Elric Galad

By the way, there is an interesting revelation about the gods in WM II. Gods do have a body. This body can be killed. Althought it is not enough to kill the god (as for mortal souls by the way), it seems to severely weaken them.

Sure Handed and Swift aim are active abilities, so they don't stack.

[*]Various game balance (particularly with Rogues and Barbarians). Great ! I didn't even hope this would have been planned ! Sorry for my doubts, but it's true that videogames have a long story of half-baked experience ^^

My current playthrough is : 2 chanters (Future Dragon trashers) 1 Wizard 1 Priest (Skaen) 1 Druid (stag, Main Character) 1 Ranger (wolf) I'm currently lvl 6 and it was not really difficult, even if I think having a Paladin (Zealous Endurance + Herald shield) is the best option for early game. Chill Fog trivializes a lot of encounter. Druid smashes. Chanters slowly degenerate ghosts (Swift Wind torgets fortitude) and finish battles with White Worms. The only difference with the previous party is more chanters means more tanks. But I would have been happy with a ranged hard hitter (my ranger was focused on her pet) when I faced Maerwald. I'm waiting for lvl 9 to steamroll everything. The party is meant to focus on AoE, with Ranger for Single Target as reliable constant DPS. By the way, Ranger is a real "warrior" class. Probably the strongest martial at the moment (except, of course, for tanking).

Dex also help to Interrupt more by the way.

What annoys me with Turning Wheel is that it starts dealing real damages only when you have 5+ wounds stacked due to lash mechanics. Iron wheel starts being effective once you get a couple of wounds stacked, which happens all the time. Plus it is really nice when you're monk is stunned and get gangbanged. It is the ability that makes Ondra monks so annoying to kill in spite of their very low base DR, even when paralyzed. I would always take Iron Wheel, whatever the build. But ok, we're not discussing about Turning Wheel vs Iron Wheel.

Well, Dexterity is basically a multiplicative DPS factor with everything (except for limited ressource). I think the bonus it provides is pretty much good whatever your build is. The only question left is when you have to prioritarize dexterity from other factors. 3 Dex is -21% DPS 20 Dex is +30% DPS

Buff from talents have always stacked as far as I remember. If not it is a recent change. But that is how Inspiring radiance works (for example).

I'll relax when they communicate. I can understand that they are not enthusiastic to annouce they will stop working on PoE. Many players will complain if there wishlist is not included in last patches... But they have to. I think PoE is in a pretty acceptable state except the few bugs mentionned in my previous post.

The Def/Ref stacking bug is a game braking bug that should have been corrected. I feel it is really not professional to leave it as it is. Double proc (and various 3.03 double stuff) is rather ugly too. Not exactly exciting when it comes to support PoE 2 crowfunding. They sould not forget that PoE has been made possible because of a bunch of niche players with 10 years long memory, not by the average gamer. We do not forget. For the rest (like Riposte being weak or various minor bugs, inconsistent description, etc...), it'd say it is rather acceptable. Not worse than BG2 and most games at least. This is how real world work. Sure, the game could have been a bit more finished, I'm a bit sad that it is not, but I have a lot of fun with current balance. Now comes the time of modding... We may have a chance to get the perfect game by this mean... even I admit I never took part in this kind of stuff )

Huh, interesting... Have checked and can confirm that: Nice testing ! But the conclusion is really sad as it confirm my thought that Bear and Lion are gimped.

Once more, thank you for your testing. And sorry, MaxQuest. I should have been more specific in my statements. I had read that Lion and Bear (and only them) had about 33% slower attack speed, while boar, antelope, wolf, Itumak and stag had similar attack speed. There seemed to be exactly 2 groups. Given that most pets (except wolf and Itumaak) had the same damages, lions and bears were a bit gimped. Slight differences could be explained by Dex. It was an old topic. I could try to find its trace. You have unfortunately only picked pets from the same group. So your testing is pretty much consistent with what I had in mind (except I had no proof that all pets from same group had exactly the same attack speed). Aren't Itumaak stats supposed to be exactly the same as wolf ? I was surprised by the 15 dex from your testing.

Thank you for your work. Do you think you could also hack pet and spiritshift attack speeds ? Pets were said to have different BASE attack speeds (independantly from Dex). I suppose forms attack should work like average dual wield, but I would be curious about cat form.

Aloth Res + Wizard self deflection buff + Defensive Minweb. It might be a niche but I think it deserves a mention.

Or throwing him into Skaen Pit. I think I prefer this method ^^

If we had a complete list of the relevent map, it could help. You just have to save properly before, then the map becomes like a mini iron man mode ^^

Whatever you do except chanting or moving, you'll do + 3xDex % faster.

The main problem is not that their stat are buffed. It is that there is no limit to this buff.

On endgame, Apprentice sneak is not so circunstancial. 20% more damages on 50% lash is only about 10% damages, and having 10 wounds seem much more circonstancial than sneak attack. Snake attack bonus does apply to transcendant suffering bonus damage in 3.02. Scion of flame does apply to dichotomous soul fire clone, scrolls and gives 5DR to fire. Not too bad but I'll take Sneak attack.

To be more complete about Powergaming pros to take companions : - Pellagina has specific talents order and unique race. Avian godlike is okayish but order talents are great. - Devil of Caroc has breastplate as body that you can't change, she can't use food BUT she has a LOT of immunities : poison, all types of charm spells, sickness... - After her quest, Maneha gets +2 stats point. - After his quest, Zahua gets +10% attacks speed with fists. Sagani's snow fox is identical to a wolf (but more cute) and Hiravias Spiritshif is identical to Cat form. These abilities don't have unique mechanics (but at least they are very good pet and form choices).

I think that untill now Obsidian successive patches have been pretty satisfying (considering this is a game with average budget). However, considering that we are probably close to the end of PoE patching, most of us are probably a little anxious about remaining issues. Defenses save/load bug reminds me of BGII Firkrag's dungeon bug : Greater Wolfwere stacked infinite regeneration to the point it was unkillable by anything except instant death spells. This survived until Enhanced Edition, so I hope it will not be the same with PoE... I can understand that it might not be economically rational to keep working on their game. However, I hope they will commit a bit more than other companies, at least as a reward for their backer confident contribution. After all, their business model relies on us. At least I hope they will communicate about their "patching plan". It's obvious that people will complain if Obsidian doesn't correct what they think derserve correcting. But that's life, and that would be a honnest approach. Basically, I won't cry too much for now, but a bit of communication from their side would be nice.

Pistols vs Blunderbuss is a choice you won't have to make. It is the same talent. But I think the OP thought the blunderbuss cone was better for his taste. The 3 firearms have indeed different length and width for their cone attacks.

Immolation is a very good DPS ability, but that's about it.

For pure damages I would say that dragon trashed chanter and his friendly constant AoE seems hard to match, at least because of its convenience and chanter tankyness. It's like 140 AoE damages every 4s at high level. Then 1-2 crowd controler like druids or wizards would make the perfect mix. Wizards may be the strongest but relentless storm is like an auto win button. I suspect stag's carnage+avenging storm to be the ultimate Crowd Cleaner. I have yet to test it. Finally, 1 priest is always awesome. Buffs will shift the balance on your side, and his AoE damages are far from ugly.

Are you sure this thread should be in the Stories forum ? I agree with you, except I didn't find immunity to rogue's attack are so frequent. Frightened and Terrified is another story. For crush immunity... monks can use other weapons. You can have 2 sets, with slaying spirit spear, so it's not a big issue for me. There is only 1 major find for which it is a bit annoying. But I agree with you about Rogue and Barbarian UPness. I made a lot of posts about this. I think that the current situation is not so bad by the way. Now I'm waiting for new patch or... confirmation that they will stop patching. Then it will be mod time.