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Everything posted by Elric Galad
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Well BPM improved Into the Fray and Hold the Line, so they are fine now, even if not fit for all builds. Superior Deflection has always a very averagish talent. No issue, nothing great either. Tanky concept of Fighter is perfectly fine, that's not what I said. But they rely on Unbending that makes them almost unkillable and +3 engagement modal (no class can get so easily such engagement galore). They have other cool talents (+20 vs Per/Int/Con affliction is sweet, armored grace, Refreshing defenses) but these are their selling point. That is what makes shield a bit redundant for them : they are much better using their second hand for offensive purpose because they almost never need a shield to begin with.
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Yeah, I'm wondering a lot about recall agony at the moment. The thing about it is that it synergizes with absolutely nothing. The added damages don't generate focus, wounds for shattered pillars, % lifesteal. They don't work on DoT. They don't even work with Soul Annililation. It is only about the damages. The added damages might be cool on a boss (the spell isn't weak), but some other Cipher spell can have similar results. Disintigrate will do similar or better damages without having to worry about focusing (not same cost of course, but way more reliably). Psychovampiric shield will debuff deflection for all your party buddies while having some utility. You really have few cases for which picking it sounds the right choice. Actually I'm thinking about changing its effect to +30% damages received, or to +40% damages received because that would be additive damages, not multiplicative. For spells it would be similar, for weapon worse, but working with DoT would make so much more sense for cipher. Also focus generation and Soul Annililation would be improved. There is already a paladin ability that does this in an AoE. The effect is less unique, but the current ability having zero combo potential feels like a failed unique design IMHO. Or is there any synergy I miss ?
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Ok my proposal for Unbroken : -15 reflex (no change) -20% stride (worse than before to balance with new feature, this values is targetted so that fast runner doesn't fully compensate but the result would be a slightly lower than base speed) +1 engagement, +10 PEN for disengagement attacks (no change) Shield Mastery : when using a shield, +1 AR (players are used to it so I shall keep it) and all engaged targets get -20% action speed (similar fashion as Persistent Distraction) . Stride penalty on engaged eventually felt like one more gluing feature, which isn't that great if foes don't disengage. I chose to keep the "fighter with a shield" vibe for Unbroken. The new feature is strong, but it is based on the assumption that shields aren't very good for fighters since their defenses are already so high they don't really need it. This design offers some flexibility : you might want to play mainly without shield since the maluses aren't that bad and the free engagement does help. And just swap for shield when needed : the new feature is good enough to justify swapping vs bosses or annoying crowd, and Quickswitch does support swapping. Or you can play mainly with a shield and just enjoy the additional tanking and debuffing.
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This. This is what genericity fighters don't get (Swashys do get it through persistent distraction). The most thematically fitting would be a heavy Stride penalty, persisting a bit after disengagement of course. Like -100% Stride. Gluing. Joking (or not). Just to show it could be powerful. Would be an hilariously bad synergy with disengagement attacks. Just let me think about the details. How it will work with Shield mastery.
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Not excluded but not sure I want to add advantage to disengagement granted how unreliable it is. The good part with parting sorrow is that it also apply to foes killed while engaged, so a bit less conditional. Too radical I think. Other consideractions : -15 reflex is perfectly fitting. It is part of the - 15 secondary defense tryptic with Fury Shaper and BPM Nalzpaca. -10% stride is fitting too. It could be even harsher if I need to en force the subclass identity. There are only a couple of fights (Doru) where minus stride is more than an inconvenience. Even in this case, items could overcome a penalty (-25% stride could still be too bad) - Unbroken isn't especially tanky. -15 reflex +1AR leans toward positive side, but only slightly. They are tanks because of engagement and incitative to get a shield. - The engagement and disengagement bonus is also perfectly fitted. That's really the shield bonus that feels i complete. If I want a shield fighter, why not Black Jacket which can instantly swap in and out shield for big Clear Out (akka what I call three handed style) ? I could also make Unbroken style swapping specialist with a benefit for all styles. But it should en force their grinding grit identity, even when offensive. Some Wild ideas : -2HS could get +~100% reach (akka phalanx mastery, perfectly fitting with engagements to poke who you want) -1HS could get 33% miss to graze. (multiplicative with BPM confident aim and 1HS style for a total 60% miss to gracze) - DW could get some retaliationish feature. Maybe 100% Full Attack Riposte when missed while Blooded. Maybe too much. Just brainstorming ^^
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I don't really want to stop the inevitable though. Delaying it is ok. This strategy should be somewhat rewarded. Solely shortening duration makes each tick bigger which in turn makes each reapplication bigger (but with Shorter duration the number of ticks being reapplied decrease). Overall it is a neutral change. The above change was also about having more rounded numbers. Basically Yes. Switching to a non DoT isn't excluded if necessary. But I don't think it is necessary.
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Consider that the main aspect of my change was to set tick to 1s. This means the damages on each reapplication is divided by the number of tick. More ticks mean bigger division. The reduction to 5s is only a secondary aspect. I thought about making it a flat 6 damages on each hit without any DoT component, but it would have changed the spell too much.
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Unbroken still feels like a very meh subclass. Engagement and bonus for disengagement are ok. The issue for me is that Shield Mastery interacts super poorly with Fighter as a whole because shield is a rather poor piece of equipment for a fighter. Why caring about your defenses when you have unbending? Shield feels like an overkill. Having a shield is also meh for Clear Out, Power Strike and all Fighter offensive abilities that work better with either 1HS or 2HS. To be more clear, the idea isn't that Unbroken bonuses are bad (especially because their penalty aren't harsh), but that they don't synergize well with most builds. I haven't found an idea yet. Either Unbroken should remain the shield wearing fighter (possibly with an offensive bonus while wearing one) or the AR bonus shall be less conditional (work with metal armor too???).
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I'm probably going to tweak Avenging Storm cast/recovery time to 3s/0s. I've always felt it takes too much time to cast, which cause a loss of DPS that it has hard time to compensate for a SC druid without attack tricks. Scrolls use a different cast/reload time anyway. Heaven's cacophony will be buffed a bit, but the cast time buff isn't what would make the broken part more broken anyway.
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An easy fix (similar to what BPM did to unbending) is to change the ticks from 3s to 1s. Without further change, it would divide by 3 the reapplication damages. Note that it would also divide by 3 the initial tick, changing the spell base damages from 4+2(initial tick) to 4+0.67(initial tick). Therefore the spell would be nerfed vs non abuse targets. I feel like it is the right direction to go though, I'm just wondering if a slightly tweak up is necessary to compensate the effect on initial tick. Maybe 5 damages over 5s with 1s tick. So the base damages are kept, damages per tick halved (compared to current) and the time the reapplication can happen is reduced a bit too. Other question : should a similar treatment be given to bleeding cuts and Saru Stitch? Like Bleeding Cuts to 3s 5% damages ticks. Edit : maybe not because it's fun and not intrinsecally abusable. Saru Strits is a lesser concern cause you can't equip your whole party with it.
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Yup. The big difference here is that I seized the opportunity of Great Soul to help Cipher and Chanter to get more ressources as SC. There is absolutely no need to boost MC Cipher and Chanter. Yet, getting absolutely nothing from Adra Glow and an idiotic description feels wrong for them. So I want to give them just a little something that doesn't affect balance. For Cipher, the obvious choice would be Starting Focus BUT this is technically complicated as Adra Glow is a permanent effect, not something activating at the beginning of combat. (that's the reason behind Grest Soul bizarre effect for Cipher). So I'll opt for a +max focus since I want to keep it simple. +15 max focus will do the trick. A little annoying for Ascendant but just don't bath if it annoys you. For Chanter, I don't want to mess with ressources generation (troubadour balance, MC chanters already top tier), so I will give +33% AoE Auras (similar to PoE1 Voice of the Mountain top).
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Yeah that's the point. You might have a hard time using SC paladin as a damage dealer vs fire immune, but most of them have low cold AR and a few (cough cough Dorudugan) have low electricity AR. The PEN can't be too high or most encounter would be solved by spamming it. Note the Base 6 dual type (10 due to Tier scaling) is exactly the same as missile salvo. The PEN issue can somewhat be solved by using food for the few encounter that needs it. Anyway, LoPZ isn't a pure offensive ability. It is the strongest AoE spike heal of the game bar none. The goal of the offensive part change is to allow Paladin to somewhat contribute vs fire immune (while keeping everybody alive), not be the primary damage dealer. As you point Bleak Walker subclass rework would indeed provide an additional tool for this specific case. It is indeed a common feature for "2nd part" of martial attack. Monk Torment works the same. It can't be changed for technical reasons. But but but BPM addressed it by adding additional accuracy for the secondary part as noted in the patch note! (+15acc for Power Strike, +20acc for Inspiring Strike.) So don't worry, endgame efficiency is around the same as it would be with propre scaling.
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This part I will do This part isn't technically doable, at least not easily. What can be done is to apply the effect once when when the spell is cast. This one is quite reasonnable from a pure balance standpoint. I can make it for you if you want. But it deviates too much from the original for me to include in my mod's package. Also it forces usingit with reaping knives. I think you underestimate how it would works with my previous and proposed change I've already changed the spell to target Deflection. Targetting Fortitude is Disintigrate main weakness vs the target you really want to hit with your big bad single target DoT as they tend to have gruesome Fortitude. Targetting Deflection instead is big asset of the spell. Death of 1000 Cuts isn't bad. Its base damages (with 0 extension its base damages are the same as Disintigrate, albeit slower) and each hit adds a total ~90 damages. I think you focus a bit too much on using it how you intended to. Think about it like a passive that can last a whole battle. Again, I'm not claiming it couldn't have been better with another design, but I think the current one is good enough. Pain Link will trigger it on each retaliation (in my mod, it lasts 30s) and you can put it on several party member, which is probably enough to have it up all the time. Probably very efficient vs things like Dorudugan. It won't make the kill, but the added damages for a single cast will likely be hard to compare with anything else. I like it less.
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Okay, I've changed a bit my mind. The thing is, if Death of 1000 Cuts is changed to work with universal sources of damages, it would become a kind of passive. Take a blunderbuss and any issue about maintaining it is solved. A passive that adds raw damages on each strike (like a party wide avenging storm, which is also more reliable because of raw damages) and a raw permanent DoT (like a better version of Gouging Strike). To avoid it being too strong I would have to tweak down the number a lot... which would completely changes the nature of the spell. Which might be fun, but isn't the purpose of Balance Polishing Mod. Also I got the feeling that the spell would be too simple to use. Current Death of 1000 Cuts need effort to work properly, but that's what the game fun, ney ? Not permanent semi passive. At least stuff like Combusting Wounds have to be cast again to work (and Fire damages isn't a solution to all battles). So Gameplay wise, I think this change is not suitable. Adding other trigger for Death of 1000 Cuts isn't out question but : - Adding other Cipher Spells would automatically result in Ectopsychic Echo being the optimal choice. Only Antipathetic Field could compete, but it is harder to use. => Discarded - Adding Reaping knives weapon attacks would also be too obvious as a combo : Cast Death of 1000 Cuts, cast Reaping Knives to every party member, profit. => Discarded - The sadest thing about Death of 1000 Cuts is that it works only with direct damages shred spells. Disintigrate, Soul Ignition, Recall Agony and Pain Link don't work. That's actually a big part of all Shred spells that don't work (plus reaping knives) ! So I think it would be suitable to have Death of 1000 Cuts work on any Shred Graze/Hit/Crit (including Pain Link retaliation autohit). That would provide simple interactions with Disintigrate, Sould Ignition and Recall Agony. And also a really nice interaction with Pain Link, although not as obvious as Ectopsychic Echo would have been. With the later simple change, there would be 3 spells "optimal" to use with Death of 1000 Cuts : Antipathetic Field, Screaming Soul and Pain Link. Still for Solo play for Dorudugan, Magran Belts + Antipathetic Field would still be the only solution. I can't really balance the game for that one fight (even if it is a relevant fight as arguably the hardest). That being said, I'm only speaking about modding for Balance Polishing Mod. If you really want a special version for your own use, ask me, I can make it (within a couple of weeks though )
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Okay, that's a matter of simplified description. I corrected in the mod description page (in the ingame ability description, it would be too complicated). The formula with BPM is 10+1/3*(foc-10), not 1.33x*(10+1/4*(foc-10)). Only the additional damages per focus spent is multiplied. The base damage isn't multiplied. Since focus generation with biting whip is only ~75% as with draining whip, you are still paying "a little faster" the initial 10 focus ticket with Draining Whip. Technically, Soul Annihilation isn't as efficient with Biting Whip as with Draining Whip. Soul Annihilation is as efficient with Biting Whip as with Draining Whip but with 2.5 less focus (so slightly slightly worse but you get more damage from the weapon part due to raw lash) OK, I'll check.
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Unless I'm mistaken, you don't even use mods (bar UI and CP) The duration extension par damages should be in line with "the shield cracks" which also trigger on damages. I think it's 3s, ney ? EDIT : Or maybe it should be more challenging because it's damages, not just a debuff (2s or even 1s would be enough, maintaining it for unlimited duration should be challenging - and even with this multihit weapons would allow it). The raw damages per damages should be... I don't know ? 10 raw damages maybe ? Combusting wounds have "base 6" (4 + initial tick) and easily reaches the 10 damage threshold due to its complicated refreshing meachanism. EDIT : Ney, resonant touch is 15 damages and it is way harder to use. Avenging storm is 7-10 damages is self only (at least switching target/using AoE weapons work better). 5 raw damages per damaged is a maximum IMHO. This and the DoT will be very valuable in the long run. EDIT EDIT : to be sincere, I think it really could lead to something quite degenerate if we allow it with something else than (Cipher) spells. The fact it doesn't even work on Shred DoT is sad though.
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Balance Polishing Mod just makes Screaming Souls work closer as intended, causing all vessels including allies in the vicinity to trigger a Shred AoE attack. In Solo, with a SC Cipher, it won't help much. But with a party with the right set-up, you now have another Shred spell that can cause multiple attacks per cast vs lonely boss. (also make Death of 1000 cuts target Deflection to distinguish more from Disintigrate) At this point I wonder if the easiest fix won't be simply to allow Death of 1000 Cuts to work with any Cipher spell and/or with reaping knives attack. Respect the original vibe. I mean, AFAIK, it is the only Cipher spell that interacts with a Cipher KW. Combo with Ectopsychic would be a tad too obvious. Is this that much better than Antipathetic Field ? Much more convenient at least. Maybe I should lower the 31 raw instant damages if I go that way ? Or maybe I should go with a Combusting wounds-like version that works vs everything (with even lower values).
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Various adjustments planned for Fire shield effects : Flame Shield : 8-12 damages -> 16-24 Magran's Blessing : Fire Shield : 6-10 damages -> 12-20 Greater Fire Shield : 10-14 damages -> 20-28 Fire Stag Fire Shield : 10-15 damages -> 20-30 Fire Godlike : 3-5 damages, +20%/PL -> 3-5 damages, +50%/PL I feared this one could have been broken early game if straight doubling damages. Darcozzi LoH (new version of adjustments) : - Cast/Recovery for LoH/GLoH/HoL set to 0.5s/2s for Darcozzi Paladini as a secondary subclass feature - 45s fire shield which retaliates on every damage source and stacks 5 times (reapplying LoH will multiply fire shield damages) - +4 AR vs Cold damages (no changes - 5-8 base damages 7 base PEN (scaling +5% damages, +5% duration, +2 Acc, +0.5 PEN per Tier). (roughly a third of what Wiz Flame Shield provides) This new Darcozzi version with moderate damages but stacking is meant to address 3 issues : 1) Previous version could have been too strong early on. This one starts lower but cumulating fire shield will be a valid strategy on the endgame. 2) Solves the issue of recast : LoH only lasts 5s compared to the 45s fire shield effect. You may want to recast it quickly, but then the fire shield woud have been wasted. 3) LoH and GLoH/HoL shields did stack because they were from different abilities. This was a bit obscure. I think replacing it with a global 5 Darcozzi Fire Shield stacking in total will be more clear.
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OK, so I thought about Darcozzi Paladini a bit. I think there is nothing intresically wrong in a retaliation effect. This was the initial intention of the subclass to allow retaliations through Lay on Hand. The core philosophy of BPM is to try to remain in line with initial intent. Retaliations are also quite in line with Paladin fluff, so there could be a subclass specialized in it. However, there are a few reasons that make it not working very well : 1) The damage values. Anyway, this is the least priority to be addressed once the rest has been cleaned up, since it is quite easy to tweak values. An obvious part for me is that PEN should scale well (+0.5 PEN per PL instead of +0.25 PEN). 2) Retaliation on melee damages. Not all foes are going to attack you with melee, which makes it a bit conditional. This is less an issue for Fire Godlike or Flame Shield because they are only up on 1 of your character. You are going to make this character your frontline tank, so the melee retaliation will work well enough on them. But Darcozzi Lay on Hand is supposed to be spammed on as much party member as possible, which make the melee damages more conditional. => I think Darcozzi Fire Shield would work well if it retaliated from all source of damages (melee, ranged weapons, spell and abilities). This way, it would be more likely to produce some effect. 3) Darcozzi Fire Shield would work better if it was spammed on as many targets as possible, as soon as they take a few hit. This is a completely different playstyle from standard LoH (even more Shieldbearers' special) that are supposed to be emergency backup. But why wouldn't you want to spam it ? 1 Zeal isn't that much after all... Easy answer : because using LoH is freaking slow to use. A Paladin tends to be encaged in big steel and has no good speed up effect. Auras are passive, Exhortations are instant, but when you happen to use your few abilities with an actual recovery, you are going to use a lifetime to recover. For things such as Sacred Immolation or Light of Pure Zeal, this isn't very annoying, but for your little Tier 1 ability that you want to spam all over your party, that won't just work well. => I think Darcozzi Lay on Hand should ALSO get a faster recovery. 0.5/2s cast/recovery would be a really interesting buff as well as a much better synergy with their retaliation effect. Fluff-wise, I think it would fit to have Darcozzi Paladini quickly inspiring every party member with the living memory of the fires of Darcozzi Palace. To summarize, my current proposal would be : - Cast/Recovery for LoH/GLoH/HoL set to 0.5s/2s for Darcozzi Paladini as a secondary subclass feature - 45s fire shield which retaliates on every damage source - +4 AR vs Cold damages (no changes - around 6-10 base damages 7 base PEN (scaling +5% damages, +5% duration, +2 Acc, +0.5 PEN per Tier). These numbers can be discussed and take into account my intention to buff all retaliation effects - Flame Shield would be buffed to 16-24 with lesser scaling and only works vs melee. I might also : - reduce duration but increases damages (spammability) - give better value to Tier 3 GLoH/HoL fire shield compared to LoH one. I think this could be an interesting possibility because I fear the effect above could be a relatively more powerful at the lowest levels, so some staggering could help.
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PoE1 Darcozzi increased target accuracy with Liberating Exhortations. It was a stacking bonus. Although PoE2 subclasses work differently (not specific talent but a bonus to a Tier 1 ability), but I could imagine something like that, or one of the effect you propose. I could also have a short lived flame shield (with much greater effect) and a short lived buff with similar duration. To reflect the "passionate" idea. Maybe align everything with LoH duration. BPM Darcozzi fire shield does NOT provide Cold Immunity, just the vanilla bonus Cold AR. It felt too low tier ability to grant such effect (Flame Shield is Tier 4).