Soulmojo

They made mortification of the soul not able to empower. Not inner death as far as I know.

I believe for two main reason. For one, monk don't combat defensive bonuses. Like at all. They have no deflection bonus of any kind, they don't have self healing. The only defensive bonus they have is that con con bonus, an iron wheel. That is why. As for duality int bonus, the reason being that they have no defensive bonuses -> reliance of disables, + some of their skills are low duration. So inherently they kept int bonus, so their disables could serve as an effective defense as well as to be able to maintain their low duration skills.

Your reasoning is right of course. Although I it is very easy to get up to 10 wounds even if you do not play with shattered pillar. One thing I noticed, that at the start of the combat ranged and melee enemies attack the closest first. So if your character is standing in the front he will be attacked by every ranged and a good amount of melee. + If you keep your threat level high with monk your monk get attacked the most. I don't know how the threath level is calculated, but it must be calculated through damage potential. if you combine that with mediocre armor and defenses, you can effectively maintain max wound. Monk was always a fine tuned killing machine where there is a sweet spot if you know what you are doing. Don't forget the various passives which also help wound gain. Not quite hard in this second installment. Now it is quite hard to put this into words why I think this stacking intellect bonus is harmful so all of you get what I see. No question that math is on your side on this subject. Sometimes I question this myself or more precisely why do I bother to raise it. I have to start on the subject of necessity. In PoE1 there were two main routes you could take. There was the face dps torments reach monk route, and there was the facetank swift strikes monk. There having high intellect or not didn't matter, because there were alternatives to reach max potential whether you focused intellect or not. In this second installment the abilities and the class itself is designed such a way, that you want to use most abilites and you will reach max potential by using most of them. Since in this game buffs and debuffs have a much bigger role than it was in the first game, it is vital to maintain buffs and debuffs at an adequate level to reach max potential. Some abilites monk have have very low duration, and some abilites have ok duration. Now since you want to maintain the low duration abilities too, you will invest in intellect like the current builds do. But this puts abilites with ok duration to the broken category eg. torments reach, stunning blow, blade turning etc. If you don't invest into intellect with duality and stats, and keep on low level, then you can basically ignore a lot of abilities designed for you to use as they become quite less effective which is not fun. I would much rather play with a type of monk, where the base duration of abilites and abilites effects provide adequate enough duration to maintain with power level upscale, even when you decide to not invest into intellect at all. And where you don't have an option to stack this much intellect because you don't necessary need it therefore it is not a necessity. Take fighter for example. It relies heavily on self buff abilites, but the buffs it has have adequate base duration, and those base durations upscales with power level well enough, to a point where intellect is not that important commodity. it is good to have, you will probably better off having some extra, but not vital. To summarize it monk relies too much on intellect compared to other stats and Duality of Mortal presence INT bonus harmfully helps and promotes this reliance. At the same time it locks the possiblity to increase the durations via balancing. If you take this bonus, and balance durations according so, you remove this heavy reliance on intellect, you create an ability where both effect are equally useful(CON and PER) , and remove every potential broken synergy too. I wrote in previous comments in other topics that I don't like a design where you have to have some ability or bonus to make other abilites function.

The swift strikes proposition (15sec) I made in connection of dualities INT bonus swap to PER. I did test it. I did the closed beta too. I gave up playing the game for some time now because of balances issues and the clear necessity of an overhaul patch. The game was so blatantly easy I didn't wanted that to spoil the entire game and story for me. Monk was especially overpowered with turning wheel + lighning strikes, the +10 int bonus and infinite stun + what I've read about the tier 9 abilites. On dualities INT side I'm 100% firm. That needs a change.

I don't know yet. As I said I wasn't able to test it. I catched the description this morning, but I had to go off to work. I will be able to tell more once I got home. In my opinion though yes, you wont be able to spam stun lock torments reach.

What is your problem exactly and with what? Turning Wheel should stay as it is now. It's really nice that your abilities last longer and you don't have to recast them all the time, like when you play a berserker and lose 5 INT all the time. I know it sounds nice, but the player should be able to negate the penalty the most, not flip it entirely. There is no other ability in the game that allows you to do that. That is my problem with intellect bonus of duality. I'm not saying it should be capped at half value, I'm saying this causes balance issues.

Well a 12+ sec stunning blow and a 8+ sec aoe stun from torments reach - which you can repeat - is something I consider OP. Whispers of treason (charm) with a free +50% duration is I Consider op. Chanter invocations with free +50% duration + 100% aoe is a bit op. etc. Again take it with a grain of salt what I write about what is OP or not, it's just every way I look at it it feels like something which is vastly outperforms every other bonus.

What is your problem exactly and with what?

Can you? My last xp was that you can choose only one. Thank you, good catch.

If you start a new character with shattered pillar sub, one of the passives it receives from the start includes this info. (They hid it well ) Not sure I wrote down the exact line accurately, but it is there.

Hello, I compiled a small list of changes to the monk in 1.1. I'm sure I missed something, if I did, make a comment about it and I include that into the list. The second part is my...list of complaints I think the monk still needs, handle that with precaution. I didn't wrote that to make a divine statement, I just believe those are necessary. Swift strikes - was granting 20% attack speed bonus, now granting 15% Lightning strikes upgrade - This ability was nerfed from 30% lightning bonus to 15% lightning damage A nerft was surely coming for lightning strikes, I think they went a little too much. The damage should have been adjusted to 20% instead of 15%. The swift strikes nerf I didn't see coming, though I guess they wanted to tone down dual wield speed and casting speeds. Dual wield passive - this was nerfed from 20% to 15% possibly for attack speed purposes.I don't like this specifically, but ok, whatever... Turning wheel upgrade - this was granting 5% per wound stacking up to 50% damage, it was changed to 2% per wound for a total of 20% damage bonusThis nerf was something like a sure thing, you might agree, you might not, I think this is within a margin of acceptance. A 3% per wound would be better. Inner death - this tier 9 ability was granting 500% critical damage on crit it. Now it is providing 300% damage on crit.I think this ok, though if you empower this ability, it is still potentially one shot most stuff. Shattered pillar - you still gain wound from damage dealt, but there is a line there which states "not including abilities"I don't know what this means precisely as I didn't tested this but most likely means you can only gain wound from auto attack. What should be changed in my opinion: Duality of mortal presence There are two key point I would like to discuss here, which I can guarantee you will not like or more likely hate, but it is necessary. To discuss and change. Intellect bonus - This intellect bonus you can stack up to 10, granting +50% duration on everything and 100% area effect bonus.This is damaging to character, and multiclass balance. It makes any caster mulitclass super powerful, resulting very large area effect spells and very long spell durations. Other than that it makes any monk and multiclass stun, caused affliction last very very long. Not only that, but the stacked intellect overlaps with clarity of agony upgrade, making it semi useless, plus the constitution bonus + iron wheel armor bonus also becomes sub optimal compared to this. I'm sorry but this is a fact. Now I thought about this a lot since I made a comment about this issue, and the conclusion is the change the intellect to perception. Monk does not have a perception bonus, but many of monks ability focuses on making a hit, and doing crits. This would help shattered pillars for instance to dish out the necessary damage, and would help all the others subclasses too making it more likely to activate abilities through crit. Plus it removes the clear imbalance this high intellect bonus provides. The only issue here after the change is swift strikes, specifically its duration. I commented - complained - about the ability duration numerous times now. I was shot down then, because with high enough intellect - duality int bonus hello - it clearly have long enough duration. And I don't like this. I firmly believe that an ability should be able to last long enough if you semi focus on intellect or not at all. So theoretically if youi change intellect bonus to perception with duality, then a 15 sec duration this ability needs, which balances the +50% duration of intellect bonus from duality. Upgrades - duality of mortal presence has two upgrades from which you can select one.My issue with this is that you cannot choose both. Normally I wouldn't raise an issue about upgrades, because an ability has one effect and you upgrade that one effect one way or another if you could choose both then it becomes overpowered. With duality, you have TWO effect, and you can upgrade one of those two effect, making either one or the other bonus even more sub par. Duality of mortal presence should be about a choice. Body and mind depending on the situation, but due to able to choose one upgrade, it is not a choice at all. You choose an upgrade for which bonus you are more likely use, and stick with that stance till the rest of the game.

You know i can't shake the feeling that all of the problems with healing, healing bonuses and clear immortality, is rooted in the fact that there is no limit in combat what a character can endure. Most of the problems could be resolved if we introduce the endurance/health system we had in pillars 1. That way you have a clear limitation to character survivability. All 'cannot die' effect can be changed to 'cannot be knocked out' effect, but still take hp damage untill the character dies. It would shift the focus from healing to stack real survivability, since you cannot be immortal with enough sustained healing. In PoE1 the real issue with that system was the limit on camp rest and camp supplies. Since this limit is not present here, it would function adequately. I think this is the only way. +++ We have medical supplies in this game. It would not be out of reach to introduce a first aid or medical skill where a trained characted can heal hp and cure injuries with med supplies. With it you could limit immersion breaking resting even more. And this would support the endurance/hp system.

My best team was : Overworld Priest - Druid (Cat) - Druid (cat) - Chanter - Ranger - Barbarian Bosses Priest - Druid - Druid - Chanter - Wizard - Wizard Each time I used a Paladin, it was clearly inferior in all points. Same for Fighter. The worst classes ever, without any doubt. Well, I had pallegina in my team, and I finished the game without any other heal besides hers once I had her. I didn't really used potions too except dragon fights. Granted, I played on veteran difficulty only. Once I popped sacred Immolation and chain heal I was set. Plus give paladin some lore, then twin stones scroll, and you have your overpowered aoe character. If you have sacred immolation nothing can kill your party really. If you had two paladin with sacred immolation, then all you had to do is sit calmly waiting for the enemy to drop dead.....maybe cast some of those twin stones scrolls....

I don't agree with you on this. Palading was quite ok in PoE1 in my opinion. With sacred immolation, and the heals the paladin was an integral part of my group. Sure, 4-5 flames of devotion would have been better instead of two, but nonetheless, with a good armor and the right weapon it performed quite ok as a dps.

Monk: I would add the intellect bonus of duality of mortal presence. +10 intellect is quite overpowered. also makes clarity of agony upgrade useless. Duality INT bonus should be some other stat. which does not overlap with other monk inspiration. I thinked perception...maybe Plus I really think torments reach stun duration should be nerfed to like 2 second. with high INT and power level bonus you can reach quite long duration.

I like this and support this idea. being full attack ability is quite op at the moment. Especially with kind wayfarer who get double heal too. No need for healers if you have a dual wield kind wayfarer. Making it a primary attack with a little buffed fire damage makes it work as intented.

agreed here. turning wheel seems stupidly overpowered. I would prefer iron wheel, but the intellect and damage bonus seem so brokenly good it is a must have. I would go and say even with 25% it is too overpowered. If you ask me, the preferable thing to change here would be is to change INT bonus to something else (PER is a good candidate), and balance abilities with longer duration. If you invest to Int and use duality +10INT bonus, often results stupidly long spell and ability duration if you multiclass. Even monks own stuns will be super long. 10+ sec repeatable aoe stun? cmon As for the turning wheel...well as long as the ability gives damage it will always be superior to +armor from iron wheel. It would be better if turning wheel somehow would be separated from duality...and be a standalone ability, under different name, and give turning wheel some other bonus. I think increasing the damage needed to gain a wound + increasing wound costs of of high level abilites should do the trick. agreed on the 10 wound limit. I say this last from beta. you simply cannot balance abilites effectively with 2 subs having 10 wound and one having 5. As for level 9 abilites, imo the numbers of inner death should cut half. and silent death should do primary attack only (6x primary attack in one salvo is extremely good on its own).

Change to druid: All druid forms are unlockable via level up, except the shifter, who has all forms unlocked at level 1. I read this before on the forum, and I really liked the idea. (Hiravias in PoE1 also expalined he later learned to shift into other forms later) I want to improve druid spiritshift a bit with active abilites available while shifted. I tried to not come up with abilites which overlaps with other classes - which is near impossible - and come up with stuff which makes single class druid function better on its own. Taste of the hunt - This is an already existing spell which would be a prime candidate for a spiritshift ability. The ability does this btw: primary attack + bleed + heal Maul - primary attack + knockdown Lacerate - full attack as a long bleed Single out - accuracy bonus against marked enemy while spiritshifted Apex predator - perception inspiration and +50% hit to crit for 10 second while spiritshifted The hunt continues - this one is a passive - +4 sec to active form / kill (I know fury has this but imo would be better as an all access) Smell the blood - also a passive - +20% damage to bleeding enemies while spiritshifted The long hunt - passive - +5 sec duration to spiritshift Each form retains its existing special ability, and the above listed can be bought putting points into them. 1-2 use / form. If you have an ability idea post.

Is it? Man, then why do I remember slower base recovery? I'm so confused right now. I recant if that is the case...and thanks for pointing out that to me

M Me neither, I just wanted to point stuff out for others to see. The matter which concerns me more right now is how can I mod swift strikes to have more duration. Since probably it won't be changed.

Awww man, don't twist my words...You know what I'm talking about. I watched IRL two man fencing with Flamberges. Two trainers teaching german medieval fencing. Both attacked in quick succesion, I admit some part of it was show, but one thing was obvious, a guy with a 2 handed sword is just about as fast and can attack just about the same amount as a guy using one handed weapon. Anyhow if two handed recovery speeds are not adjusted to be faster, it will be very boring. Plus the player will be discouraged to use 2 handed. I am. I use 2 handed with my merc. warrior, but warrior is semi useless to me anyhow at least he could finish off enemies with a 2 handed relatively dependably.

I think there is confusion because duality is just about the same as helwalker might bonus. It is clear now that it is an active, but in reality it is not like you have to activate it repeatedly like a clarity of agony. When you get it you choose it and switch the bonus if it is needed.

How does this math change when a character is not in heavy armor? i.e., in zero recovery cloth? If you look at just the base weapon data, before recovery, perception, accuracy, etc., two-handers currently have a nontrivial DPS advantage. I suspect part of what you're seeing might be an artifact of over-long armor recovery times, multiplying by overlong two-hander recovery times, giving an outsize result. Part of the fix might be to lower armor recovery times, rather than improving 2H weapon recovery directly. With lower heavy armor recovery times, the weapon recovery on 2-handers is getting multiplied by a smaller percent (say, 135% instead of 155%) and thus the DPS penalty for heavy armor is lessened. Like I've already suggested earlier, give armor a flat recovery penalty than a % based one will fix this issue, but noone seems to like the idea I think there is not space to improve 2h weapon recovery because it is already 4 sec, if you make 2h faster, then you need to adjust 1h slow/fast weapon too, and that will be a nightmare to balance again. And I don't think only by improving the damage of 2h weapon will solve the problem because, why will I pick 2h sword if the recover is 6 sec(assuming i wear plate armor)? Even with the suggestion to boost its damage, ok it has same auto DPS or even slightly better than DW, 6 sec is too much for me. Also there are some edge case, for example plate armor + arquebus + arquebus modal = unplayable 12+ sec recovery, u have to switch or wait half the battle for it to reload. I don't believe you have to adjust speeds for 1handers. Greatsword, Estoc, staff are quite fast weapons. almost as fast as a one handed, you just use their features differently. It is a myth that 2 handed weapons are slow and it is a myth that at same speeds it will perform better than dual wielded one handers I really believe that 2handed weapons should be as fast as one handed weapons. If you score a hit with both battleaxe and add together the damage of two numbers it does much more than a greatsword but it also gets 30% additional recovery bonus. at half speed. So in essence if you want to balance 2 handed weapons they should be at least the same speed. Plus small fast weapons dps should be fixed and shields. A hefty crit damage bonus to the first, and to incorporate the shelds as weapons.

Yesterday I tested duality of mortal presence and helwalker bonus, with inspirations (+5stat). Helwalker STR from wounds is stacking with inspiration bonus (+5str from thunderous blows) Duality of mortal presence Constitution and Intellect bonus does not stack with inspiration. If you have 6+ wounds you only receive the bonus from the higher stat. Probably you all know this, just wanted to point this out.

Is...is this really how other people feel? I can't even beat the titan on veteran in deadfire, and I breeze through PoTD in pillars 1. I guess I'm just used to how blatantly overpowered wizards and priests are in pillars 1. I wouldn't put that much credit into that it is easier, it just feels easier because we became experienced with mechanics and gameplay, we know most of the enemies we face, or if not, at least we can guess with moderate success. If your knowlegde is superficial about the game, then it can and will be difficult. I remember when I played pillars 1 I spent hours upon hours watching gameplay and guide videos, and read a lot about mechanics untill I understood enough to beat the game with ease.