Boeroer

Speaking of successful mystery/fantasy writers (maybe not ridiculously successful, but still): What do you think about The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by P. Rothfuss? I enjoyed reading them and it wasn't difficult - but I can't really judge the quality of writing. It felt quite good (to me as a non-native speaker) though.

Thank you. I'm already part of the Community Patch group and maybe we will address this, too - if there's consensus of course.

I don't think he's a strict upgrade of vanilla monk. If a Nalpasca is out of drugs he can't heal and gets -1 wounds per tick which is pretty bad. Sure, you are better than the average monk when using drugs, but you are way, way worse when not. And Arcane Dampener (which is pretty common later in the game) would still be a huge pain. I consider the removal of crash after AD wears off a bugfix.

Most pictures of Jack Sparrow where he's wiedling weapons show him with a pistol and a cutlass or some rel. slender sabre. So I guess Scordeo's Edge and Scordeo's Trophy would be fine? My class choice would be Debonaire/Beguiler I think.

I don't know. I find Deadfire is pretty easy to follow in English. Sure, there's some vocabulary that the average reader might need to look up - but that's a good thing imo. Like I find it nice to look up new words while I read an English novel. I can guess what some words mean but am not 100% sure - then I look them up and learn something new. Otherwise I think Deadfire is not too complicated. It doesn't have those awful multi-cause sentences like German humanities scholars like to write them. And if the average German middle schooler can read it then @theleecan, too. I once tried to read Victor Hugo's "L'Homme qui rit" (The Man Who Laughs) in french, miserably failed - then in English, also failed - then looked at the German version and tossed it all aside. I also didn't like "The Name of the Rose" in English at all. Josh might hate me for it - but that's how it is. What I really liked was Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe". I guess the German version could be equally fun to read? Another great piece is Gottfried Keller's "Kleider machen Leute" (Clothes Make the Man). I loved in when I was in school. Obviously the language used is a bit old but I think it's fairly easy - at least compared to some other contemporary stuff. I know that the Brandon Sanderson novels are very easy to read for me in English - so I assume the same is true for the German ones. I read the first two books of the Stormlight Chronicles in German while I ws sitting in planes and cars, travelling. The rest I read in English. Not to say it's high qulity literature - but Sanderson's later novels feel rel. well written and entertaining to me. So maybe that's also something to look into. Usually German traslations of such books are well done. I also enjoyed reading "IT" (King) back in the day to improve my English while I was in school. Most of King's books were easy reads imo. Not all were equally entertaining, but some I liked a lot. Just so that we're on the same page: I wouldn't advocate to learn German with Deadfire alone. Eh no. I just think it would be a good addon. If you're playing it anyway then why not use it to read even more German text? Of course - if you want to learn a language in earnest you want to take some form of proper lessons, too. Before, later, at the same time or whatever works.

Well, newspapers or professional articles can be hard. Stanisław Lem is a philosopher. Those are not known to write texts that are easy to read. But I guess Deadfire is more on the easy side (if you take all those names of creatures and metaphysics stuff etc. away).

Right. But the German mod is pretty good (by the way: for PoE1, too). I studied "Germanistik" (German philology) before I became a computer scientist so I'm not totally clueless when it comes to stuff like that. You can support your lessons with books, movies and also with Deadfire if you want to. I think it only will help and not hurt. But I would def. install those mods to avoid some of the pretty strange parts. And besides my lessons in school I only practiced English with articles, books, games and movies (and audiobooks but very rarely). I don't play/read/listen to German versions (if the original is English). Imo that improved my colloquial English tremendously. Not that it's flawless of course, but I feel comfortable using it.

Well I guess @theleeis incredibly familiar with the story of Deadfire.

Maybe - and wrong gender etc. is pretty bad. But if there's a good mod (done by Spanish native speakers I presume) I guess it would be totally fine? Somwhat unrelated but I think Obsidian should drive to the translation company they used for Deadfire and casually kick them in the nuts a bit*. German, Spanish and also Russion translations seem to be quite bad out of the box. Reading about Spanish and Russion I think the German one was the best of the lot. )*I'm not serious of course. But maybe kick their butts?

Aloth Durance Rekkance

INTdeed

The translation is not very good - but imo if you are not a native speaker it's not that bad. I guess for some German gamers with no academic background it's even fine. Sure, there are mistakes and some weird translations - but will it matter much? Imo it will not. You'll also find that translated in books and movies (the Simpsons saw some really bad translations into German for example but not many noticed). If your goal is to read and grab up some German while also having fun: go for it I say. I learned Russian by simply talking to my janitor and friend Hasanhodja (Uzbek), my cook Irina (Russian) and the local merchants on the bazaar. I guess their Russian wasn't flawless, too (Irina said it was outright awful, ha ) - but it got me started and it was fun. So it was easier keep on with it and build a foundation (even if a bit faulty) that at least made it possible to understand and explain basic stuff. This is motivating. I stopped there so my Russion was still pretty rough - but you don't have to. Imo it's easier to dive into the depths of grammar and sublime language if the basic vocabulary and a basic understanding of semantics etc. came to you "naturally" by reading and speaking in a fun environment. The hickups of the German translation of deadfire won't change that I think. And if you install the mod that fixes most of the translation errors:

The chance for it to proc during 6 hits or crits is ~47%. Not too shabby.

But INT makes for a longer Unbending HoT instance, right?

Forbidden Fist with max RES, Tuotilo's Palm and even better Instruments of Pain is a very defensive build - or let's say a build that doesn't get hit a lot. Indeed, one shouldn't mention it if it isn't correct. You not only could, you should. It was you who repeatedly said in the past that Disintegrate isn't that good against bosses because of their high RES and that it doesn't last long enough then. With +50% duration from enfeeblement combined with the longer duration from the -10 RES that's not longer the case. You can skip Enervating Blows which is hard to pull off against tough bosses anyway and instead get a reliable Enfeeeblement effect which even does good damage - while it makes it easier to land the stun from Stunning Surge (which then lasts a lot longer, too) in order to lower Fortitude even more in preparation of Disintegrate. Even with stuff like Whisper of Treason, Puppet Master and also Ringleader the Enfeeblement is a great tool - since you can control enemies a LOT longer (especiall in combination with DualityINT and Lingering Echoes). It's easy to punch them and then turn them into puppets for what feels like an eternity. Even cast Disintegrate on them if no hostiles are left to fight. No problem while ascended with +10 INT... Can't see how that makes "very little difference" since the difference is pretty obvious imo. But maybe it depends on playstyle. If you mainly use the Cipher side to increase your martial abilities with Borrowed Instinct and Soul Whipe etc. then it could well be that it's not worth it to have/use Forbidden Fist. But I wouldn't play a Forbidden Fist/Cipher that way. I use the Forbidden Fist to improve the Cipher casting.

Bonus durations from Enfeebled, INT, enemies' RES, Lingering Echoes and crits do stack though - and you can skip Enervating Blows. When using Hylea's Talons + Forbidden Fist curse + Enduring Dance then wound generation isn't a problem if the "hostile effect" durations on you are very short - even without Parting Sorrow you'll have enough wounds. And of course you can play with the mechanic and do something like playing with a DEX resistance and stepping through your Wizard buddy's Binding Web. Or using a party member's Tanglefoot. The most ridiculous thing is to have a fellow Berserker in the party who uses the Footsteps of the Beast (boots): the confused-friendly-fire drop traps will have a very short hobble duration to begin with and you'll swim in wounds as Forbidden Fist. Early on you will generate wounds a lot more slowly though, that's my experience as well. But on the other hand you'll have a very good attack ability right from the start which costs 0 resources. I tend to alternate between Force of Anguish (use the wound gained from the curse) and Forbidden Fist (when at 0 wounds). The real bummer is Forbidden Fist not generating Focus - but as was said this can be fixed with the Community Patch.

...and a really good item.

Yes, correct. Right If you want a weapon style for your summoned weapons in the first place then you need Two Handed Style (because the staff is a two handed weapon). It's not like with Weapon Focus. With the style it is different: here you have to actually pick the right one wich fits your summoned weapon. But no problem, because Parasitic Staff and Spirit Lance both only work with Two Handed Style anyway. So if a melee Wizard wants to use his summoned melee weapons he should pick Two Handed Style. By the way: Ranged weapons don't work with any of those styles at all - only melee weapons. Generally speaking: if you swing ia weapon with two hands then you take Two Handed Style. If you swing it with one hand and nothing in the offhand then you pick One Handed Style. If you swing with two weapons then pick Two Weapon Style. If you are using a shield then pick Weapon and Shield Style. Bashing shields are a bit like an offhand weapon - but they do only work with Weapon and Shield Style but NOT with Two Weapon Style. Nope. If he summons the staff it's like switching to another weapon set. Your normal weapons will get unequipped and kept somewhere in the game's "memory" and the summoned weapon will be equipped (automatically). All bonuses from the former weapon set (weapon and shield) will be gone. Once the summoned weapon expires your normal weapon set will get reequipped automatically and you will profit from its bonuses again (like higher deflection and so on). If I remember correctly you can only get additional weapon sets from Arms Bearer and Island Aumaua. Indeed.

A: All sommoned weapons (and also all soulbound weapons) work with any weapon focus. No matter which weapon focus you pick: it will work with summoned weapons. Multiple weapon focus will not stack though, so just pick one. Preferably the one that is best for your backup weapon. I would suggest something like Durance's Staff because it's the only quarterstaff with dual damage (crush/burn). Llawran's Stick is also good because of speed. So Weapon Focus Peasant is not a bad pick. So yes: Parasitic Staff will (also) get a bonus from Weapon Focus Peasant. B: Yes, but as I said above any weapon focus will work. C : Imo yes. Summoned weapons do not scale in PoE. Parasitic Staff "only" has exceptional quality (which is awesome at level 1) but the Lance has superb quality AND has speed. The AoE attack is great, too. Of course you can have Parasiticv Staff as backup against pierce-immune foes if you wish. But your main weapon should become the lance imo.

@Phenomenumlike that? icon_arcane_archer_centered.svg

@xzar_montyThe shield! The crossbow: laaaame. It is true that the loot from the Adra Dragon's hoard feels underwhelming - especially if you play the game for the first time. That fight is a big challenge compared to everything else you did before. The devs could have placed something cooler there and I would have welcomed that. The fight/loot against/from Cail the Silent feels more rewarding - even though he's just a Drake. But he sits on Tidefall which is so good that (potentially) early in the game. Would have been nice if the Adra Dragon dropped something that would be similarly exciting at that stage of the game. The Adra Dragon Scales are nice of course - but actually the difference between exceptional and superb is not that big so... I merely object to people saying stuff like "the loot is useless™" oder "bad" or so. Little Savior is one of the best shields in the game (but only if you understand the mechanics well), the scepter is good (but not the best), the armor is good (but also not breathtaking) - the crossbow is pretty lame because the speed mechanic doesn't affect reloading. But still: all the unique items you find come with superb quality which is pretty great if you have to equip a whole party. It's just not very exciting loot - like for example stuff like Stormcaller is (not necessarily because it's more powerful but mainly because it's different, has special effects and is cool as heck imo). It also doesn't help that there's no unique spell in Minoletta's Grimoire. If there would have been some kick-ass unique spell I think people wouldn't complain as much. Maybe.

I read that Avowed development started 2 years ago. That was before the aquisition by Microsoft and maybe even before Microsoft knocked at their doors (but maybe not). I wouldn't completely dismiss that possibility but I don't find it very likely. Well sooner or later we will know more I guess.

It takes a lot of time to write a lengthy post about all the OP combos that are left in the game. I feel less inclined to invest that time if somebody asks for information like that. Forum veterans know that I'm not shy when it's about sharing info about the game. You just have to ask for it like a normal person would do and you'll get buried with info, you're welcome. And after all I shared plenty of OP combos afterwards as you can see. Not saying anything at all isn't an option because I think such toxic behavior has to be addressed immediately - like I would do in real life, too. There's no merit in just looking away when people act like that. I don't think that somebody who calls out a grown up man who's acting like an entitled child is a bully. Maybe it's not my business to teach other people manners - but I'll try nonetheless. I don't like that attitude and tone here - this usually is a very pleasant community - especially for newcomers of the non-pissy kind - and I'd like it to stay that way. Speaking about "more reasonable": I have no problem whatsoever with criticism - if it's brought forth reasonably. Maybe my first reaction was too harsh - but this was not OP's first thread where he was acting like this and that might have given me some bias. You can also see it in his introduction where he's like "don't tell me it depends" - that's what I tell people all the time (because it's true). Here's the other thread he started with the same kind of introduction (but less offensive imo - but I might misremember):

how lame

Josh's current TTRPG version of Pillars showed a chapter about Maegfolc: maegfolc tweet Maegfolc are no natural beings. Known Maegfolc are the Eyeless (PoE WMII) and the Rathûn (Deadfire).