Boeroer

I can only speak for myself: although you can consider me a "hardcore" PoE player I don't care about official achievements at all. Doesn't proof anything, but you can take it as a counterexample to the potentially upcoming theory that it's the hardcore players who care most about achievements.

Good that you tell her... one year after she posted. 😄

I guess so. For me, who didn't grow up with (A)D&D this is a non-issue (I mean getting a CRPG that is not like D&D). But even I am biased by my past. As I already told once or twice I like the Blackguard games. Not really because they are so good but because I played the Dark Eye P&P for many years (RPG system and world which Blackguards is based on) - and the nostalgia is strong with this one. I also liked Legend of Grimrock a lot - just because we used to play Eye of the Beholder like madmen when we where kids. So if PoE disppointed D&D grognards I can understand why they wouldn't give Deadfire a chance and at the same time why Kingmaker sold comparably well.

They did. LOL. But apparently it was too late. As you may have noticed not that many Obsidianites are posting here. If they don't feel comfortable in their own company's forum it's the fault of the (former) forum members, not the fault of the moderators. You'll have no problems communicating with them on Twitter (if you're being decent of course).

I read that Josh is not writing here anymore because there used to be times when things got unreasonably ugly. Since then he seems to prefer forums/platforms that are not that easily accessed by badly brought up gamer mobs. Besides Twitter... Since then the forums did change (as far as I can tell) and is much more friendly, but it seems that horse is out the barn.

Pirate setting was my guess as well (right from the start). But I didn't actually read that many complaints about it.

It really must be a mix of several reasons - since everybody has their own theory... Don't forget though that this special Microsoft/Xbox boss dude (whose name I forgot) said something about a Pillars game in the making (during a short interview). Whenever I was prodding some Obsi-guys onTwitter about that there either was awkward silence or something along the lines of "Ehh hush!". So maybe not a PoE3 but some other game in the Pillars universe? Let's hope...

Again: the publisher is doing the console ports, not Obsidian. Therefore it would be better to ask Versus Evil those questions. The last info on this was "End of 2019".

Yes. Assassin can still stack Backstab + Assassinate with an arquebus. You just have to come close (2 meters or nearer). No problem with Smoke Veil or Shadowing Beyond: since arquebuses have no recovery you can turn invisible right after the initial shot from stealth.

If you take Benevolent Soul the Breastplate will be obtainable from Mahari's Metalworks.

Royally

If you mean fantasy CRPGs then there's more. If you mean isometric, party based fantasy cRPGs then yes. That's pretty much it (if you don't like tha whole Avernum stuff).

Just pick the first option (benevolent soul).

I think he meant financially successful - because Kingmaker's budget was smaller it didn't have to sell that many copies to break even and then make a profit. I wonder if the backer rewards (copy of the game) count towards sales numbers?

He called it "Quicksand" several times: Something you keep throwing money and resources at and it just swallows it to no effect.

Yes - although Cipher/Rogue doesn't really have that many engagement+ abilities. Most notable is Persistent Distraction. You would focus more on that with an Unbroken/Trickster I think.

Through level-ups, some abilities and some items. Mostly levels. The tiers you see on the ability page (where you choose your abilities): each ability tier represents a Power Level. Multiclass characters can reach 7 PLs via level-up and Single Class chars can reach 9 (10 if they take the Prestige ability). Empower grants you additional Power Levels for the empowered ability, true.

IIRC it's with all those powers that you cast onto enemies and whch have a buffing effect on you (Wild Leech, Body Attunement and so on). But I'm not 100% sure anymore.

It's all about Offensive Parry. You will get focus for free every time any enemy misses you. Stacks with Riposte, too (so there's a change to retaliate twice on an enemy miss). Then Soul Annihilation dumps its raw dmg multiple times (with varying height) on all the enemies in the AoE (cone). I guess that's what you missed. It's a very good setup, of course best against mobs - not bosses. Switch to another weapon against single tough foes.

Not really. For example Psychovampiric Shield lasts even if you kill the enemy you cast it upon. That was the topic of a recent thread here. I also thought differently but when I tested it was proven wrong. Maybe it changed at some point, no idea. Psychovampiric Shield lasts longer with high INT (obviously) and I think also with Lingering Echoes (not 100% sure though) but most notably with Power Level (+5% multipicative with INT). So the more PLs you gain the longer it will last.

@Blunderboss: Yes, Thunderous Report is like an AoE dmg spell - so that's a nice use of the crit conversion as well. I somehow skipped that line of your post and only read Essence Interrupter. Sorry. 🥴 I also liked using two Necklaces of Fireballs (that leads to 8 Fireballs per encounter). If you have Precognition (amulet) and Improved Criticals that also melts faces of charmed mobs pretty nicely. It's cheesy though because the replenishment of charged uses via stashing is def. not intended.

Yes, that wasn't changed. A good synergy is beams (Antipathetic Field or Ectopsychic Echo) + Combusting Wounds (Wizard or Ring of Searing Flames). There are some weapons which have a "hidden" second lash (Justice, Starcaller, Unforgiven) which generates additional focus. E.g. dual Starcaller/Unforgiven with Scion of Flame would do +30% burning lash and an additional 12% burning lash. Dual Unforgiven (via Helwax Mold) would be even better because of the attack speed. Another good weapon for a cipher is Bittercut with Spirit of Decay (also dual via Mold). Wounding lashes don't generate focus - so Tidefall and Drawn in Spring or Persistence will not generate focus with that DoT lash. Still great weapons - but maybe even better suited for other party members (best used with low INT). In general melee dps is higher than ranged. So focus gain for a melee cipher is better. Of course it's more risky, too. A not too sh!tty setup is to use two hatchets and profit from the +10 deflection. It's really an underrated combo. Combine with decent RES, Psychovampiric Sheld/Borrowed Instincts and some other deflection gear and you are sturdy. Or use a reach weapon like Llawran's Stick (speed - Durance's Staff as backup since it's crush/burn) or Tall Grass. Llawran's Stick is the best option for a reach weapon when it comes to dps<-->focus gain. You can also get it quite early. With Time Parasite and Durgan Steel Llawran's Stick can achieve 0 recovery without Gauntlets of Swift Action. You can still wear durganized Padded Armor - or even durganized Plate Armor if you also use Gauntlets of Swift Action.

Beguiler/Debonaire is cool. But instead of using a weapon to profit from the crit conversion it's better (in my opinion) to use Disintegrate. Getting focus usually is no big deal for a Beguiler (just cast Phantom Foes or Secret Horrors before using Whisper of Treason or Ring Leader) and then Disintegrate. It doesn't flip the alliance back if you cast it on charmed enemies (impossible with PoE, but no problem in Deadfire) where it then gains +50% duration from the crit. Which is a lot better in terms of dmg gain than +25% crit dmg for a weapon. Of course you can do both.

Yeah, the downsides of localisation and patching/rebalancing. Also text shouldn't sound too technical ("oh noooo my immersion") while it still should transport all the necessary info ("oh noooo my powergaming"). There are some examples where the text says something like "A significant chance of X" and it's actually 100%. See Debonaire crit conversion or Murderous Intent and such. Descriptions get locked at some point while they still tune the numbers. So they try to be a bit vague. I get that, it's ok. Still the generated part could be more informative and accessible. If it breaks immersion just hide it behind a game option. I mean you can hide/show selection circles, dmg numbers above your head and such. So why not show/hide more detailed numbers? Once again I point out that even designers didn't know how some mechanics worked. Else they wouldn't have given arbalests and guns -25% crit damage (which then had to be patched). Better tooltips and descriptions would have helped even those people.

Ok, good example.