Nobear

It still doesn't appear to do anything in 1.0.6. I finally made a bug report here.

It still doesn't appear to do anything in 1.0.6. I finally made a bug report here.

I just tested this ability out on a solo cipher on the latest 1.0.6. We have this thread and that thread from a long time ago, but it seems this is the only forum where issues like this get seen and answered by devs, so I figured it was about time to make it a bug report here. It might actually be a good ability for finishing off tough enemies if it worked as the tooltip suggests, but it appears to do nothing at all. Has this perhaps been addressed in 2.0 or not?

I just mean that I wouldn't restrict myself as much as you. I've read your other thread about self-imposed rulesets. My only self-imposed restriction is I won't exploit meta-information, like locations for "random" items, that my characters would have no way of knowing about. The only thing I might have done differently (given your ruleset) is focus-fire in certain situations where you split up your DPS a lot, for example with that xaurip and whelp who were both very low. However, maybe they were both so low you were certain they'd each die in one hit? So, given your self-imposed ruleset which is not my style, I'll say it was well-played and I enjoyed watching it.

It seems there's been an update to your update here. Mikey didn't specify whether it'd be ready for Part 1 or not, but it's still very welcome news that it's being worked on. Beta patches only on Steam? Are you sure? Why?? Bah, I really was hoping I could help you guys squish bugs... Sorry, when I spoke with the representatives at GoG about it they mentioned that they didn't currently have the capability. Maybe we can get something in the future, though. Again, thanks for the updates, whether they are good or bad news. I think achievements will make it better enough that I'll be able to forgive and forget about the other stuff .

I may have answered one of my own questions. If things still work like this really old Wiki entry states they were once planned to work, the base casting times are instant, 3 sec and 6 sec, respectively. I'd like to know, though, if the 3 and 6 sec times include recovery or not. I believe base recovery (without encumbering armor) is the same length as the cast itself, meaning the base total time for a slow spell would be either 6 sec or 12 sec, depending. Big difference there. In any case, if I focus on Fast spells (and maybe a few Average if they're really good), I may yet find a way to almost completely eliminate the pain of dumped Dex. Stay tuned! Update: I have been testing Quick Switch back and forth between two two-handed melee weapons, and it does consistently work to increase DPS by (from appearances) completely eliminating recovery from each weapon every time, so that each hits as fast as it can swing. What it does not do is eliminate recovery after you've cast a spell and want to go back into melee, so there is still that delay after casting Mental Binding or something before I can start swinging again and really take advantage of it. If Mental Binding hits instead of grazes, it still does give me enough time to get in 2-3 swings with the enemy paralyzed though. Overall, it seems like a good way to maximize focus gain before you have access to retaliation items, as well as to cast those powers as soon as you have enough focus for them. You do lose deflection vs, say, dual wielding hatchets. The verdict is still out on whether this will be a viable play style in the long run. I should note a caveat that I was mistaken and there is no such autopause option to pause when you hit an enemy, only for when an enemy hits you, so it does require a lot of micromanagement and watching out for every time you take a swing. I definitely wouldn't bother doing this if I weren't soloing.

I assume so, since Might applies to every source of damage or healing, even potions and scrolls.

I know this is an old post, but assuming it still works the same in 1.0.6, can someone please explain what is meant by circle clicking around them to rotate your beam when you are engaged? I haven't been able to pull off Antipathetic Field very often solo because enemies typically swarm me. Any tips? Do you guys rely on speed gear/potions? Also, I read somewhere (I forget where) about forcing disengagement attacks while doing this. How do you force disengagement attacks, as opposed to eating them yourself?

After a very cursory test of Quick Switch, it does indeed seem like it'll be a DPS increase with a Dex-dumped character switching back and forth between two two-handed melee weapons as soon as each one hits. I only had one two-hander and one crossbow at the time of testing (just after Cilant Lis and hitting level 2, tested on the bandit on the way to Gilded Vale). It also made a huge difference in how soon Eyestrike started casting just after I opened at range with the crossbow and switched to the two-hander. This is basically how I'd expect the talent to work, only it hadn't really sunk in until recently how awesome this could be. The recovery time removal is, after all, what delays any action performed after switching weapons, whether that action is to auto attack with the new weapon, cast a spell, drink a potion, etc. I'll keep playing from this point and update on my impressions of how this play style compares over many fights in practice. Edit: I can't find this info when I'd most like it: what are the base casting times for Fast, Average and Slow spells/powers? Also, do you know how I might do frame-by-frame testing like some people do? My tests, while meaningful to me, are maybe lacking the objective precision that some might like to have. And ok, I will agree with you that this is cheesy, as no real person would be able to hit faster by switching between two weapons than they could by sticking to one, but I'm excited to try to exploit this use for the talent that I thought of and haven't read about elsewhere, cheesy or not .

OMG thank you!!!!!!! Devs that listen to players, even if it's just me and a small handful of players who've been expressing a desire for this on the forums, I bet there are many more who will benefit from this. Really looking forward to it!

It wouldn't be my style, but it's pretty cool. Splitting up the party like that is one way to deal with pathing issues of a mostly melee party .

Well I pretty much asked for this lol, looks like there'll be some testing the next time I load up the game!

I could see Vengiatta Rugia (or Coat of Ill Payment) being top choices for a melee cipher who exploits uses the Carow Golan + retaliation mechanic for focus, but what makes retaliation particularly good for a melee wizard? Is it synergy with Combusting Wounds? Here is a guy advocating for Sanguine Plate due to its Frenzy spell holding, which would more than make up for the loss of speed due to it being plate. I should note, though, that he is not specifically presenting that as a solo build. The major downside I could see is that activating the Frenzy effect depends on being crit, which you are generally trying to negate with spells that boost your deflection, so perhaps I'll discover that it doesn't really go with my style after all. Have you really found on PoTD so far that you don't really need DR if you focus enough on defenses? Lastly, I never meant to imply that switching grimoires would reset your available spell casts, I don't know what gave you that impression. It doesn't AFAIK. I personally don't keep multiple grimoires, I just swap individual spells if I feel the need to based on different types of fights/enemies.

Yes, but it's currently in beta and only available to Steam users, so I just wanted to make sure he was clear that you were talking about the latest beta rather than the latest live patch.

Which begs the question for me: might there me a situation where quick-switching yields a DPS boost for melee weapons, and not just for guns? Say you wear plate and quick-switch between two two-handed weapons the instant you land a hit with one. I wonder if you'd do more DPS than you would by just auto attacking with one. Anyway, I know you haven't tested Quick Switch, so this is for me to test or for someone else to answer if they happen to know. As for cheese, there's a wide variation to what people consider "cheesy," since that's a very subjective concept. We can see an extreme in the thread about highly restrictive personal rulesets that involve no use of anything remotely magical, as well as severe self-imposed nerfs to powerful melee classes. Personally, one thing I've considered too cheesy to ever do is use the "random" items list and rest X number of days because I know that a particular item that's supposed to be random is going to be there. I think the difference for me is that that takes me completely out of the immersion, since there is no way to justify your characters having some sort of "insider knowledge" about the matrix they live in, if you will. I could, however, justify a talent being really strong if applied in just the right way by, well, my character developing that talent through training and figuring out how to apply it in just the right way.

Ranged: Wood Elf Important stats, PE, MI, IN Tank: Wild Orlan Stats: RE, CO, IN, MI This would be for 2.0, not 1.0.6, to be clear for everyone reading.

Thanks for pointing that out for any new players who might not be aware. Personally I am, and realize my build will change with 2.0, but I will also be able to respec at that point. Unless the synthetic tank spells that temporarily increase Deflection and other stats are getting a nerf, I'll probably prioritize Per higher in 2.0, not lower. Dumping Con will also be more significant. Overall, I think Alexis's build will actually become more attractive to me in 2.0.

You could alternately make the argument that you don't need to max Per + Res (at least not Per, in 1.0.6), due to other spells that greatly increase Deflection and other tanking stats. With 20 Dex and plate armor, I'm slow but not painfully slow like my cipher is, and overall I feel I have a much tankier and stronger character at low levels in the wizard. But what stat spread and armor type would you use for a solo melee wizard on PoTD on 1.0.6?

It's good to know what I'd be looking out for in testing with 1.0.6. Helpful, but your last sentence confuses me. What would I gain from an additional weapon slot? Are you implying that the recovery time shortening can only happen once per encounter per weapon set? Because I was thinking (hoping) that immediately after gaining the necessary focus from a weapon swing, I'd switch weapons and cast the power, and keep switching back and forth between two sets like this as many times as expedient for that encounter. It seems I'd still benefit from different stats including higher Dex either way. What kinds of stats would you recommend for 1.0.6 for a solo melee cipher planning on eventually using the retaliation + Carow Golan mechanic?

Ok thank you for clarifying. Yes, I did expect dumping Dex to slow me down (obviously), but I didn't expect it to be quite as painful as it's turning out lol. And that answer about Quick Switch is exactly what I wanted to know. I still have my save from exiting Cilant Lis just before leveling to level 2, so I could take Quick Switch and test it to see if it still works like that. So if it does still work the same way, if I have the option to autopause when I hit an enemy, should I be able to switch weapons the instant I gain enough focus for a power, then instantly cast that power? Or by instantly cast, do you simply mean that I will start the cast without having to wait for the recovery time from the last auto attack, and the cast itself will still take however long it takes based on my Dex score? Also, did the cheese only ever work one way? In other words, if I switch weapons the instant after I cast a power, would I (if the cheese is still present) be able to instantly go into auto attack while being spared the spell recovery time, or not?

Yo I was just trying it out. I maxed Dex on my wizard, but alexis said he dumped it to max Per and Res. I didn't feel like starting over with the same class. You make yourself out to be some pro, often talking about how easy the game is, but what matters to people on these forums is whether you can apply experience toward actually saying something helpful or not. Edit: I don't just want to rag on people here, I want to point out positive examples of what I'm talking about. You know who I miss from this community that I haven't seen in a while, who applies their experience to help people? Gromnir, Luckman, Malveaux... Nakia admits to not being an expert, but loves to share strategy and has interesting things to say about European martial arts and other real life war tactics... there's also a guy whose name I'm forgetting but loves rogues and links to good builds when new players ask. Of course everyone who was on these forums at least a couple of months ago knows of Pedroelm and all the work he did testing game mechanics to answer anyone's question about how a spell or ability really works. I also have to say that Alexis came into this community with an aggressive tone and didn't properly fact check at first, but I think he has learned and is really a decent guy and wants to help, and he is gaining experience and growing on me as a member of this community. I do have him largely to thank for swaying my decision to make a wizard my first solo character. I am probably forgetting other great contributors who are not so active these days, but it is my hope that some of those I mentioned or am forgetting come back for the expansion, and that the newer members continue to grow and find their place here.

Hi guys, I know what the tooltip says, but I read recently and can no longer find where I read that this talent results in some kind of cheese for spell casters. Could anyone elaborate on that? On PoTD I have started two solo characters: a level 4 melee wizard with 18/3/20/3/17/17, and a level 3 melee cipher with 18/9/4/18/10/19. They are both currently wearing plate. The wizard with the relatively glass-cannon-y build (but with Arcane/Hardened Veil) feels far tankier and overall stronger. They are both currently wearing the heaviest and most protective armor they have found. One of the issues I'm having with the cipher is that even fast-casting spells take a long time when cast immediately after a weapon swing that grants me the necessary focus. Then there's another painfully long delay after the spell is cast before I can start auto attacking again, enough that I've found it not worthwhile to cast Mental Binding in the vast majority of cases. I believe in both cases it is due to recovery after the power or swing is performed. I am wondering if the Quick Switch talent would help with this at all. I'm assuming it would let me switch faster from a ranged weapon alpha strike to my melee DPS (or tank when I get a retaliation item) setup. But if this is all it would do, it's probably not worth getting. I am thinking maybe dumping Dex was a bad idea, even if my thought is to eventually gain most of my focus through retaliation items + Carow Golan. Then for the wizard, is the grimoire cooldown reduction simply the amount of time you have to wait out of combat when switching spells or grimoires, and nothing more? Thanks for any info.

Beta patches only on Steam? Are you sure? Why?? Bah, I really was hoping I could help you guys squish bugs...

As Kanasuke mentioned just above that post (notice the dates on some of these threads you are reviving; that post was from April), that carnage damage was only possible before patch 1.0.5. Jolting Touch I've read also used to be OP and was toned way down at some point. That said, I'd also like to know exactly what damage boosts were in place, what class was being played, and what accounts for the big Burn component. My best guess (and this is pure speculation) is that it might have come from Azurieth's Stiletto enchanted with Burning Lash on a rogue at a time when this combination was totally OP.

I guess, but I'd rather have it than not, its better than nothing, and its actually saved my life before. Yeah, it's pretty lackluster in general, but it did save my life once lol. I was soloing some dudes in Raedric's Hold, I ran out of spell casts, my conjured weapon's duration expired, and I finished off the captain I was fighting with that watcher ability for 4 damage LOL! Then I switched to arbalest to kill the ranger who was left. Uh, just because it saved my life once doesn't mean it's a good ability though. 4 damage on the one enemy it mattered with so far? lol