuest also found the action speed formula: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95847-attackaction-speed-thread/ Its the first post in this thread and its really complicated, so the link should be enough. MaxQuest had also a table with all weapons (damage, penetration, speed, weapon specific bonus, what the profiency modal does, . . . ), similar to the stat effect table he posted above. I would like to post it as well, but I cannot find it at the moment. MaxQuest, oh grand master of game mechanics , would you please grant your infinite knowledge to the dump masses and post the table here too.

EDIT: I had posted here the damage formula found by MaxQuest in beta version 2. Now in Beta version 4 a different formula is used. I have posted the new damage formula in a new post in this thread. I do not know if the formula of MaxQuest was correct in beta version 2 and they changed the formula or if he made a mistake. In any case we have to thank him a lot for many things, in this case for finding out that negative damage modifiers get inverted.

This is from MaxQuest: FinalDamage = (RolledDamage * DamageMultiplier + AdditiveDamageBonus) * PostAdditiveDamageMultiplier DamageMultiplier is influenced by: - weapon quality bonus (e.g. fine/exceptional/superb) - weapon type bonus (e.g. sharp) - bonus damage talents (e.g. two-handed style, sneak attack, soul whip) - crit bonus - over-penetration bonus PostAdditiveDamageMultiplier is influenced by: - might damage coefficient - modal malus (like -50% from daggers modal) - graze malus - under-penetration malus As for AdditiveDamageBonus, am not completely sure but it can include flat damage bonuses; think of Novice's Suffering from PoE1. Question: Now, how are these multipliers actually calculated? Additive or multiplicative? Answer: additive with a big twist: - all damage coefficients are broken into steps - now, if it's value is above 1, the step will be (value - 1) - and if the value is below 1, the step will be (1 - 1 / value) - after that all these steps are added up, into one big coefficient - if the value of this coefficient is above 0, the group multiplier will be (coefficient + 1) - and if the value of this coefficient is below 0, the group multiplier will be [1 / (1 - coefficient] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So mig is a multiplicative factor, but it is not the only one. Does this count as diminishing return according to whatever definition you have? According to my definition PoE has no deminishing returns because each stat point give the same linear bonus relative to base value. (as opposed to every extra point gives a smaller bonus than the one before, relative to base value.)

Nice build, maybe I was wrong when I suggested a ranged barbarien as one of the worst builds. And maybe we are also wrong when we think that melee soul blade ciphers are the only good ciphers now. So berserker gives you frenzy (big stat bonus, speed and penetration, but you need a way to cure confusion) and you get extra speed when you kill things and cipher gives you extra penetration and extra damage from biting whip. You take ascendent because full focus goes down by itself, so biting whip stays on. - Do you use any cipher spells? Your focus should build up fast and even the 5 seconds until max focus drops for ascendents seem like a long time with lower damage. - Does the bonus penetration from frenzy and hammering thoughts stack? I saw a bug report that some things that increase penetration do not stack, but I am not sure which ones.

Is "diminishing returns" the correct term? Each extra point of the stat gives a 3% bonus relative to the base value, so all stats in PoE have a linear effect. So 10points give 0%, 15points give 15%, 20points give 30% and so on. Each point gives another 3% of base value, no matter how much points you already have. Of course, when you have more modifiers than just the stat, the final number will change by a different number than 3% per point compared to base value. All effects refer to "+X% of base value". If it was "+3% of the current value per point", the increase would be exponential and more points give a bigger bonus with each extra point. Long time ago I played world of warcraft. At some point, dodge and parry had diminishing returns there. (The numbers are just a random example) - zero dodge points give you zero% dodge - 1000 dodge points give you 10% dodge - 2000 dodge points give you 15% dodge - 3000 dodge points give you 17,5% dodge and so on. Each point gives you a smaller bonus and the exact effect depends on how many points you already have. In PoE deminishing returns would be if each point give its square root as bonus, like: 11 dex = +(3 * sqrt (1))% action speed 12 dex = +(3 * sqrt(2))% action speed 13 dex = +(3 * sqrt(3))% action speed, and so on In PoE1 each point of dex gave 3% action speed and each point might gave 3% damage or healing Now we have the double inversion and it look like a malus has a bigger impact than a bonus. Does it mean that each point above 10 gives a bonus of 3% (relative to base value), but each point below 10 gives a bigger malus than 3%?

looks like I have to study mathemetics if I want to understand the mechanics of PoE2. Well, on the pro side: When I played BG2 for the first time my knowledge was: - Str makes it easier to hit things with a weapon and you cause more damage (dex for ranged) - Int (mage) or wis (cleric, druid) lets you learn more spells. - Click on the enemy you want to attack and cast dispell if he is protected by some kind of magic. Somehow this was enough to finish the game on normal, even though I had really big problems against enemy mages.

@MaxQuest: I have a little problem with your formula: How big is coef_n? - If the effect does +X% attack speed, its 1.X (e.g. +20% attack speed = coef_n 1.2) - If the effect does -X% attack speed, its 1/1.X (e.g. -55% recovery = coef_n 1/1.55) I guess this means -100% means coef_n = 1/2. Wait a sec: when I look at the formula for the steps_sum it must be minus for things that make you slower. ( like -1/1.55 for heavy armor or -1/2 for the modal) Else, if you add enough small numbers, the result will be above 1 again. But if the sum is negative, the speed coefficient would be negative which makes no sense. Maybe I read the formulas the wrong way, so for coefficients that cause a malus it is: https://imgur.com/a/Z0iiW PS: It is really hard to write a text down here and scroll up and down all the time to look at the formulas and examples. Edit: entered the link to the image. Would be better to see the image in the text, but it does not work if I click on image and enter the link there.

Each companion will have one or two default classes. You must have at least one of those classes on him/her. Eder has fighter/rogue. This means he can be a single class fighter, a multiclass fighter/something else, a single class rogue or a multi class rogue/something else. Aloth is a wizard, so he can be a single class wizard or a multi class wizard/something else. I am not sure if the classes for all companions and sidekicks have been released. Somebody is working on the PoE2 wiki at the moment.

worst things I found: + 100% recovery from modals, disoriented and blind + 55% from heavy armor But I do not know all modals or talents at the moment. Are there any penalties to attack speed? I found only things that increase attack speed or increase recovery time. If bonusses apply to attack speed (attack+recovery) while penalties apply only to recovery, maybe the malus is a bit lower than it seems by looking at the numbers above. But since recovery time is usually much longer than attack/casting time, I do not think that makes such a huge difference. OK, Dual wielding is a bonus of recovery time only, no bonus to attack time. Armored grace too.

You are fantastic MaxQuest. so what do we have now: - Like the new damage formula, nobody can calculate the new attack speed without a calculator ( double inversion). OK, while the old damage formula was very simple, I am not a power gamer and I did not calculate attack speed in PoE1, I just used things that make me faster when I found them. No Idea if I reached zero recovery. - On the pro side, you can see attack duration and recovery/reload duration in the game. No big need to calculate stuff yourself. Though things get harder when you look at non permanent effects (permanent effects = stats, equipment, modals. Just change things as you like and look at the screen; non permanent = active abilities, potions. You have to use them to see the effects so without lots of reloading it will be hard to find out what a combination of these things does.) - Like the new damage formula, penalties seem to have a larger effect than bonusses. This is bad in a system where everyone wants to use heavy armor because of the armor/penetration system. A few points of AR make a huge difference in how many damage you receive. - The modals that increase recovery by 100% seem even more terrible now. some questions: - What of these things stack and did this change from PoE1? - Since everyone wants a heavy armor because of the AR/pen system and not everyone is a fighter, how many bonusses do you need to compensate the heavy armor? - Some people said a blast rod + rangers driving flight + monks ability that crits cause another attack (name forgotten, sorry) is OP. Is this still true in heavy armor compared to just dual wielding something without modal in heavy armor? (OK, we already discussed that dual wielding seems to be too powerful now.) - So you calculate recovery time and dual wielding halves this number. What does the +20% from the fighter talent do? Does it reduce recovery by 70% (50% dual wielding + 20% talent)? OK, at least now I understand why dual wielding is so OP. When everyone wants to have heavy armor and speed penalties have a bigger effect than bonusses, most characters recovery will be longer than the base value and something that cuts this time in half seems more powerful, the longer the recovery time is. At the moment I see only 2 situations where it is not useful to wear heavy armor: - You know exactly the pen of all enemies you fight during the next battle and you are sure that a lighter armor will give you enough protection. (except some power gamers nobody will remember the exact stats of each enemies and all ways to influence these) - You fight a dragon with 100pen, so he will overpenetrate anyway and all armor protection is useless.

I have defeated Concelhaut and got his skull. I assume that his skull is his phylacterion. Later I made a deal with Llengrath. I think we said that she gets the phylacterion and I also give her some knowledge ( I told her what Od Nua did) and she gives me some of her power. I assume the skull should be gone after dealing with Llengrath peacefully because thats what she wanted to have in the first place.

I am in Concelhauts tower and killed everyone outside of his room. Then I read the letters and opened the door. My party waited far away and I send one char in and let him attack a creature with a ranged weapon from max distance. The archmage started his conversation and then the fight started. My char ran outside (boots of speed) and I managed to lure out and beat the enemies one after the other ( with a few reloads). There was combat music from the moment I attacked one of Concelhauts minions until I defeated the last creature from this room even though combat started and stopped several times while combat music was playing. I could save the game outside of combat even when combat music was playing. The music returned to the normal ambient music after beating the last enemy.

Once again, I like the general idea behind the multi classing system we have now. I do not want more restrictions. When I heared about multiclassing for the first time in the video I thought it goes like this: (the numbers are just arbitrary examples) - rogues get +10% sneak attack damage per power level, a lv1 rogue does 10%sneak damage, al lv20 single class 90% and a lv 20 multi class 70% - barbarians frenzy gains +10% damage and AoE per power level - paladins gain +5% fire damage of FoD and +2 to all defenses (faith and devotion) per power level - spells get +X% damage/duration/penetration/acc per power level - and so on for the other classes So a single class char is always better in what (s)he is doing than a multi class char starting at lv3, but a multi class char gets abilities from 2 classes, hopefully with some synergies. In the current system, many classes get the full bonus at lv1. Some abilities are strongly effected by power level, some are weakly effected and many do not change at all via power level. At the moment, the biggest advantage of single classes is that they learn high level abilities earlier and they can learn the top level abilities. Until we know the high level abilities, especially those that can only be learned by single classes, we cannot know how good single classes can be compared to multi classes. I assume that most people will fight the really hard enemies (dragons and so on) at max level and it will be possible to reach max level without beating an ultra hard boss (like in PoE1). I agree that single class characters should have much more class resources than a multi class char. - I think all casters have only 2 spells per spell level per encounter now. What about multi classes keep 2 and single classes get 3. - Single classes have 50% more class resources ( like rage for barbarien) than multi classes of the same level. Multi classes have still more points if you add the points of both classes.

in past, however, tower shields were used by Romans, and later on by crossbowmen in game modal makes sense, but you cant use it with crossbows realistically, it should be possible to use with crossbows, when modal is not on, shield is on the back and provides no defense, and when you turn it on, you put it in front, and can't move, so using xbows and rifles should be possible, and with no nonsense of reducing the accuracy I like this. There are only two problems with game balancing: - When ranged weapons can be used with the tower shield modal, everybody with ranged weapons will carry one. Usually you do not move while shooting anyway and you can turn on the modal on and off any time. - Regarding your next post, if shields also give a bonus while using 2h weapons, everybody will use a shield and it will be less attractive to use 1h+shield. - Maybe this can be handeled when shields give a recovery penalty like armor instead of an acc penalty. Large shields make you slower than small ones. Using 1h+shield lowers this penalty a lot and the talent removes it completely, together with the small defense bonus it gives now. The problem with history ( opposed to game mechanics) is, that combat was not balanced. Usually some options were much better than others and most fighters used similar equipment. Most people used a shield ( including ranged units like those crossbow guys) because unlike game characters who need to have 1HP to keep on fighting, real people will get injured when they are hit by a weapon. Even when you survive a hit it will hinder you and you might die later from it because of infections. So not getting hit has a very high priority for most people. That means a game will either be unrealistic or unbalanced. OK, There are games which are both, unrealistic AND unbalanced PS: Regarding the different use of shields I have some nice examples from other games: - In "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" you can find a large shield. The adult Link uses it normally to fight with weapon and shield. Link as a Kid wears it on his back and he can take cover under it to protect himself from things falling from above. - In Okami you can have shields ( I think those things are mirrors, but I am not sure) as weapon. If you equip them as primary weapon you use them to bash enemies. If you equip them as secondary weapon you can use them to block attacks. (Ok, your character is a wolf and I have no idea how a wolf can carry weapons and a large inventory at all. But the wolf is also a god and the game is great, so who cares )