Boeroer

Interesting! What about Vela? Does she suddenly appear after the command for Hylea's challenge gets executed?

Good question. Also good idea. I didn't test that. But I suspect it's not tagged as weapon attack in code. It uses its own base damage and other stats which are not related to your actual weapon. You only need to carry a ranged weapon. Those are only hints. But if it's not tagged as weapon attack it will not generate focus (also see Forbidden Fist ability). I can try to test it later today - once the kids are finished with tormenting our new paddling pool.

I gave Donald Trump as example because it was suggested in the stream.

By the way: Josh said on Twitter that if your character's name is offensive or silly or if they simply don't like it they will disqualify you as well (if you refuse to change it). Stuff like "Donald Trump" will def. get you disqualified given Josh's political alignment. I guess "Hold my beer" will not be valid as well. Maybe restart before finding out the hard way. The recomendation was to pick the usual "boring" fantasy name. Source: Tweet

Hehe - I didn't touch it I swear.

Vultures (or Hyenas) is actually a good idea, thanks! Helwalker: I'll try to come up with something else

Riposte: if only @MaxQuest sees a violin... maybe leave it? Or maybe I can alter it just a little bit so that that maxquestian vision of a violin dissolves?

I understand. The intention was to take the outline of the ogre's head from "Form of the Fearsome Brute" whose icon will be right on the other side (on the active side) of the ability screen. And then I wanted to "simulate" the transformation from human to ogre form with those lines you see. But it obviously doesn't work.

Don't forget that Priests can actually be very potent damage dealers. Stuff like Shining Beacon with lots of MIG and INT is devastating. If you are not against using two of one class (in different roles): Inspiring Radiance stacks with everything, even itself. So bringing two Priests can give you +20 ACC for all your opening volleys (be it damage or CC) in every encounter. Then one can cast Blessing and the other Devotions at the same time and the whole pary suddenly has +45 accuracy for debuffing, lowering enemies defenses - lkeading to even more "virtual" accuracy and melting foes with the final damage dealing stuff.

Another thing: Chanter's phrases all have their unique icons which are a lot different from the "simplistic" passive ones. They stand on the passive side ofthe ability tree and thus should share the same style. On the other hand they are not really passives - more like modals. They also don't stack like passives in most cases. I would like to keep those icons and NOT rework the as black/white versions like i did with some others (Unbending for example). Because this way you can immediately tell them apart from the "real" passives. So: even though they break the style of that passive side of the tree I would like to leave them as is. But what do you think?

Ok, compiled (negative) feedback. Time to rework. Puh... My replies under each of the current points of feedback. Green means I agree and will try to change it. Yellow means I (partly) agree but need more input. Red means I don't want to change it at the moment - based on that feedback alone (but could turn green with better suggestions/ideas) I already reworked some icons based on earlier feedback (e.g. Deathblows, Devine Retribution and others). The original feedback on those I didn't include since they changed. There I would need new feedback - if the new versions are also not cool with you. If you are ok with an icon then I don't need feedback on that. Just post the negative stuff. Please discuss! I put the actual icons into the spoiler tags below the feedback list. Fighter: Black Jacket: too straight forward reply: agreed, will try to find something else. Shield Mastery: not liking stars, maybe remove one reply: it's consistent with Weapon Mastery - which also has those same two stars. I'd like to keep it because of that. Confident Aim: elements too small, too much free space, vanilla icon is better. reply: I agree. I also realized that the original icon of Confident Aim now is unique and can be used. Problem solved. Rogue: Slippery Mind: looks like snake in mouth reply: will try to do something else or to move the slippery eel around abit. Riposte: looks like a violin reply: wtf? But will try something else Barbarian: Berserker: doesn't reflect the enraged/confused nature of berserker frenzy. reply: will try to add something that is more telling Corpse Eater: no connection to corpse eating/cannibalism reply: several human cultures that are cannibalistic file their theeth, that's why I chose that. Will try something else. Am open to other suggestions. One Stands Alone: try to remove two pikes on top. reply: ok Monk: Helwalker: Looks like walking on pins/caltrops. reply: that was the intention. But am open to other suggestions. Crucible of Suffering: maybe not suitable for 42x42px. Try to make features more simplified and distinct. reply: will try Enervating Blows: kind of unsettling reply: unsettling enough to wanting to change it? Cipher: Ascendant: Could you apply here those "wings" from Soul Blade? Soul Blade: quite nice, but atm, SB looks more ascending than Ascendant himself. Psion: Gives an impression that he is looking at something in a strange window. The meditative state of Ascendant icon could fit here. reply (to all three points): I will use current Ascendant for Psion and draw a new one for Ascendant. Soul Blade's "wings" aren't meant to be wings. Will alter that. Iron Will: is suggestive, but feels a bit odd reply: agree, will alter a bit Greater Focus: gives an uncomfortable vibe, but is somewhat suggestive Keen Mind: gives an uncomfortable vibe, but is somewhat suggestive reply (both): they are based on the ingame symbol for focus (simple star in brain). Would like to keep them because of that. Protective Soul: looks great, but gives an impression that it gives bonus defenses on crit. That 25pt barrier it gives reminds me more of "Seven Men onto the Deck" chant icon. reply. That half-filled shield is the ingame symbol for damage reduction (in PoE and I think also in Deadfire - although you don't see it often). Would like to keep it because the dmg shield is a form of dmg reduction - and I don't know how I should depict those dmg shields in a suggestive way. Shared Nightmare: don't like it reply: please be more specific. All "soul ability" icons with skulls: don't like it (as symbol for "soul"). reply: the skulls stand for crits. This is consistent for nearly all symbols I drew. A skull means there are crits involved. I don't use a dedicated symbol for "soul" - because it's used very broadly, often has nothing to do with what that ability actually does and it already has "soul" in the name - so after thinking more about it I guess I don't have to repeat that in the symbol. "Soul" and also "Echo" just sound "cipherish" I guess and that's why they named some abilities that way. So... basically I want to keep the skulls. Paladin: Goldpact Knights: will turn into a grey mess in 42x42. Try to simplify. reply: ok, will try Frermàs mes Canc Suolias: 5 stars will turn into a 5 blurry rounds in 42x42. Try to make them more distinct, with less rays count. reply: it's 5 suns actually. The rays are a 1:1 copy from Palleginas armor (which depicts those 5 suns). However - don't make sense to stick to it if you can't see it anyway. In order to prevent mushiness I can try remove some rays - or maybe make the suns bigger somehow? Retribution: first thought: ouch; second thought: getting arrow to the back makes one sad... well, I guess. Retribution kinda associates for me with this image. reply: I don't think the linked image is telling you what this ability is about. The face of the "sad man" is supposed to look angry. Aegis of Loyalty: it's ok. But not suggestive. reply: any suggestions? I think it's fine. Difficult to depict the act of slapping sense into your companion. Iron Gut: weird reply: changed it a bit. Still not superhappy but maybe ok now? Ranger: Defensive Bond: without rays reply: ok Strenghtened Bond: like current Defensive Bond to prevent too "roundish" and bright symbol reply: ok Driving Flight: It looks like that xaurip is being fired in point blank or impaled by a pike, and an arrow comes from his back. Don't like it at all. I'll try to find some additional suggestion. reply: Tried to remove some lines to make it more clear that it's not a pike but just an arrow-shwoosh. Additional suggestions: I'm waiting...  Distracting Training: Don't like it at all. I'll try to find some additional suggestion. reply: I'm waiting...  Shot on the Run: bowstring too thin, bow too short reply: ok, will alter that Druid: Fury: looks like Predator (from the movie). Fury might rather associate with Storm from X-Men. reply: will try to depict a face that looks a bit like "Storm". Maybe sparkle-eyes and raised hair or something... Wildstrike: make claws a bit simpler. reply: okay Wizard: Transmuter: weird reply: need more concrete/specific feedback Evoker: the fireball looks a bit like an onion reply: will try a different fireball depiction Chanter: Bellower: too straight interpretation reply: "to bellow" means to shout, to yell, to roar, to scream etc. I think the shouting face fits very well. This subclass is all about "bellowing" invocations. If there is a better suggestion I'm totally open for it though. Icons:

To come back to this: I checked ingame and you actually see all subclasses' icons in the ability tree (PL 0). They just are the same as the vanilla class icon (which doesn't get depicted if you choose a vanilla class).

Don't think so.

Yup. Just some more tipps: Don't restrict your Wizard to CC only. Also give him some damaging spells he can use after applying CC. On PotD there are lots of enemies so every source of AoE dmg you can have is good. Your weak links are Fighter and Rogue. You want to bring Fighter, so ok. If you are not insisting on Rogue (single target dmg only) I would vote for a Druid or a Cipher. Both have incredibly useful abilities compared to the "single target dmg only" rogue and both can do great single target dmg as well should you need it. But this party composition you have there def. works as well.

Just use Wall of Flames and Combusting Wounds. Before casting CW drop the Fortitude with a Morning Star and if you can also a MIG and a CON affliction (e.g. using a Forbidden Fist Monk).

Yes, since Bloodlust is a passive it stacks with everything. You can compare a barb's speed with our without it here: https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/ It was done by MaxQuest and is accurate. If you leave everything as is and just activate Frenzy you will see an overall 24% increase in speed (based on frames). If you only activate Bloodlust you will see a 14% increase. But if you activate both you will see an increase of 55%(!) So it not only adds 14% in this case but actually 31% (only if both are active though). Unfortunately you can't add any more speed bonuses ti exploit that even more - I mean if you want to keep Forgemaster Gloves and Firebrand. But 55% plus Blood Thirst on kill is pretty badass with Firebrand's huge dmg per hit/crit. PS: the numbers don't match the ingame description because here attack animation and recovery are both taken into account - while the game only tells you the recovery speedup. The only thing that speeds up attack animation is DEX. The rest of all pseed bonuses only affect recovery. Just play around with that calculator a bit. Picking soft targets is a thing for rangers, rogues, shapeshifters and fighters. Barbs are ideal for going through opponents as a group.

Indeed

Not fixed with 5.0? Booo!

Hm, good question. It's not bad, kind of cool even - but I wonder if this is intended.

I wouldn't say that high INT only has a tiny bit of advantage. Of course it depends on the ability, but since Power Level scaling adds 5% to base duration - which mutiplies with any duration bonus you might have - it makes quite the difference if you have 10 INT or 15. For AoE the difference is not that big in Deadfire as it was in PoE. So if you focus on spells that don't rely on duration much (direct damage for example or beams) then a few points of INT do indeed make not much of a difference. Same with MIG: the MIG bonus pays off once you start to accumulate Power Level scaling for your abilites. PL adds 5% base damage wich multiplies with the MIG bonus. This can make a significant difference for any character who doesn't have a lot of dmg bonuses (usually casters with their spells for example). That's why Helwalker/Caster is so popular. It brings +MIG and +INT. Instead of PER it brings up to +12 ACC and also +2 PEN. Especially good with most DoTs where INT bonus even means a muliplicative dmg increase.

Bloodlust is a bit bugged and usually triggers after every kill once it got triggered for the first time. It's good to gap the recovery when you don't kill stuff with every strike. Barbaric Retaliation will most likely trigger Blood Thirst because it's direct damage and no DoT, but usually it's the inferior choice for me because the damage is quite low (doesn't scale) if you compare it to the high endurance pools of late game enemies. And with this guy I don't try to jump into the middle of everything and eat hits while dishing out. Bloodlust on the other hand - as all speed bonuses in PoE - is multiplicative with other speed bonuses and doesn't get suppressed by anything. So for example Frenzy + Bloodlust together is faster than the two separate effects simply "added". If you like to jump into the middle of the mob and eat a lot of hits then maybe Barbaric Retaliation is worth considering maybe. I like Battle Forged because it works with Scion of Flame, works with Blooded and scales its base dmg with level which makes it worthwhile for me.

I would go for it. You will never be able to eliminate RNG from this challenge. And if you can, it's most likey a glitch that's "against the spirit of the challenge". If you do XP hunt and the necessary encounters in the most effective order I think the attempt won't even last that long - so failing one or two times may not be superfrustrating...?

Very good point! You will have a higher max phrase counter that way. Especially useful for Bellower (gets Power Level Bonus basedon hold phrases) but also important for every other chanter.

Ok, I think I did them all. If I missed one please let me know. After a last round of feedback I will begin with the corrections/refinement/younameit. I think nobody (except Phenomenum) said anything about the Paladin subclasses yet - or did I miss it?

Yes, I already took Rogue's single pocket and gave him two instead. I'll use "Deep Pocket" until somebody tells me to do otherwise.