Boeroer

With Smoke Veil + Lover's Embrace + Gouging Strike + Brand Enemy I could kill almost everything as an Assassin/Bleak Walker in a solo run at lvl 8 or so without sweat. You just need patience. Lots of it.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding - but you can't summon Firebrand while shifted. You can't summon any weapon while shifted. You can't even get Reaping Knives from a Cipher while shifted. So my understanding is that Wildstrike bonuses shouldn't affect Firebrand at all - since they are only active while shifted. Unless I'm missing something. Scroll maybe works while shifted? Didn't try that... Iirc the Fury's PEN bonus does not apply to the Firebrand Great Sword. Scion of Flame and Ring of Focused Flames (+10 ACC) do apply at all times which is great. But Scion of Flame applies +1 PEN instead of 20% dmg. This is even better than in PoE since penetration is the most important station a weapon (because underpenetration is the most severe dmg loss). So a Fury does not give you a lot of benefits if you want to focus on Firebrand. You will lose Rejuvenation spells which would be very beneficial for a Monk with the usual wound generation mechanics, especially Helwalker but also Nalpasca. Unlike PoE's Firebrand the Deadfire version has no increased base damage. But it has a burning lash instead. You could also skip Druid and go for something else (e.g. Bleak Walker, Devoted, Rogue, single class and so on) - using scrolls of Firebrand instead. In my opinion Firebrand-builds are less impactful in Deadfire than they were in PoE. Mainly because there are no items besides consumables that summon it (so you limit yourself to Druid or scroll) and because the enormous base dmg of the PoE version was reduced. It's still viable though because of Scion oF and Ring of FF imo.

Blade Cascade aside (it always wins): I tested most melee weapons for use with Swift Flurry/HBD and Sun and Moon is def. one of the best. I mean it highly depends on the enemy, your class(es), abilities and buffs... but still. For several reasons it procs crit-chains more reliably than Rännig's Wrath for me, despite its lower accuracy. Keep in mind that the Rapier modal doesn't stack with other active universal accuracy buffs like Enduring Dance and such. I just think that (with decent crit conversion) the repeated chance of S&M outperforms higher accuracy. Of course Rännig's Wrath is still a good pick here. I also had excellent results with the Willbreaker + Body Blows + Stunning Surge (or Spirit Frenzy) + Enervating Blows on a Monk/Berserker because of the -45 fortitude/Brute Force synergy, combined with the highly increased crit conversion. A Sage with Concelhaut's Draining Touch in the main hand with a club + Bewildering Blows in the offhand + Miasma + Merciless Gaze is also very good for producing crit chains with Swift Flurry/HBD because the DT targets Will and that defense will get reduced by 65 points which is enormous. Works even better as single weapon if somebody else wields the club of course. Since offhand crits only proc main hand attacks(!) (and those will determine whether crit chains will follow with Swift Flurry/HBD) I guess Sun and Moon in main with Scordeo's Edge in the offhand or even single handed Sun and Moon works better than two Sun and Moons. Maybe even Sun & Moon + Rännig's Wrath in the offhand is better. Looks odd though. By the way: using Sungrazer with Swift Flurry/HDB is a great way to trigger Extinction Event often since it only triggers on crit-kill. It will proc chains less often but when it does it nearly always kills with a crit which means Extinction Event will follow (which is very strong). Another nice weapon for Swift Flurry/HBD is Stalker's Patience. While the raw dmg won't stack with crit chains those will make the triggering of the recovery removal (enchantment) more likely which then results in fast rates of attack which in result leads to more crit chains. Works very well in combo with Blood Thirst. Also a Battle Axe + Bleeding Cuts in the main hand and Scordeos in the offhand will lead to excellent results. It will not chain crits as often as some other combos but Bleeding Cuts do stack with themselves. Since SF/HBD always procs main hand attacks without any animation or recovery this is a substantial dps increase. My personal favorites are Draining Touch and Willbreaker.

What @Gromnir said. The rather naive (and some would say potentially dishonest*) point of "no politics in games please" aside - it seems you are mixing up personal preference with objective quality (which is difficult to measure with art or entertainment stuff like games in the first place). What you are feeling is that those two games are the ones that you enjoyed most. But you are expressing that they are the greatest games Obsidian ever made (or at least I get that impression when reading your title and post). It's very hard to argue with the first statement while the second will be challenged by a lot of people. Tyranny wasn't bad, it has some really nice ideas - but it also has some serious flaws which prevents it from being one of the games I cherish. *) because you most likely wouldn't complain about that if those games touched your political views and embraced your worldview.

Josh said the he (and others on Deadfire) were pretty bummed and burned out after Deadfire sold poorly. He also said that he didn't want to do another pillars game in the forseeable future (because PoE + Deadfire was a lot of that) - but instead tackle something smaller as director. Besides that he's the studio's design director and provides feedback on all projects so I guess half of his day is filled with meetings and such anyway. Also Avowed is and was Feagus' "baby". I guess Josh isn't so much into directing contemporaty first person RPGs - although he seemed to have enjoyed Skyrim quite a bit. However - Josh is still working on the TTRPG of PoE. Every now and then he shows some of the stuff he wrote on Twitter (last entry: Paladins of the Steel Garrote). I like what he does with it! So he's not completely off the pillars hook maybe.

Did anybody try if Ascension will stay active after combat so you could prolong it with Strand of Favor? +3 PL, no focus cost (but max focus), +20% damage (universal I guess) sounds not too bad to have 24/7. Disintegrates and Ringleader for free at all times and such. Edit: nay, it gets removed.

How to screw up an otherwise decent post. No wait... Tyranny?

The thing is it wasn't even illegal. The head of a control instance like BAFIN (federal control instance for the financial industry) is allowed to trade whatever he wants. The problem was that BAFIN and several high-ranking politicians didn't do anything against Wirecard although everybody was screaming "FRAUD"! Now thousands of "normal" people lost their pensions etc. And you might wonder what the motivation behind this inactivity was *surprise-surprise*. But it wasn't illegal. Might become illegal now (I hope so). It's also not illegal for our former Minister of Environmental Affairs to become consultant for a gas pipeline project afterwards - or for a former German Chancellor to become board member of Gazprom. Or for a former Minister of Transportation to become CEO of Deutsche Bahn. I mean hello? What is this? Some kind of reverse undercover organized crime movie? People are like "What the eff?" - but nothing is done because the people who profit from this are the same making the rules. It should not be allowed that politicians trade in stocks or otherwise hold shares of companies they influence (unless non-profit maybe). It should also not be allowed that they take jobs with companies they had influence over after they quit politics. There has to be a looong moratorium at least. Because... corruption. In exchange just pay them very well and give them a high, livelong rent after their service. Oh wait, we're already doing this here... oh well... By the way my wife is working for the German government and thinks the same. But we don't want her to get into trouble so please hush! Edit: of course this isn't the US so please excuse the excursion to German politics. I just thought it was a good example that might work universally. Look at that Senator Perdue maybe.

This year the head of German BAFIN had to go because he traded with Wirecard stocks: a company which he was supposed to control and which was one the biggest financial fraud in German history which the BAFIN didn't investigate even though there were hundreds of journalists, activists etc. who shouted "look into Wirecard!" I'm pretty sure some politicians will follow. And rightfully so.

Did you use a torch or lantern like Cori's Lantern or St. Drogga's Skull? Those areas are intended to be dark.

There are some nice helmets out there that can help a lot when soloing. e.g. Tempered Helm or Iverra's Diving Helmet, the Company Captain's Hat and the Maegfolc Skull. Silver Tide is strong in the early game but I find it not that impactful later on.

The Thundercat build is still perfectly fine. But if you are looking for more sturdyness and less falling over I would recommend Veteran's Recovery (and other sources of healing. The Cat form does better dps against normal foes because it's the fastest form - while the Boar shines against the touzgh nuts the most (because his raw lash cuts through armor nicely) - he needs a lot of MIG though to get the most out of his wounding attacks (because the wounding lash does scale with MIG). Another way to ensure your melee guys don't get attacked too fiercely is to ensure that you use a lot of "hard" CC - e.g. stuff that stuns, paralyzes, charms, causes prone and so on. What also helps a lot is to only unstealth your tank when starting combat and unstealth your other guys only once the enemies gathered around the tank.

Even if it may fee like a defeat it's most reasonable to lower the difficulty to normal. This game's mechanics are not trivial but you learn a lot while playing it. As soon as fights seem to be too easy you can switch back to hard. The early game of PoE is the hardest part for most players. After reaching Defiance Bay (beginning of Act II) the difficulty drops significantly (if you don't rush certain tough encounters in this semi-open world). Moon Godlike Druid is a good start actually. If you had/have picked the Boar form(?) even more so. Its regeneration would stack with Veteran's Recovery which I would recommend taking. Boar's wounding does very good dps. Cat form is also very good for dps. Also pick up Shod-in-Faith Boots later on. This will give you enough passive healing to not get pummeled to death too soon. It's not enough for tanking but helps a ton with staying alive. All items will work while shifted except armor and weapons. Besides Veteran's Recovery pick Two Weapon Style, Weapon Focus, Wildstrike/Greater Wildstrike, the fitting elemental booster talent (Scion of Flame, Spirit of Decay or whatever Wildstrike element you picked). Outlander's Frenzy can be a good pick, too. The best spell for melee Spiritshift dmg is Avenging Storm later on. With it you can outperform a Rogue in melee single target dps. Items that can be cool: Sanguine Plate (shift once Frenzy got triggered). You won't need Outlander's Frenzy then. Wildstrike Belt: it's a must. It's mechanics are weird and way better than the description suggests - but what it does is adding a lot of dmg while shifted. A Ring of Searing Flames is also a good way to increase dps, especially with Avenging Storm later on. Things the party can use to make the early game significantly easier: Inspiring Radiance + Blessing (or Zealous Focus), Disciplined Barrage, Chillfog, Chillfog, Chillfog.

I'd say Wild Orlan because Defiant Resolve is great in all dragon fights (Dragon's fear aura constantly triggers it and keeps it up even if it doesn't hit).

Maybe, once the devs recovered from their Deadfire burn-out (some already stated on Twitter that they would be ready and willing to tackle another PoE) they will go and gather all criticism about Deadfire. And maybe they will also read threads like this. Especially in retrospect (I mean looking at the game again some time after it was released - or after one did play it for the first time) criticism is often more constructive. At least that's my impression.

In the early days of the game, sometimes when I googled about "Pillars of Eternity" some weird stuff came up. The results sounded like esoterical nonsense mostly so I didn't bother looking further into it. What really annoyed me though is that when I googled "PoE" only Path of Exile results were shown.

It also has a crushing lash (lashes are multiplicative dmg bonuses) which a lot of players miss for some reason. In my opinion the higher PEN and the crushing lash already make it good enough gainst single target foes in some cases - compared to a "normal" great sword. But yes: often it's best to use it as long as enemies are plenty and switch to a backup weapon once only a few enemies are left (and/or don't stand near each other). Also the combined raw damage of Soul Annihilation to all targets in the cone AoE is higher than if you would have hit a single target (and dumped all the focus there). There's some weird calculations happening under the hood, but it seems as if the AOE hits are generting new focus which immediately gets dumped as raw dmg onto the next target in the AoE. Yes, it's a great enchantment. I as you said it includes the riposte + dazing the enemy and on top giving +4 deflection against all melee attacks. I just love it. But you really have to build around that enchantment to make it fun to play and that might take some time and planning imo.

That's true for many games. I'm sure if the devs could afford it they would polish their games further until they are nearly flawless. But you can't really justify that (economically I mean) unless it's a subscription- or microtransaction-based model. At some point it's just damaging to the company to pump resources into a game that very few people still play. Same reason for premature releases basically: economic ones. Not that this is great - I wish all games would reach perfect shape or even better: came out in perfect shape. But honestly no (serious) software product ever achieved that afaik. In over 30 years of programming and nearly 20 years of professional software-engineering I can only say that there's always a lot of room for improvement left. The console versions are not an example of walking away - more like an example of not taking a walk in the first place. Both games were advertised as PC-only games and Obsidian insisted multiple times that thay had no plans to bring those games to consoles on their own. So they didn't but simply let other devs do this. Will they still get flak for flaws of the ports? Sure. Are they really responsible? Maybe not. I also don't know how you could handle the situation in a better way: you don't want to do the ports yourself because you have 0 experience with consoles. But your publisher wants to earn some money from console releases and maybe you get some, too - so why not? So now there's a dilemma, right?

Yes, that was my point. Cyberpunkt is not an Obsidian game, is discussed en large everywhere right now and thus an exception imo. Usually "foreign" games don't produce a ton of discussion in therese forum (besides the really big ones like Witchter and now CP). And even with CP it's only that one big/hot thread afaik. Funnily enough the Deadfire subforums saw quite enough traffic even a month ago (I mean for a game with rel. low sales numbers and well after Obs support ended). I guess part of that was caused by the console releases. Now suddenly it's all kind of dormant - but I suspect that's because all the frequzent posters are playing/discussing Cypberpunk right now. And indeed I have not checked the Cyberpunk thread because that game sparks zero interest in me. Therefore I guess it's better to not waste my attention and energy there because surely (as with all things that get discussed heatedly) there will be so many dumb takes that I would suffer 134d20 psychic damage from reading it. So what I just wanted to say is that these forums are never truly dead - it's more like hibernation really.

I put the skill points how they were when I played this guy. Maybe it was done to solve some early quests more easily (to sneak around some encounters for example) but I really don't remember why there's 4 stealth. It doesn't really matter.

Besides the original meaning "deathmarch" also gets used in project management (including the development of games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_march_(project_management) But while I guess that PoE has seen some crunch like most other games I didn't hear about it having been a death march before.

The biggest problem seems to be that often enough the EU needs an unanimous vote. It's pretty difficult to sanction members if said members have a say in this. On the other hand Greece and Italy got bullied around plenty when they had economical issues - so maybe there is a way to rap those rule breakers over the knuckles...? Gotta ask my wife, she's an expert on all things EU (I still don't get why you want to be that though ;)).

Who said PoE was a death march?

Maybe they didn't really know much more at the time the video was planned? I liked it as a teaser. It's there to tease and it did imo. Doesn't need to be too specific for that.

I'd say that superior attitude is not a really good way to approach life in general - especially if my trail of thought resembled the boisterous capers of a besotted chipmunk - but what do I know, right?