Boeroer

I generally agree. But in this case I could live with it when the AoE and/or the ACC and/or the damage of Carnage and the power and duration of Frenzy would work like a resource based system (I also suggested that afflictions enrage the barb - just to make it different from monk's wound system ). It would not necessarily contradict the "INT influences AoE size" rule. Ha - they could make it even so that higher INT leads to less damage but bigger AoE. A lot of people complain about carnage + INT leading to genius barbs. I don't (I like consistency), but I understand it. Even now we have AoE effects and also durations that don't give a shart about your INT. For example summons' duration, AoE of sigils and traps (where it would totally make sense) and so on. So I guess a resource based system for "rage" that influences carnage and frenzy would be an elegant way out of this dilemma.

As PrimeJunta pointed out, the official companions start one level higher than hirelings and therefore are always more powerful in the early to mid game (which is the hardest part). One level matters a lot more than a few stat points in the right places.

Shapshifting barb (or shapeshifter with carnage, how you want to look at it) would be awesome.

What are you talking about? The natural weapons of druids do scale with level. And at later levels you even will have a powerful spells that works best with very fast melee attack speed (aka claws and such): Avenging Storm. It's true that it's too short though. What I would like: Spiritshift becomes a modal, gets some extra talents - and spellcasting is only possible while not shifted. Maybe we'll have that with subclasses.

I didn't even back it yet nor did I invest (which I will do). I guess there are a lot of people like me, not rushing things if they don't need to. If I wasn't building a (damn too expensive) house at the moment I even would consider to invest a huge amount. I think the risk of loosing your money is quite low - and what else to do with your money? Deposit rates are near 0 atm here in Germany.

Hi, I would really like to see an improvement there. While I like PoE a lot this was the worst part of it. - How exactly does Finishing Blow work? - What are the stacking rules? - Why the heck do some modals suppress each other and some don't? - How is attack speed calculated? - What exactly is that Persecuting enchantment on my club? - What is base damage and how does my overall damage gets calculated? - how do interrupts work? - what does a crit do - how do Combusting Wounds work? - how does wounding work? - how do lashes work? And so on and so forth. Now I know all of that stuff, but you can't expect that everyone who wants to know these things either reads a quadrillion forum posts or does like hundreds of playthrougs (like I did) or decompiled your code (like several others here did - thanks to them) to find out what's going on. You can even make it a stretch goal if you want - if it's too expensive to write all that stuff down. And the combat log also needs a bit of improvement. For example you can't see certain things like Pain Link, Combusting Wounds and others. Support is highly welcome. Thanks for reading! Edit: dem typos

Erm... If you think so. At least now you know what to expect.

Stretch goal: make it so that you can hire custom char builds from other players. Described here:

What I would really really like is an "official" option (no mods) where you can build adventurers like the official companions - with char model, starting stats and equipment, a background story, maybe even voice and custom banter and so on and share it with the rest of the community. I mean it's easy to import custom portraits. Would be nice if this could be done with custom builds, too. Just drop them into a folder and they appear in the game - maybe in an inn or besides the generic hireling. Or make it so that you can choose hirelings from an online source, hosted by OBS. Would make hiring adventurers way more interesting. It would make developing class builds a lot of fun. I mean even more than now. They could even include reference letters from former employers (aka rating). Make this stretch goal and I'll be superhappy.

I like that you have to use what's there. And to be honest the stats have not that much of an impact on the performance of the companions. Did a ton of PoE playthroughs. The stats may not be optimal for some builds, but they always worked. And what about the Devil? It's only a breastplate - nothing too restrictive. As a bonus she's immune to mind control and poison. That's way more important than the ability to dress her up. I like the char design of the Devil. If I want a minmaxed or superspecial guy I'll hire an adventurer.

I use a Nvidia 555M in my laptop and it's OK most of the time. But all lightning effects like from whisps or blights for example kill my frame rate. No wonder. But no problems in Copperlane. I'm on Linux by the way.

Which is good. Why should they be better? I just hope that Citzal's Spirit Lance is still in the game. Would love to unleash the Lance + Carnage combo with Aloth, the wizbarb.

I also think that PoTD is too easy, but it's a good step from hard. They should just add an additional diff. option. There are some encounters which are pretty tough on upscaled PoTD, but nothing you can't handle with a party of six (or five). But maybe you should discuss this in the PoE:Deadfire forum.

Rimecutter from Azurro has speed, which is one of the best enchantments. But you can't force its appearance. But you can even buy it multiple times. Wodewys is a great axe for a barbarian, especially for mountain dwarf barbs. The perfect partner for We Toki. You'll find it in the foundry of Durgan's Battery - so not too early I must say. It's true: no early unique battle axes. But the one from Vincent Dwellier is not too bad. An early exceptional axe is a good thing.

Cool! If he would have had a party they could have been named "Anvil and the Chipchunks". You didn't say anything about Combusting Wounds + Rooting Pain (you have the Ring of Searing Flames). In theory it should be pretty powerful. If you catch 10 wounds that would mean 10 parallel CW DoTs in an AoE. Or doesn't Rooting Pain trigger CW? Would be too bad... Did you ever experience that Rooting Pain's AoE accidentally "transports" effects like prone or weakening in an AoE? It used to be like that with Shod-in-Faith and auras from items like Executioner's Hood and the Redfield shield.

Durgan Steel bonus (1.15) on weapons applies to that weapon's recovery and multiplies with other speed bonuses like Frenzy, DAoM, Gauntlets of Swift Action and so on. Also stacks with an existing speed enchantment on the same weapon. Also stacks with Spelltongue's speed buff. Stacks with everything to be precise. Durgan Steel bonus on shields (1.15) does the same - but for the main hand weapon, not for the shield, even if it's a bashing one. Durgan Steel on the armor lowers the recovery penalty. So, very powerful enchantments. But as AndreaColombo said: if you're already at 0 recovery this all does nothing for you. But then you could always add things like plate armor, Iron Circle or Vulnerable Attack and Cautious Attack and maybe still have 0 recovery.

All time favorite so far might be the Witch Doctor. The Backlash Beldam was also very nice, but they nerfed her to death. I also like barbs of any sorts. The druid I like best at the moment is a boar shifter, max MIG and INT, with Veteran's Recovery and survival (14) bonus for healing and Sanguine Plate + Shod-in-Faith boots. Go in, catch a crit which triggers Frenzy & Consecrated Ground, then shift and deal tons of (wounding) damage while self healing prevents knockout.

I think that's very boring - but to each its own.

I love it that you can tank with any class if you build it right. Well, some don't make super good tanks, but even a rogue can be build in a way that he can stand his ground against 3 attackers and still deal good damage. The Bilestomper wizard tank I did some time ago was a lot of fun for example.

Dammit, I never did that. Sooorry! Have too much fuzz going on right now. Since PoE2 will be released in one year at best I guess I could take some time and update all of my old builds. This one was one of my favourite ones back then - although it's not too gimmicky or special.

Monk with dual pistols? Either the monks in PoE:Deadfire are totally different or it's a rogue - subclass pirate.

Finally all those hours paid off. I wish.

The more wizards the easier the playthrough. Just add one priest. Wizards with shield + Wizard's Double + Arcane Veil make awesome tanks in the early levels. The deflection is so high that you only catch grazes if you get hit at all. Add Chillfog for -20 ACC and your front line is untouchable. You need to rest a bit in the early levels of course.

Damn. Then that was also nerfed. I used Pain Link with the Backlash Beldam + CW and it worked like a charm back then. They indeed nerfed *everything* around that cipher build… not only focus gain by retaliation. I should only post private builds where OBS can't read. They also nerfed Envenomed Strike + Blast and Spirit Lance once I posted that. And they don't even bother to mention it in patch notes. It's mean!

I don't care about lvl 1 at all. Explanations aside: I play the game to develop and enchance my chars while doing an adventure. It's good to start at lvl 1. But what I would really like to do is to keep some items - at least the ones you have with you when Eothas strikes. Some builds don't work properly without the right items... They could even be "dechanted" in quality in some way so that they are not too powerful at the start of the game. As long as they keep their special enchantments (like draining, wounding or rending or whatever) it's all good.