Boeroer

Whoohoo! We got back the square avatars (with dem rounded corners). Finally I can see my ears again! Thanks a bunch! Now please reintroduce BBCode mode! PS: what about the background profile picture (cover art or something)? Will we be able to change that in the future?

Exactly my thoughts. Very nicely explained.

Getting a reward for backing a project is not preorder. If the reward is the finished game then the outcome is the same though. Of course a crowdfunded project can go wrong andf then you get nothing. But especially if you have such a heavyweight like Microsoft in the background there is a very very small risk of that happening. So basically you back and get the game as reward (and more if you opt for it). Crowdfunding has another aspect that can work in favor of the player: there generally is more influence and feedback from the backers' side since they are the ones who fund - and not a publisher. This doesn't automatically mean that's good for the game itself, but usually players will get more of what they want with a crowdfunded project. There are pros and cons for crowdfunding. Of course the main motivation may be that nobody else is willing to fund a certain project. But if you take away that "problem" (e.g. if you are owned by a big company) there are still benefits left. Backing a project generally entitles you to expect more frequent updates on the progression. Often you can opt in for certain "tiers" which might be nice to have (create an item, create an NPC etc.) which you normally don't see in games which are funded by a publisher). I personally like those things. I brought us some nice stuff in PoE and Deadfire. Some people think that those rewards are just shiftng work from the developer to the backer - but I think it connects you more to the game and gets you more involved. Microsoft could indeed fund PoE3 themselves. Money is not the problem. But then you (as a potential future customer) will not see much of the development process, there will be no backer items, not much involvement. You'll simply wait till the game is ready and then play it. In that case, there's especially low influence from the customers' side and Microsoft's ability to "keep the creative integrity" is even more important than without crowdfunding, isn't it? The only problem here is the perceived "immorality" of crowdfunding a project even if you have the money to fund it yourself. I simply think that's nonexisting problem. Since Pillars now has a (short) history of getting successfully backed and feels a bit like a community project I think it would be somewhat fitting if Obsidian also used crowdfunding to (partially) fund the next one (if there's one in the first place). But I'm not desperately calling for this. I simply think that Microsoft crowdfunding the game wouldn't be good or bad per se. For the game it doesn't make any difference if it's crowdfunded or publisher-funded. It's important that it gets funded in the first place. Maybe Obsdian could do something of a hybrid: let Microsoft fund the project but still put out stuff like "backer" rewards (not that you have to give money, maybe as a result of raffles or competitions, hunts or surveys and whatnot) as a marketing tool. Maybe "fan rewards" or "community rewards" would be a better term.

The difference you mention is in the motivation to start a crowdfunding campaign. What I meant is: why is a crowdfunding campaign itself worse if the owner of the developer is Microsoft? The outcome for the player would be exactly the same no matter who owns the developer. You, as a backer, give money and receive the game as reward. It's not that you are giving alms. So why would it be a questionable decision from Microsoft's side if they opt for a crowdfunding campaign? It's just a different way of funding. Less risk, sure, but also a lot more work (campaigning is hard work). I would argue that crowdfunding works even better (for the backer) if there's a big company with experienced people and backup cash in the background.

Very nice.

Yes, it was patched. Beguiler + Draining Whip is very strong now.

I can't see how crowdfunding with Microsoft as owner is any different from crowdfunding with Obsidian as owner.

Sorry @MaxQuest, but the last quote about boring HP pools was from Erik Galad, not me.

Will see what I can do. Scythe is a good idea. Here are some new icons for the Paladin's passives (look at the bottom):

That would highly depend on the implementation. For example you could simply say that you only get additional attacks if you overcome certain high thresholds and start with several weapon attacks per round right from the start. So that for example normal one handers and two handers do 2 attacks, light weapons do 3, dual wielding adds one additional attack. Attack speed bonuses wouldn't grant additional attacks unless you are the guy with the highest initiative who gets one additional attack. Quite balanced and no race for attack speed bonuses (excapt for one character who might want to stack it to be the first one all the time). I would say that it's even more boring that daggers attack as slowly as great swords and summoning phantoms takes as long as punching someone.

Outer Worlds is done by a different team than PoE and Deadfire were. Just because they are currently developing Outer Worlds does not mean they are doing nothing else.

We have several thresholds in Deadfire. Maybe the meaning ofthe word "threshold" is not clear? Currently there are: Wounds (Monk) Penetration Focus Unharmed/Healthy/Bloodied/Near Death Injuries/Death and certainly more mechanics that use thresholds one way or the other. Gaining additional attacks with a dagger if your attack speed + recovery fall under a certain value (e.g. 2 seconds while one turn is supposed to simulate 4 seconds) is reasonable and would make a lot of sense in order to balance the weapons and armor setups with each other. If this isn't granular enough you can always allow more actions per round in general. If you can for example cast one 9-sec-spell in one turn you should be able to strike thrice with a 3-sec-weapon, shouldn't you? I wonder why they didn't use "action points" per turn to determine the number of actions a character can perform (ability use, moving etc.). Costs of actions could have been derived from action speed/recovery just nicely I think?

What I just realize: doesn't the Fury have the automatic passive ability that kills (while shifted) prolong the Spiritshift duration? If a Fury now also picks Wildstrike Frenzy: will those effects stack? I mean with Relentless + Returning Storm and Heart of the Storm you can bring down enemies' health pretty quickly and then do some kill-snipes with your ranged wildstrikes. Will have to test what happens...

Atm speed vs. sturdyness is not balanced properly. I wonder if TB mode will see additional attacks per round if you overcome certain speed thresholds.

On kill also works on allies by the way, including summons. It's a bit cheesy but you can make it work very reliably then. E.g. Warlock with Blood Thirst who nukes a Beckoner's skeletons while they are distracting/engaging the enemies. Barb+Paladin has some really nice passive "on crit", "on near death" + "on kill" effect combos. Most of them are sub PL8. Too bad you can't combine any of that with Wikdstrike Frenzy.

Disables in PoE were OP mostly due to the grazes mechanic that didn't downgrade the effect of the disable but only the duration. Combined with the huge defense rebuffs that came with the disables. Immunities are ok if used wisely. For example it makes complete sense that a Flame Blight is immune to burn damage. But we could do with less if not only resistances downgraded afflictions but also grazes (and crits upgraded). No duration fiddling from graze/crit. That way an enemy with resistance to let's say constitution afflictions and high Fortitude would be kind of immune to Sickened and Weakened as long as you can't hit. You could buff the effects of afflictions a bit then. Not back to PoE values (was too good) but a bit more impactful that they are now. Just an idea though.

Let's see what we can do after the passives are finished. My problem is that I can/only want to do rel. simple B/W icons. Just because photoshopping with tons of gradients and stuff takes too much time. But those item abilities would be in the same bar as all the other actives and thus should have a similar style (in other words: not the one I currently use for the passives). Maybe just tinting or slightly modifying the current icons would be an option (that doesn't require a ton of drawing)? @Wildstrike: the icons themselves are fine, but now they look out of place because they work with colors, gradients and shadows while the other passives are all black and white silhouettes. I would prefer to give the Wildstrike abilities different backgrounds (green for corrode, yellow for fire and so on) but also stick to b/w icons for the claw symbol - with a bit of stylized flames, drips etc.

He was mocking another forum user who very frequently recommends heralds. And sometimes Helwalker/Ascendant with Essence Interrupter...

We will see some changes to TB pretty soon. Let's see what they come up with.

They are working on that. It's not supposed to be this way.

Yes. I think TB mode adjustments will be the biggest slice of the patch. Hopefully followed by a lot of happy bug fixes. TB mode currently is in beta status and Obsidian asked for feedback when they released the beta. So it is very unlikely that we won't see some solid changes to TB mode.

Besides the "basic" abilities that all had their own icons (which didn't fit the style of the other passives though) I also redid Unbreakable and Unrelenting since those also had their own "flashy" icon which looked out of place now. Will have to do the same with Wildstrike I guess? Any feedback on the icons above (e.g. the simpler B/W versions of Constant Recovery, Sneak Attack and so on)?

Action and recovery speed translate to initiative in TB mode. So with more DEX etc. you will be further up and can act sooner (but not more often).

I agree that SC druids lack martial capabilities. Especially shifters who can't even use Taste of the Hunt. A few more dedicated passives would have been nice, maybe an active melee ability or two which are not spells. But you can of course use spells to lower enemies' health and then finish them with a melee strike. One thing with my testing though: I didn't make sure that it wasn't DoT ticks that killed the enemies. Maybe that prevented Wikdstrike Frenzy from triggering. I doubt it but to be extra sure I will run another test later today.

I just tested Wildstrike Frenzy. Only kills with your wildstrike-infused claws/tusks/horns/etc. will trigger the effect. Not kills from spells.