MaxQuest

The idea was great. The DR is more effective vs low-hitting enemies (but many in numbers). While hit quality downgrade is more effective vs hard-hitting monsters. And it feels natural. One would send iron-clad warrior vs something like xaurips. While no sane knight would try to tank-up a flurry of dragon blows; it's better to evade them altogether. Tyranny lacked playtesting through, to balance these options and make them equally useful. In the end light armor turned out to be superior. But Deadfire could solve this problem.

Valid point) And yeah, seems like Bond will stay. Inb4 there will be a build with pistols called 007

I was thinking of range, but no, in PoE every character can attack at both distant and melee range. And basically for every class (except barbarian and perhaps fighter) there is an optimal range and melee build. As for shaman, he will clash a bit with chanter. As they both are spellcasters in a way, can provide healing; both chant/murmur when doing their stuff and deal with spirits. I was thinking more of a witch archetype. Or think of WoW Warlock (from Burning Crusade times) combined with Necromancer specialization from DA:I. It's not that much about summoning stuff from another planes. Rather about cc, high damage-per-action DoTs and health manipulation. With possible sub-classes being specialized around: 1). touch-spells, high-hp and drain-tanking (maybe someone remembers the old SL-SL warlock); 2). single-target magical dps; 3). summoning/animating/taking-control of stuff and spreading dots / make them explode on expiration. Animancer could work too, but the approach would change. Instead of health manipulation it would be soul manipulation. And instead of magic there would be some kind of technology, because: Although looking at Ydwin, it's quite likely that animancer will be a background in Deadfire. Still not good In a way that would mean that ranger has objective while others don't. Few more random substitutes: aim, awareness, track, readiness.

Well, right... I stand corrected) It's hard not to think of English as primary, default language through, as it's used for console commands, creatures inner names, localization keys, etc.

It depends on how well it is done) For example I much prefer Warcraft3 and Witcher series in Russian language over original. Yet could not stand playing WoW or DotA2 in other language than English. For PoE1 it was English as well. Imho, text and VO should be in the same language, otherwise it's distracting. Again, it depends on how well it's done) Sometimes the voice of VO actor matches the character even better than that of the original actor.

As Boeroer said, it's because CF duration is lower than that of the DoT you have mentioned. Interval between two consecutive ticks is 3s. Interval between a tick and the one after next one is 6s. This means that 5s-long CF will always double at least one tick, and in 66% of cases it will double one more. Hence 7 => 9. Not a lot, but the good thing is that a priest usually has high INT, plus Minor Avatar, which can easily result in 10s long CF on hit, or 15s on crit.

The following builds come to mind: - Riptide ranger (melee, heavy armor, tidefall) - Powder-burns ranger (melee, plate, powder-burns, switching firearms) - The already mentioned wizard offtank. Something like: 2/15/10/17/17/17 wild orlan. - Maybe a fist version of interruption barb. 2/12/18/21/18/7 + Novice's Suffering.

There is more 'broken' stuff in the game What the spell does is: - affects the enemy with a single-target DoT, that deals 80 burning damage over 5s (base values) - reduces the duration of beneficial buffs on the target by 5s. For example enemy uses Disciplined Barrage. It's duration will be 10s instead of 15s. Or if the enemy is affected by Herald aura (which iirc has 5s duration and ticks every 3s, right?) - he won't get any benefit from it at all. - doubles the tick rate of all DoTs on the target, for it's duration. Closer to the latter. When a DoT ticks on a target affected by Cleansing Flames, there will be two ticks instead of one. Take note through that CF has base duration of 5s. So at 10 MIG / 10 INT: - No CF + 150 raw damage over 15s DoT; results in 7 ticks of 21.42 dmg - CF + 150 raw damage over 15s DoT; results in 9 ticks of 21.42 dmg, i.e. 192.8 dmg over 15s; unless you recast CF on that target, or it jumps back. The true beauty of CF is through: casting 4 Shining Beacons (which all stack), and then follow with CF, which basically means that target suffers from 8 instances of Shinning Beacon at the same time. And a buffed priest deals ~250 fire damage via single Beacon alone. You can see how Alpine Dragon goes from barely injured to dead in 10s: link.

That's around 150 raw damage over 18s. And one can also cast Cleansing Flames to double the tick rate. P.S. Another great source of raw damage is Disintegration: 240 raw over 15s (base values), or if cast by cipher with 22 MIG & 29 INT: 636 raw dmg over 29.2s, on hit 954 raw dmg over 43.5s, on crit And it also can be boosted by Cleansing Flames.

It doesn't matter) because iirc Deahtblows do not increase damage dealt by Envenomed Strike, so it all comes to MIG, INT plus effective accuracy. And rogue is quite unlikely to bump both of the first two.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3807509&userid=17931&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post472057845 Might be useful for solo barbarian, or barb+monk tandem. Aside from that... Also getting him affected by the new confuse (for example right before AI uses HoF via tactics), is really scary now.

Better indeed. But makes me think of accuracy) Afaik they are still experimenting with it: As there are at least 3 ways to implement it, with no option were you could say: that is obviously the best one. So thought I. A barb is more likely to fully enrage when fighting to the death, rather when stumbling upon a lone xaurip. But basically rjshae is right, there are more important stuff to do first. Immersion improvements can be done latter, if there is time or barb ability re-balancing comes naturally to mind. No, bard would indeed clash quite hard with chanter. I was thinking of...

I really liked the resource management idea for the martial classes, explained recently by JS, here. But looking at 3-3-5 class separation, can't help but think of class symmetry. That and the ranger/barb power sources. That's why I am curious on your thoughts on: 1. Ranger power source name. Which is Bond. James Bond.. Ranger starts combat at full bond, and spends it in order to use his abilities. Personally I find that it sounds a bit strange. Plus if there will be an archery-specialized/pet-less ranger sub-class, 'bond' will become out of place. Maybe there is a better name for it? For example focus. It's quite natural that in order to aim well, archer should be focused. And at the start of combat one is usually more focused, than when someone has charged him in melee. Thus it is natural to start combat with full focus, and end with less. Currently focus name is used for cipher resource. But basically what he generates is psychic energy. So it could be just that, energy. 2. Barbarian resource pool/generation. From one point of view I like that barb will start the combat at full rage. From another - feel a bit conflicted, as rage is an intense and growing form of anger. Isn't it? For some reason I have the following associations: - barbarian starts at 'm' rage and can generate more. - while it's berserker sub-class can start at full rage, but losses the ability to generate it. 3. Class symmetry. I already like were it's going. But keep imagining what if classes were separated a bit differently, specifically in groups of 3: Of course, such classification and class separation is not required to make them fun. Through I find some charm in it. Plus it feels natural for barb and rogue to be able to generate resources? I am not saying that they should, I trust whatever way Josh chooses to (simply because I liked NWN2 and POE1); so that's just my personal opinion. P.S. As for class X, it could be left blank, or added later in some expansion. A class with spell/spell-like-ability progression table, generation of resources, all spells being available without picking (like priest or druid, not like wizard/cipher/chanter), and as a bonus: ability to 'summon' (but without overlaping with chanter). There is a class matching perfectly this description. 10 internet points to the one who gets it

Good point. I suppose through that there are some extra to the 3 listed ways/options. Like: - packing some active abilities in groups. For example paladin auras will become available altogether. In POE1 zealous charge was quite situational to guarantee it's picking. While in POE2 we will be able to use it, without spending extra ability point. Maybe they will do similar thing with exhortations and other stuff. - our parties will probably end-up with ~4 specialist characters (3 dps/cc, 1 dedicated tank) and with one versatile support most of the time. We don't usually expect much damage from that support, and there is a high chance that he will be built for flexibility (i.e. more actives versus passives) - non-stacking actives. For example there is less incentive in spamming FoD with Enduring Flames upgrade. And in meanwhile paladin will use other stuff. - actives that target a specific defense and lower the other. This would would promote chaining them, instead of spamming just one. But yeah, the best one you already listed. If there is a high-desired higher-costed actives like Sacred Immolation, player will use that one first, instead of just FoDing over and over again. Also, it was quite interesting to notice that resource pool correlates, but is not equal to power level. For example: - maximum zeal (pool) is 11. (source) - 10/0 rogue may have 7 guile (pool). (source) - 5/5 rogue/fighter may have 5 guile (pool) and 5 discipline (pool). (source) - lvl 13 Pallegina has 9 zeal. (source, src) At the same time: - max power level (for a lvl 20 character) is 10. (as it corresponds to max spell rank) - 10/0 rogue has 30 guile power_source points which corresponds to power_level 5. (source) - 5/5 rogue fighter has 20 guile power_source points and 20 discipline which correspond to to power_level 4/4. (source) - 13/0 Pallegina has 39 power_source points or power_level 7 (if the progression holds, which it should) Which results in: 10->11 7->9 5->7 4->5 power_level->resource_pool And looks like: resource_pool = 2 * ceil(power_level / 2) + 1

Sailor brings the association with pistols and cutlasses. So... and ocean folk chanter (weather manipulator) who quick switches pistols before switching to sabres / or stormcaller.

Greater Frenzy - I would say it's optional. Sure +2MIG/CON is not bad, but there is opportunity cost. Thus I would consider taking it only after picking all the "must-have" & "good" stuff. Barbaric Blow - very early on, you have other priorities. For example Savage Defiance will greatly help with your survivability. But already on lvl 7+ Barbaric Blow (with dual-sabres) was usually killing barb's main target plus bringing all enemies in carnage range to half endurance, quite speeding-up trash fights. Envenomed Strike - it scales with both MIG and INT, and barb has both of them at high values. It's a great source of damage vs single-targets with high endurance. Although you only need 1, maximum 2 team-members with it, because it doesn't stack. In your case that could be: barb, wizard or priest. You have the rogue+ciphers combo. This means: - ciphers will protect rogue via hard-cc'ing those who try to attack him - ciphers will help stun/paralyze rogue's target, which lowers targets deflection, and thus rogue will crit a lot - rogue will often sneak-attack/deathblow - rogue has many full-attack abilities, which favores dual-wielding Thus the following options come to mind: - Rimecutter + WeToki. Prone will help with deathblows. While speed on main hand is good for full-attacks, because recovery of off-hand is wavered. Plus both have +0.5 dmg coef on crit, and you will crit very, very often. - Rimecutter + Barricade. Barricade has a great proc, whose damage is increased by deathblows. - The usual dual-sabres (Purgatories or Bittercuts) - Also you can try dual Drawn-in-Spring. But this will require you to amp your MIG, because of the way wounding works.

No Threatening Presense - because many enemies are immune to frightening which makes it quite situational, plus, as Boeroer mentioned, there are other members and items that allow you to frighten without losing an ability slot. Similar stuff with Threatening Presense. Also, weakening from Painful Interdiction will suppress it.

Plus you can let your ciphers target the fighter with Ectopsychic Echo, and than let him charge) I am too lazy) I know that Triggered Immunity procs when fighter takes an instance of damage greater than 10% of his max endurance. For example dragon uses his breath, and immunity vs frost damage was activated. Then he receives raw damage from Take the Hit, and if it passes the threshold [immunity vs corrode] is substituted by [immunity vs raw]. Then he gets a Finishing Blow hit, and the existing immunity is substituted by [immunity vs crush], and so on... I mean I am too lazy to think of effective way to use it Not to mention that I only need Take the Hit protection in dragon encounters... and these are not the fights were I want to place my party near the fighter.

God speed) Pale elf's frost DR helps a lot vs spectres' frost attacks, also it allows to receive less attention from them due to their target preferences. If you vice-versa would want more of them to attack this cipher, but less the other team members, boreal dwarf is good alternative. +15 acc vs all xaurips, vithraacs, etc is nice as well. Although with 18 starting acc + painful interdiction you will often crit with cc effects anyway. The only real must have abilities for barbarian are: Barbaric Blow and Heart of Fury. Other passives, buffs and talents should increase the effect of these, plus barbarian's staying power. Good stuff includes: Frenzy, Weapon Focus, Accurate Carnage, Savage Defiance, Two-Weapon Style Once you for those you can pick: One Stands Alone, Brute Force, Savage Attack, Bloodlust + Vulnerable Attack, plus late stuff: Dragon Leap, Echoing Shout Optional: Stalwart Defiance, Envenomed Strike, Veteran's Recovery, Wound Binding, +25% dmg vs Creature Type (spirits, wilder) Questionable stuff (better avoid in your party composition): Blooded, Barbaric Yell, Threatening Presence, Eye of the Storm, Wild Sprint

All my playthroughs had 2 ciphers so far. In the last one, I used a melee mc (plate; dw sabres, focused on damage powers + occasional cc) plus a ranged one (glass-cannon, warbow, focused on cc). It was great because: - the ranged one was providing enough control such that barb and the rest could get more MIG&DEX instead of CON/RES. - the initial build for barbarian was the interruption tank. But already on lvl 5+ I started noticing that I actually don't need these extra interruptions, plus he doesn't get low. So I have respecced him into a burst dpser: 17/10/14/13/18/6 with dw sabres. Plus with high MIG/INT he became even better wielder of Shod-in-Faith boots. - stuns/paralyzes were greatly reducing enemy deflection, allowing for higher focus generation for both ciphers. Also it was amping carnage damage. - there are many damaging powers: echo, mind lance, scream and especially detonate. Majority of them target reflex, which was already heavily debuffed, resulting in a lot of crits. Heh, even through barbarian was dishing out tremendous amounts of damage, this cipher always was 5-10% ahead of him. But even through I liked this setup, there were few things that were not completely optimal: - the ranged cipher was a 17/6/18/18/16/3 glass cannon. And since he was the first one responsible of cc, his might was a bit wasted during spell casting. - I've found out that some cipher powers have really weird cast time / recovery time. For example Eyestrike, Whispers of Treason, Mental Binding and Ringleader have longer cast time than they should have, but also have really low recovery. So they can easily be casted by a plate encased cipher almost at the same rate. - a cc cipher doesn't need might for cc-powers, yet he should still be able to generate focus fast enough. This brought the idea of using melee weapons (which almost always have higher dps), plus some DR penetration and TwoHanded Style to compensate for the lack of might. Basically BotEP. Next time I am definitely going to reverse their roles. I.e. use melee cipher for cc, while the ranged for damage. P.S. Even through that melee guy is going to primary cc, he will still dish some decent auto-attack dps (comparable to a dps fighter without charge). The already mentioned: 17/10/14/13/18/6 human with Shod-in-Faith boots, dw sabres and Swadling Sheet (unless you give it to your priest). There are several per-encounter factors that heavily buff barbarian's effective accuracy: - Brute Force + Painful Interdiction (good vs shades/spirits) - AoE stuns and paralyzes thrown by ciphers - Aspirant's Mark So there is no real need to bump his accuracy to the max. Latter there will also be Gaze of Adragan, Swadling Sheet, Ring of the Ancient Forge. I would also recommend the following formation: __ba__ ci__ro __pr__ wi__ci plus making your priest a moon-godlike with 3 RES / Pierce-proofed armor, while wizard and cipher with 4-6 RES / Frost-proofed armor. This way enemies that don't have special targeting preferences will flock around your barbarian, while enemy barbarians and teleporting spirits will usually rush towards your priest. It will be easier to cover them with aoe cc, and shred them to pieces.

Post 6, no? No

Thanks for clarification. Could you link the source, please? I have a feeling that you are confusing power source points with empower charges. The latter are indeed restored on rest. I've seen that post and was aware of cost refunds. I suppose it's quite simple: 1. there are power source points (and we know how they are calculated, thanks to update #7) 2. they are used to compute related power level 3. power level determines spell progression for ex-vancian classes (wizard, druid and priest). (i.e. to what spells they have access to, and how many of each rank can they cast per-encounter). Also it determines the size of per-encounter resource pool for paladins. 4. while empower is per-rest stuff. I.e. there is a limited amount of charges, which can be used to augment some of your spells or abilities.

@Boeroer, agreed, Charge is awesome) But still, would you trade something like HoF for it? As for Take the Hit... imho there should be some damage reduction, like nearby allies take 50% of the incoming damage, while fighter takes only 30%. Otherwise what's the point? If I don't want someone get hit, I won't place them on frontline near the fighter. Plus there are cc effects to keep enemies at bay.

Achilles.. I know about power sources, power level and their progression. You didn't understand the question. As Infinitron has pointed out, I was referring to combat. For example: a 17/0 Pallegina has 51 power source points / 9 power level. Her power source is zeal. She uses zeal to cast her spells/abilities. - the first part of the question was: does she start every combat at 0, m or 9 zeal? - the second part of the question was: can she gain/generate more zeal during fight? And afaik we have no source to answer this yet.

I was already ready to point on potential 60 FoD usages per combat, plus the fact that different classes use different resource generation if at all Using power level as limit for spell usage is indeed more plausible, as it is also used for spell-progression tables of wizard, priest and druid. But it doesn't answer the question