Mercbeast

Will she even stick around if you go all piratey? I'm guessing not.

Are you talking about the +100% healing chant? So, multiclass characters only get level 7 at 19 and 20? Yes, they hit 7 at 19 from what I've seen. Don't get me wrong, this is an extremely potent healer, but it becomes that at level 19. Like I said, how much of the game is even left at that point? I feel like builds should mature much earlier to get max enjoyment out of them. https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Pillars-of-Eternity-2/new_multiclassing_table.jpg

As I understand it, you don't even unlock the lynchpin of this build until level 19. How much of the game is left at that point? Until you get the 100% HP chant, you've got a relatively subpar healer that can tank. Since your healing is restricted to lay on hands and auras, the auras are not exactly going to carry you through any hard engagements on their own and by the time you hit level 19, with the current state of the game, does it even matter? No doubt, it's a great healer, but it's a great healer at level 19 and 20, and definitely inferior to a healer druid or priest, or priest multi spec of any sort until it hits that point.

I wonder if the difficulty modifiers are hidden anywhere in these files. So we could tweak the accuracy/deflection from POTD. Allowing us to basically tune the game as we level.

Are you guys aware that level scaling doesn't actually seem to be working? Multiple people have run tests, and it the creatures are not scaling up to your level. Unless level scaling doesn't work the way it is described? The assumption is that, by scaling the encounters to your level, the creatures should be scaling to your level, so a level 4 NPC would become level 8 if the PC was level 8. However, in the combat logs, we can see that this is clearly not the case. So if it is working on some other mechanic, it would be neat so we don't all panic. My understanding is, that the example I gave, level 4 upscaled to level 8, the NPC should show +21 accuracy and deflection bonus' from their level, which was scaled from level 4 to level 8. I know that this is not baked into the base calculations, because I ran a test in the sea cave with different leveled characters. The base (non +level bonus stats) do not change. Unless the entire first island is exempt from level scaling, which I suppose is possible?

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter, because level scaling doesn't actually work it seems. Want to test to see if its working? Go fight a monster. If you are level 12, then the monster should get a +3 accuracy or deflection bonus for each level above level 1. So if level scaling UP is on, go to the combat log, mouse over an attack on a critter, or an attack by a critter. Do you see +33 accuracy or deflection from level for the creature? No? Level scaling isn't working.

Interesting. It does look like it's not working.

It's also possible that the scaling is tied to the level you were the first time you entered the zone/hub. So, if an area is considered a sub-area of another area, it's possible the scaling is tied to the first time you entered that hub. It would also explain why enemies on the beach don't seem to scale. You entered the beach at level 1, so all the enemies are locked to level 1. This might also explain why off the beaten path encounters tend to be so much more difficult. You go to a random island, have a fight, and it's hard. You go to an area on Neketaka, and everything tends to be easy, unless it out levels you. I'll keep my eye on this as I progress.

If you're looking for an interesting priest build. I've got one for you! Priest (Wael)/Rogue(Streetfighter) Weapons, Dagger/Blunderbuss. You will mainhand the Blunderbuss with the Modal on, and offhand the Dagger with the Modal on. This is a buffing/healing priest. Why Wael/Streetfighter? When you're flanked, you gain 50% recovery speed. By running the blunderbuss modal, you are forcing yourself to be flanked, giving you a permanent 50% recovery speed buff. I'm not entirely sure on what is possible, but you can for sure take a 4S recovery time down to 1.6 at least. The basic premise of this build is, to create a second line priest, who is RIGHT behind the melee line, able to give them consecration healing, buffs, single target buffs, etc. The blunderbuss modal hurts your deflection, and your accuracy, so the dagger modal early game will help to offset the deflection hit. You're going to be sitting behind the mainline, just SPAMMING out blunderbuss shots. Later on, you can drop the dagger if you want for something else, even dual blunderbusses if you like. Not only are you creating an auto attack sustained DPS monster, this is going to be the most responsive, heal on a dime healer in the game. You're not going to get caught waiting for 4s to cast that heal while you recover from swinging at someone. You're going to be able to spam out fast casting abilities like no tomorrow. How you want this priest to play, will depend largely on your stats. I'd suggest there are multiple ways to stat this fella out. Want debuffs, max damage and strong healing? Pump str and perception. Want long lasting debuffs? Emphasize int. Don't care about debuffs? Drop perception a bit, and focus on str/int for longer lasting buffs, harder hitting attacks, and stronger healing. Where does Wael come in? Well, with the deflection buffs Wael gets for free at the different power levels, you can create an exceptionally tanky priest. Throw an accuracy inspiration on this guy to mitigate the self flanking and self distracting and weeeeeeeeeeeeee, you're a tanky, rapid casting, gattling gun

Rofl, same. Morrigan on the other hand, was a deformed hideous monstrosity in Inquisition. Her face was all kinds of broken.

Is it lowest DR or lowest deflection or a combination of the two? I thought it was primarily lowest deflection.

Can anyone explain to me why a fighter is inherently superior single target DPS to a barbarian? I didn't realize they had single target dps abilities. I haven't used a fighter since march, just too vanilla for my taste.

Why not respec him and remove his summon invocations, or just give him access to higher rank ones you find useful. If you're really finicky, you can even limit the chants and invocations by simply not picking stuff. Then you are forcing the AI to pick between just a couple of possibilities ;p

Rimecutter sounds perfect, since this is a viking themed party ;p

Yea, the Disruptor script for monks seems to be broken, and has been for some time. It's on the bug boards as reported and obsidian has noted and confirmed its messed up. Incidently, the Barbarian berserk script seems to be working fine. The issue with disrupt is a general issue though. I just a battle in the ethos temple where I was fighting in a doorway and 2 of my melees wanted to bug out and go attack a group of shadows/shades that they couldn't see, were very far away in terms of pathing, but were just on the other side of a wall. Need to reiterate, the healing script for priests is night and day compared to what it was. Yea Boeroer your skaen melee priest build is really quite awesome. It gets right in there, heals like a boss and actually, reliably, casts consecrated ground, like, all the time.

With 3.0, the AI seems to be doing a reasonably good job of gauging encounter strength. I'm doing a run through right now with a skaen melee priest set to only heal, and another priest set to support. The healing priest heals when it needs to pretty reliably (dual stilletos help this, fast action times make a big difference) and the support priest only really throws buffs out when there are a lot of enemies present. It's not perfect and sometimes I cancel buffs because they are not needed, but its a far cry from having per rest abilities turned on and having the priest go through a full buff cycle for individual enemies ;p

I don't really see how this is true. The majority of damage from many classes is simply from auto attacking. Melee ranger? Big chunk comes from auto attacking(yes there is the pet, but don't want the hassle of the pet, plus the chanter brings far far more utility and potential damage to the party than the ranger for a major net damage gain). Fighter? Auto attacking. Rogue? Auto attacking with sneak. You can build a baby sneaking dual wielding anything in this game now, and while you might not be top top tier dps, you don't need to be. So, i've just gone with a generic attack speed dw build and the chanter is paired with a skaen priest and 2 disabling barbarians and it's pulling top dps. Yea, the barbarians are not built for all out damage, but they are built for speed and mass carnage. I guess it helps to have a very reliable -5 DR debuff that ensures the chanter is hitting squishy stuff once the first invocation goes out.

I didn't get to play much last night. I literally cleared just the top level of Raedrics keeps switching to 3.0 halfway through. Couple things. Druid on the shapeshift script, will stand and cast every single spell rank 1 and 2 spell it has at the start of a fight including nature's vigor. I'm not sure if this is desirable ;p I know the script says it emphasizes casting low rank spells, and since my druid doesn't have rank 3 yet I can't comment on if this is part of the issue. Priest AI is absolutely on point regarding the healing script. It heals very promptly and very aggressively. On support, the priest if it is ranged, tends to cast blessing ranged characters missing the main furball. I have a feeling it is targeting its closest ally for bless at the start of the engagement. I've not tried aggressive as of yet and I can't really comment on the healing prowess of support, although I want to say so far it is not as efficient at healing as the pure healing script is. If you want a fire and forget healbot though, it is working very well. The decision making process of the AI is also very much tied to attack/recovery speed. Faster weapons and recovery means the AI is more responsive and pro-active. This is because the AI gets to make more decisions over time. Your tank might get chunked just after your priest fired his/her blunderbuss, and it will take a full recovery time for the priest or paladin to get a chance to think about healing. I'm running a priest of skaen right now, and DWing stilletos vs a warbow made an enormous impact on the performance of the priest. Doing the nyfre battle at level 4, is very telling using JUST ai scripts. If I use the priest with he warbow, it's a 100% wipe every time 5x and counting. If I use dw stilletos, it's 100% victory rate, either flawless or a couple of ko's on my side. If the enemy AI is using the same healing scripts then I think it will be far more aggressive and proactive healing as well, though to be honest I always felt like the enemy AI did a good job of healing.

How would you pros do it? I'm guessing stacking attack speed and going DW and using it as a flanker is going to be a big part of it. Using a reach weapon for back row tight confines fighting. I'm unsure of stat distribution. Dex is important for the animation turn over, especially if you're swinging around heavier 1h weapons and for general usability early on in the game before the build comes online, but at the same time this might be counter productive because str and int might be more valuable overall. Strength has obvious benefits. Int because it affects the linger of chants and the aoe coverage. Resolve can probably be left alone or even dumped a couple of points (I'm not a fan of extreme stat dumping, my limit is about Perception, would it be beneficial to take or left alone? Con can be left alone.

So, I just let steam install the update and the difference so far is very noticeable. An hour ago with 2.03 my priests would basically never heal. If heals came, they came late, if at all, and totally sporadically. Now, the priest AI is healing aggressively, it's even using consecrated ground, which I've never seen it do before. I'll edit/update this as I go since I am a big fan of party AI.

Honestly, I think that the whole concept of per rest abilities is bothersome. I'd rather see mechanics similar to cypher/monk introduced for wizards, priests and druids. This system would probably work for all 3. All three classes get for example 8 "power pips". For wizards it would be something "Arcane Power", for priests "Divine Concentration", for Druids "Nature Attunement". Since all of these classes are based basically on concentration to cast, the mechanic works like this. For every say, 5 seconds in combat, you gain 1 pip. At the start of each fight you begin with say 2 pips for free, talents could modify this. Getting hit in combat would slow this gain down. A talent could be made to lessen or even nullify this malus. A level 1 spell costs 1 pip, a level 2 spell costs 2 pips. They could also make it so, the more pips you have, the faster you gain further pips, so gaining all 8 power pips would not take 40 seconds, it might take 20 seconds IF you don't cast anything. This introduces an interesting opportunity cost decision. Do I spend my pips as I get them, putting out a lot of low level spells rapidly, or do I hold onto my pips so I can fire off a big spell, OR, do I hold onto the pips at the start of the fight and wait until I have a larger stack built up affording me a more rapid overall pip gain. This would actually shift the burden of resting away from recuperating spells, but rather to the issue of accumulated wounds and injuries. Do I soldier on with my injuries, or do I head back to camp to deal with my injuries. As it stands right now, the resting mechanic is soley built around recuperating spells. It adds a very minor tactical layer regarding spell conservation, but at the same time it adds that troublesome time sink mechanic where you're not being punished by using spells whenever you want, or for holding onto them, so long as you are willing to waste your time running to rest all the time. That isn't a good choice imo.

I've heard a lot of talk about chanters being addressed with 3.0, but I don't see any mention of it in the patch notes.

I think the problem with perma death or crippling injuries in a game like this, is that the game from its inception was not designed for it. As such, adding these situations to the game are little more than time sinks. If a character dies, the character is irreplaceable. You reload. If the character is crippled, the character is irreplaceable, you reload. A game like xcom, where perma death and losses are part and parcel with the experience, is successful with that design decision, because that design decision was part of the design concept from day 1. The expansive roster, the relative ease and quickness in which a total rookie can be made into a usable asset. In Pillars, yes, you can just go to the inn and roll up a character, but why? You have no attachment to the character. You haven't developed it. In Pillars, you're basically just deleting a character you are attached to and rolling up a brand new replacement for the sake of it. In xcom, you almost certainly have a replacement in the wings that you do have attachment too, perhaps not as much as your hyper elite sniper colonel, but they've seen some stuff with you too. I think the big difference is the roster size. If pillars had a game design that required the use of a larger roster, say through the accumulation of injuries that HAD to be rested for 10+ days to recover from, and lessened the impact of typical RPG powercreep, where a level 4 guy isn't just pure fodder for anything level 6 or 7, it would encourage the use of a perma death/injury system and add depth to the game. As it is, these just feel like tacked on time sinks.

Would you mind giving a quick build breakdown for this? I'm quite interested in a disabling fire and forget barbarian ;p

Does this mean if your goal is to reach 0 recovery, 10 dex will work fine? In other words, does this mean that putting points into dex are basically wasted points if this is your goal?