Boeroer

You do not have to join the dozens. You only have to do the initial quest for Osric (retrieve his breastplate) which will open the dozens' shop for you but will NOT bind you to the faction. The next quest from Wenan would do that, but not the initial one. You can unlock all factions shops without joining. Just do the "opening" quests, that's enough.

What do you mean? Flesh Communion does give you rage (power source). That's the main reason the abilities are more expensive in the first place.

Yes - but a Troubadour has +50% linger time compared to other chanters when he's not using Brisk Recitation.

It depends on the enemy, items and build. For example Resolution + Purgatory against Sword of Daenysis + March Steel Dagger vs. enemy with 0 DR and 10 DR: Resolution + Purgatory with a Blinding Strike that crits twice (rel. common because of +1 ACC per char level): 13.5[avg. base] × (1 + 0.2[sharp] + 0.25[blinding Strike] +0.5[sneak Attack] +1[crit + annihilating]) = ~40 x 1.25[lash] = ~50 dmg against 0 DR 50 damage x 2 [Full Attack] = 100 dmg against 0 DR Full Attack takes 65 frames (DEX 15, Two Weapon Style) Against 10 DR it would be 40-10 = 30 + 40*0.25 - 10/4 = 37,5 * 2 = 75 dmg with 65 frames (lost 25% dmg due to DR) Sword of Daenysis + March Steel Dagger with a Blinding Strike that crits twice: 11[avg. base] × (1 + 0.25[blinding Strike] +0.5[sneak Attack] +0.51[crit]) = ~25 x 1.25[lash] = ~31 dmg against 0 DR 31 dmg x 2 [Full Attack] = 62 dmg against 0 DR (38% damage loss compared to sabres) Full Attack takes 37 frames (DEX 15, Two Weapon Style) - [43% speed gain compared to sabres] Against 10 DR it would be 25-7 = 18 + 25*0.25 - 10/4 = ~22 + 25-10 = 15 + 25*0.25 - 10/4 = ~19 = 41 dmg with 37 frames (lost ~34% dmg due to DR, 45% dmg loss compared to sabres). A rogue who mainly uses Full Attacks (and probably kills enemies with a single Full Attack often when he flanks) should use stuf like sabres or battle axes while a rogue who initiates with a srike ability and then finishes off the enemy with auto-attacks should use light weapons. But as I said it also dpends on the specific weapon. For example I would always use Drawn in Spring over anything else as a rogue. Another extreme example would be a barbarian with Heart of Fury or a Paladin who wants to use FoD twice as an alpha strike and then resort to supporting with a more defensive setup. They want to use the oe handers that hit the hardest. Speed doesn't matter that much in this case. In the case of the Barb it doesn't matter at all. I agree that if you use Finishing Blow or even Bloody Slaughter (which is really bad) you should always use light weapons. I also generally agree that a combo like Rapier + Dagger is superior if you tend to use auto-attacks. I alsoways advocate for Sword and Daenysis + March Steel (and later Drawn in Spring) but usually people don't like to see the low damage numbers in the early game. PS: try a barb with Firebrand + Blood Thirst, Frenzy + Bloodlust and all the dmg mods you can get. It's jawdropping.

So... 0.5 or what?

Yes, it does. But linger times are much shorter in Deadfire. Only a Troubadour can stack more than 2 phrases in Deadfire with a lot of INT. In PoE it's not so hard to stack 3 instances of DT. 4 is also possible but tricky - and you need max level 16 in order to gain the 50% Brisk Recitation bonus. The Damage is nerfed in Deadfire, yes. However with a Helwalker who also uses Duality (INT) for +10 MIG/+10 INT it's still good.

I guess when they used this class in their own inhouse gametesting week (where they could test the whole game and not just the short beta content) they may have discovered how OP it can be at higher levels. For abilites that cost more than 3 rage +1 isn't that much of a difference - but if you can repeatedly trigger Heart of Fury or other powerful stuff in a solo run via Flesh Communion it might be too good. Just wild guessing though...

Yes, Sfot Flurry with AoE attacks still works and can lead to cascading like before - unless OBS did a secret minipatch in beta4 that I'm not aware of. Although it got nerfed to 30% you can still make it work easily with the right combos. I reported the other day that Minor Blights with Single Handed Style is still one-shotting groups... or Blast + Killers Froze Stiff does the same. That was beta4. I think one can blame us (or me) that the rogue (and others) can't put out AoE afflictions (and interrupts) anymore - because I mocked the evolution of PoE's Carnage to Deadfire's Blast more than once in beta 1 to beta3. Sadly my beloved Trickster/Beguiler combo isn't that good anymore (it wasn't OP to begin with, but viable and fun to play).

Also your point of view can be explained without reverting to snottiness.

Because it's cool.

Yes, they got nerfed pretty hard at the beginning (FoD, Deep Faith, starting deflection) and rebuffed again (FoD +20 ACC). SI came later. I remember an arquebus shot with FoD that did over 1000 damage.

That’s very sad, what abou wizards’ Blight spell, does it proc AOE affliction?Blights and also Spirit Lance don't do it anymore as well. I shouldn't complain, I mocked that behavior in the first place. Swift Flurry still works...

He meant in their internal build, not the beta.

Happens with all jumping attacks (including spells).

It's a nice candidate for a melee multiclass - like Stalker/Paladin for example. Lots of Full attacks, stacking defenses and bonus AR plus animal companion.

That's Spelltongue. It just looks like that. "Tongue" and all that. It has a waved blade and a split tip.

Sadly Blast + rogue's strikes (as well as monk's stunning blows etc.) no longer causes afflictions in an AoE. Only the initial targets gets the affliction now. Secret nerf or something...

If you don't agree that's fine - but don't be a schmuck about it.

At the beginning +7 is a great advantage. But you have to take away points from other stats to make it happen, so it's not for free. After some levels it's not that important anymore - especially with a priest and/or paladin in the party - and you might want to retrain (if you are not opposed to retraining). If you want reliable interrupts you have to max PER, but I personally have zero problems with 10 PER on any PotD character. That's because I nearly always bring a priest (sometimes two) and a paladin who can give you plenty of stacking ACC via Inspiring Radiance, Devotions and Coordinated Attacks + Marking. Inspiring Radiance + Zealous Focus alone is like having +16 PER right at the beginning of the game (after tutorial). And if I still can't hit in the early game I just use a single one hander until it gets better. Maybe a reason why OBS decided to make it harder to stack ACC bonuses in Deadfire.

Yeah - but with Merciless Hand, Dungeon Delver and Azalin's Helmet or Rabbit Fur Gloves the SI gets a dmg bonus of +50% on crit. Combined with hater talent and Scion you would have +45 on hit and +95% on crit which is hefty - especially good when you can one- or two-shot weaker enemies. They die faster which is an advantage over the slower DoT. I also think the dps is higher but didn't calculate. Also the Bartender's Ring works with SI which would give you +20% against Spirits and Vessels. Doesn't work with DoTs unfortunately. But yes - I guess nothing besides Heart of Fury or some spells come close to properly skilled, itemized and stacked Dragon Thrashed in PoE.

Yes, you are right. Vailian stuff is the most regal looking of them all. Vengiatta Rugia is basically vailian padded armor.. I can make a screenshot with a wild orlan + Munacra Arret... wait a sec... And here with generic Vailian clothing:

PoE: as far as I know even Ambassador Agosti and people like Lord Gaderman only wear "regular" clothing. By regular I mean the stuff you can find and buy like everywhere. I never tried to use the console to search for fancier stuff though. Might try and then return to this thread... Deadfire: There are not that many outfits in the beta. Some special from factions is cool - the Vaillian stuff looks fancy, but not really regal. Edit: was does look quite fancy and noble is the unique padded armor Vengiatta Rugia in combination with Munacra Arret and a nice cape. Edit2: I searched the prefabs-folder of PoE for some nice dresses but only found the usual stuff. I remembered that vithracks have some fancy shmancy clothings but unfortunately those ar part of their character model and not a seperate item that you can get with the console. Sorry...

You know what? I didn't test what happens when you use the DoT upgrade of Blinding Strike with a blunderbuss (because I always used Confounding Blind). Will the enemy suffer 5 or even 10 parallel DoTs? They don't depend on weapon damage...

Doesn't the Hand Occult prevent/sabotage stuff like letterpress printing and other stuff that would potentially lead to a industrial revolution?

As far as I know the portraits are displayed in alphabetical order. So naming your portraits something like z_<whatever> could make sure they are not shuffled between the other ones.