Crucis

This makes me wonder if Deep Faith is worth taking, compared to other talents one might take instead. +2 DEFL and +3 other saves doesn't seem like such a huge benefit in the long run.

Well, lets think. Cloudpiercer is a War Bow, so you get the highest base damage there is for a ranged, non-reloading weapon. It also has Rending. When compared to Rain of Goddagh + Pen.Shot it basically is 5 DR bypass vs 3 DR + a free talent. Pretty good. And finally it has Jolting Touch proc. So I would say it is definitely above the Rain; when you achieve zero-recovery, that's for sure. But I would still rate it below Sabra Marie. Statistics show that my cipher has crited 2637 times out of 3913 hits. Getting +0.5 damage mod. on 67% of hits is huge. The only things I don't like about Cloudpiercer are: - you have to join with the dozens - the proc only happens once per encounter. But, if it generates focus, huh, that's a big plus. A couple of points about Cloudpiercer to consider. 1. The proc only occurs once per encounter. So, something I learned was that if you want to get the maximum benefit from that proc, do NOT use it to surprise attack a single enemy at the start of the battle, unless you know for certain that killing that single enemy won't be the start of a larger encounter, but will basically be a single grunt encounter. Why? Because if you crit a lone enemy at the start of the battle while his buddies aren't yet seen, you often end up (sort of) wasting the proc on that lone target, which is a little annoying when you know that the Shocking Grasp proc should zap multiple enemies. So, unless there's a desperate need to kill a lone enemy, it may be advantageous to have the wielder of Cloudpeircer hold his fire until there are multiple enemies on screen to zap with a crit. 2. There's another non-cheating way to get Cloudpiercer (i.e. without joining the Dozen). Go into the Dozen's HQ and kill their leader (and anyone else who then attacks you). But if you do so, it's possible (don't know this for certain) that the Dozen's merchant may also go hostile on you and become inaccessible. So, if you do intend to take Cloudpiercer this way, I suggest either making sure that you've bought everything you ever intend to from her. Or at least make a test run (quick save prior to attacking the Dozen's leader) to check out if the Dozen's merchant actually does go hostile if you attack their leader. Over the long haul, I don't know if CP rates above RoGF, due to the value of RoGF's speed mod. I suspect that the speed mod may not be worth as much as CP's shocking grasp effect. Side note: For what it's worth, I've grown to really appreciate Borresaine as a warbow in my current run (in Sagani's hands). She's able to pretty much Stun lock almost any enemy she chooses because she crits so often. That said, it's not an effect that generates damage, which means that it wouldn't generate focus for a cipher. Ciphers would seem to prefer weapons whose effects produce more damage and thus more focus.

Put them in armor and they are fine. Monks are pretty fun, imo. I have a problem with this. I think that a lot of people like the paradigm of the unarmored or lightly armored monk, and find the idea of putting monks in serious armor repulsive and breaking of their immersion, etc. I know that I feel this way. I see monks as martial artists (i.e. those trained in some school of unarmed combat), and the idea that a martial artist would fight while wearing heavy armor doesn't pass my personal laugh test. I know that some people can post pics of eastern monks wearing armor and using weapons. I'm sorry, but I don't see those as monks in the fantasy paradigm. Those are just Fighters, who are trained in a different style and with different weapons than are portrayed in PoE, but Fighters nonetheless. To me, fantasy monks are strictly martial artists who wear little (i.e. light) or no armor. Also, aside from all that, I think that monks aren't for everyone. Some do find them fun. Myself, not so much. They're too micromanagement intensive. To get the most out of them, you have to use a bunch of special abilities constantly, which I find a tad annoying. I like my front liners to be low maintenance, low micro characters, which hardly describes a well handled monk. But if one likes characters that needs constant micromanaging, constant spamming of special abilities, then maybe monks are their cup of tea. I don't agree here. There are plenty of groups and folks that are OK. Yes, there are a lot of scumbags too, but why not? Isn't the real world like this in a way? Not sure why the OP would list the (Crucible) Knights as one of the "evil scumbag" groups. I don't see them that way. To me, of the 3 factions, they're the good guys. If there was one gripe I had with the end of Act 2, it was the way the Crucible Knights' rep at the hearing didn't support the PC and seemed entirely out of character for what I was expecting out of the Knights. I expected the Knights' rep to be generally supportive of a "good" PC's investigation into the events being discussed, but she wasn't. She was snarky and unsupportive. Oh well. Agreed. I didn't like the end of Act II either. Many don't, but it didn't bother me. The end of Act 2 is sort of like the end of The Empire Strikes Back. It's the middle of the story, not the end of the story. And fairly often the bad guys will achieve some victory midway through a story, like in Empire Strikes Back, if only to confirm their evilness, or how dangerous they are, etc. I think that this was the case here. You already knew that this machine had been extensively studied with little success. What did you expect? Anyway, I find this point unfair, because you HAVE the option to destroy it, you just didn't take it. I fully agree with this point. The OP talks about choices and how they affect the story. This is a choice that can have a significant impact. And, if he wanted his choice in this situation to have a good result for Defiance Bay, he should have chosen to destroy the machine. Frankly, it seems to me that all the textual evidence in game indicated that if left undamaged, animancers or someone else would check out the machine yet again, and quite possibly turn it on yet again, with the same result. The only good result for Defiance Bay comes from destroying the machine.

That doesn't change the fact that it's too vague.

Durgan re-inforced Angios Gambeson is amazing on a priest to cast more buffs faster in hard fights (without having to spend time drinking a potion) while also giving better DR than robes. With durgan enhanced Unforgiven the Alacrity would also get you 0 recovery melee attacks (would need to durgan the shield as well to get 0 recovery attacks with Vulnerable Attack, maybe not worth it) so your priest would be pretty fearsome. Durganized Angious Gambeson is also amazing on a Stormcaller Ranger in those cases. Dang, using Stormcaller with a low recovery, hastened ranger must be like a freakin' machine gun of lightning bolts! I just wish that the Gambeson armor looked better. That sky blue padded armor looks a little odd to my eyes. Not terrible, but really out of place outside of perhaps a circus tent. I do have Sagani wearing it right now, and truth be told, I never remember to use its hastening spell. Frankly, I'll probably just put her in some other armor down the road. Armor that doesn't require me to remember to use a bound spell to get the most value from it. (I'm really bad about remembering to use spells that are bound to equipment items, in large part because they're hidden behind that "backpack" button. Out of sight, out of mind.)

The spell procs when you get a critical hit with shield bash, not when you get hit with a critical hit. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. The language is very vague, IMO.

Because its awesome to see your characters intelligently moving / manoeuvring around the battlefield, and you know that you made it happen by setting a particular combination of strategies. Its not like a movie at all. It imparts an enormous sense of accomplishment and fulfilment to the user / player.....it makes you think about countering enemy moves in advance and prepare yourself for upcoming battles in unique ways, it also allows the game to offer players more difficult and challenging encounters (as it provide devs more room and options to play with) and allows the players to have an excellent tool to better manage these intelligently designed superior challenges. Can't imagine why anyone would consider current AI setting options sufficient for this kind of game, most of the settings are dumb and make you waste your spells / abilities in one way or another. One should never do anything half-ass, either give us a comprehensive AI strategy setting system, or don't do it all. I normally keep the AI settings turned off at all times, i even forgot that it exists, its simply that bad. Not sure why its so 'completely beyond you'? There must be a lot that goes beyond you, I am guessing... No, I can't imagine nor understand why anyone would want to use an AI in a game like this. To me, that makes it like watching a movie. If I want to watch a movie, I'll watch a friggin' movie. As for the final sentence, coming from the person who refuses to accept that paladins in this game are useful, even if they're not what some people wish they were, takes a lot of chutzpah. Different play styles for different people. I personally think that AI would add to immersion. If you are playing AS your character, you shouldn't have control over your other characters, other than what you told them to do before the battle. The feeling of accomplishment when you can simply run around with your character and do what's needed while your team supports YOU is amazing. Just because you haven't taken the time to properly set up an AI to play a decent game doesn't mean other's haven't. You're arguing with someone who doesn't think X feature/character is useful, yet you are arguing the exact same thing against AI. Pick a side why won't ya. People like to play differently. Deal with it. To me, this AI crap is a waste of time and resources that could be better spent adding more content. And CONTENT is what the game's all about, not some silly AI for people who are too lazy to actually manage their party properly.

It seems like a no brainer to increase the basic enchantment of that shield. OTOH, when you increase the basic enchantment, you also reduce the chance that you'll take a critical hit and trigger the Tattered Veils enchantment. Also, the reflection enchantment wording is a little vague. It says that 10% of ranged attacks are reflected. It doesn't say that 10% of ranged attacks that HIT (graze, hit, and/or crit) are reflected. Does this mean that it'll reflect even 10% of misses?

Because its awesome to see your characters intelligently moving / manoeuvring around the battlefield, and you know that you made it happen by setting a particular combination of strategies. Its not like a movie at all. It imparts an enormous sense of accomplishment and fulfilment to the user / player.....it makes you think about countering enemy moves in advance and prepare yourself for upcoming battles in unique ways, it also allows the game to offer players more difficult and challenging encounters (as it provide devs more room and options to play with) and allows the players to have an excellent tool to better manage these intelligently designed superior challenges. Can't imagine why anyone would consider current AI setting options sufficient for this kind of game, most of the settings are dumb and make you waste your spells / abilities in one way or another. One should never do anything half-ass, either give us a comprehensive AI strategy setting system, or don't do it all. I normally keep the AI settings turned off at all times, i even forgot that it exists, its simply that bad. Not sure why its so 'completely beyond you'? There must be a lot that goes beyond you, I am guessing... No, I can't imagine nor understand why anyone would want to use an AI in a game like this. To me, that makes it like watching a movie. If I want to watch a movie, I'll watch a friggin' movie. As for the final sentence, coming from the person who refuses to accept that paladins in this game are useful, even if they're not what some people wish they were, takes a lot of chutzpah.

If a priest is wielding a favoured weapon does the +10 accuracy apply to his cast spells? If not then the above change would need to be accompanied with a -5 accuracy nerf to all priest spells to keep things even; but if so then it becomes complicated since priest spells become less accurate when wielding one of their favoured weapons, but more accurate when not. Honestly I quite like the favoured weapon thing, but that's just me. I knew that someone would say this. I could have gone into greater detail on this in my previous post, but didn't. So I will now. If this favored weapon for a class/sub-class is so great, why don't other classes have it? Why aren't druids limited to purely natural weapons, i.e. clubs, staffs, bows, etc., for example? Why aren't wizards limited to classical (and stereotypical) wizard weapons, i.e. staffs, daggers, wands/scepters/rods, etc.? And so on. It just seems wrong to me to force this limitation on priests and no other class. Of course, I also don't like this entire weapons group thing either. For me, it may be the single worst aspect of PoE. First of all, iIt limits how one might imagine one's characters. And second, some of the combos make no sense whatsoever. Seriously, why aren't clubs a Peasant weapon? What could be more "peasant" than picking up a glorified tree branch and using it as a weapon? Or daggers. Daggers ought to be some sort of universal weapon, not limited to the single silliest weapon group of the bunch. Seriously, there shouldn't even be a "Noble" weapon group. Any noble seeking real weapons training is going to be a Knight. Oh, and the Knight and Soldier groups are wrong too. The weapons used by Knights would be a bit different from those used by common soldiers. Battle axes should be soldier weapons and great swords should be knightly weapons. (Hell, so should estocs.) Frankly, the entire weapons group concept is such BS.

Damn, and I always thought that wounding deals 25% from the final, post-DR damage...Just checked ingame, and the results show that it takes x0.25 of pre-DR damage, and moreover, it also multiplies that value again with your might modifier. (as for int, it only increases duration without affecting total damage) If only it would generate bonus focus... Damn. Thanks for reminding me. I was going to give GM the Persistence hunting bow. But now, why bother. It's a good bow on cipher but only if you have 22+ might and penetrating shot. Nope GM has low might needs higher base damage weapons or stormcaller. But leadspitter works OK on her with pen shot and a +3 might item. Sabres work too if she is made s+s. I don't particularly like using guns in PoE. Part of it is that I guess I just like the old D&D no guns paradigm. But also, I don't like the need to have the Gunner talent just to make the reload time less onerous. Heck, I don't even like feeling need to use the Gunner talent on crossbows either, though I rarely ever use crossbows or arbalests as anything more than a battle opener where reload speed isn't an issue. As for GM and Stormcaller, I agree it's a great combo. I used it in my last run thru. But since I have Sagani in my current party, almost specifically to use Stormcaller to see it in action in a ranger's hands, if/when I have GM in the party, she'll have to make due to with some other bow. Maybe the RoGF warbow.

The only AI-like feature that I miss from the old IE games is the "Defend Position" button. You selected a character, clicked the button and pointed to a location. And that character would stay at that location, attacking anything within his weapon range. It was great for holding chokepoints!

Honestly, it's beyond me to understand why anyone would even want to let the computer control your party's actions when you can do it yourself. Completely beyond me. If I wanted to watch someone else control the actions of characters on screen, I'd watch a movie.

Damn, and I always thought that wounding deals 25% from the final, post-DR damage...Just checked ingame, and the results show that it takes x0.25 of pre-DR damage, and moreover, it also multiplies that value again with your might modifier. (as for int, it only increases duration without affecting total damage) If only it would generate bonus focus... Damn. Thanks for reminding me. I was going to give GM the Persistence hunting bow. But now, why bother.

The Rain of Godagh Field warbow always seems a bit lacking for a Superb weapon, mostly because its only special effect is Speed. A good effect to be sure, but somehow it seems a little weak compared to Borresaine or Cloudpiercer when you factor in their effects. I suppose that RoGF might be a nice warbow for a bow user you don't expect to be a critical hit producing machine. But I think that for a character who does produce a lot of crits, a bow that takes greater advantage of those crits with some on-crit effects would be more advantageous. And even more so when you durganize it. Yeah, on hit crits are great especially for rangers. I just feel RoGF is seriously underated as a dps weapon though. Twinned arrows, driving flight. Durgan steel and a lash and it turns into monster. Sabra Marie is great except it always comes way to late for me, so it ends up pretty worthless.... Perhaps it is a little underrated. However, many on-crit effects are particularly useful, perhaps more useful than a little extra damage. Take Borresaine, for example. Stunning an enemy for a few seconds is a very useful effect. It's great against spellcasters since you effectively shut them down for a few seconds. Heck, it shuts any enemy down for a few seconds, though of course, although some enemies are more useful to shut down than others. OTOH, the only thing RoGF can do is normal damage. Useful, but nothing really special. I look at RoGF as a good bow for a non-ranger (and perhaps a non-rogue as well) to use. Someone like, for example, Kana or GM, who you might have hiding behind the front lines using ranged attacks, but don't really have the same super high accuracy as a ranger or rogue might. Someone who who could get their fair share of hits, but perhaps not nearly as many crits. That person might be a good fit for RoGF. As for Sabra Marie, it's a bow you can get before the end of WM1, so in theory you'd still have all of WM2, plus whatever remains of the main story line to use it. Yes, it's still late, but not as late as it was prior to the release of WM2.

I think what it comes down to with Dawn in Spring is that it's a fast Superb (+12 accuracy) dagger (another +5 accuracy) with a wounding effect. And because it has a base +17 accuracy bonus, it has a generally higher chance to get crits, which should mean even more damage for the wounding effect. DiS isn't exactly a high alpha weapon capable of blasting its way thru high DR's. But IIRC, wounding effects aren't affect by DR, though I could be very wrong on that. And as a fast weapon, particularly if used by a high DEX character, you should be able to get a lot of attacks with it. And if that user has really good might, combined with a high occurrence of crits, you should be able to get some damage past most DR's. One could also take Vulnerable Attack talent to get a +5 DR bybass which would help, though at the expense of some attack speed.

It's begging to be turned into a soulbound item for this very reason. Have the unlocks tied to Durance's quest so there's no way to rush finish it and make it overpowered. Seems like an easy fix would be for the devs to give Durance have a "special" version of the Magran's talent that includes an accuracy bonus for staffs and rods. The paladin NPC has a special talent, so why not the priest too? Could even give it a "dirty" sounding name, fitting of Durance's disposition. It seems odd that Durance starts with both of "Wael's" favored weapons when he is a devote of Magran. Another thing that could have been done would be to do away with those favored weapon accuracy bonuses altogether, and just give priests a higher base accuracy right from the start. Priests start with a base accuracy of only 20. Maybe bump it up to 25 and be done with it.

It's a waste because it's utterly cosmetic. It adds no new content. I'd rather than their time, effort, and money were spent on developing additional CONTENT, not something that's so utterly cosmetic. As for having neutral NPC's in blue, that's not a colorblind mode thing to me. It's about indicating who is NEUTRAL, as in not an enemy and not a party member. There is a function to it. As for an actual colorblind mode, what I don't get is why don't developers just make a colorblind mode (assuming that colors are used and we're not talking some sort of gray scale) the normal mode, rather than always defaulting to red for enemies and green for the good guys. But that's neither here nor there. And since I'm not color blind either, it doesn't affect me.

To me, the only "no brainer" aspect to this walking thing is how much of a waste of time and resources it would be. OTOH, I think that your blue circles idea for neutral NPC's makes VASTLY more sense.

Really? REALLY? Of all the things that could be done to improve this game, THIS is what you come up with, THIS is what matters to you?

Oh, here we go again. Enough with calling battles and lesser combatants "trash"!!! I'd prefer MORE battles not less. I'd prefer that there were random encounters when you traveled from area to area. I'd prefer that there was a chance for your party's rest to be interrupted with random battles when you aren't resting at an inn. If I wanted to read a story, I'd buy a book (and often do). I'm not here to read a story. I'm here for the BATTLES!!!! And more is better!!! The story is just the means of tying those battles together, not the reason for playing the game itself.

I have to seriously disagree. I think that the combat in IWD1/2 was good and often excellent. In a lot of ways, it was better than what's in PoE, particularly IWD2. Why do I say this? Because however nice PoE is (and I do enjoy it greatly), combat in PoE is largely the same thing over and over and over and over again. Party walks up to enemy B. B sees A. Battle starts (sometimes with a little bit of pre-battle dialog). Rinse and repeat. The combat scenarios are always the same. BTW, don't get me wrong. There was a lot of this in IWD2 as well. But in IWD2 there were a significant number of battles where the combat scenario was more interesting and complex than in PoE. The defense of Targos in act 1. The battle on Shaengarne Bridge. The battle in the fort when you first came up from the caves below. The battles in the cave where the hook horrors were dropping down all around you, constantly forcing you to fight not only the HH's in front of you but also behind you. And so on and so on. Honestly, I found the battles in IWD2 a lot more tactically challenging and interesting than those in PoE. So, if you want to go down this road, I'd have to say that anyone who thinks that the combat in PoE is superior to that in IWD2 has, to use your words, "no credibility to judge"the quality of good, tactically diverse and interesting, combat.

KDubya, I've gotten kind of down on large shields of late. The -8 accuracy penalty is awfully harsh. If I use a shield at all, I tend to prefer medium or small shields and accept the trade-off of less DEFL for a reduced Accuracy penalty.

Brim, I get that paladins aren't what you clearly wish they were. And yet at the same time, I get this incredibly strong sense that because pallies aren't what you want them to be you think them "useless". The fact that so many other people don't find them useless should be an indication to you that you're wrong to think them useless. They may not be what you wish them to be. Honestly, they're not really what I wish they were either. But at the same time, I do NOT think them to be useless because they're not what I wish they were. As for people having a right to say that you should play another class, OF COURSE they have that right. They have EVERY right to make that suggestion. And that's all they're doing... suggesting. And you shouldn't get your undies in a bunch because someone dares to offer a suggestion, for crying out loud.

The Rain of Godagh Field warbow always seems a bit lacking for a Superb weapon, mostly because its only special effect is Speed. A good effect to be sure, but somehow it seems a little weak compared to Borresaine or Cloudpiercer when you factor in their effects. I suppose that RoGF might be a nice warbow for a bow user you don't expect to be a critical hit producing machine. But I think that for a character who does produce a lot of crits, a bow that takes greater advantage of those crits with some on-crit effects would be more advantageous. And even more so when you durganize it.