Vorad

The way I see it from the chart is: two handed weapon + heavy armor has a 4 sec attack cycle: 1s attack + 2 sec recovery + 1 sec penalty(50%). With a -20% recovery on your heavy armor you would be at 30% recovery penalty or 0.6 second recovery penalty due to armor for a total of 3.4 sec attack cycle instead of 4 sec... that's a boost of (1- 3.4/4) x 100% = 15% dps. Nah, I think, a sawyer has stated on there, there is two different types of recovery periods, 1. Normal recovery time 2. Armour recovery time So armoured grace and items like pilfers grip will only affect the armour recovery time not the entire recovery time. Can a senior person please confirm this is correct? We need a senior no newbs I don't see the contradiction if 1 sec attack from 2 hander then you get 2 sec normal recovery and on top of that 50% penalty from armor meaning 0.5 * 2(Normal) = 1 sec recovery penalty from armor, with the ability instead you get 30% penalty due to armor leading to a 0.6 sec recovery penalty due to armor instead of 1 sec. The way I see it from the chart is that armor recovery penalty is applied based on normal recovery. do you agree there are 2 types of recovery, normal recover and then armour recovery and armoured grace will only affect the armour recovery? "-20% armor speed penalty": so it appears it's not a flat -% on the armor recovery penalty(which I considered above without careful wording) apparently in that case, yes it's effect is much smaller in the case of 2 hander that would be just a 0.2 decrease overall ~ a meager 5% gain in dps!

The way I see it from the chart is: two handed weapon + heavy armor has a 4 sec attack cycle: 1s attack + 2 sec recovery + 1 sec penalty(50%). With a -20% recovery on your heavy armor you would be at 30% recovery penalty or 0.6 second recovery penalty due to armor for a total of 3.4 sec attack cycle instead of 4 sec... that's a boost of (1- 3.4/4) x 100% = 15% dps. Nah, I think, a sawyer has stated on there, there is two different types of recovery periods, 1. Normal recovery time 2. Armour recovery time So armoured grace and items like pilfers grip will only affect the armour recovery time not the entire recovery time. Can a senior person please confirm this is correct? We need a senior no newbs I don't see the contradiction if 1 sec attack from 2 hander then you get 2 sec normal recovery and on top of that 50% penalty from armor meaning 0.5 * 2(Normal) = 1 sec recovery penalty from armor, with the ability instead you get 30% penalty due to armor leading to a 0.6 sec recovery penalty due to armor instead of 1 sec. The way I see it from the chart is that armor recovery penalty is applied based on normal recovery.

The way I see it from the chart is: two handed weapon + heavy armor has a 4 sec attack cycle: 1s attack + 2 sec recovery + 1 sec penalty(50%). With a -20% recovery on your heavy armor you would be at 30% recovery penalty or 0.6 second recovery penalty due to armor for a total of 3.4 sec attack cycle instead of 4 sec... that's a boost of (1- 3.4/4) x 100% = 15% dps.

I am still casting it on my new playthrough of potd for most fights slicken is still a win button. In the boss fights dragons etc in lategame we can always spam multiple wall of fire/wall of force with high interrupt whigh the turtle paladin is just spanking the dragon to the face. That guy is definitely blowing things out of proportion I think he is just ranting for the sake of it since Adra is doable without any kind of hard cc one just needs a balanced party with 1-2 tough frontliners. edit: The changes on fighter are a bit lackluster though if we compare it to the buff the paladins recieved previously, I would still run paladin as my main turtle frontliner and maybe adding a turtle chanter with lash and dot. I still cannot see what fighter would offer vs sacred immolation + accuracy aura + lay on hands or vs chanters fire lash + slash/fire aoe dot. Perhaps if they made clearout per encounter and provided fighter with some "brute fore and cleave feats/abilities"...

I run 2 stealth 3 athletics 10 lore the rest in survival in all my party members appart from my mechanic guy/girl(usually defense chanter or a cipher) who runs 12 mechanics and 4 lore instead of 10 lore + 7-8 survival like the rest. That way you are able to use all the useful scrolls in the game irregardeless of class. As mentioned above Scroll of Valor, Scroll of Defense, Scroll Paralysis and Scroll of Maelstrom I would also add Scroll of Protection are realy nice to have and can be very useful in boss fights especially if you play with the companions instead of custom npc. edit: There are upcoming changes on the skills however so we have yet to see how the distribution will be affected.

You could borrow some ideas from this thread as well http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/82662-ardra-dragon-caed-nua/

The funny part is you can build defensive paladin(drop dex, per) but max might(for stronger lay on hands + sacred immolation) + full plate + max resolve and he will be able to dish out reasonable amounts of AOE while being turtle specc add in there moon goodlike racial and he gets double benefit!

What do you think the most over powered build in the game I so wise one? wizard any kind of wizard

Exactly all one needs is a main tank with base 130 deflection and at least 200 hp and you're good to go. Also it seems Paralyze and Stun will still work on it for some hard cc. Just equip tank with Strikehard war-hammer (-5 defenses on target) and another melee with the spear of same proc you buy from ondra's gift and these two stack cumulatively so after 1-2 hits you can stun/paralyze easily with your caster(add in there accuracy buff) and then it's the usual... but really cc is not even necessary with a tough front-liner and a party lvl 14. You can just tank & spank it.

If you can manage around 250 hp and 130 base deflection with your main tank then you are good to go. As I mention earlier you don't have to face the dragon with your party(and consequently get hit by his breath) only the defensive fighter/paladin/tank should be the one to initiate the combat! The rest of your party should stay behind as in the picture and start buffing themselves. The power comes from the spells themselves Durance got the same spalls as my min/maxed priest just cast Crowns + Shields for the faithfull on your guys and they'll be good to go, cast some defense vs petrify as well to counter those adragans etc. Although my guide was really short I believe I haven't neglected to mention the key points of the strategy/tactics. Just go there with a full level 14 party, you'll have every spell available in your arsenal and you'll do fine, actually there is no seirious need for power play, minmaxing if you go there at level 14 to begin with. Pay attention to the guidelines above and if you got any questions feel free to ask.

Take under account that when running with a single hand weapon and a free off hand you get an accuracy bonus, when something in your offhand that bonus stops existing and on top of that you get an extra penalty at the accuracy based on the weapon(shield is considered a weapon) you use on your offhand.

Oh by the way we need to mention it that those two stack for a wooping -10 debuff that stacks with spells from wizard/priest etc. So in a case of an offtank and I personally run Paladin tank and Chanter off tank min/maxed moon googlike etc etc one could equip Shatterstar on one and The Vile Loner on the other add in there Outworn buckler and Little Savior as an offhand and we got some really nice endgame tanks. That's what I'm running at the moment while waiting patiently for the next part of the expansion.

I really like the corrode spells as well but that fortitude save in all of them is a bummer even though the accuracy buff makes it a more viable tactic nowadays... that's why I would like more interaction with the spells to begin with. Right now a wizard learns potent spells every 2 levels but he just does that he learns and casts that spell over and over and there are no talents (apart from the elemental damage ones) that help a wizard interact more dynamically with his spells, change the shape(aoe into cone into line into tiles as desired) or other parameters of a spell why not even the targeted save for instance... I really hope they bring some interesting "metamagic feats" into this game.

Regarding grimoire cooldowns and spell diversity after playing several playthroughs with wizard as main I have reached to a conclusion that there can actually be a handful of spells which are useful throughout your entire game without the need to swap grimoires and suffer from cooldown in combat. My grimoire for almost the entire lategame looks like this: My build on wizard: Arcane Veil Blast Interrupting Blows Dangerous Implements Scion of Flames Secrets of Rime Heart of the Storm(profit the most out of the maelstorm scrolls due to both fire, frost, lightning damage) Instead of Heart of the Storm one could pick Spirit of Decay for corrode spells or Hardened Veil for extra protection. I would suggest Hardened Veil as an alternative however. I am not posting this as a Wizard build per se, I am mostly mentioning that as is at the moment one can actually manage to have a set of spells/abilities which can perform quite well in a universal way without the need to suffer through the grimoire swap cooldown mechanism.

Interesting thoughts so far, thanks for participating guys. I might have added 1-2 more weapons on the poll but I wanted to keep it as minimal as possible in order to be able to get some distinctive results. The poll will remain open of course since I hope there might be even more participation. So far from the responses what I get is that perhaps I should have included at least spelltongue in the poll to begin with.

Personally I'm fine with the mechanics as they are already but since people complain about "rest spamming" a possible solution could be to have a cool-down on resting say... max 8 hours per day of in game time. Again for me personally it works just as fine as is at the moment. On the per encounter change for casters, it's not really a big deal and personally I don't mind that much however something must be said. Balance and what a class should be like are two completely different things. If people want to balance all classes so that everyone performs the same then so be it but one certainly cannot claim to compare a sword and board meatbag(I'm looking at the fighter) with a highly intelligent arcane master(i.e. Wizard). Yes the "fighter" stereotype of hero should be straightforward easy to play and able to overpower his opponents with his sheer strength and ferocity but lets just face it in a world were magic exists and some individuals are "gifted" with the ability to "toy" with their soul or the souls of others who do you think would have the edge in the long run, the guy who swings the sword or the guy who can make 1000 swords swing themselves to battle?(Anyone found the white march room of swords in Cragholdt(spelling) siege funny? I did!) For me a balanced "high level Wizard" should be capable to: Have better understanding of the Arcane therefore low level spells needing preparation at low levels should be easier for him to cast so some kind of per encounter low level spells would make sense. A high level Wizard has more profound knowledge on his art therefore he is able to cast more imposing/destructive high level spells(the new spells are a bit lackluster but ok... I have high hopes on the new expansion) A high level Wizard should be able to enhance the spells he knows already from his early days at the academia therefore some kind of "metamagic feat" available at high levels which would allow the wizard to "empower" his already known spells at a cost would be nice. The more in depth one studies the Arcane the highest the risks involved there should be some diminishing returns to balance the fact that casters, wizard in this case are considered to be "OP" in late-game. Perhaps all this mental focus will have it's toll on some aspect of the individuals life... insanity levels/tests for example after a wizard casts a high level spell he could be "tested" for fatigue or some other condition etc...(something similar to Dragonlance's casting conditions) All spell-casters commute in some way direct or indirect with the gods, take priest for example. Can we claim now that the battle impact at high level of a guy who talks directly to the gods and can become their avatar and drains his power from the divine be equal to someone who is very skilled at using weapons? Same arguments with druid and so on. So short story if magic is a dominant factor on "fantasy" rpg then the guys who got a better chance at exploiting "magic" will eventually be the dominating power in the endgame. If we want all classes to be equal then either a) remove magic from the game or b) allow magic to be used by every single class. There is a reason why paladin, monk and maybe barbarian are better than fighter at the moment when we get near the endgame.

More enchantment options would be nice. Also implementing more "artifacts"(that's what they try to do with soulbound) would be nice as well. I believe mostly the potions and food crafting need an overhaul since most potions apart from alacrity are lets face it... useless and while food bonuses are ok, keeping your entire party fed is a tedious and grindy task and last time I checked this game was not about grinding. What I mean by that is simple you have to drag 5x 6 = 30 times every 200-400 seconds food from inventory to the heroes portraits... seriously can't there be some kind of a special ui slot where you plan ahead what food you'll eat and then press just the button and voila... party eating 1 click every 200-400 sec? Personally I only use food vs the dragons and Theos. The durgan enchantment they introduced is on the good direction with regards to weapons/armor. Come part 2 of the expansion and I hope we'll see even more new enchantments. Also(this is a bit of a rip off from good old dnd but) I really miss crafting wondrous items, staves, rods, wands, etc... common guys...

After toying around with paladin myself for a while and taking under account some of the advice I would suggest as already mentioned get max Might. The main reason being all your skills scale off might and since you'll be wearing full plate armor most of your damage will come from abilities and not from weapon swings so you don't really need any dexterity or even perception for what matters. Flames of devotion and Sacred Immolation(you could pick Scion of Flame to buff this since it will be your main source of dps in lategame) also you can run with some extra lore and spam scrolls for example Fan of Flames etc(or Maelstorm at lore 10 later on). If you choose moon goodlike(which I would consider) then your racial ability which is a really nice heal at 25%, 50%, 75% endurance benefits from might as well. If you plan to play with a group then having max intellect will benefit your party as well. If you go solo then you could run with base 10 intellect. Personally I haven't soloed on paladin I always play in group. So the main idea is build as defensive as you can but make sure to max your might since your abilities/scrolls benefit from that and that's where your damage as paladin will come from. Group paladin, moon goodlike: Mig 18 Con 15 Dex 4 Per 3 Int 20(vailian + racial = max) Res 18 *In a party you'll be using the accuracy aura so the - accuracy from perception is not a big issue. Solo moon goodlike paladin Mig 19(+1 background) Con 15 Dex 4 Per 12 Int 10 Res 18 *You could also pick a coastal Aumaua for a max 21 starting Might and some nice bonus vs stun and prone but you'll miss on the self heal both are viable I think.

In the beginning I too was running mostly with +1 engagement(measured restraint on a Vailian Darcozzi paladin with buckler) although through mid game it was ok I now notice in lategame the enemies pile up and stay engaged to the paladin irregardless of extra engagement slots and if I throw in the 13th level aoe in there it seems those +1 engagement slots feel a bit lackluster.

What do you guys think it's the best weapon for a main tank and an off-tank? I have managed to mention on the poll a "short" list of weapons which I consider to be defensive. However since there are so many weapons in game it would be more insightful to also make a few comments on the topic. So far I have been toying around with +1 engagement weapons on my defensive paladin however in late-game they seem a bit lackluster. I was considering other options as well perhaps a weapon with stun proc(but then again my spell casters got aoe prone/stun/paralyze/petrify). Last but not least there are some purely defensive weapons with "lifesteal" or pure defense stats. So overall what do you think which would be the optimal defensive weapon for a tank? EDIT: My vote after play-testing goes to "Strike Hard", a war-hammer bought in Twin Elms which has a -5 defenses to target on hit. This practically acts as a +5 accuracy to every party member attacking the target and it stacks with other similar debuffs. On a Paladin this would practically result to a +11 accuracy for your party. Also on a barbarian this would mean a -5 defenses aoe(so a +5 accuracy for entire party) while still being able to use a buckler in your offhand.

There are many threads already explaining tactics for the "hard" encounters not all of them involve "lots of exploit". Actually exploiting is not even necessary if you start the encounter at the appropriate level. Neither "optimization to death" is necessary", any party can work. All you need to do is cast a single aoe prone/stun/paralysis and it's gg from then on. This can be achieved with any kind of party and before people say "casters OP", just 1-2 scrolls of paralysis on any of your toons are more than enough. While this should be acceptable in easy difficulty since easy should be for everyone... I really believe that in potd mode the cc which can easily win you the fight should be toned down a bit.

I don't think there is an issue with casual gamers they can still play the game in easy and have fun. If someone is casual and tries to play in hard/potd then complain about the fight being to hard I believe that's unfair to the game itself since they can always switch to easy. The opposite is not true however and I believe many will agree with me that once you get to grasp the mechanics of the game/system then with an optimized party you can blast your way through any fight in game even at potd difficulty. The easy/hard mode could stay exactly as they are for casuals, I personally was speaking of the potd which could use some lifting for the players who wish some extra challenge.

Perhaps the design of the final battle as well is to blame, there are only 2 "adds" that's not much for a "tank" to take care of. Also the fact that many of the high end boses are not immune to cc makes these fights more easy. Higher resistances, DR, more immunities either to elements or type of damage etc we need more of these things. A solution for the player would be to either go there with an under level party but most of us don't really like that since we want to reach the maximum potential of the character or go there with a poor balanced party without optimizing stats/builds etc again something which most of us won't do since by nature we strive to do "the best we can". So in the end I believe at least for PotD difficulty the bosses should be 1-6 levels higher than the max level allowed for players in this case 15-20 level boss(depending on wether he has adds or not and how many) vs 14 level player with extra unique abilities and more immunities, all this only for PotD of course.

If you plan on making custom party best possible scenario is to create the entire party all at once as soon as you reach the first inn. Other than that there is no way to speed up their xp gain... they will always be 1 level behind your main until all of course hit 14. By making the entire party at once at least you get to level them up all at the same time.

Anyone remembers the "Archmage" from good old 3E? Another way to implement these changes could be by allowing the player to permanently destroy a grimoire slot of his max spell level and replace it with a permanent "spell like ability" per encounter of one level lower. Now that would be a change! Also some extra class talents would be much appretiated especially for wizards, druids, chanters. Their current class talents are abysmal to say the least. Wizard has his arcane veil but that's about it the rest of the talents don't have any interaction with the wizards abilities which are his spells while druids and chanters class talents are even worse! "Metamagic feats" would be nice, generally more interaction between the caster and he's spells.