[Chanter/Beckoner - Single or Multi?]

+Paladin is good, because of the auras you can get and later one, you are immune to interruptions

 

How do you get immune to interruptions?

[Subclass Companions Like Eder To Unbroken]

If you don't care about achievements, you can add most subclasses with the AddAbility command. I made Eder a streetfighter.

 

If you do that, make sure to hire a merc with the subclass you want and look at what abilities you need. For streetfighter, I had to add the streetfighter core passive as well as the three abilities corresponding to Looking for a Fight, Heating Up, and the third one.

[Obsidian, you really need to add autoattacks (regular attacks) as an option in the AI programming]

I've been trying to program AI for my characters, and it is a really big deal that a regular attack (autoattack) is not one of the actions you can program. That lack has caused me to run into a wall in two different situations so far:

 

(1) I want to program Eder (swashbuckler) to put an affliction (via Crippling Strike) on a guy, attack him until it runs out, and then reapply the affliction when it runs out (to enable Sneak Attack, of course). The problem is that if I just program "If target doesn't have an affliction, do Crippling Strike" he just starts doing crippling strike on everything in reach until he runs out of guile. If I had an option to make a conditional that tells him to attack, I could make one that said "if target has affliction, attack it" and prioritize it over the other one. That way, if there is something with an affliction, he'll attack it; and if there isn't something with an affliction, he'll apply it.

 

(2) I want to program Pallegina to apply Sworn Rival, attack the enemy until it is dead and sworn rival's Zeal cost is refunded, immediately reapply sworn rival to another enemy and attack it, rinse and repeat. If I just program "if enemy doesn't have sworn rival, apply sworn rival" it'll start firing off at every enemy. If I could make a conditional that says "If enemy has sworn rival, attack" and prioritize it over the other one, I'd get the behavior I want: she'd attack anyone with sworn rival, and if there isn't anyone with it, she'll apply it.

 

So please, devs, add "regular attack" as one of the actions you can program your characters to do!

 

(Also, if anyone has any ideas about how to get the behaviors I want in these two cases with the tools we have, let me know!)

 

P.S. Game's awesome so far.

[Gilded Enmity]

I hear

 

 

 

Sorry, I think it is the Hardy inspiration you get from berserker frenzy (which gives +2 armor) that doesn't stack with Gilded Enmity -- the armor part, not the +5 con part. That's what I heard, anyway.

 

oh, you are right ... I have tested this (in the beta): Gilded Enmity, Hardy Inspiration and Zealous Endurance don't stack - only the highest armor rating bonus is active.

 

 

But inspiration should stack with Gilded Enmity right? So with Goldpact/Berserker u get +6 AR.

I heard not.

[Gilded Enmity]

Sorry, I think it is the Hardy inspiration you get from berserker frenzy (which gives +2 armor) that doesn't stack with Gilded Enmity -- the armor part, not the +5 con part. That's what I heard, anyway.

[Gilded Enmity]

I think so -- since Tenacious is an active ability and so is Gilded Enmity. And last I heard it lasts 7 hits. (But with sworn rival, as soon as you kill the guy with it on, you can renew it by casting on another.)

[Companion sub-classes?]

Actually every effect on kill is pretty great. Bloodlust gives you a stacking speed bonus (which are hard go get in Deadfire) and Blood Thirst resets recovery to 0.

 

I plan on testing a Barb/whatever class has nice on-kill effects to maximize the effect and focus on that. Maybe paired with on-crit effects because the barb also has some nice passives for that.

 

Paladin comes to mind with Inspiring Defeat (defenses stack). What else...?

 

In PoE one of the most powerful melee builds was Barb with Bloodlust + Blood Thirst + Firebrand.

 

Another Paladin ability, I think Inspired Victory or something -- regain Zeal on kill. So Paladin/Barb looks like a good way to go with this character concept.

[Help - Class/multiclass choice based on party]

 

Just normalize the stats - do 18 might, pick any two other attributes to put at 15, the rest at 10 -- all will help in different ways, none will kill you to put at 10. The stats (other than might) are less important than the ability combos. You can have both huge defenses and huge damage. Some good synergy I remember Kdubya saying elsewhere, and I can see from the wiki:

 

- Use berserker subclass, because paladin's mental fortress makes you immune to the berserker confusion effect once you get it.

- paladin armor aura and inspired defenses stack with barb thick skinned for +4 armor boost, so use heavy armor and you'll be taking peanuts in damage from each hit. You could use Goldpact Knight for the +4 armor buff (won't stack with aura, so use accuracy aura) to go even higher. My choice of paladin is about RPing, though, and they are all good. Don't use Kind Wayfarer unless you can get rid of confusion right from the start (party priest?) b/c you'll heal the enemy.

- paladin defense boosts are great to make the barb less fragile. Kdubya used dagger (w/modal) and hatchet (w/modal or not) for even more defenses for a small damage loss. But frankly your armor will be so beastly you might not need that at all (and he might have done that b/c of low resolve, which you are changing). Lots of other good defensive abilities (affliction resistances, self-heal, self-resurrection, etc.) in both classes too.

- Paladin flames of devotion/eternal flames and barb barbaric blow and carnage are beastly. One stands alone, bloody slaughter, bloodlust, blood thirst to top it off -- lots of great offensive abilities.

- definitely do 2-weapon style, both for quicker auto-attacks and full attack abilities hitting twice.

 

Basically, barb brings the offense and paladin brings the defense, but barb also brings some defense that stacks with paladin's stuff, and paladin brings some offense that enhances barb's stuff. Awesome synergy. 

 

This is so good it almost is tempting me away from my paladin/chanter tank/support I've been so excited to play.

Thanks for this, it does sound like it'd be really fun, actually. 

 

I don't mind low stats so much if they aren't used for conversations any more. I'm sure I read somewhere that stats don't matter for that anymore and it's all from the skills, is this true?

 

 

That, I have no idea about.

[Help - Class/multiclass choice based on party]

 

Just normalize the stats - do 18 might, pick any two other attributes to put at 15, the rest at 10 -- all will help in different ways, none will kill you to put at 10. The stats (other than might) are less important than the ability combos. You can have both huge defenses and huge damage. Some good synergy I remember Kdubya saying elsewhere, and I can see from the wiki:

 

- Use berserker subclass, because paladin's mental fortress makes you immune to the berserker confusion effect once you get it.

- paladin armor aura and inspired defenses stack with barb thick skinned for +4 armor boost, so use heavy armor and you'll be taking peanuts in damage from each hit. You could use Goldpact Knight for the +4 armor buff (won't stack with aura, so use accuracy aura) to go even higher. My choice of paladin is about RPing, though, and they are all good. Don't use Kind Wayfarer unless you can get rid of confusion right from the start (party priest?) b/c you'll heal the enemy.

- paladin defense boosts are great to make the barb less fragile. Kdubya used dagger (w/modal) and hatchet (w/modal or not) for even more defenses for a small damage loss. But frankly your armor will be so beastly you might not need that at all (and he might have done that b/c of low resolve, which you are changing). Lots of other good defensive abilities (affliction resistances, self-heal, self-resurrection, etc.) in both classes too.

- Paladin flames of devotion/eternal flames and barb barbaric blow and carnage are beastly. One stands alone, bloody slaughter, bloodlust, blood thirst to top it off -- lots of great offensive abilities.

- definitely do 2-weapon style, both for quicker auto-attacks and full attack abilities hitting twice.

 

Basically, barb brings the offense and paladin brings the defense, but barb also brings some defense that stacks with paladin's stuff, and paladin brings some offense that enhances barb's stuff. Awesome synergy. 

 

This is so good it almost is tempting me away from my paladin/chanter tank/support I've been so excited to play.

 

goldpact ability and aura do not stack? why the hell is that? that super sucks and makes the ability a LOT less appealing? are you sure about this

 

Well, I'm inferring this from the fact that both are active abilities, and the general rule is: passives stack, actives don't.

[Companion sub-classes?]

Also Cohh picked up Tekehu. He didn't click on one new skill at Power Level 8, so we don't know what that is (Unless he did it later).

 

This is what I picked up from Tekehu: https://imgur.com/a/xjhf6GF

 

Ooohh, I like Takehu's ability. Does it make all his water/frost spells foe-only, or just the special ones he gets? I'd love a foe-only Overwhelming Wave, or a foe-only Maelstrom.

[Help - Class/multiclass choice based on party]

Just normalize the stats - do 18 might, pick any two other attributes to put at 15, the rest at 10 -- all will help in different ways, none will kill you to put at 10. The stats (other than might) are less important than the ability combos. You can have both huge defenses and huge damage. Some good synergy I remember Kdubya saying elsewhere, and I can see from the wiki:

 

- Use berserker subclass, because paladin's mental fortress makes you immune to the berserker confusion effect once you get it.

- paladin armor aura and inspired defenses stack with barb thick skinned for +4 armor boost, so use heavy armor and you'll be taking peanuts in damage from each hit. You could use Goldpact Knight for the +4 armor buff (won't stack with aura, so use accuracy aura) to go even higher. My choice of paladin is about RPing, though, and they are all good. Don't use Kind Wayfarer unless you can get rid of confusion right from the start (party priest?) b/c you'll heal the enemy.

- paladin defense boosts are great to make the barb less fragile. Kdubya used dagger (w/modal) and hatchet (w/modal or not) for even more defenses for a small damage loss. But frankly your armor will be so beastly you might not need that at all (and he might have done that b/c of low resolve, which you are changing). Lots of other good defensive abilities (affliction resistances, self-heal, self-resurrection, etc.) in both classes too.

- Paladin flames of devotion/eternal flames and barb barbaric blow and carnage are beastly. One stands alone, bloody slaughter, bloodlust, blood thirst to top it off -- lots of great offensive abilities.

- definitely do 2-weapon style, both for quicker auto-attacks and full attack abilities hitting twice.

 

Basically, barb brings the offense and paladin brings the defense, but barb also brings some defense that stacks with paladin's stuff, and paladin brings some offense that enhances barb's stuff. Awesome synergy. 

 

This is so good it almost is tempting me away from my paladin/chanter tank/support I've been so excited to play.

[Help - Class/multiclass choice based on party]

If you want overwhelmingly powerful, search for the Carbide Chainsaw by Kdubya. Paladin/Barbarian. Lots of powerful defenses and damage. Paladin is kind of like a priest, right?

[Skald multiclass options]

 

 

Apologies to resurrect this thread, but it looks as though there have been some recent changes to dual wield, so that it's now "only" -15% recovery time to weapon recovery time.

 

It seems to me that single weapon style might now be the best choice for a skald to maximise crit chance (single weapon style & disciplined strikes would be 60% if they stack I think? Going up to 90% if you're hitting a target affected by the killers froze stiff). The reduced weapon speed recovery on fast weapons doesn't seem to worth it.

 

Does this seem right or am I well off?

They don't stack exactly that way. Each hit-to-crit chance gets checked independently, one after the other. So if you have one 25% hit-to-crit from disciplined strikes' intuitive inspiration (it was nerfed from 50% by the way) and 20% from one-handed style, one will be checked, then the other if the first doesn't upgrade it.

 

So, imagine you check the 25% chance first. 75% won't get upgraded. Then you have another 20% chance of upgrading those 75%, which means that the 20% chance is really, functionally, 20% of 75%, which is actually 15% (.2 x .75). So you get 40% hit-to-crit from disciplined strikes and one-handed style, not 45%. And so on with any other sources -- you get progressively smaller returns with every additional source.

Right sorry I think I see now. A shame about Intuitive but perhaps it was too strong.

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

I think it is overly complicated. I wish you could just add the chances up together -- it would be a lot easier to figure out.

[[POTD Difficulty] Launch NOT tuned discussion thread]

 

In the greater sort of, view of the game... does this mean they spread themselves too thin? Surely they should cut the features down and try finish the ones they have rather than add more and leave them unfinished?

* NOTE: I am something of a difficulty fetishist (though not on the first couple of playthroughs).  But even I realize that it's a side challenge that the vaaaaaaast majority of the user base not only won't care about, but would be upset to find out that things were cut just so folks like us could scratch an itch.

 

 

 

By the way, it would be extremely interesting to know what percentage of players do more than one playthrough (you mentioned "first couple", and this caught my eye). In my view, PoE 1 had a replay value of exactly zero: there was nothing random in the game, and the world was totally static except for the choices you made as a player.

 

I really liked playing the game, but having got to the end, I can't see why I would ever want to start another game. (No criticism implied here.)

 

 

I did a couple, but I have to like the story enough to want to hear it more than once. I wouldn't do another playthrough solely for gameplay purposes. (That's why I have to plan out my class builds and everything beforehand, because the first time is the main playthrough.)

 

I'm the type who reads fantasy fiction books more than once, or watches movies more than once. It is the same. (Interestingly, I don't like to make really different story choices, because it causes cognitive dissonance if the story goes differently. "That's not how it goes!" the little kid in me shouts at me. I have to play more or the less the same character role-play wise, even if the class is different.)

[Is it possible to make a pure riposte build?]

Somewhere in these forums there is a great riposte-type tank build, but it doesn't use the rogue riposte, it uses the monk's soul mirror and blade turning abilities. I think it was an Unbroken/Nalpaszca. One of Boerer's, if I recall. Looks better than riposte, since riposte only works on a total miss. Blade turning can turn more than just misses.

[Skald multiclass options]

Apologies to resurrect this thread, but it looks as though there have been some recent changes to dual wield, so that it's now "only" -15% recovery time to weapon recovery time.

 

It seems to me that single weapon style might now be the best choice for a skald to maximise crit chance (single weapon style & disciplined strikes would be 60% if they stack I think? Going up to 90% if you're hitting a target affected by the killers froze stiff). The reduced weapon speed recovery on fast weapons doesn't seem to worth it.

 

Does this seem right or am I well off?

 They don't stack exactly that way. Each hit-to-crit chance gets checked independently, one after the other. So if you have one 25% hit-to-crit from disciplined strikes' intuitive inspiration (it was nerfed from 50% by the way) and 20% from one-handed style, one will be checked, then the other if the first doesn't upgrade it.

 

So, imagine you check the 25% chance first. 75% won't get upgraded. Then you have another 20% chance of upgrading those 75%, which means that the 20% chance is really, functionally, 20% of 75%, which is actually 15% (.2 x .75). So you get 40% hit-to-crit from disciplined strikes and one-handed style, not 45%. And so on with any other sources -- you get progressively smaller returns with every additional source.

[How to build a melee wizard?]

Were you guys underwhelmed by Citzal's Martial Power? I was expecting something better than first-tier inspirations for the cost of not being able to cast spells. Those second-tier inspirations are just so much better, and the martial classes mostly all have abilities that get them those.

[Early Access Stream Friday 8am EST]

Those who saw the stream: can you respec/control companion attributes (Might etc.)? That was an unanswered question going in.

[First impression on full ability tree]

 

Monks and chanters look super awesome. Bets are on beckoner being nerfed.

 

 

Honestly, if they nerf beckoner at all, troubadour will turn out to be better at summoning, which would be ironic. Troubadour is already better at summoning the highest-level summons: it can keep that power level 9 dragon up all the time, while the beckoner has no shot at that.

[Deadfire: Would you like to know more?]

 

 

What exactly are the numbers for the streetfighter bonuses and maluses? That is, how much bonus do they get to sneak attack and recovery time when flanked/bloodied, and how much of a penalty when they aren't?

 

If I have a fighter/rogue that will be using full plate, dual-wielding and getting into the thick of things, is a streetfighter a no-brainer pick or not?

Below 50% hp or flanked: -50% recovery, +50% sneak attack damage.

Below 50% hp AND flanked: The above bonuses, +100% crit damage.

 

If you're getting into the thick of things and using full plate, absolutely go Streetfighter.

I thought the numbers were -20% recovery and +20% damage. Did it change for the release build? If so that is crazy string unless they massively increased the non-flanked penalty too.

 

What was the penalty?

[After seeing all the high class abilities...]

I didn't realize that the base duration of summons was halved for beckoners. Are we sure it is possible to keep summons up at all times? Say, the Ogres: is it possible to keep them up at all times as a Beckoner?

 

They'll cost three phrases: 3x6=18 seconds for phrase accumulation, 6 second cast time = 24 seconds total. If base duration is 12.5, how can you get that to 24? Same for other summons.

 

It would be ironic if Troubadour was a better summoner than Beckoner.

[Quick question on resistance stacking]

Yeah, those are separate. But critical hits get a bonus to penetration (in addition to their bonus to damage) -- how much, I don't know exactly. But critical hits do make it easier to penetrate armor. And since penetration/overpenetration affects damage, critical hits end up affecting damage in two different ways.

[Companion custom subclass details?]

I second this request. Kudos to anyone who has watched the stream and can post details on subclass abilities. I especially really want to know how to build Takehu and Xoti, which depends a lot on the details of their subclasses.

[[POTD Difficulty] Launch NOT tuned discussion thread]

I remember at some point in the development cycle them saying that tuning PotD was pretty low on their priority list, since most people will play on Normal/Veteran difficulties. Those were their tuning priorities. So this shouldn't be a surprise. I actually really appreciate how much Sawyer seems to care about PotD difficulty, to the point that he'd apologize for it being too easy at times (more precisely, too uneven). Can you imagine, say, current day Bioware feeling the same? I can't. His attitude just confirms my trust in this studio.

 

As for me: I play slow, so the balancing patch should come out before I'm halfway through the game, and it is the second half I want tuned up anyway. Veteran (or Hard) is good enough for me early game, before my builds are complete.

[Quick question on resistance stacking]

That one I don't know. I don't have the beta.