knownastherat

I have Berserker level 14 on a solo run and imo max MIG, high CON and PER, dump RES for INT and DEX at 10 is decent. Barbarian passives are indeed amazing.

He could end the game in less than an hour through stealth but it would be pretty boring to watch. Don't know why you guys keep arguing with the people who don't want the game to be balanced, you don't have to convince them and the devs already believe balance is important. Just post whatever you think is overtuned, let the devs sort it out and ignore people who don't understand basic game design. No, he could not because it would not be backstabbing rogue. I do not know why some keep posting false arguments about "artificial difficulty" or "non-existent challenge". As soon as they stop posting them I will stop "arguing" with them. edit: looking at virtually all solo builds (ab)using powerful mechanics and items tells me that these builds are not to seek any challenge.

That's artificial difficulty. Likewise the people who want an easy time should just play on the easy difficulties. Path of the Damned was designed for a challenge and is incapable of providing one at the moment. It does indeed not provide a great challenge to characters that are fully min/maxed and using scaling gear with min maxed skills to match these items. It does, however, provide an interesting challenge to characters that are built with a minimum of roleplay where choices are motivated by more than mere stats (like companions and sidekicks are, btw, and there is no denying that they are a massive part of the experience intended by the devs). Still not enough challenge imo, and we all know it has been acknowledged by the devs, and will be tuned, but interesting challenge nonetheless. The conception that PotD should be designed to accomodate powerbuilders is subjective, and quite frankly, not really fitting a game like POE2:Deadfire that focuses on writing, environement, and roleplaying. Also, why putting restrictions on yourself would be artificial difficulty ? Isn't it the essence of a RPG to make choices that your character would make ? Or to reflect his actual skills in the stats ? Is your 4 resolve watcher really a coward ? Does he really know all the history of Eora, but can't even slightly bluff, has zero interest in metaphysics despite being a watcher ? And more importantly: What difference does it make to your personal single player gameplay experience if you: A - don't use an option because you think you will have more fun like this, or B- the option is simply removed from the game ? This is a nonsense argument. Single player games still need balance to be fun, and the place where that is most important is at the most difficult point. Anyone who wants less than the most difficult challenge can opt to make a choice within the context of the game to make it easier than doesn't involve them simply not using something available in the game. When you find a ring of overpowered overpoweredness in a game and don't use it because it's too powerful, that is definitionally artificial difficutly. When you make a game on a difficulty less than the top difficulty it is also artificial difficulty, but it doesn't require to to alter what you do in the game in a nonsensical way. It changes the entire environment, rather than making you as the player change something that makes no contextual sense in the environment. You are flatly wrong about PotD not being designed around powerbuilders; it is subjective but it is based on the ideas of the game creators. PotD triple crown in PoE1 was "subjectively" designed and balanced around mechanical prowess, and PoE2 will be the same when it is balanced; the devs have already said that they simply didn't have time to balance it and it will come in time. How is this alleged artificial difficulty different from difficulty? Players who want a challenge have means provided by the game to be challenged. This is irrefutable fact. Whether the ring of overpowered overpoweredness exists in the game or not doesn't change this fact. The difference between artificial difficulty and difficulty is an imaginary and false concept. It's like if a rock climber would be telling a free climber: Use the ropes woman, without them it's .. artificial difficulty. Nonsense. Those 2 climbers play 2 different games. No

Although I understand what you are trying to say, your exaggeration, and the way you distort what has been said discredits your argument. There is no denying that either a lot of stuff is terribly overtuned, or the difficulty in veteran and PotD is too low, and probably both. The topic was about specific items that are indeed broken in certain conditions, and those conditions require min-maxing for the scaling items. It is your character development choice to min/max those. You will indeed gain a lot of defenses, and loose a lot of interaction potential, in a game were combat is far from the only thing to do. Fighters, Chanters, or Monks are not inherently OP. I play Eder as a fighter, and he does not feel broken at all. A handfull of abilities in these classes are OP, and break the game if used repeatedly. Why would you use something else ? Because it looks cooler. Because it is more fun. Find your reasons, it's your experience. Why do I wear a valian froc with low armor and zero bonus instead of a robe that has better stats? Because it looks better and it makes me happy. All i am saying is, if you found a way to break the game, break it, and complain that it is broken, then you did that to yourself. There is no competition, no ranking whatsoever, so nothing stops you from playing it differently if it is more fun for you. Once again, I do agree that Deadfire has serious balancing issues that need to be adressed quickly to increase the fun potential even more. There is no denying that and I am really looking forward to those changes. And in particular to make relevant some mechanics that are gimmicky at best at the moment. What I dislike however, is the general trend of thinking that "this mechanic is broken in my way of playing the game and my way of playing is better than yours". Well in my way of playing, none of my characters really have history knowledge. I think Aloth has 8. And therefore giftbearer cloak is not broken. But that fight you could not avoid due to your low insight that comes with maxed history, I could avoid it. A whole fight won without fighting it, how broken could that be ? Please nerf dialogues. Or don't, because my way of playing is mine alone, and not more nor less valid than another's. Who says that I am exaggerating? Monks can one shot any enemy on the field. Wizards/Druids can wipe the entirety of a battle. Chanters can regenerate every class's resource and give everyone +100% healing. Fighters Cleaving stance is silly. High level Paladins can't die. So on and so forth. This is all on PotD. Asking us to not use the stuff that is overtuned is the equivalent of asking us to not use a good portion of items/abilities in the game, most of the classes in the game, and some of the skills in the game. I was for sure being facetious, but I wasn't exaggerating. These items are but a single example of this issue. They give no satisfaction to anyone who wants to have any type of challenge. If it were one or two things that would be one thing. It isn't. The game is replete with stuff like this. The other people on this forum that are the power builders will be here in 6 months making builds. They will answer questions for those that come late to the Deadfire party. They will keep this forum alive for a few years, but only if they find a challenge in order to justify those builds. The PoE forums stayed pretty active for such a small title. It is all on the shoulders of those folks, and it is good for new players to have a place to look for advice. It is wise to ensure they still have that challenge in Deadfire. As that is why they will be here in 6 months, or a year, or 5 years. PoE1 was a small but active community, and Deadfire needs to be the same. Now, I am glad you are finding enjoyment in the game. I am also glad that you feel that you are getting an appropriate challenge in the game. However, this isn't an either or scenario. These items can be reduced in potency, and still be incredibly powerful and borderline broken in lower difficulty settings. At their current power level, however, they trivialize the hardest difficulty. So much so that they make Triple Crown Solo runs breezy. Now, some of that can be alleviated by ramping up PotD, and we know that Obsidian didn't tune it completely. However, there are for sure things that tuning up PotD won't fix. I am saying you are exaggerating. btw I'd like to see you play solo with a backstabbing rogue whose dumped might and perception to minimum, and pumped Resolve and Con. All the while avoiding gear, refusing to use athletics, arcane, explosives, or alchemy.

That's artificial difficulty. Likewise the people who want an easy time should just play on the easy difficulties. Path of the Damned was designed for a challenge and is incapable of providing one at the moment. It does indeed not provide a great challenge to characters that are fully min/maxed and using scaling gear with min maxed skills to match these items. It does, however, provide an interesting challenge to characters that are built with a minimum of roleplay where choices are motivated by more than mere stats (like companions and sidekicks are, btw, and there is no denying that they are a massive part of the experience intended by the devs). Still not enough challenge imo, and we all know it has been acknowledged by the devs, and will be tuned, but interesting challenge nonetheless. The conception that PotD should be designed to accomodate powerbuilders is subjective, and quite frankly, not really fitting a game like POE2:Deadfire that focuses on writing, environement, and roleplaying. Also, why putting restrictions on yourself would be artificial difficulty ? Isn't it the essence of a RPG to make choices that your character would make ? Or to reflect his actual skills in the stats ? Is your 4 resolve watcher really a coward ? Does he really know all the history of Eora, but can't even slightly bluff, has zero interest in metaphysics despite being a watcher ? And more importantly: What difference does it make to your personal single player gameplay experience if you: A - don't use an option because you think you will have more fun like this, or B- the option is simply removed from the game ? This is a nonsense argument. Single player games still need balance to be fun, and the place where that is most important is at the most difficult point. Anyone who wants less than the most difficult challenge can opt to make a choice within the context of the game to make it easier than doesn't involve them simply not using something available in the game. When you find a ring of overpowered overpoweredness in a game and don't use it because it's too powerful, that is definitionally artificial difficutly. When you make a game on a difficulty less than the top difficulty it is also artificial difficulty, but it doesn't require to to alter what you do in the game in a nonsensical way. It changes the entire environment, rather than making you as the player change something that makes no contextual sense in the environment. You are flatly wrong about PotD not being designed around powerbuilders; it is subjective but it is based on the ideas of the game creators. PotD triple crown in PoE1 was "subjectively" designed and balanced around mechanical prowess, and PoE2 will be the same when it is balanced; the devs have already said that they simply didn't have time to balance it and it will come in time. How is this alleged artificial difficulty different from difficulty? Players who want a challenge have means provided by the game to be challenged. This is irrefutable fact. Whether the ring of overpowered overpoweredness exists in the game or not doesn't change this fact. The difference between artificial difficulty and difficulty is an imaginary and false concept. It's like if a rock climber would be telling a free climber: Use the ropes woman, without them it's .. artificial difficulty. Nonsense.

I suspect "Josh" does not like Wizards Uneditable Grimories are encouraging to respec, which is something I am not a fan of. They are also limiting and time-consuming. Sub-classes pay too much for getting too little back. Empower makes certain spells more cheesy than Time Stop in BG2. gg I also do not like the idea that instead of being able to cast more low-level spells with increasing level of character, now the low-level spells scale allegedly to keep them useful, while being limited to two cast. Take Fireball and Delayed Fireball. Both have two casts, both scale, but 2 casts of Fireball do around 35% less damage than Delayed Fireball. Well, can I cast 3 Fireballs then? Apparently not. Apparently, I am to use Empower to refresh. I always play Mages in every game but PoE2 is the first game making me to reconsider. It's not that they are not powerful, they are just not as fun to me as I would want.

It is indeed ridiculous imo but I was not happy with the depart from let's say the traditional application of attributes in PoE already. Might .. represents character's physical and spiritual strength .. states the in-game description while having a biceps as the icon. It makes zero sense to me even in a fantasy world. I guess its something like "the force". Mysterious energy fueling abilities based on class. I will never accept this concept. That is for another thread though. There are two casts of Minoletta's Concussive Missiles (1.5m radius default) per encounter, without using Empower to refresh, and while MCM is a powerful spell it does not make or break the game. In similar fashion other AoEs like Minoletta's Percisely Piercing Burst or Torrent of Flame or even Meteor Shower. Getting enemies concentrated into a relatively small area is essential for not getting hit excessively and matter of positioning. So when I was to make choice between larger area of effect (high INT) at the cost of slower cast time and recovery (low DEX because there is no room to lower another attribute imo) or being forced to be mindful of positioning in given environment while being able to act about 25% faster, I made the choice. I guess I should have added a disclaimer to my initial post that this build is not the most optimized build but a build I finished the game with. When I played melee Wiz in PoE with max MIG and CON while dumping RES and DEX I was told that I would get interrupted too much and would be too slow. Possibly but having a weakness it's not the end of the world. To me its role-playing and a challenge. I would not play an immortal build because it's no fun to me. Choice and consequence. Not TCS Best Build Ever.

As Phyriel pointed out, its possible to open from stealth with Empowered cast dealing a huge amount of damage, possibly ending the encounter before it starts properly. Though I used it a couple of times - I do consider it kind of abuse and as I mentioned elsewhere I do not quite get why Empower was implemented into the game in the first place since I consider the mechanics itself a power abuse -, usually I started from stealth with regular cast and proceeded to empty per encounter casts while getting hit and healing myself from multiple kills. This proved to be sufficient for vast majority of encounters. When I say a couple of times I mean probably less than a dozen. I used it when I felt I could not beat the encounter in a reasonable time with available resources in any other way. It's just a cool story really.

You are judging. Proper builds which are valid, like stacking protections so one cannot be hit, or spamming charge or using abilities granting immortality? I specifically stated I have not (ab)used Empower extensively, I would guess I used it less than most players, and also said I used invisibility once and withdraw twice. Fair and square encounters in full party with legendary gear, sounds legit.

I tend to agree that Evoker specialization, along with other Wizard specializations, is probably not optimal. The game does not require optimal nor do I. As far as INT goes, obviously I did not need it higher to finish the game and I do not think it would help me much to finish it. Since every fight starts +5 INT from Infuse With Vital Essence the AoE range is not that bad. After all, enemies tend to gang up around and for this 10 INT range was enough. Question is what would this build gain from higher INT? Longer Infuse and that is about it. Since Infuse is the only level 2 spell used, I just recast it. By the time it runs out encounter is over. This build does not DoT nor de/buffs, it just does damage fast. If the title would be: The best Wizard in the world, I would see your point, but the title is solo Evoker PotD.

Master of Missles, alternatively MoEZ Let me first say that I do realize this is not a proper build but solo Wizard was not posted yet. The idea is to stack Power Levels and through it deal a lot of damage fast. Wizard Evoker Nature Godlike MIG: 19 CON: 15 DEX: 19 PER: 18 INT: 4 RES: 3 Mechanics around 8 Stealth around 5 other active and passive skills to personal preference Key Items Firethrower Gloves: +2 Power Levels Stone of Power: +1 Power Levels for duration of fight Bounding Boots: grants Leap Prissy or Algol pets: regain health on kill I finished the game with fine Xoti's Lantern, Gladiator Sword and light armor rating 5 with 0 recovery. This is surely not optimal but it was enough for me. Get the Firethrower Gloves asap, I've done it around level 11, I think, when I had high enough Mechanics to pick appropriate chest. Pet is essential because this build does get hit, does not have healing outside of potions (Athletics 0) but does a lot of AoE damage killing multiple enemies at once. Spells For spell picks, I would not recommend Fleet Feet at level 1, though it offers itself, simply because and due to low INT Infuse With Vital Essence triggers NG racial and it's better to cast level 1 Missles instead of Fleet Feet to do damage. Besides there are not very good level 2 spells to use with this build. Must have, not necessarily as picks but could be from Grimoire, are Minoletta's Bounding Missles, Minoletta's Concussive Missiles and Minoletta's Missile Salvo. Being surrounded a lot by a high number of enemies, other spells from Evocation like Flame Shield, Torrent of Flame, Chain Lightning, Blast of Frost and other spells not relying on INT but MIG. Gameplay I did not do quests requiring fighting at first, hence Mechanics and Stealth, till I got the gloves. Though (ab)using Empower seems obvious, I found it was not necessary for regular gameplay. Only used it on the toughest enemies at the end of the game. I tried to rest as little as possible and it was mostly working because I did not use Empower and was able to finish encounters with casts I had available. Used Potion of Invisibility once and Spell of Withdrawal twice to break encounters I found difficult to beat at one go. That is about it. I was just trying the build fist and since it was working, somehow, I decided to finish the game with it.

Level 1 (Deflection/Fortitude/Reflex/Will, Armor Rating, Health) Bird: 10% Range, +3 Perception, +1 All Power Levels - 13/2/2/2, 0,22 Imp: 10% Area of Effect, +3 Intellect, +1 All Power Levels - 13/2/2/2, 0, 22 Spider: 10% Crit damage, +3 Dexterity, +1 All Power Levels - 13/2/2/2, 0, 22 Beetle: +1 Armor Rating, +3 Resolve, +1 All Power Levels - 13/2/2/2, 0, 22 Grubling: +10 Deflection, +3 Constitution, +1 All Power Levels - 13/2/2/2, 0, 22 Wurm: +1 Penetration, +3 Might, + 1All Power Levels - 13/2/2/2, 0, 22 Level 20 Same bonuses Scaled stats: 70/59/59/59, 0, 125 *Not tested during gameplay but in about 30mins with reload and console. ---- All bonuses from familiars can be obtained by other means Need to cast familiar in combat Random effect Uses 1 point of Arcane For me one word .. hello?!

The pet dog that gives allies health when enemy killed. For solo nuker with high MIG with limited heals, or party with limited heals, this works so well that health potions are rarely needed. For example, Evoker with 20ish MIG heals for about 20 per kill around level 13. Even kept Athletics 0 to put points elsewhere. To drink potion takes time so it's better to do damage.

Trying out one, Wael, at the moment. The idea is to have hard-hitting Monk protected by the priest buffs and heals. Running Nature Godlike before it gets nerfed as Transcendent Suffering scales with PL and triggering Wellspring of Life (+2 PL) comes from using abilities which would be used anyway (Swift Strikes) or from useful situational buffs. As usual, dumping/maxing stats to see the limits: max MIG, PER, INT, dumped RES and CON to 3. So far (level 7) it is one of the strongest solo contenders I tried (have not touched Paladin, Fighter and Chanter yet). I mean what is not to like? Fast, hard-hitting attacks with two weapons, high deflection from Weal (Arcane Veil, Mirrored Image, Lengrath's Displaced Image), amazing self-heals from high MIG and priest, aoe and duration from INT ... yeah I know the CON and RES are extreme but my Monk is Nalpazca.

You'll have to explain to me what's brilliant about attaching on-hit paralysis on top of otherwise basic mooks and call it a day. A room there is no escape from. With environmental elements to take advantage of. Sword with a bonus against said mooks. Stun and drain of endurance. Players could get there anywhere between level 2 and 4 and at this stage having a dragon there, for example, would create thread longer than this one. It was a well-designed and memorable encounter with epic mood which required from players use of resources gathered so far (Fan of Flames scrolls, protective cape, potions) and use of tactics. It was not a random hack and slash encounter. In the spirit of BG, it was more like a puzzle than mooks killing. If you would quote my whole post, it would be apparent I was making a comparison to PoE2 in the first place. What day do you want me to call?

You do realize that "balancing around solo play" makes no sense in terms of bringing difficulty up. Solo play is more difficult, so balancing around difficult situation makes it easy for a party. Let's assume the game would indeed be balanced around solo play. Then the expectation would be the party play (which is a lot easier) would be ridiculously easy (like, 5 times easier). Fun thing is, game is too easy even solo now, let alone with a party. Currently it's already balanced around something like 0.5 character play. I realize I was using fallacious and selfish argument yes. Actually, the parallel is not exact. Some people want the cable car just to mover slower and have a treadmill installed in it Yeah, some stuff probably needs to be balanced with regards to other stuff. However, The Caed Nua hall fight as the entry to the game world in PoE was brilliantly designed. It was epic for the first time and remained untrivial even on subsequent playthroughs. Yet it was possible to skip it with Stealth and figurine. What did we get here? Instead of arguing I am going to play the game.

I think PotD should be balanced around solo play as the ultimate challenge and difficulty. Those who want to play in a party should play on the lower levels. See what I just did? First, we should realize and agree that there is no right and wrong simply because we are in the realm of opinions and personal preferences. Secondly, we should realize and agree that our own opinions and personal preferences are worth the same as opinions and personal preferences of others. Lastly, we should realize and agree that we have a choice. For the last time, using yet another parallel. There is a hill. People want to get on the top. Some hike, some take a cable car and some argue for removing the cable car because they want a challenge.

It does not trigger before a battle, its a contingency but .. whatever.

True, I'm tired of all my characters being green. I'll think of a good solution and add to the OP. Because the game has 0 replayability due to being trivial AF atm?Yet here I am replaying this the 3rd time, while I quit from 1 when I finished TCS on the last patch, as it devolved to a wet noodle fight simulator due to people like you.Powerful abilities are fun, they should fix bugs (like inifinte cloaking and spell sniping), maybe add some AI or limit the most powerful abilities by resource cost. What you ask is gutting the game from any and all fun. Honestly castrating the first game was enough, thank you, don't mess this one up as well. According to you BGII shouldn't have any replayability due to (amongst many) Timestop or UAI, yet it's still one of those games that keep people entertained. Replayability comes from fun and complexity not from everyone doing 1 damage to each other just with different color. Bg2 is replayable because it’s difficulty mods like tactical mods, since deadfire now didn’t have one, it relies on obsidian to make it more balance and challlenging. I guess it's individual. It took me almost 2 years to finish BG2 simply because I always quit before the end and restarted with a new class/build. This way I finished it with every class, solo. Let's do a reality check, however. I would guess that the number of people who replayed it many times, with or without mods, solo or in a party, is minimal in comparison to the number of people who bought the game. So who is this balancing for? Loud minority.

Same here, it's far from straightforward. 5% sounds about right.

Its a contingency so I would not say its a bug.

Which ones? Assuming to take, as I noted, spells/abilities not requiring INT: Minoletta's Minor Missiles Crackling Bolt Minoletta's Bounding Missiles Minoletta's Concussive Missiles Torment of Flame ... etc from Evoker Barbaric Blow/Crushing Blow Wild Sprint/Lion's Sprint Blood Storm increasing duration of short Frenzy, can be a good thing to have it short for burst, on kill Infuse With Vital Essence +5 INT to 9 Ironskin no INT needed Arcane Reflections do not need to last 60 sec base but can with Infuse The above is probably more that one can have points for, assuming taking amazing Barbarian passives. We are talking about "a magic using melee class", with 19 STR, 18 CON, 18 PER and fast attacks. The PL spells are to soften up the enemies, burst single target or clumped groups. Choice and consequence. Playing solo positioning is of importance and I do not mind butting in a corner. After all, that is the reasonable course of action when against great odds. Walking in, killing everything in open reminds me of Arnold and this is not Arnold nor Jack-of-all-trades. What buffs and debuffs will not be effective with around 10 INT?

It's a per rest resource. It either adds +10 power levels to the ability you use or restores half of your per encounter resources. I have not made myself clear. I do understand what it does. What I do not understand the reason for having it in game. How to balance + PL when some mechanics benefit from PL hugely while others very little? MMM vs Wizard's Double for example. How to control available resources in encounters when one can restore them? I really would like to be in that room where this was brainstormed. No sarcasm.

TBH I do not quite understand that idea behind "Empower". What is it for?

In PoE nobody picked Nature Godlike and when it gets some love in PoE2 it should be nerfed because you are tired of your characters being green? If you are tried of your characters being green, pick those who are not green, simple. Multi-classing increased replayability. The argument that because some mechanics make the game trivial thus there is no replayability is just wrong. Do not use them and you will have tons of replayability, simple. It just blows my mind every time I read this line of reasoning.