Boeroer

Oha, that would have been much cooler than her just waiting casually on top of that tower. I guess release came faster than anticipated (as always ;)).

I don't see why I should have asked you a question. You should consider that I didn't write that text for you alone, but also for other readers who might find your rant (which is based on your subjective, very short first impression). They could get influeced by it if there's no counter, missing out on what I think is an excellent and fun game. Of course I am biased: I like the game very much. But still: I made some (I think) pretty solid arguments and gave examples as to why Deadfire's systems are superior compared to PoE's. I was polite, not agressive and I didn't judge your personal opinion. I literally said "it's absolutely valid to dislike the changes made". I merely objected your conclusion and your opinion about the game's systems. There also wasn't a blind defense. I took the time and worded my response carefully and wrote down a bunch of examples - one cannot step back, look at my reply and seriously call that a blind defense. I agree though that I'm not really interested in your position about the game. I'm more interested in the possible effects your rant might have on potential future players - and I want to present a counterargument which is trying to be more objective and resonable... so that those potential players have a chance to make a more educated decision. I like to help players who have problems with/questions about both games' mechanics, rules, builds, tactics and so on. But I'm not interested to play therapist for disappointed players. If you don't enjoy Deadfire then that's fine with me. Not everybody has to like the same things. You're welcome. I also answered your question about Avowed and other Obsidian games. I hoped that would be useful, too. Cheers!

Hi! Objectively, from the game mechanics perspective, Deadfire is the superior system. One can still dislike the changes from PoE to Deadfire of course - but often that seems to stem from the fact that people don't welcome any changes to something the liked in general, even if the changes are for the better. I felt the same way initially when Deadfire's beta came out (there is still a ranting post from me to be found here in the forums somewhere). I was just disappointed that they didn't keep the rules as they were instead of re-inventing the wheel - but I came around eventually once I got used to the changes and once I got an overall better grasp of the game and its new systems. I would suggest you give it a bit more time. I think it's totally worth it. Here are some changes to game systems which are improvements: power level scaling makes sure that low level abilities and spells scale/progress and stay impactful. For example: unlike PoE's Magic Missiles which are basically useless in the later game, Deadfire's Power Level scaling adds more and more missiles to that spell so that it's still worth casting even in the game the (multi)class system works very well and allows for a lot of interesting and fun to play combos. In PoE we only got some cross-class talents. the affliction/inspirations system is more intuitive and practical than PoE's affliction system which had no solid structure. It's also more tactical because you can counter afflictions with the fitting inspirations (and not only Priests' prayer spells) - and you get resistances and immunities on top While I miss the 6th party member, the endurance/health system and per-rest spells, the new approach (party of 5, only health, per-encounter spells) have their advantages, too. Mainly it made it easier to design and balance encounters - and imo one can feel and see that: a lot less meaningless filler fights for example. the PEN/AR scales much better with your progression than PoE's DR did (even though it's a bit too punishing on PotD imo) stealth in combination with sneaking and pickpocketing is just no comparison to PoE (pickpocket wasn't even possible) the interrupt/concentration system is a lot more tactical and not just an uncontrollable side effect it was in PoE - instead the interrupt is a powerful tool and having concentration is a meaningful protection against it unique item enchantments in PoE were not that diversified, the enchantment system is pretty generic: you put the same enchantments on every weapon/armor. In Deadfire every unique item has a unique enchtantment and weapons and armor have unique upgrade "trees" with interesting effects - many of them lead to cool combinations with certain (multi)class abilities which are fun to explore Deadfire has a nice UI-based AI-"if this than that"-scripting tool which is leages better than anything you can do with PoE's party AI settings pets (not the Ranger's Animal Companion) which were only cosmetic in PoE have useful individual and party-wide effects now in Deadfire the new weapon proficiencies grant you a weapon modal but the system doesn't give non-proficient weapons disadvantages - PoE's weapon focus soft-locked you out of certain weapon choices you can export party members as hireligs for other playthroughs the stacking rules are much less obscure and less "all over the place" in Deadfire the combat log is a lot more detailed and helpful the character info (currect stats, effects etc.) is more detailed And so on and so forth... I personally liked the tone and "vibes" of PoE better than Deadfire, I also liked the main story of PoE more - but the systems design of Deadfire is way, way better than PoE's. While it's absolutely valid to dislike the changes made (initially of forever) - a game has to meet your taste after all for you to be happy with it after all - it's not right to call Deadfire's game system inferior. Mechanically Avowed is nothing like PoE... or Deadfire either (unfortunately). Besides it being a first person, real time action RPG (like Skyrim etc.), it also has more streamlined character creation and progression systems, UI etc. due ot it being developed for gaming consoles (and therefore gamepads) as well. PoE and Deadfire were originally designed for PC only and their mechanics and the UI options are a lot more intricate. Outer Worlds stuff is the same as Avowed in that regard basically. There are lots of mods for Deadfire and they are easy to install and manage (Deadfire has a build-in mod manager - another plus). I took a quick look but cannot find any mod which would introduce a whole bunch of PoE rules into Deadfire - besides some minor things like putting PoE's Riposte chances into Deadfire - or some unique items. Here's an overview: https://www.nexusmods.com/games/pillarsofeternity2/mods?sort=createdAt Cheers!

I never have issues with keeping the animal companion alive, especially when it's a bear. Just don't use it as a tank, instead keep it back for a few seconds, let the real tank handle the incoming enemies and use the AC to flank - then it's totally fine imo. I played a solo melee Stalker/Bloodmage with little means to heal my bear and it went very well. If you have a Chanter (like your Shieldbearer/Troubadour or the Wildrhymer) in the party then even better: should you screw up and your AC goes down you can revive it unlimited times with "Rise Again" (PL4): animal companions never get injured and phrases are unlimited. And you can have some other means of rivival besides that (Paladin, Ranger himself). But I think with the occasional healing from White Flames, Lay on Hands from two Paladins etc. you should be totally fine. Since you also bring a Cipher (Seer): Pain Block is excellent on a bear.

sorry double post: a very good front liner who will be very self-sustainable despite the self damage- as long as he kills - is a Berserker/Beckoner or Troubadour. Max INT + INT items and a pet that heals +20 on kill. Amra as main weapon and 25+ MIG (rel. easy with the help of Frenzy and some +2 MIG gloves). High CON is also good. The key is to use Carnage and Amra's Riven Gore to accidentially kill your own skeletons while you attack the actual enemy with Bleeding Cuts. First Bloodlust will help you to speed up after any kill, you will get healed after any kill (including skeletons) which is a lot of healing. Then after getting Blood Thirst there will be no recovery after kills, the build turns into a bleeding cuts tornado. The only thing is: this is not a tank per se. If there's nothing to kill (quickly) he can do down fast. And party members with low health (under 50) can get instantly destroyed from Riven Gore while the Berserker is still confused. So better stay out of Carnage range. First you use Ancient Brittle Bones (Beckoner is the better pick), later Many Lives Pass By (Troubadour is better). You can use that also as Berserker/Fighter with Mob Stance on top of all the killing which makes it even more crazy (and sturdier) - if you have a Chanter in the party who can provide skeletons for you. But then you really really shouldn't go near this guy as party member.

Since you'd like a shield: I played a pretty straightforward main tank with an offensive twist for my party - made from a human Streetfighter/Devoted, themed as Gladiator. He used the Gladiator's Sword (obviously) and Bronlar's Phalanx (also kind of mandatory for the theme imo). Since swashbuckler Edér (no subclasses) always worked perfectly well for my parties in terms of tankyness, I thought that using a Streetfighter/Devoted shouldn't impact the sturdyness at all but improve the dmg output a lot. And it did. As main tank he will get flanked almost always, so no need for distracted or other "artifical" flanking shenanigans - just tank stuff and unlock "Heating Up" in the process, increasing recovery speed a lot and adding more sneak attack damage. Also Gladiator's Sword has incresed PEN (if enchanted fully) and the Devoted adds +2 PEN on top. That's +3 PEN with the sword for all pierce and slash damage which is great. Monastic Unarmed Training for enemies vulnerable to crush dmg. I'd use Hold the Line and Mob Stance for even more speed, Abraham for the speed and heal on kill. Large shield modal makes sure I don't receive damage much from spells while you can still move around with Escape. DEX could be a bit lower, PER a bit higher (to counter the -8 ACC from large shields). Armored Grace and Riposte obviously... I think I used Reckless Brigandine iirc for the added engagement, +AR when at low health and the added speed via engagement. I liked it very much because it performed a lot better than I expected. I guess it would work well with any good one-handed weapon, but Riposte and Mob Stance might favor battle axes with bleeding cuts. Against lower level kith the Magistrate's Cudgel should be absolutely devastating (crit => instakill => Cleave => maybe another crit and so on), but maybe then Mace + Devoted isn't the best pick (crush only). Stalker's Patience should also be great bc. Riposte and Cleave can trigger the recovery skip. It was a "hands off" character though - I didn't need to manage him a ton (like you would need to manage a Monk or so). I didn't even bother with special attacks like Crippling Strikes or so because he was a meat grinder just with auto-attacks. Used the Guile and Discipline for other stuff. Some players like that for their MC, others want "more to do" for their Watcher.

Hi, yeah, saving + reloading turns some active afteer-combat effects into passives - which then stack with everything. This is also possible with some food bonuses or the accuracy bonus of Hunter's Claw.

Chanter was already mentioned as option by OP, that's why I didn't include it.

That is correct. The enemies are attacking themselves. Blade Turning redirects the attack roll back towards the enemy. You Monk's accuracy isn't involved. So, good pick I'd say. Just shooting from the hip: Stalker/Shieldbearer with tanking capabilites and support + an offensive-minded animal companion (Wolf for more base dmg or Lion for faster attacks): the Ranger/Paladin buffs the animal companion's dmg output (and the one of the other allies, including summons). Use Brand Enemy (it's an auto-hit) to deal reliable damamge and unlock Predator's Sense for the animal companion all the time. SC Kind Wayfarer with dual pistols (no modal) with FoD+White Flames+Ring of Focused Flames for good accuracy despite low PER (you need to graze with FoD in order to trigger White Flames' healing) - for healing and the goal of utilizing PL9's Divine Retribution. This will give the Paladin unlimited Zeal with he help of all the summons you might use in the party (and who will get killed all the time -> +2 Zeal). Paladins with unlimited Zeal can spam Exhortations. Exhortations are good, but usually too expensive to really turn the tides in an encounter. Not if you can spam them... Also you can put Brand Enemy (auto hit) on everybody. Berserker/Priest of Wael: confuse yourself and use Withdraw to remove enemies from the battlefield for a long time. This is an auto-hit! Also enemies' Resolve doesn't shorten the duration because it's a benefial effect which you only use in a hostile way. I'm pretty sure Wael would approve. Tactician/Priest of Wael: same thing as above, but you need to trigger confusion otherwise - for example with a blunderbuss + Powder Burns. No immunity to flanked or PER-Afflictions, no resistane to PER afflictions either - the confusion only works if the Tactician can get flanked. Aura-guy: Cap of the Laughingstock: this item lowers enemies' deflection by 10 automatically in an AoE (aura). No hit roll. Ngati's Tusk: lowers all defenses except deflection by 5 points. With high Survival you can get it to -10. Aura, no hit roll either. Blackened Plade: Death in Life does an AoE DoT which is an auto-hit aura, too. All three together could be used by a Helwalker/Whatever (+10 MIG for the Plate's dmg, +10 INT for max AoE) OR a SC Psion with Shared Nightmares. The AoE will become absurdly big the longer the Psion accumulates focus. Assassin/Bloodmage: use Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure to stay invisible (+25 acc) while applying CC spells which won't break this invisibility. Wizard in general has: self buffs Thrust of Tattered Veils (auto-hit) Minoletta's Minor Missiles (auto-hit) Essential/Substantial Phantom which can use the Wizard's (summoned) weapons with its own accuracy (it's VERY good with Draining Touch - which doesn't go away on a Phantom). good weapons/items for the Phantom: Draining Touch with Helm of the White Void: automatic +10 accuracy because Draining Touch causes weaken on graze/hit/crit. Also drains life for the phantom, making it harder to kill. Caedebald's Blackbow with the same helmet: same reason, but terrifies on attack, jumps to additional enemy (12m range in any direction). Arcane Cleanse (PL9) is an auto-hit Arcane Reflection and similar: bascially the Blade Turning against directed spells Ancient Druid: Sporelings (very long lasting, very well scaling summons) Wild Growth (gives any beast or primordial summon the Robust inspiration for as long as the summon lasts) - awesome with Sporelings but also great with "Call to the Primordials" summoning spell healing could be paired with Psion (Pain Block for more Robust inspiration) or Chanter (has aura healing and Aefyllath as well as beast and primordial summons which can also profit from Wild Growth)

You can export a character who has that armor and hire that character in an inn as an adventurer with items (expensive). This requires no console command and also doesn't disable achievements.

Playing with a party most of times I usually don't use any of the otherwise great debuffing weapon modals (club, morning star etc.) on a Psion because I don't want to go near enemies. For any other Cipher subclass it would make a lot of sense though. Hitting the enemy with a Bewildering Blow before applying a Deception spell to gain some focus while also lower Will by 25 points should increase the hit quality of the spell a lot. I'm no too concerned about recovery penalty with Psions because you'll have to wait a bit for more focus from time to time - might as well make the wait count (with higher AR and other defensive goodies). So stuff like Casita Samelia's Legacy or even Nomad's Brigandine is fine for me even if I'm an offensive-minded character in the first place. But like with a Chanter who gains resorces just by waiting it's generally a great payoff: more defense with little repercussions on offense.

As Psion I would pick up Tuotilo's Palm for the +10 deflection/reflex bonus when at 10 wounds (because you want to disincentivize enemies attacking you). Best with the Gladiator Sword I guess (+5 additional deflection). No accuracy penalty. I would also use an armor that raises defenses - for example Casita Samelia's Legacy which can provide +5 Deflection and +5 Will without any skill investment but +10 deflection with 20 Intimidate. It won't clash with Alchemy. Gipon Prudensco may be even better though - it can provide up to +10 deflection/+20 reflex and can aslo be used to become immune to disengagment attacks which is very convenient if you just want to leave a melee enemy without any repercussions. Add some boots of speed. With that setup you will have great defenses and almost never will be the preferred initial target of anybody. This makes playing Psion so much easier because you will seldomly experience as disruption of Soul Mind's focus generation. For fast focus burst (as Beguiler) you coul use Kitchen Stove with Thunderous Report. Also Stunning Surge with Fire in the Hole against groups is very good: great CC and focus gain at the same time. Fire in the Hole (or hand mortar) also works with Tuotilo's Palm of course for a Psion (without focus gain but still the nice stun effect of Stunning Surge in an AoE).

If I wanted to play a Cipher who' main focus is casting I would def. pick the Psion subclass or the Beguiler. And if it's a CC caster I wouldn't pick Helwalker but Nalpazca (because you don't need the increased MIG an the wound generation would be faster with a Nalpazca). Also I think Psion/Nalpasca is more fitting and interesting thematically ("Soul Mind on Drugs" ). Since you don't want to get damaged as a Psion you'd have to build your wound generation on drugs and (Enduring) Dance of Death - and use the wounds mostly for the +INT boost and the occasional Forge of Anguish to get rid of melee attackers - or maybe even Blade Turning for emergencies? +10 INT + Lingering Echoes + CC (mostly Cipher spells, but also Stunning Surge with an AoE weapon) is an awesome combination for exceptionally long disabling/debuffing durations - and Dance of Death also ensures really nice accuracy for that. You really want to make sure that you don't get attacked too much. So hard disables and mind control as well as a not too inviting (not dumpded) defensive stat line are good. I wouldn' open fights but stay stealthed long enough that the enemies have settled on other party members before I started attacking. This way you can also build up some nice focus and wounds + accuracy in hiding and get buffed by your Priest for even more accuracy - then unleash your CC stuff. The good thing about the Nalpazca/Psion combo is that even IF you get damaged and your focus generation stops briefly you still gain something: more wounds to spend. Yet you can have a nice influx of wounds without getting damaged at all. This can also work well with the Beguiler. Here you'd have the focus generation via Deception spells which can be better in "normal" fights. But in the tougher encounters I find the Psion to be more reliable because his resource generation doesn't depend on hitting something.

Hi, nice project. I already found something that the AI may have missed: When applying the filters "fighter" and "interrupt", the abilities Clean Sweep, Clear the Path, Knockdown and Mule Kick won't show. I guess because the prone effect (which also functions as an interrupt) doesn't get recognized as interrupt (it's not explicitly stated in the description of those abilities). Clear Out however (base ability of Clear the Path/Clean Sweep) does get listed even though its description is similar to Clear the Path's/Clean Sweep's.