Boeroer

One of the nicest Riposte tanks I know is Unbroken/Trickster. Unbroken has nasty disengagement attacks (+10 PEN) and higher AR (when using a shield) and Trickster can terrify with Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage. And of course Trickster has his Mirrored Image which stacks with Vigorous Defense (which leads to very high deflection). If you have engaged 5 (or so) enemies you can terrify them with Repulsive Visage (or even White Witch Mask) and most of times, when they leave your engagement in horror, they will eat a nasty disengagement attack. Not only nasty because Unbroken's +10 PEN (an maybe Overbearing Guard as well), but also because Trickster can unlock instant Sneak Attack & Deathblows on any engaged enemy with Persistent Distraction (Distracted + Flanked affliction). If you use a shield and Kapana Taga you can instantly have 4 engagement slots with an Unbroken without any ability investment (no Defender Stance needed). You'll get 5 if you take Persistent Distraction as well. I like to use the Reckless Brigandine in order to get to 6 engagement slots - and that's the max I find to be useful. You will very seldomly be able to engage more than 6 enemies because there's not that much space around you anyway (except when you face really small enemies). If you use that setup you can skip Defender Stance and take Mob Stance instead. Not only will you get a free Attack on killing an enemy but this will make you faster with every enemy you threaten. Same with Reckless Brigandine (quite similar enchantment). Add Entonia Signet Ring for +5 to every defense for every enemy who engages you. Than you'll have a rel. fast hitting tank with good staying power who will really prevent any enemy whom he engaged to get any further. At the same time he dishes out repectable damage. Riposte adds to that. If you use a large shield + modal you can also take Adept Evasion and be nearly untouchable by your own party members' AoE spells. You just shrug them off. If you don't like the Reckless Brigandine or Kapana Taga I would recommend Hold the Line or take Defender's Stance instead of Cleaving/Mob Stance. Cleaving Stance also works on Riposte-kills by the way. Another nice variant of riposte tank involves the Greatsword Whispers of the Endless Paths with its enchantment Offensive Parry. You can use it as a Rogue/whatever and stack it with Riposte, but it also works very nicely with other classes. For example a Shattered Pillar generates wounds from the Offensive Parry, a Cipher gets focus from it, a Steel Garotte can drain health (as long as the enemies who are attacking suffer from an affliction) and so on. For example Trickster/Steel Garotte can stack Riposte + Offensive Parry, use Persistant Distraction to distract enemies and heal himself on every RIposte/Parry. A Shattered Pillar/Soulblade can fill his focus and wounds on the fly while casting cipher spells or doing Soul annihilation - just by Riposting/Parrying.

Strong "I'll take 'Change of topic' for $500, Alex" vibes...

There is an RPG system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Role_Playing_Game I played it briefly and it was good (mechanically). Not overly complicated. It even won the Origin awards for best RPG in 2005. It has a kind-of follow-up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_Role-Playing_Game I don't know anything about that one. I think the world (or better: universe) of Firefly is great for a Role Playing Game. The TV-show gave plenty of inspiration but was vague enough so that you can be creative (with settings, cultures, characters, items etc.) without the feeling that you are breaking lore all the time. So I think it would work as a CRPG as well.

Eh? I guess you meant "decrease loading time" or "increase loading speed"? Loading times (on PC) of Deadfire compared to PoE are significantly shorter. I can't say anything about consoles (they are less potent so it might take a lot longer in general) but on the same PC hardware it's very obvious. Obsidian tries to address the loading time issues of PoE with an asset streaming in Deadfire and at least for me it worked. I don't think that the long loading times are 100% to blame on Unity3D but more on an unfortunate interaction of Unity3D and the PoE/Deadfire "2.5D" approach. But yes: all in all they are still pretty long compared to other titles.

@timidobserver: It doesn't. I was under the impression it did because I'm using the Community Patch (where it works). But I turned off mods after your question to be sure and tried again and it doesn't work. I misrembered. Maybe because Lightning Strikes works with ranged weapons (and Turning Wheel doesn't) and I mixed tha up in my brain somehow. So, if you are not using Community Patch (I don't judge ;)) and use FFability as primary attack then I would pass Lightning Strikes and Swift Flurry and only use Swift Strikes (which works universally and just fine with or without weapon use).

Ah, the nihilistic take... It matters for people (players and devs alike) who liked the two games. That's why this thread exists in the first place. We wonder how this happened and are curious how this might be explained. What you said has nothing do with this simple fact. Just because it doesn't matter to you or the owners of Obsidian (what I highly doubt - I truly believe they want to understand what happened) or guys at Microsoft doesn't mean that it doesn't matter at all. And because it matters to some people here we discuss it. If it doesn't matter to you: why are you participating in the first place?

Yes, I said this in my last sentence (maybe too intricately).

Right, forgot about that as well. Arcane Archer with necklaces might be a fun Fireball slinger, too. Maybe even Bloodmage/Arcane Archer for maximum Fireball casts or flame casts in general. The problem with Arcane Archer is that the imbued Fireballs don't scale properly with Power Level. Most notably the PEN will not rise. While this seems to be no big deal at first it becomes one later in the game. Of course it's still nice to combine a triple rod- or mortar-blast with triple Fireball with only one shot. But it's just so frustrating if you find out late i the game that your good idea doesn't work out because of this bug(? I don't even know if it's a bug or intended). I mean for people who don't want or can't install mods like the Community Patch (which lets the imbues' PEN rise with your Arcana skill).

Most people participate in surveys. And yet surveys can be representative. It's safe to say that if a game gets good reviews from both users and critics the disappointment can't be big enough to explain such a massive sales drop. What you describe can be the source of disappontmet for sure. But in this case: not on such a large scale. Because if the buggyness of PoE or especially the free Deadfire DLC was one of the core reasons why people didn't buy Deadfire then it would have found its way into reviews and criticism. This is not the standard phrase around here. You can read a lot about bugs here in the forums and long time players complaining about them. But on the other hand we also did a lot of testing and bug reporting over the years (even with useful hints and theories why this or that bug might occur). So instead of just grouching around we helped to find and fix those. So when somebody of those people says a bug isn't game breaking it means exactly that. Nothing more and nothing less. A game breaking bug is the source of much bigger disappointment than an item that's bugged. Sure it can be annoying if an item doesn't work properly (ask me about my feelings about Essence Interrupter destroying loot) - but it's surely less annoying as if your game crashed all the time or your playthrough gets bricked by some faulty quest or something along those lines. Nobody said that a bug is not a problem. So be sincere and don't imply anybody did. It's a difference to say "Those bugs aren't game breaking and thus don't have that much impact on the overall reception of the game" or to say "Those bugs aren't game breaking and thus: no problem!". Of course it matters. The difference is that game breaking bugs that don't get fixed indeed tend to influence reviews and critics and thus show a huge disappointment in the game and teh developer as you describe it. So big that players might not want to touch the sequel. A counterexample to your theory: Pathfinder Kingmaker was way more buggy than Deadfire at release and had some nasty, game breaking bugs. The reviews were full of rants about those. Steam user reviews were not good at that time. As soon as Owlcat fixed those game breaking bugs the reviews got up very quickly - and the game was a success despite bad and then mediocre reviews due to bugs. The many small bugs that remained in that game didn't seem to bother players that much then. At least not enough to let the game - and yet you could see the impact of game breaking bugs in the reviews. Those things surely aren't a great advertisement. But do they have such a big impact that they put nearly a million players off of buying Deadfire? If so - I repeat - you would see some sign of it in media, reviews, critics (like with Pathfinder). There's no discussion that those things can put some players off, but we are looking at a large, large scale: Can those things disappoint hundrets of thousands of players so that the sequal sells less than half the copies of the original game? Without anybody (not even Obsidian themselves who surely receive and monitor those things more closely than we are) seeing any indication in revews, refunds, compaints, critis etc. before? I seriously doubt it. I was trying to make the point that most players won't get exceptionally angry about something buggy they got for free as if they had paid for it. At least if they are not suffering from permanent entitlement. Of course it matters. It matters for those who would like to see a PoE 3. If Obsidian can't show Microsoft why Deadfire tanked and how they want to prevent that for a future installment then Microsoft will not throw any money at it. Even Josh Sawyer said that they can't make a third part (in Infinity-Engine fashion at least) as long as they can't explain the sales drop of Deadfire. Too risky. Microsoft has money, but they don't want to burn it I'm sure.

Why didn't those players (must have been more than 500K to explain the sales drop) voice their disappointment with PoE's bugs but instead PoE had good reviews, hm? Concerning the free Deadfire Pack: ever heard the phrase "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth"? I mean it would be nice if some of the remaining bugs were fixed, but the whole pack was for free and none of the bugs are game breaking. Also not all items are bugged. Only some of them (Spike Flinger, Cap, Fulvano's Blunderbuss). Hard to believe that those issues lead to such a sales drop without any hint in reviews.

Oh, you are right. So also casting speed buffs wouldn't be as effective. Hm... anyway - I was just giving some food for thought so that one could do a Fireball slinger without even using a wizard. @Kaylon: if we are talking about Fireballs only that's highly debateable (as long as you play with a complete party). Most Bloodmages wouldn't even manage to get off 8 Fireballs in one single encounter because it's over before that. Might be different in TB mode though. Never played that more than a few minutes so...

By the way you can kill-steal pretty nicely with WotEP's "Run Through" until you get Twin Eels. It's only 1/encounter but still.

Yeah, and massive shame on you for that!

I think Stell Garrote would be fun. The health drain from enemies will synergize very well with enfeebling/weakening or stunning from the Monk's attacks and it would counter the health loss from FFcurse or just health loss in general. I also like the thematical combo of a "Forbidden Fist" using a "Steel Garrotte". Also Goldpact. Gilded Enmity is a great tool to prevent damage and with Sworn Rival it's nearly for free. Note that Eternal Devotion puts an additional 10% burning lash on everything for quite some time - even on spell-like damaging stuff such as Rooting Pain, Torment's Reach and Sacred Immolation.

What's your base PER? +2 PER will only result in +2 ACC which is negligible. It also depends if you use abilities or auto-attacks. Some abilites get bonus ACC. ALso, in PoE every attack ability got +1 ACC per character level. In Deadfire those abilites scale with Power Level which not only raises ACC (but less as in PoE) but also damage and PEN (which wasn't the case in PoE). Pics of other Marauders you saw might include the use of consumables and other buffs like resting buffs like Kaylon listed. Maybe they also had higher starting PER. Frankly +5 or even +10 ACC at level 20 shouldn't matter that much for your dps. Except when going solo maybe. Use ACC buffs and apply debuffs on enemies and +/-5 ACC doesn't matter at all at lvl 20 - not even on PotD difficulty. Also keep in mind that crits only do +25% additive dmg in Deafire compared to +50% in PoE. While they can lead to overpenetration (another +30%) they are generally not that "critical"(heh) as in PoE as long as you don't use a special setup or take certain abilites/items.

I think when I lastly checked Firethrower Gloves they didn't do anything for Necklace of Fireballs. Never tried Kuaru's Prize though. @Dance of Death: totally! How could I forget? SC Monk would also be able to use Razor's Edge which is pretty good with Fireballs as well. For Barbarian I forgot Lion's Sprint which would give you +15 ACC for a single Fireball. Could maybe stack with Monk's several +ACC bonuses... I think Furyshaper/Helwalker would be a hell of a combo with Fireballs. Speed galore, INT, MIG, PEN. SC Berserker could be cool with Blood Storm (DoT on crit works with spells) and later Instrument of Boundless Rage which basically also is a (much more potent) Fireball. It also works with Ring of Focused Flame and the other stuff. Also all the Fireballs would trigger Blood Surge every once in a while. What I could also see is Streetfighter with blunderbuss + modal (Powder Burns). First of all it's also a fire-based attack and fits the theme and while the higher Sneak Attack/crit damage won't work with Fireballs the -50% recovery all the time would be a really good thing. Add Dirty Fighting. Fire a Debilitating Strike with dual mortars which lowers Reflex by -10 points already and then start blasting with Fireballs at high speed. What's also not bad is a Wizard with Blightheart + Paladin with Eternal Devotion. Both give you a +10% lash on your spells which is pretty neat while the paladin makes your multiclass a lot sturdier. Also: Brand Enemy + Sacred Immolation + Delayed Fireball + Torrent of Flame + Fireballs! As I said: endless possibilities.

Easy: grab two Necklaces of Fireball and put one on and the other into the stash (NOT character inventory). In each encounter you can then spam 8 Fireballs. After the encounter you put the empty necklace back into the stash were it will form a stack with the full one. If you seperate them again both will be full again! Yay! 8 Fireballs in every encounter without any costs. Use Magran's Blessing Favour and Sun & Moon and grab Ring of Focused Flames and Otto Starcat as pet. This will give you +10 accuracy and +5 Power Levels with fire attacks. Then go and get Rekvu's Fractured Casque and Rekvu's Scorched Cloak and cast fireballs on yourself until you get knocked out. Rise up again with the minor injury "Serious Burn". This will make sure you can never get interrupted while casting and it also makes you heal from fire instead of getting damage. Nuke yourself with your own Fireballs: no problem, it even heals you. Then pick any class that gives you bonuses for spellcasting. This could be: Barbarian: higher casting speed from Frenzy higher casting speed from Bloodlust no recovery on fireball-kills from Bloodthirst Berserker: +2 PEN from Berserker Frenzy Furyshaper: +10% casting speed from ward Monk: bigger AoE from Duality of Mortal Presence (INT) +2 PEN from Thunderous Blows Helwalker: +30% additive damage because +10 MIG from wounds Paladin: +10% multiplicative dmg because Eternal Devotion adds a lash to your fireballs +5 ACC and +5% hit to crit from Exalted Focus +1 PEN from Scion of Flame +20% additive dmg from Sworn Rival (can be cast on every enemy in AoE quickly since instant cast with 0 recovery) Fighter: +5 ACC, 1 Power Level and bigger AoE (+5 INT) from Tactical Barrage or +5 ACC and +25% hit to crit conversion from Disciplined Strikes +5 ACC from Warrior Stance Ranger: in general just a crapload of Accuracy... Beguiler/Debonaire: Charm groups of enemies with Ringleader and then drop a 100% critting Fireball on them. Rinse and repeat... And so on... I'm sure you can find something in every class that would give a nice bonus to casting Fireballs but those come to my mind first. Of course you can also make a multiclass to combine many of those advantages. e.g. Berserker/Helwalker or Paladin/Helwalker or such. Or the Beguiler/Debonaire combo I mentioned. YOu can be very creative... Of yourse you could also pick an Evoker or aBloodmage Wizard and cast Fireballs the usual way - but why if the possibilities with the necklaces are nearly endless? You can also add two Missile Gloves and do the same, giving you a bit more option - for example if the enemies are immune to fire.

Recovery reduction always stacks afaik. Just not additively. But 75% is close to 80% and you know how fast 80% is if you look at an attack made from stealth. I only didn't say 0 recovery for x secs because I wanted it to stack at least a bit with Blood Thirst (if you kill with CB). Salvation of Time is a problem though, touché.

With Thunderous Blows, Stunning Surge + Lightning Strikes I bet... 😄

I'd say give CB -50% or -75% recovery for x seconds (3 base maybe?) and give BS refund on crit like Stunning Surge or make it 1 Rage instead of 2.

Carnage rolls are executed with a small delay after the initial hit roll. Carnahe kills also trigger Blood Thirst by the way. Afaik multiple "0 recovery for next attack" events don't stack up. It's just your next recoery that's 0 and that's it, isn't it? At least I tried Crushing Blow + Blood Thirst some time ago and that was the result.

Ahhhhha! Now that makes sense. I'm all for visible Carnage AoE. 👍

Afaik the current Carnage is a spell-like effect that's neither melee nor weapon. Else it would work with stuff like Lightning Strikes, Sneak Attack or Turning Wheel etc. So I don't think that Slayer's Claw would have no effect (unless it also procs on spell-hits or -crits like Blood Frenzy or Spirit Frenzy do).

It would most likely break combos with WotEP, Karabörü, Sungrazer and Keeper of the Flame and all those weapons that proc some form of AoE on hit or crit. Not to speak of Heart of Fury and Clear Out with those weapons then. Also Barbaric Retaliation would be way too good with the PoE mechanic in use. Also I think Carnage was way too good in PoE - especially because of its interaction with weapon effects (St. Ydwen's Redeemer ftw) and then also Heart of Fury. The current solution is good. The only things that I don't like is that the raw damage is a bit low and that it can't crit - which is not a big problem for Spirit Frenzy (Carnage will stagger on hit) but Blood Frenzy (Carnage can never apply the DoT because it can't crit).

Exactly. At least if you don't use the Community Patch. Basically because I said "besides the items which are generally good" - because then I'd have to list way too much stuff that are equally good for all monks, not just Forbidden Fist. I wanted to concentrate on the stuff that is good for Forbidden Fist but maybe not so much for other monks. Same with the abilites.