Ophiuchus

A good case for sure. Hirelings can also be traps for new players since the gulfs between levels aren't crystal clear from the beginning; and that it's best to hire one immediately after leveling. That poor level 1 dwarf barbarian I dragged into the Temple of Eothas on my first playthrough never stood a chance. Unity Console's a good way to get hirelings up to speed, and you can always deduct the extra level cost from your gold stash so it's not exactly, strictly, precisely cheating.

I never leave town without a good single class Priest for mainstays like Suppress Affliction, Dire Blessing, Champion's Boon, Triumph of the Crusaders, Salvation of Time, Rmyrgand's Symbol, etc. Out of the subclasses, I've never used Wael, Skaen or Eothas (without mods). I want to like Priest of Rmyrgand but the vs Fortitude spells are hard to land in PoTD and take forever and a day to cast and recover.

A new Berath's Blessing that lets you hire mercenaries at your current exp level for the usual price. I never understood why they implemented that restriction.

I loved Druid in POE1 but for the life of me can't gel with it in Deadfire. I feel the changes to casting resources and spell acquisition have taken some of the flexibility out of it. On the flipside, I didn't care much for Rangers and Monks in the original and am enjoying them immensely now.

I'd just like to see Mage Slayer be more than a meme: redesign it to be a tear down subclass with access to beneficial effect reduction/suppression and Veil Piercing; remove Fit on Frenzy and replace it with hostile-only spell resistance. For penalties, incoming beneficial Wizard, Priest, Druid, and Cipher spells are moderately reduced in effectiveness (symbolizing the Mage Slayer's reclusive nature), scrolls are off limits, and the subclass starts with -3 Alchemy.

Huh. I had no idea that even existed in PoE1. Digging these spicy Ranger abilities. Would anyone mind checking the PL of Bonded Fury? I'd glue that to a Seer, Geomancer, Wanderer or Wyldrhymer.

What does Mythic quality add? More damage/accuracy/PEN?

Since the clones retain active abilities, would they be able to summon additional minions? A Beckoner with Living Illusions would be a walking clown fiesta.

I equipped the Shroud of The Phantasm on my Seer before my latest Nemnok fight. Living Illusions turned the battle into the most entertaining spectacle I've had in Deadfire: a maelstrom of Accurate Wounding Shot Frostbringer strikes, Mind Plague, Secret Horrors, Mental Binding, Disintegrate, etc. I kept Brilliance on Xoti via Ancestor's Honor, and in turn, had her spam Salvation of Time to keep Living Illusions going.

I'm having the same issue: no dialogue or enemy spawns. I sided with the Huana and freed the water dragon.

Serafen's Padded Mail is pretty nice looking. The Deadfie Tweaks mods adds a version that comes with some enchantments though you'll need to console/unity mod it in on a current playthrough.

Will the new enchantment UI break weapons/armor created through mods?

Ghost Heart Seer has been my favorite build since beta: it's got nice accuracy (Marksman plus Marked for The Hunt plus Borrowed Instinct is super spicy) and CC (Secret Horrors plus your Deceptions of choice), and the pet can be used as a good distraction or conduit for stuff like Soul Shock, Ectopsychic Echo, and Amplified Wave. Driving Flight works well with any ranged weapon and is great with multi-hit or +bounce weapons like Frostseeker or Watershaper's Focus; running out of Focus is rarely an issue for Seer. The combo gets a lot of dialogue options, too.

If you're replicating a Mesmer from GW2, a Black Jacket/Wizard or some form of Rogue/Wizard would do the trick - maybe a weird build like Soulblade/Wizard. You'll want melee damage plus defensive buffs, CC/afflictions, and Substantial Phantom. Imho, Cipher is closer to GW1's Mesmer.

You can't recruit her until finishing Blow The Man Down. Mind there's nothing stopping you from having a quick rampage afterwards.

Mechanically it's not as fun as in PoE1 since general talents were replaced with boring passives and there's a funky ability disparity between power levels. I like using Xoti or a hireling Eothas (modded with Deadfire Tweaks) Priest but as an MC it's never held my attention past level 12 or so - even with multiclassing. The RP is pretty good, though, and you can always invest in Arcana for some flexibility (which would obviously gel with Wael).

Dialogue interactions and that's about it. Godlikes have far and away the most dialogue choices of any race, and can actually skip entire combats without requiring high dialogue tests (Like the Lighthouse with the Naga). There's a mod (Deadfire Tweaks, I believe) that gives them +2 Intellect/Perception instead of +1. That's the equivalent of most head items in the game. Other than that, the Death Godlike for a Bloodied build is probably going to be your best bet. Deadfire Tweaks also adds scaling to Fire and Moon godlike passives making them closer to the original game.

Another benefit to two-handed Black Jacket: it helps you better disperse unique one-handed weapons throughout your party.

Yet another reason why the 35% damage penalty is such a poor solution to fixing full attacks. Yep. It also messes with stuff like Kalakoth's + Tuotilo's Palm and DW + Accurate Wounding Shot. Thankfully the malus can be modded out.

Also keep forgetting about it. My only big gripe is how it takes up potentially interesting passives.

Alchemy + the potion belt + Fleshmender is a fun combo for a ranged Cipher since the armor gives you +1 weapon and quick slots: good for cycling through reload weapons/chugging potions if that suits you. Fleshmender has great AR, too. I agree with Haplok's approval of Mind Plague: combine it with Secret Horrors and you get an AoE Tenuous Grasp with all sorts of goodies stacked on top. Aesthetically, I think Miscreant's Leathers and Acina's Tricorn would be your best choice.

I'd like to see the spiritshift weapons function as fists like in PoE:1. Karate werewolf is enticing.

Bloatbelly Eel doesn't seem to spawn on that table consistently anymore: instead, it spawns Delver's Stew or Herfwarts. According to the wiki, the recipe for Iron Stomach doesn't require the eel. Maybe it was removed from the game? https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Pukestabber

An earlier update removed Wound generation from Shattered Pillar Monks when using atttack abilities. AFAIK, there's no way to revert this change. Could the devs look into opening this up to us? I want to play Trickster/Shattered Pillar something fierce.

It was short but sweet. The puzzles tested me when subclassing as Nalpazca IRL and PoTD was a good challenge overall. As a Pale Elf main, I appreciated the extra Glamfellen lore, especially the race's connection to Rmyrgand. The three-piece domain quest had good pacing and an unsettling atmosphere: like the Fade sequence from DA:O but not tiresome. My only big complaint would be the implementation of trinkets since I hoped they would bestow unique effects based on class. Per rest items with long cast times just feel dull. We didn't get any new class abilities or progression either (Blackbow Geomancer, please), which lessens my hype for future DLC.