MaxQuest

It's a somewhat confusing topic. Because on your first question there is no simple yes/no answer, due to opportunity costs. As for the second question, as Thelee already mentioned, we actually did agree. The problem was that we were using different definitions/perspectives for the said returns. But after all it doesn't matter if the cow is darker than light-gray, or lighter than dark-gray; as we only care for how much milk she gives^^ But if you want to get to the bottom of this, then here are the two perspectives: 1. One of the common definitions for diminishing returns is this (shamelessly taken from wikipedia): Since this takes into account only absolute gains, Thelee is correct by stating that we have "linear returns" from action_speed on dps. For example, we have 100 dps, no other modifiers, and we incrementally apply a stackable +25% action speed buff. Now we can compare the following scenarios: Scenario 1: > buff1: +25% action speed > step_sum: 0.25 > speed_coef = 1.25 > dps: 125 dps Scenario 2: > buff1: +25% action speed > buff2: +25% action speed > step_sum: 0.25 + 0.25 > speed_coef = 1.50 > dps: 150 dps Scenario 3: > buff1: +25% action speed > buff2: +25% action speed > buff3: +25% action speed > dps: 175 dps ...and so on So for every +x% action speed you get the same absolute gain. And this is linear returns. Btw, Thelee also elaborates on this in his Umezawa build (check the LINEAR RETURNS appendix). 2.a). Now the thing is, as a player you are not necessary interested in absolute gain. Personally I am more interested in the relative one. 2.a)i) First, let's take a look at the first scenario from point 1. The buff1, increased your dps from 100->125. That's a x1.25 relative increase. The buff2, when applied after buff1, although being the same, increased the dps from 125->150. That's a x1.20 relative increase. So in a way we could call this "relative diminishing returns", or also "intrinsic diminishing returns". Why "intrinsic"? Because majority of stuff in nature is subject to this. You have one drop, and add another one to it: now you have twice more. You have an ocean, and add a drop it. Basically nothing changed. Although this is a somewhat deliberate use of the term. So be aware. But since I don't have another, I use what I have) Now to answer why am I interested in this "relative whatever it is" in the first place? Because: 2.a)ii) Opportunity cost. Let's assume you have 100 dps. And can select one out of two buffs: Buff1: +25% action speed Buff2: +25% damage Whichever you choose, your dps will become 125. So in given context, the buffs are pretty equal. Now let's say you have chosen Buff1, and get an opportunity to choose again. If you choose Buff1, you will get x1.20 relative increase in dps: 125 -> 150. If you choose Buff2, you will get x1.25 relative increase in dps: 125 -> 156.25 So again (although I am kinda twisting it), the Buff1 became less efficient than it was before. Or let's do a less abstract example. Sure-Handed Illa provides the awesome -20% recovery_time and -20% reload_time buffs, and the character can benefit from both if he attacks with a firearm. So the player can get quite fond of it. But if he builds a streetfighter, the relative gain from Sure-Handed Illa will be lessened; and perhaps it could be more efficient dps-wise to start looking for some damage-increase options over reload-decreasing ones. 2.a)iii) Also we could speak about limited resource pools. Let's say you have 100dps, and can choose between +100% action speed or +100% damage bonus. But have only 2 fireball usages, after which you will have to auto-attack. It's kinda understandable that unless the combat ends too soon or is infinite, the second option will result in higher dps. Although must also remind about the overkill damage being wasted. And that a longer cast is easier to interrupt. 2.b). And now would like to elaborate on the "-% recovery time" that you have mentioned. Let's say you have 1.0s attack time, 4.0s recovery time, 100dps, and keep applying a stackable -20% recovery time buff. - 0 buffs: 1.0s + 4.0000s = 5.0000s (100.0 dps) - 1 buffs: 1.0s + 3.2000s = 4.2000s (119.0 dps) (+19.0 dps) - 2 buffs: 1.0s + 2.6666s = 3.6666s (136.3 dps) (+17.3 dps) - 3 buffs: 1.0s + 2.2857s = 3.2857s (152.1 dps) (+15.8 dps) - 4 buffs: 1.0s + 2.0000s = 3.0000s (166.6 dps) (+14.5 dps) Here not only relative dps gains are diminishing, but even the absolute ones. Because of recovery_time buffs effect on total_action_time being diluted by the unchanged attack_time. And one more thing about returns. Besides the relative vs absolute perspective (although absolute is more technically correct), it's also important to specify what entity do we examine. Let's take the previous example, and say that attack time is 0s: - 0 buffs: 0s + 4.0000s = 4.0000s (100 dps) - 1 buffs: 0s + 3.2000s = 3.2000s (125 dps) (+25 dps) - 2 buffs: 0s + 2.6666s = 2.6666s (150 dps) (+25 dps) - 3 buffs: 0s + 2.2857s = 2.2857s (175 dps) (+25 dps) - 4 buffs: 0s + 2.0000s = 2.0000s (200 dps) (+25 dps) So my understanding is that we have here: - (absolute) linear returns on dps - (relative/intrinsic) diminishing returns on dps - (absolute) diminishing returns on recovery_time - (relative/intrinsic) diminishing returns on recovery_time - (absolute) linear returns on recovery_speed - (relative/intrinsic) diminishing returns on recovery_speed And that's why it is hard to answer your question: So general answer would be: it depends)

Has someone checked the interaction with Potion of Major Recovery and Clarity of Agony? It would be quite interesting if they reduced Arcane Dampener duration right before getting suppressed.

It depends on player's preferences. If I am playing football and it's easy, I'd prefer playing vs stronger team, instead of getting rid of teammates, getting one leg tied to an arm, and an eyepatch to limit the view. That said, I enable stuff that makes the enemy stronger (PotD, upscaling, Ondra/Galawain challenge), but disregard stuff that makes my party weaker. Also there is an extra argument related to time needed to finish a completionist run. In Deadfire solo'ing would consume more out of my real-life time. And I usually have no time for that, or prefer to do some other stuff instead. In Tyranny though, it was viceversa, as it was actually faster to solo the game. There is no easy solution to this. Overleveling stuff feels cheap and kills the challenge. Once you start tackling every fight without taking a sweat at all, and it repeats over and over, encounters transform into a tedium, into an artificial time delay before you are presented with ending slides. Upscaling enemies to your level, has problems as well. No matter what you do - it's like your efforts didn't matter whatsoever, because enemy keeps the same pace. This was especially noticeable in Skyrim. In Deadfire though, default upscaling has a limit of "enemy level goes up but no more than by +4", plus there appear equipment/weapon options that propel you ahead of the curve. All in all, I think upscaling is a must in a game like Deadfire, because developers cannot easily account for: - is the player going for completionist run or doing only critical path. - is he doing DLC content or not. Otherwise we risk to get into "there are too many trash fights" or "this fight is impossible" threads. At the same time, I think that just bringing all under-leveled enemies to the player's level is cheap. - First of all it kills all the passives that apply to under-leveled targets, like: Double Tap, Executioner, Abjuration, Threatening Presence and so on. - Second, it partially kills the player's feel of accomplishment from leveling: like hey, I couldn't win this fight at level 5, but I can now. Ideally, I think, 80% of regular enemies could get upscaled to Players_Level_Minus_One. 20% of regular enemies upscaled to Players_Level_Minus_Three. But no more than by +9 levels. As for boss enemies - these should be at least 2 levels ahead from the player. Tbh, I was really excited when ship combat was announced as a stretch goal. Age of Pirates 2 was one of my favorite games back in 2009, especially for their naval battles. That said I definitely didn't expect that it gonna be text-based Btw, here are some Josh's remarks about ship combat in Deadfire: link

Well... they could be made 1-per-encounter in-combat-only. While they are per-rest they have very situational combat value for me. But hey, as you showed, there is at least that crouching usage. So that's something...

Na...I was recommending 1 bleakwalker. But won't recommend 5 of them. If all paladins have to be of the same order, then it's Kind Wayfarer only. As for whom to multi-with: v1: - wayfarer/trickster - wayfarer/monk - wayfarer/monk - wayfarer/nalpazka - wayfarer/skald (or another monk) v2: - wayfarer/trickster - wayfarer/tactician - wayfarer/tactician - wayfarer/tactician - wayfarer/beguiler This one: adjusted racials Obs kinda forgot to add scaling to Silver Tide and Battle Forged, so it fixes it.

Combusting Wounds behavior slightly varied across versions. I've seen players mentioning that it was working with DoTs or being bugged. But I know for sure that it wasn't triggering at all in v3.02, and was fixed in v3.03. Here's a related post about it. Indeed I could mix those up, that's why I left that remark I remember this post by Kaylon about flanking/engagement in PoE1. And it also could mix with what I experienced in Deadfire. Also it is unclear what to make of "One Stands Alone" (requires an additional threatening enemy to become flanked). Do you need 1 enemy from front, and 2 from behind? Or you need 1 from front, 1 from behind and doesn't matter where the 3rd is standing? I was under impression that: - have ranged weapon equipped: 0 engagement slots - have melee weapon equipped: +1 engagement slot - have shield equipped: +1 engagement slot No?

Oh... don't even remember when last time I've played from 1st person. I think it was TES4, but even than I was switching 1st and 3rd person view a lot. Quite curious how it will turn out. That's nice. Interesting... do they feel that it's better to release before Cyberpunk 2077?)

When you engage an enemy: - you will get a free full attack (with bonus acc and damage) on enemy, if he decides to move away from you (unless he uses an ability that break engagement). - also you decrease the chance that he will go for another target in the first place (unless he uses an ability that break engagement). Having n engagement slots, means you can engage n enemies at the same time. Additionally there are some engagement related items, whose effect increases proportionally to number of outcoming or incoming engagements. Also, if I am not mistaken (so correct me if I am), there are 4 sources of Flanked: - sandwich flanking: when 1 enemy is in front and 1 in the back - front flanking: when you have n engagement slots, but face n+1 enemies - perception afflictions - direct debuff: like Phantom Foes In this case, engagement slots also help vs getting flanked from the front. So to answer your question... engagement slots are not really important, unless you make a specific build, or have a tactician that often gets front-flanked. Or it could actually be your intention... to have a melee tactician who switches between Squid's Grasp and a ranged weapon, back and forth...

^ It doesn't include chanter chants, with the exception of Many Lives Pass By, Each Leaving Footprints. That skeleton's attacks will trigger Combusting Wounds P.S. Wall spells, beams and recursive AoE attacks are at the moment along the strongest triggers for CW.

My bet goes to "every damage instance that goes through attack resolution", just like in PoE1. So it rules out all DoTs, but includes periodic damage.

I still don't understand... why are Bounding Boots 2-per-rest and not 1-per-encounter... As per topic: - Survivor's Tusks: Boar's Endurance (and maybe Boar's Charge). - The Mask of the Weyc: Veiling Hood Also need to check Hunter's Pounce from Ngati's Tusk

Because: - he wanted all of them being paladins - there is a need for Phantom Foes - to help the tacticians. - Bleak Walker will deal more physical damage than a Wayfarer, and ciphers like that. Plus you get a cheap source of Sicken. And having healing from a 5th Wayfarer will likely result in overheal anyway. P.S. ... and because I didn't notice that he wanted them all to be of the same order...

You use my mod? Otherwise 3x10 from Silver Tide is quite far from exciting) I would recommend: 1 Bleakwalker/Beguiler and 4 Kind Wayfarers/Tacticians. Go infinite.

"for kithity" (somehow am reading this in Quagmire voice)

Combusting Wounds were broken during v3.02, but fixed in v3.03. Also: CW doesn't deal damage by itself. But everytime you deal damage (that goes through attack resolution) to the target, it is also affected by a stackable mini-DoT. And yeap, it doesn't appear in the combat log. Here are the related threads/posts: - one - two

Pyromant Gloves? Ha! Gauntlets of Swift Action! As for pet... Abraham/Cutthroat (on MC) + Nalvi (on Eder) is one of the best speed options, unless you really need that reflex (from DEX). But yeah, I understand) The existing Pensiavi mes Rei even if provides +3 attr, at least has no other bonuses.

I think multi-classers benefit the most, especially: martial/martial and caster/caster, since they will get +1/+1 resource. Although have to note: - casters, will get +1 random spell usage; so it's not as reliable as getting +1 to the resource pool. - on the other hand... all spells cost just 1 usage. While some martial abilities can cost more points, let's say 4 discipline. Also, monks get +1 mortification and +1 wound, no? While the obvious loser here is cipher. Getting +10 focus once in 6s - is a joke.

Collector's Mantle - is fairly balanced, so, sure I'll add it) Regarding druid_ring: uhm, I understand that druid would like it; but no, adding completely custom stuff - is outside of this mod's scope. So there could be a separate mod for this... or perhaps Obsidian will do something for 5.0.0. Btw, regarding Ring of Thorns. You find it OP? I feel some doubts in both directions. From one point of view, prone is much shorter in Deadfire than in PoE1. Also I don't really remember getting stunned. On the other hand, yeah, for a solo player it might heavily decrease some specific combat difficulty, if there actually is such stunning encounter.

Oh my Thank you, it will definitely save me some time, even if I intent to transfer only a part of them to Deadfire) If it's not a secret, how much time did it take to do?) Edit: There should be one more file with itemmods, no? I am looking at Back_Tax_Collectors_Mantle, and can't find the referenced itemmods: - "b6d34c19-9e7c-4ec8-aee7-d005f1690cf0", - "8400d6b0-6d65-40e2-ae62-5b4c28b95eaf", - "05856625-a9ff-4935-b48d-cedc52fec6b9"

It looks to me that the first bug is related to having more than 1 tactician in party. For example I have added one more, and now have 3 tacticians: see screenshot The first two got, for some reason, the Brilliant_Tactician buff (even though the Rotghast is not flanked), while the last one didn't. Also I have taken a look at the related abilities: Brilliant_Tactician and Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden. If I understood correctly, here's what they do: Brilliant_Tactician (ability): If ((combat_time_elapsed > 1s) && (there_is_at_least_one_enemy_in_30ft_radius) && (has not Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden_SE_Trigger)] Then give Brilliant_Tactician_SE_Brilliant Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden (ability): - has a 150ft aura that checks: (IsCharacterInCombat && is IsFriendly && !IsDestructible && IsFlanked) || (IsCharacterInCombat && is !IsFriendly && !IsDestructible && !IsFlanked) - this aura gives [Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden_SE_Transfer] which gives [Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden_SE_Trigger](StackIfAlreadyApplied) Since there is AuraAbilityComponent at hand... could it happen that auras from multiple tacticians mess with each other?Also it's unclear if that aura gives Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden_SE_Trigger to everyone matching, or only to tactician. And lastly: could the bug #2 be caused by StackIfAlreadyApplied on Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden_SE_Trigger? I.e. tactician gets multiple instances of Brilliant_Tactician_Hidden_SE_Trigger (which prevent Brilliance), but only one instance/layer is removed on unflanking himself.

I have completed two playthroughs during 1.08. - one with full party, Disfavored path - one solo, Independent path Tbh, I don't remember encountering any gamebreaking bugs. There were some minor, but it was easy enough to play around them. In my opinion Tyranny had problems of mechanics kind... Quirky attack resolution, ability to one-shot bosses, and limited amount of optimal builds. After only one playthrough you could spot the strongest build, and everything else would just be subpar to it, so there was little incentive to experiment further.

I have taken a look at Iron_Wheel_Presence_A_SE_ArmorRating: MultiplyBy: 0.25 - this is the real value ExtraValue: 0.25 - is the value used for description It looks like ExtraValue is getting rounded to one decimal precision: 0.3. So the bug is that description does not reflect the real value. Tbh I would prefer both values being increased to 0.3. Until your post, I was thinking that this +0.3 per wound is the actual, real value...

Thank Berath for the confusion The gods don't tell you right away that there is such a machine; and just tell "Eothas wants to destroy THE WHEEL. PLS STAHP! Or at least spy." Btw, you might want to check these two posts for my understanding about THE WHEEL: one, two Yes, the example with dam was given several times by now As for Berath... nope, she doesn't tell you that. I was checking the game files/dialogues, and unless I've missed something (although I was trying my best not to), she only compares the process with [rain]. Not with [dam]. Also I'd like to note that something puzzles me. Something that I can't put a finger on right now... But it is related to the watcher walking in [THE BETWEEN] at start of the game, Berath telling you "Welcome to the Beyond", and these two rain/dam examples. Same here. Kith does require some enlightenment on the matter. Lack of knowledge on how to work with the Ukaizo machine can lead to disastrous consequences. Yeap. And this shows how a god can have wrong expectations about kith. I don't think they trust you) They just ignore your pranking, because what else they can do? Kill you? Ok, but what it gives them? They rather utilize you now, and kill you later. Only Rymrgand doesn't care Additionally if you insult him, he feels free to disregard your "protection" from Berath.

In the most common endings, he "breaks" THE MACHINE. There is a dialog option where you ask him to "destroy" THE MACHINE. And if he agrees, it leads to the gradual ceasing of all life on Eora. Interestingly enough, if you've completed The Beast of Winter, he might deny your request, and tell you that it's all Rymrgand influence It's not that they need you. Afterall, Berath just rebirths you to animal, if you deny her request. But they want one more pair of eyes on what Eothas is doing. Additionally, you already know a lot, and might see what others cannot. Not to mention that you have a history of putting your nose into the gods affairs, and coming out alive. And lastly there is a chance that if you gain at least some minor influence on Eothas, they could bribe or intimidate you into slightly altering the direction of his actions. They are not sure. But think that there might be such a chance. Afterall Eothas is doing this "for mortals". And you so far are the only one who is brave, somewhat able and insistent enough to follow him so close. And if he kills you - so what? I think they already "talked" to Eothas, and he told them of his intention to "divulge the secret". They didn't agree with him, and he decided to show the Engwithan Machines to the people, because just explaining it using words turned to be ineffective, as such speeches were quickly marked as heresy. Majority of such machines were located in Dyrwood. And tbh I don't quite understand why Eothas failed to posses Aevar Wolf-Grin. But there was something about Dyrwood being under Magran's and Woedica influence/protection. So he used Waidwen, and started a war by coming from Readceras. So as you see, others gods worked together and by having enough time, they succeeded at stopping him. But this time, after possessing the statue, the situation was different. I recall Eothas mentioning something about it being a surprise move and other gods not having enough time/force to stop him even if they wanted to. And as we saw, Magran and Ondra indeed couldn't with their volcano/tsunami. While Woedica and Skaen not being able to do even that. As for Rymrgand he was just happy with where it's all going, and especially with potential accidental destruction of all and everything. As for Berath, Galawain, Abydon and Wael - I think they partially did agree with Eothas, but were afraid to do the move; and wary of becoming dependant on mortals. Although... I think there was a chance to stop Eothas. If only other gods could destroy the adra pillars on Maje, Hasongo and Ashen Maw before Eothas would arrive there, plus kill all inhabitants in Deadfire... he might lack the essence to propel his statue body to Ukaizo. Yeap. The gods look quite incompetent, and some of them even realize it. Rymrgand, if asked why he is such ****, replies that it's his nature. Gods, were created to embodiment and portfolio-cover majority of imagined deities from various cultures of those times. And they have a strong affinity to the direction they were half-programmed to follow. Eothas have understood that there is little chance in reasoning with the rest of gods. But he was kinda naive as well. Oh, let's break things up, and hope that under-the-fear-of-mass-extinction kith and gods will build a perfect world. And ofc forgetting to take into account, that kith might lack the required knowledge and experience; while gods can continue their schemes and even force the old order back. Afterall they are masters at manipulation and making people forget stuff.

Grimoire and Infamous Cap fix that's something. And FF got much closer to playable. Now to wait for AoE weapon afflictions and Tacticians fix and can finally build the party and start playing