Brimsurfer

Is there an authentic account on what might be a good damage reduction score on PoTD for various Damage Types.........for tanking and melee dps,? (Post 3.0 would be even better) I have been looking online but I am finding a lot of mixed opinions........ Any advice would greatly appreciated, thanks

Well this game is pretty much over now I guess, may be next patch will be the last official update this game will ever have.....I just hope they don't repeat this kind of cheesy mechanics in one of their upcoming top down cRPGs.

Not abhorrent; merely unnecessary and inconsistent with the game's lore. As for the rest, I was being ironic. There is nothing I would change about soulbound weapons, yet there are many ways in which they defy rules that normally apply to weapons in the game. You're focusing on one of these—their being universal—whereas you're fine with the others and this inconsistency makes your argument of "soulbound weapons should follow the rules" weaker: Either they follow the same rules as other weapons in everything, or they follow the developer's vision. Besides, weapons created by Wizard spells are also universal. Why is that not a problem, but soulbound weapons are? I don't see these things you mentioned as inconsistencies......Wizards weapons are a seperate topic.......

Priests in PoE almost certainly don't receive their powers from their deity. The power was inside you all along, yo. This has been adequately explained. You don't like the explanation, but that doesn't make it wrong, and your continued insistence that this is so and that the game's internals MUST CONFORM TO YOUR WILL is ... stupid? Insane? No no no, see, "roleplaying" consists of playing a role. If you are roleplaying in Eora, you take Soulbound weapons as a fact of life, because that's what you are. You, the person, may find it difficult to suspend your disbelief due to the inclusion of Soulbound weapons; you may not want to roleplay in a setting with Soulbound weapons. But that doesn't make them a "violation of roleplaying" - as if there were a magical list of rules compiled by Gary Gygax and agreed upon by all the wisest roleplayers in the land for what is and is not acceptable in fantasy roleplaying games. Disagreed..... What I pointed out is the flaw in the logic of the mechanics..........you want to play by faulty rules.... be my guest but I will speak against them and try to improve the medium......

I don't know if you can really get away with accusing people of melting down while you are yourself melting down. I can assure you I am not melting down .... its just your perception What about the rest of my post?

......But the difficulty pattern is broken now, actually there is no difficulty trend or pattern now. You do quests pertaining to WM expansion there is massive spike in difficulty of the game and then you come back to base game area say for example Act 3, the game becomes piss easy....... I mean i am strolling through act 3 most difficult encounters like its a garden walk, I don't even need to use any 'per rest' spells or abilities, I have been using only 'per encounter' abilities since returning from WM......in some cases don't even need use those. I never expected it to be so bad, once I finish this I am moving to XCOM 2, no point in playing it again, act 3 has gotten so damn boring, no challenge whatsoever.. People have been telling me to use console to slow down XP, but that's silly imo, and I don't really care, just wanna be done with it......its unbelievable how they didn't pay any attention to difficulty curve in the game.... even the locked chests and traps in WM require higher skill than end game locked chests and traps and the developers knew that WM is mid and mid-late game content, its not end game content, but still they left the end game difficulty to what it was before WM 1 and 2......its just carelessness and lack of devotion honestly.......

Yea I totally agree due to a soul link we can tap into the hidden powers of the weapon and use it to its utmost potential and that's why we are able to proc such abilities and spells with these weapons as they level up, and all these weapons are of superb and mythical quality, its only because our soul is bound to those items, and these items become as good as a superb or mythical item in hands of a soulbound character.........because if you equip these weapons on a character without binding it to him, you will see these weapons are just like normal weapons and have no bonuses or abilities, but as soon as they are bound to a character and put in his hand, the bonuses start to appear...... So what you said is already happening, we are tapping into the weapon's hidden resources by being bound to it and its perfectly fine, its a great mechanic.... But two things, 1) Receiving a deity's blessing for which the item doesn't qualify for, doesn't make much sense RP-wise.......Magran favours sword and arquebus, she doesn't favour a mace or a war hammer, so a mace or a war hammer must not receive her blessing, soulbound or not....... 2) Also receiving weapon focus bonus from a skill in a totally unrelated weapons group also doesn't make sense RP-wise...... I mean to me these are blatant violations of Roleplaying........

Well I am not too hot for class base restriction on Soulbound items either, but levelling up the weapon and gradually unlocking its power its a good approach why do you want to take it away? It has nothing to do with established rules.......and these items should be restricted to the character they are bound to, why shouldn't they? Thats the whole idea behind these weapons. Yea two things need to be altered, that I have been saying all along, if the soulbound item is not of the type that is favoured by a particular deity then it shouldn't receive that deity's blessings and a character must spend a talent point in corresponding weapons group focus talent to receive the mastery bonus........is it something really that abhorrent that it's inconceivable and actually make people lose their minds? Not going to say much on the rest of your post except that things you pointed out, I said them only to respond to previous posts, and they are all completely justified responses imo........

Why? In PoE *Bash* is an action that a character can do with a shield with the INTENTION of harming an opponent, there is no guarantee of causing any significant damage. You are correct that Mights IS required *bash effectively and consistently* but it is NOT required to attempt to Bash So for a character with lesser Might should it also include the chance of character tripping himself and falling down or disorienting himself in attempting to bash?

deleted, posted in wrong topic.....

Nope, that's not it.......you are just rationalising like many others. Just finding a believable excuse to justify cheesiness

That's patently false. Soulbound weapons absolutely do follow the rules of the game. You just disagree with how those rules work. Nope they don't follow rules of the game, they are very un-cRPG like....if this was a Fantasy Action game like Darksiders or PoP then I would have no problem with how soulbound items work but since this is an RPG which tends to have a specific system in place for how things work, I am sorry I find the current soulbound items mechanics very silly. People have been rationalising soulbound items cheesiness into something fantastically believable but in truth the fact that soulbound items are universal recipients of all accuracy and damage bonuses, no matter where the bonuses are coming from, is just plain stupid.

Setting aside the fact that Might is not muscle mass, can you explain why your choice of numbers isn't totally arbitrary? I said Might only because it appears to be the closest stat to strength attribute, however it could be any number that would signify as an indicator of wielder's strength. I always though of Might as Physical Strength in case of physical damage dealers and Mental Strength in case of magic or divine damage dealers......but that's just my way of thinking...............what do you suggest? Would you rather have Constitution govern or contribute towards Bashing? What is required is TRAINING and HABITUATION, in PoE terms that is a Talent. No need for any other kind of physical qualifier to use Bash Might contributes to all damage, so yes it makes Bash better too, but it's not a requirement to use Bash (just as armour auto-adjusts to body size we can assume shields do something similar). Just doesn't seem right that a character with less than 10 might bashing everything, everywhere...... This is what the game and official wiki itself says about Might; 'A character's physical and spiritual strength, brute force as well as their ability to channel powerful magic' So I guess Might is the right attribute to decide if a character is strong enough to bash effectively and consistently with a shield...........

Well I used the term 'bad design' for this

Everyone would still use Soulbound Weapons if they weren't universal, even now many don't even know that Soulbound Items receive bonuses universally without any threshold and they still use them......and you completely discount the utility of soulbound items, the spells and procs they provide, give player a huge edge, a single weapon may have only 5% to 10% chance to proc an effect but six of them swinging at the same time (with dual wield could be more)......there is always some kind of special effect proc'ing decimating your enemy buffing your characters......but that's not the issue here and I have no problems with it, except that you keep changing theme of the topic and always swing the discussion into this direction....... The reason I started this topic is mentioned in the first post and that is that, I find it unfair that Soulbound weapons do not follow the rules of the game, there is absolutely no reason that they should be universal items and there is no reason why they receive a deity's boon for which their type doesn't qualify.....and many agreed that this is quite cheesy but few who disagreed keep posting repeating the same things over and over again.....so I have to keep responding with what I have already said before in the topic.......

I like hitting the cap near the end of the game (say with few hours of gameplay left so that I can enjoy the full spread of my character like you said), but not when more than a quarter of the game is left and I end up steam rolling through challenge-less encounters almost bored to death....... In BG games I always hit the cap, but it always happened in ToB near the end, so I felt satisfied that I will fight the boss at my strongest....

You keep referring to unique weapons as some of the best in the game, i don't entirely disagree with you, but you dont see the fact that they cost an arm and a leg to achieve that power.......superb and legendary materials are very limited in the game and you have to defeat some of the hardest enemies in the game for those materials (not to mention these enemies are unbeatable in the first half of the game at least, so it takes time to acquire these materials)......and you can't just upgrade any unique item to that power, you have to think on it and make a decision, because there just aren't enough ingredients......and also the biggest fact that, THESE UNIQUE ITEMS THEY DON'T IGNORE THE RULES!!! ............ that's the real problem that I have issue with when it comes to Soulbound weapons......Unique weapons don't ignore the rules, you have to take weapon focus talent in the corresponding weapon group to get specialising bonuses, and they follow the deity blessing rules too........ Soulbound weapons break all the rules as somehow they are universal items that receive all and any kind of accuracy and damage bonuses you character has, right off the bat as soon as you pick them, there is no talent that governs their effectiveness in the game, they completely transcend all the rules of weapons training and proficiency, and somehow manage to fool the Deities even and get their blessings too........

Setting aside the fact that Might is not muscle mass, can you explain why your choice of numbers isn't totally arbitrary? I said Might only because it appears to be the closest stat to strength attribute, however it could be any number that would signify as an indicator of wielder's strength. I always though of Might as Physical Strength in case of physical damage dealers and Mental Strength in case of magic or divine damage dealers......but that's just my way of thinking...............what do you suggest? Would you rather have Constitution govern or contribute towards Bashing?

Its what I said, material weapons that bond with the user, but must require skill and training in the corresponding weapons group, since they are extrinsic inorganic objects.......... Sorry, you don't get to decide what the lore is and isn't. Obviously that requirement doesn't exist and there's nothing in the known lore that says it has to exist. Why it doesn't exist is unknown from a lore standpoint. No one else said that, the only mention of soulbound items being ethereal is in your strawman from a few posts ago. Actually I do get to decide or at least contribute in deciding which way the lore should go, because I bought this game and put in hundreds of hours in it, I do hold a stake in which way this franchise goes and I only said what makes sense......do not make a whole item class ignore the rules, don't make it cheesy...... If you scroll up you will find that a couple of people did actually assume that Soulbound weapons become part of one's soul so no mastery should be required and thats why I said what i said......because currently the way its working, is just stupid......what's the point of Weapon Focus Talent then, lets just remove it then altogether........ How come Magran's blessing bonus work with Soulbound maces, war hammers or scepters? She only favours sword and arquebus, same goes for other deities, what's the point of deities favouring specific weapons then, lets just remove deities weapon blessings too? You talk about lore, the way they implemented Soulbound items, they are already destroying the lore, as they allowed these top class weapons in the game to ignore some of the main concepts of the game and lore........but they knew what they were doing, thats what I believe.....soulbound items bring in good mechanics ........................ but I believe, to really sell this concept to the players, they involved some cheesiness in the mechanics and made these items universal recipients of any kind of accuracy and damage bonus possessed by the wielder of the weapon, whether it made sense or not...... The same way people became accustomed to cheesy OPness of Fighters in older versions, some are still sour about the Fighter balancing, same way many are loving the free unruly bonuses with their Soulbound weapons and I am pretty sure they will fight with teeth and nails to keep the game easy for them.....and boast about their min/max builds and Godlike PoTD performances......

Its what I said, material weapons that bond with the user, but must require skill and training in the corresponding weapons group, since they are extrinsic inorganic objects.......... Some people are mistaking them to be intrinsic ethereal extensions of ones soul, like Cipher's 'Reaping Knives' ability, so that a character doesn't need any external training to be proficient with them, but that's not true in case of Soulbound items, they should require training in the corresponding weapons group for additional accuracy and damage bonuses and must not receive deity blessing bonuses if they are not the favoured weapons. Right now a priest of Magran can wield a soulbound mace and recieve benefits of Magran's Inspiring Flame blessing (or whatever its called) it provides passive +10 Acc to Swords and Arquebus only, Magran doesn't favour mace, that's Eothas weapon iirc, but still a Priest of Magran with Inspiring Flame can wield a soulbound mace with the bonuses that are only valid for a sword or arquebus.......its very un-cRPG like.......

So since it is not magic, you are suggesting that being able to bash with a door but not with a buckler in PoE is inspired by real life...? But categorizing shields actually isn't a bad idea. Have a class of shields dedicated for bashing and just treat them as weapons with a bonus to deflection, like hatchets. Other shields are purely for defense. All problems solved, you can now dual wield shields if you take at least one bashing one or you can also dual bash. For the two handed towershield, just disable the weapon slot on equip to the offhand and forgo the attack animation. I'd be happy. 100 points to the person that hacks PoE and replaces the hatchet animations by shields with the bash animation (and changes the damage to crush). I am not taking the game's side on this, i just said what I knew, I agree with you that its silly that you can't bash with a buckler but you bash with a door, its stupid. Also, I believe, bash mechanics would work better, if Sword and Shield Style contributed towards its effectiveness..........

Maybe the weapon takes "imprints" of the souls of its former owners, so you end up getting some of their knowledge of how to wield it as well? It fits with what we know. May be it fits with what 'You" know Its a weapon its not the extension of your soul, its not ethereal, its metal and wood and its material. These items are specially enchanted so that they become bound to the user as he uses them more, they don't make us Godlike out of the blue..........because if they did then, you wouldn't need any kind of weapon focus to get additional mastery bonuses.....because if you don't have any weapon focus talent then you don't get the additional mastery bonus with soulbound weapons. Also because if what you are saying is true and these soulbound items are part of our soul then why do we incur 40% armor penalty from that Soulbound Breastplate? Items should become less effective then when you get injured or fatigued and they should become more powerful when you are rested and should completely dissolve when you die......but that's just silly isn't it? Because what you are saying is not true, these items are not part of your ethereal soul, they are just bound to the user....... I am not against Soulbound items, I love them, its a great mechanics that Obsidian introduced in this game but it needs to be refined.........dont make it cheesy, let it follow rules, don't make it ignore the rules, let it be hardcore...............

Chance and effectiveness of bashing should be incorporated in Sword and Shield Style and should partly depend on warrior Might score....... Two Weapon Style has nothing to do with shields..........

Its not a magical property its just that even in reality you can't bash with many shields while keeping your fighting stance. their make just doesn't allow it (forget about what you see in hollywood movies), some shields are suitable for bashing though and that's why some shields in the game allow bashing...... and it takes considerable might on one's part to be able to bash......a warrior with less than 16 or 17 might shouldn't be able to bash........and bashing actually lowers your defence and leaves your flank open, a tank warrior may find it almost impossible to bash while taking on multiple enemies, unless an optimal opportunity present itself but against a single foe it may be viable and can knock the enemy out for few secs, and it is next to impossible to do it repeatedly.......

Yea but I hit the cap when I haven't even started Act 3, i stil lhave some stuff to do before I can start Act 3.... I personally won't mind a few more XP levels and higher challenge to match it........