Boeroer

Maybe he just opened up another user account.

I thought the same (ship combat = bad) for a long time. But funnily enough: the more I do it the more I like it. Besides the motivation that Gromnir mentioned which is absolutely right: there's no easier and faster way to come by loot and XP than using ship combat. The criticism I still have: so poorly explained.

Ah right. Didn't really notice though. At the same time focus generation was amped up generally AND focus generation from Beguiler and Draining Whip were buffed. All in all, cipher is in a MUCH better place now than it was at release. While I agree that some nerfs feel a bit "cheap", the overall class power - as you said - didn't suffer that much. At least not when I judge it - based on the experience of multiple playthroughs. There were several buffs to counter nerfs. Maybe not enough for some players though. I would understand if the complaint was about item nerfs. Because those got hit pretty hard. Not devastatingly hard and some were gramebreakingly good - but I think the hit was harder then it needed to be. We have seen that Obsidian listens to feedback (if it's brought forward reasonably enough and is vocal enough). Look at general/shared abilities, summoned weapons' casting times, Firebrand and so on (not Gromnir's favorite but he took it like a real champ ). So what you want is to write a reasonable, well founded piece without scatology and then try to get people on board. That is if you want to really change things. If so just want to vent your anger then of course you can totally go on with ranting and using fecal matter to paint an image of your frustration.

Not much has changed since January. Wasn't cipher actually buffed since release? I remember that they got a casting times reduction through the board. Not the best example maybe... I don't remember removed abilities. Which were those?

Yes, something like that. Drew lots of shields lateley though. Doesn't Deadfire or PoE have some icon for concentration?

The feedback I had before when it was two swords (two weapon style): "it should be made clear that it works with melee and ranged weapons". I'm not particularly liking two handed and one handed style atm, but I think two weapon style is ok. I chose a skull as an indicator for critical hits. Makes sense or not at all? I agree with Combat Focus. Just can't find a good symbol for "focus" or "concentration". I also need a symbol for "interrupt". For "conversion" (up or down) I'm currently using those arrows you can see when looking at "Critical Defense". I think I want to try a shape with steps or something.

Further drafts on passives' icons. Constructive Feedback is highly appreciated. Phenomenum and I are also discussing over PM (and he did some nice work with the backgrounds and the overall "look and feel"), but a few more opinions won't hurt. Putting it into spoiler tags since it becomes rather big now: PS: only now realize that the icon for Armored Grace (Armor + hourglass) coincidentially turned out to be the same as that for Refreshing Defense (but with less colors).

@KP: congrats! I've been married for ten years now and it's as awesome as it was ten years ago. Sure: different - but great. My parents are still married, my wife's parents as well. My wife's siblings (3): all happily married. Doesn't look like that's going to change soon. The bottom line is: don't let them discourage you! @Topic: does US media report a lot or at all about "Fridays for Future"?

You want clarification about some minor detail he wrote a year ago? Since Sonic doesn't seem to be a big fan of word plays nor does he seem do be of German origin (where "popo" would mean "butt") I'm very sure he just meant "poorest". Mystery solved I guess. Sonic didn't post here for a month or so now - while before he was quite active poster. So I wouldn't expect a direct answer.

Also have a look here (maybe you already did): https://support.obsidian.net/article/35-frame-rate-issues-and-constant-crashing-with-nvidia-gfx-cards

You should send an email to support@obsidian.net.

That's right. But once you have a symbol for let's say "crit" it's easier to come up with an icon for stuff like "Improved Critial", "Chopping Wood", "Murderous Intent" and so on. Something to start with.

Once it scales properly (if it ever will) it's also better in combo with Combusting Wounds and other abilities that profit from many hits (Shield cracks, Confounding Blind etc.) I think.

Reaping the Whirlwind is more a joke than an honest approach. Something with a "discipline plus" or "resource plus" icon would be better. I am currently settling on some "generic" base symbols that I want to use for abilities that target reoccurring stats (defenses for example). So that you can guess what the ability is roughly about without reading the description or even the name (best case). Like: - a shield shape for defense buffs (maybe also resistances?) - that slightly twisted star shape for all Empower effects - those "stripes" for speed effects - or an hourglass? Depends I guess... erm... I maybe need icons for the generic terms of "resource", "on kill", "on KO", "crit", "graze", "miss", "conversion" and whatnot. A symbol for Power Level. Is there any? What Do you think? Makes sense? Maybe I shouldn't think too much about it - or I'll never finish.

I talked to SChin today and he told me that they are currently doing a lot of work on Deadfire (basically, with other words). It seems that they are stuffed with work and that the next patch would be pretty big. Deadfire was in an ok-ish state before TB mode was introduced. Most of the current, most annoying bugs emerged with that introduction. Even if Deadfire was a disappointment for them - they introduced a big, free feature as beta. That doesn't indicate that they abandon ship... like... at all. Why would one think that? Take the radio silence as a hint that they are drowning in work right now. Makes more sense than the assumption they suddenly dropped the potato - out of the blue.

I'll try to do mockups for all abilites on the list. Little update:

I know. Also the Bull and Bear pictures speak of something else. I think I'll just leave the symbols for Snake's Reflex and so on as they are - since "strongman", "head + brains" and "foot with wings" are the generic symbols for fortitude, will and reflex anyways - and find something else for Body Control and those other abilites which currently use the same icons.

Ha - nice idea. Never thought about that.

I can make that a 100%.

If you take Soulblade, don't use Biting Whip. It's really bad compared to Draining Whip. Biting Whip only adds a whimpy 10% additive dmg bonus. It doesn't scale. That means - for example - that a war bow would do 1.6 more damage per shot on average. And that's it. THe nice thing about single class Arcane Archer is the access to Death Ring - which is absurdly good with a ranged weapon that has its own projectile jumps (Watershaper's Focus, Fire in the Hole, Kitchen Stove) + Driving Flight: each jump triggers a Death Ring. Imbue spells also profit from Arcana's ACC bonus - it's rel. easy to crit with that spell then which does massive AoE damage - and it's even foe-only. That means the bad scaling with PEN can be somewhat circumvented. But - in my opinion that is the only real advantage for going single class (and the fact that that you advance through Power Levels more quickly of course). The time before reaching Death Ring will most likely feel more bland than playing a multiclass. Just because SC Rangers don't have that many "exciting" active abilities going on. Also the animal companion scales with class level and not Power Level. That means it's not any weaker (stat-wise) if you multiclass. If you want more inspiration about multiclassing Arcane Archer, check this out: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/109075-arcane-archer-evoker/ There's a discussion about Arcane Archer and also single class vs. multiclass (in this case Arcane Archer/Bleak Walker). May be insteresting.

Exactly. 6 uses per rest with both items. For a backup weapon the belt is enough then (3 per rest).

Yes! You'll get 6 uses per rest which usually is enough for all encounters. If you have casters in your party you will most likely rest more often than every 6 fights. Thanks for asking, I added this little passage to the build description:

I think there are no best or second best options since most items are not significantly more powerful than others, so it depends. For example a plate armor is really good in the early game, where the ratio of DR to received damage is really high. In the late game the incoming damage is so much higher that it doesn't matter that much if you wear a plate armor or a hide armor. So the "best" approach would be to start with a plate and reduce the armor further and further until you have no recovery penalty anymore while retaining enough sturdyness. In case of Fighter with Armored Grace and durgan reinforced armor that means scale armor. Sanguine Plate with durgan steel and Armored Grace is special because it gives you Frenzy which actually makes you faster than going in cloth or naked. Scale armor: The Golden Scales: comes superb, which spares you rare resources, also the +5 burn AR and the reflection are unique Pike's Pride: this is actually a very solid armor, often overlooked. Break Out is very good against anything that prones and stuns you. Combine with Fenwalker boots and you will not get hindered by most nasty afflictions and hard CC anymore. Autumn Fire: Woodskin as Spell Holding is really nice. Only problem is that you'd need to kill a friendly NPC to get it If I can spare the dragon scales I will pick Pike's Pride. If not Golden Scales. If you have multiple speed bonuses (Gauntlets of Swift Action, Durgan refinement on weapon, speed on weapon and so on) or even du dual wielding you will reach a situation where your speed bonuses will be so high that your armor penatly gets eaten up anyway. In that case you can wear up to plate and use Vulnerable Attack without slowing you down. If you reach that status then I'd go for "He Carries Many Scars". To find out about your recovery and the armor that you can carry without speed loss check this out: https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/

I din't think it's bad though. I just wonder: with those arguments gainst per-rest at hand, why stick to such a potentially balance-screwing mechanic? To make potential per-encounter spamfest less monotonous maybe? And what anishar said? Empower is fine to me. I kind of like the idea in general. It's rel. unique and it "only" leads to one rel. manageable power spike with one of your own abilites or to a few more uses of you overall balanced per-encounter stuff. I don't feel the same about per-rest abilites on items. Those add some powerful effects per rest that have nothing to do with your class - potentially breaking balance. Resting is even easier than in PoE, so you can easily make those items quasi per-encounter effects. If you are doing blance based on a per-encounter basis - better to give items weaker effects but per encounter instead of powerful effects per rest. I almost never use the per-rest abilites on items because they feel alien in this system. Although I like per-rest in PoE.

Lvl 8 is correct.