knownastherat

Last time I tried, in 1.1 iirc, it did not work for me or I was doing something wrong.

@araj123 Reflecting upon your yesterday's post in another thread, I have a question. Do you adjust spell picks, cast order, and timing per encounter or does every encounter revolve essentially around the same: buff, gather-pull, same aoe? I am not asking if it's fun as I don't really care and it seems you like it, I am asking how versatile and creative gameplay is possible with this build. Not asking about bosses either because as you stated in OP this build cannot handle bosses. I am also not asking about early to mid game since it was stated there is no fighting till then. So is the gameplay more or less the same all the time or do tactics vary per encounter? I am genuinely curious.

Wizard doesn't give a **** about PEN-AR unless he's just spamming missiles. A single-class Wizard has a rough early game, but the moment you get Noxious Burst you can clear waves of enemies in two casts at most. I don't know what you consider "strong", but in my POTD playthrough the only weakness of my Wizard was that I had to be careful about not destroying my own team members by accident. On casual lol The level 11 Wizard in the vid I posted earlier has this stats for Noxious Burst: PEN 8.8, 55-74 damage ACC 58 vs Fortitude, ok applies Sickened for a better chance on the second cast. How come Wizard doesn't give stars about PEN-AR? Oh on casual, I see. Show me the vid where you are clearing waves of enemies on PotD* as soon as you get Noxious Burst, else I call it bull stars. --- edit: with Level Scaling on What are you trying to prove here? You have no outside buffs because you run solo, the weapon I see on your hotbar makes me think this isn't a geared up character, and best thing is, you didn't even empower that cast. Just because you suck at Wizard doesn't mean the class is bad, and I don't really feel like rerolling just to prove a point. Believe what you want. The guy above me has a nice naked Wiz demo. Here's one with gear on, albeit higher level. https://youtu.be/ey9b2aK20T8?t=701 You need to prove your claims. I hinted why I think one (Noxious Burst clearing waves) is bull stars and the other one about Wizard not giving stars about PEN/AR is simply false because of how game mechanics work.

That is nice indeed but it's not Noxious Burst PL3 but Freezing Pillar PL 6 with +2 PEN food and +1 PEN from passive. While probably not all that relevant, this is not a build played from level 1(4) but a build to make a point. So since the point is not that Wizard does not give stars about PEN/AR nor its Noxious Burst clearing waves, what is it?

While Alchemy nerfs cutting deep indeed, it still not completely useless. For example, for the potion with +2 PEN or +3 AR to name two obvious ones. Drugs still give nice bonuses and resources for Drugs and potions are relatively plentiful. Poisons are not ridiculous anymore but still provide a bonus to damage. Never played Helwalker so can't say.

Makes sense. Of the two, which do you think is more replaceable? Duality of Mortal Presence takes a while to unlock its upgrades, which are really what's most desirable about it right now (+10 Intellect aside, 20% Burning Lash is still pretty good). Maybe Combusting Wounds instead of Infuse With Vital Essence? Merciless Gaze you have, well, depends. With 2 casts I would probably pick a different tier, however, how about Bulwark Against The Elements? With Pale Elf and high DEX hostile elements would be of little threat. I don't really know, have not had time to think it over really. Maybe even passive.

It does not have to be an issue but to note that Duality of Mortal Presence will not stack with Infuse with Vital Essence as both raise CON and INT.

Wizard doesn't give a **** about PEN-AR unless he's just spamming missiles. A single-class Wizard has a rough early game, but the moment you get Noxious Burst you can clear waves of enemies in two casts at most. I don't know what you consider "strong", but in my POTD playthrough the only weakness of my Wizard was that I had to be careful about not destroying my own team members by accident. On casual lol The level 11 Wizard in the vid I posted earlier has this stats for Noxious Burst: PEN 8.8, 55-74 damage ACC 58 vs Fortitude, ok applies Sickened for a better chance on the second cast. How come Wizard doesn't give stars about PEN-AR? Oh on casual, I see. Show me the vid where you are clearing waves of enemies on PotD* as soon as you get Noxious Burst, else I call it bull stars. --- edit: with Level Scaling on

Sure, to each her own. @Dorftek, care to comment on high MIG and low CON? What am I asking is: 1. is high MIG important and 2. is low CON non-issue?

Don't worry about it(me). I think I solved my issue with "difficulty" by turning Level Scaling off so I am not really interested in a mod Up-scaling even more. I played the game enough to know what is possible and whatnot. It's really simple, as I mentioned already, get higher stats than enemies. So if enemy will not get higher stats neither I need to get them and the result will be the same, as we say "nula od nuly pojde" 1/1 is the same as 10/10.

Help me? What would help me would be a video playthrough with this mod on from level 1(4). Then I could judge for myself if it "feels really good" and how a build "can deal" with the mod. Otherwise, I have to take your word for it and, with all due respect, I will not simply because feelings are subjective.

Even in open world, endgame items (items designed to be used for endgame content) can be made accessible only under certain "endgame conditions". For example, as it was mentioned being a drop from a powerful enemy which cannot be defeated by low-level characters, or locked behind an unpickable door which can be accessed only through following certain quest line, etc. It's not a problem of open world design, its a problem of game philosophy: Do we allow players to access endgame items early or not? Apparently, the answer is, for whatever reason, positive.

As far as I am aware, you posted high level, possibly level 20, character who can deal with the mod "difficulty" solo.

Well, that is a personal attack and you can't so yes, let's move on.

I just quoted the post I was addressing. Obviously, Boeroer was complaining, scroll up. btw how is going for the endgame item bright? I guess, it requires less than average IQ. Every ape can pick the sweetest banana, so from where I sit, there is nothing bright about it, it's just obvious.

Well, while I tend to agree that both can incite a similar emotional reaction, there are two major differences between them: 1. personal attack is ad hominem fallacy and as such is usually sanctioned 2. I cannot know whether someone is permanently stupid or just saying stupid things momentarily. So .. yeah, it is different.

Does it do anything other then further boosting enemy stats? If it reworks encounters and the AI then I'll gladly play it, otherwise I rather not. The enemies stats on upscaled POTD is fine, it's the AI design that is not. https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/43 Apparently, the difficulty lies in getting better stats. It's not a fault of the mod though, its the game design.

From my experience: Level 1 - Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp - never used it, would cast Chill Fog or Thrust of Tattered Veils (never misses, always interrupt) instead Level 5 - Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - not worth the slot, short duration, not enough damage and healing Level 6 - Necrotic Lance - comical DoT Level 15 - Ryngrim's Enervating Terror - useful but does not fit the theme imo Level 16 - Gaze of the Adragan - not worth the slot, comical duration Level 20 - Wall of Draining - not worth the slot, was not working for me as described, besides "pass-through" .. how many and how often can enemies pass-through? Level 17 - Improved Critical - at 10% it's inconsequential With the stated grimoire, PEN to Fire spells would be useful. Could consider dropping Corrode and focus on Fire and Freeze instead.

I really like the use of Near Death and Barring at Death's Door mechanic which, together with immunities, I consider the hallmark of this build.

I missed it so let me just note I did not call anyone stupid, I called their opinions stupid which is valid and my right.

I've thought about this, can you expand? Expand on further order? Fort Deadlight not only seems let's say "natural" after learning where Benweth, who left me stranded, is but its neat quest with several solutions, experience, interesting loot, sidekick, and merchant. Serafen has knowledge of the fort and his own interests in it too.

Romances with NPCs are indeed let's say interesting. Aerie was so annoying that she could cast Time Stop in level 1 slot and I would not have her. Viconia on the other hand ...

I am seriously considering switching off Upscaling and lowering difficulty for solo because no matter how "smart" and "skillfully" one plays it's almost impossible to overcome AR and saves early to mid game and it will have essentially the same effect as (over)leveling and gearing up.

You really had to dive into that? Oh my... It is ignorant to deny people their opinion and to dismiss their arguments as stupid while they are valid - because as you said: the criteria of what "strongest class" means are not clearly determined. So maybe stop calling people stupid that explain why they think an Empowered Meteor Shower or whatever spell is strong and leads them to vote as they do. As I said: feel free to disagree. I don't think wizard is strongest myself. But I wouldn't say that it's stupid to think so. I wouldn't even call somebody stupid who thinks that rogue is the best class in PoE. Now that's something to chew on... No, it is just arrogant. They do not know what they talk about. I explained why Wizard is not the strongest class but I can repeat it again: because of the stupid PEN-AR (and ACC) mechanic which martial classes can overcome by gearing up while Wizard cannot.

The barb combos were a reply to another user who asked what broken combos I mean. Why wouldn't you care for empowering spells in a discussion about power? It's integral part of the game and works like intended. So it's totally reasonable to take the effects of empower into consideration when judging the power of a class. If this doesn't fit your criteria of "strongest class" then be it so - but while you said you understand what was said you refuse to acknowledge the points that were made. You may disagree, why not? But dismissing those arguments is ignorant. This thread is about strongest class/weakest class and the reasons why each player thinks they are - it's not about what you want or if you dislike the mechanic. If empower makes the wizard a lot stronger than other classes then it's a fair point to say that that's reason to vote for wizard in this scope. Also the bad subclasses don't necessarily gimp the classes power potential. It only narrows the choice. If there would be a class thst is generally weak but whose one subclass had one single overpowered ability that kills every enemy on the field then it would be a fair point to say that it's the strongest even though most people might not like that ability. It's like saying "Oh the Blackbird can't be the fastest plane! It's only because of its badly designed afterburners that are too strong. I don't like afterburners so I don't understand how you can claim that it's the fastest plane." It's pretty simple. Empower points are a limited but replenishable resource. To replenish it one needs to rest. Considering bonuses available from not resting, Empower is simply not a contender in the context of a playthrough. "Strongest class", without definition, is a vague and stupid concept because it allows for interpretations, as seen in this thread and as seen as in Wizard being voted as strongest. It is equally stupid to judge a class based on ability to Empower high-level spells. Blackbird afterburners indeed but strongest is not fastest. That is why Blackbird was a spy plane, not a fighter jet.