Ophiuchus

I've noticed the same behavior with torches, including the unique one that functions as a saber.

I really like combining the ghost pet with Ectopsychic Echo. Since it's immune to disengagement, you can freely control the beam.

I'm thinking of rolling Aloth as a pure Wizard and replicating the Kalakoth's Blast build from PoE:1, but I'm not delving too deeply until a few more bug fixes. How does it fare in Deadfire? Would it be better to go One-Handed Style for extra crits or Dual Wielding with an offhand dagger/hatchet for decreased Recovery? Would it be worth it to invest in more than one elemental PEN passive?

Imo, Beguiler is best suited for multiclassing since you're probably only going to cast Deception powers. I've had a blast with ranged Beguiler/generic Rogue for obvious synergy, and even after taking Biting Whip, I haven't had any problems with Focus generation. I'll usually open up with an upgraded Crippling Strike (the one that applies Distracted...can't remember the name at current) from Stealth, followed by Phantom Foes, Secret Horrors, and Eyestrike. Affliction traps and poisons add some good flavor to the build. Also, casting a Deception power from Stealth triggers the Focus generation, which pares well with Whisper of Treason. I'm also certain the Focus generation is based on level or power level since it increases over time.

Josh mentioned in the post-launch stream they're looking into buffing two-handers and gave extra PEN as a possibility.

I'd vote for Ranger because the pet passives feel like you're investing in something not terrible instead of something good.

She showed up in my captain's quarters the first time I explored the ship, but vanished shortly after.

Wael's rod does a good amount of damage and can generate extra Focus through AoE Blast. Other than that, I'm not so sure.

I feel you. I'm considering changing my Cipher/Ghost Heart to Cipher/Devoted for the same reason (plus, those unique war bows are really spicy). The pet eats into way too many of your ability points (points that could be used for powerful afflictions, CC, and such) while you can skimp out on Fighter's melee abilities. Losing out on Marksman won't be a big deal with the accuracy/deflection stance; Tactical Barrage can easily replace Marked for The Hunt. Edit: It's also humorous how a Swashbuckler is better at range than Ranger.

About two or three hours after reaching Neketaka, Eder and Xoti had a falling out with Eder telling her they shouldn't speak to each other anymore. Puzzling because at no point did their relationship take a hit: every dialogue and decision was positive for both.

Good point. I often wondered if Arcanum's real-time combat setting was shoe-horned in because of Diablo 2's huge success. The game also shipped with rudimentary multiplayer (which I'm not sure ever worked).

The import feature fiasco wrecked my hype for this game. I should've been playing it all weekend, but there's no point since I'll just have to restart anyways.

If you want to play around with Howler a bit, you can recruit Konstanten in Queen's Berth.

Cipher/Ghost Heart, Beguiler/Ghost Heart, Ascendant/Ghost Heart. It's driving me nuts.

Sounds really promising. Do you know Sneak Attack's max bonus for multiclass?

iirc, attribute bonuses stack, but there are fewer sources for them.

Looking at building/buying a new PC while moths wistfully flutter out of my wallet.

What was the answer? I made a new character last night, and I saw the Blessings of Berath points on the screen when I was choosing difficulty level, but I didn't see an option to spend the points (I remember clicking on the name to see what would happen). Do you only get to spend them during character creation? Click on the little sphere on that screen and it opens a selection window.

Kinda wish we could take a smaller, but mutually exclusive attribute boost. When they announced the blessings a long time ago, I figured it would be 3-5 points on character creation.

I'm about 8 hours in (level 6) and have reached Nekataka but I'm struggling to find any hunting or war bows beyond vanilla quality. Meanwhile, most of my companions are decked out in fine gear along with a handful of uniques. Any tips on finding a decent bow?

I'm tempted to get a new PC for Deadfire since I built my current rig five years ago and it's showing its age. But from what some high-end users have experienced, it seems like a crapshoot at the moment.

The +attribute bonus is amazing. I want to try to earn enough to get that one by the time the import bugs are fixed, so I can use it on my imported character. Same. I'm just achievement hunting until they hammer out the bugs.

Meh. Until the import feature is fixed, it feels like it's 1993 and I'm just renting a NES or SNES game - getting so far, but knowing I won't be able to finish it and will have to start over. For now I'm working on achievements so my Watcher in limbo can have a better start. I was hesitant to use Berath's Blessing so soon, but after these issues, I just don't care now.

You don't need to finish the game to use the blessings, either, which is really nice when restarting.

I'm on the lower end of the tech spectrum, but I get the same issues: 30fps runs well with other graphics settings maxed, but after an hour or two, the fps drops considerably and panning the camera results in frequent micro stutters that look like tearing. Changing stuff like lighting or shadows makes very little difference. Windows 7 Ultimate i5-3300 @ 3.00 ghz 8 GB RAM AM Radeon HD 7800