Cyrus_Blackfeather

Alright, this is all really good advice. I think I honestly just need to get past the tutorial island on PotD or Veteran before I can really start making this work. And, as I said, I was having my Marauder try to tank instead of building Eder as a tank. I think that has a lot to do with it. Yeah if you playing with a party just pick up a good ranged weapon and be ranged and have Eder tank. You can switch to melee once you have the Devil Of Corac Breastplate or the Bloody Links Chainmail and the Savage Defiance ability then you can be in melee. Maurader is not a tank, it is a rogue with better Aoe damage potential but you should play it like a rogue, but get's some abilities later on like Savage defiance which allows you to face tank for a little bit. sneak up to stuff, don't face tank unless you have to. Doesn't the Berserker's Frenzy give the same bonus as Savage Defiance? Or should I not be playing Berserker as a Marauder because of the constant Raw damage ticks/the fact that I can't see my health? (Berserker gives +2 Pen and +2 Armor rating as well as 30% hit to crit conversion).

Thanks for the sense of validation! Take 3!

Alright, this is all really good advice. I think I honestly just need to get past the tutorial island on PotD or Veteran before I can really start making this work. And, as I said, I was having my Marauder try to tank instead of building Eder as a tank. I think that has a lot to do with it.

Do you have any recommendations, then? I like the idea of a Barbarian/Monk multiclass as well, honestly.

Hmm. Do you think it'd be in the spirit of things to skip past the Arena boss fight?

Does anyone know how big the groups are in PotD compared to Veteran, on average? I haven't made it past the Dig Site on PotD but it seems like there's definitely a lot more stuff in the Sea Cave (An extra construct, a Rotghast over in the undead area), and a lot more boars and wurms on the way down to the central pit with the Drakes and Panthers and such), but Gorecci Street looks to be about the same, numbers-wise. For me, I'm actually not a fan of how much enemies on PotD soak up damage while brutalizing the party, but I like encounters with more than just one or two enemies. That's why I'm hoping to figure out how anemic the encounters are in Veteran compared to PotD.

Hey guys, So, I've been trying to play a Marauder on Veteran/PotD and I feel like I've been doing it SUPER wrong. I keep trying to intentionally get bloodied and put myself in between enemies to be flanked, but that usually only results in my character dying super fast. I've also been playing without a MT because I suppose I thought that I could MT because of the (Very slight) buffs to Armor rating. For reference, my starting stats (With the +2 Attribute Blessing and Skill Boost Blessing both enabled) 19 Might (20 after Hasongo) 14 Constitution 9 Dexterity 18 Perception 18 Intellect 12 Resolve This is all subject to change - I've heard I can dump Might just fine, but I've also heard that Dexterity really only makes a minimal difference So, I have a few questions about building for Veteran. 1. How do I stay flanked/bloodied without putting myself at serious risk? I'm thinking I could abuse Sparkcrackers to ensure I stay Distracted and, thus, flanked even when fighting a single target, and then just use defensive abilities/spells to ensure I survive once I hit a Bloodied state. I'll have a decent Alchemy skill and Intellect, so Potions of the Final Stand should work well for me. But I'll also have an okay Intellect and a non-negative Resolve, so my Will will be pretty high, especially since I don't plan to invest heavily into Explosives on my MC. It's also worth noting that enemy AI mostly seems... idiotic at best, and won't actively try to pursue flanking positions. So there's that. 2. Since I'm -not- going to be tanking, what would be some good abilities to consider at each level? My current level-ups look like this - Level 1 - Frenzy and Crippling Strike Level 2 - Escape Level 3 - Blooded Level 4 - Blinding Strike and Barbaric Blow Level 5 - Thick Skin Level 6 - Dirty Fighting Level 7 - Arterial Strike and Bloodlust Level 8 - Two-Handed Style Level 9 - Confounding Blind Level 10 - Persistent Distraction and Spirit Frenzy Level 11 - Adept Evasion Level 12 - One Stands Alone Level 13 - Barbaric Smash and Deep Wounds Level 14 - Interrupting Blows Level 15 - Unflinching Level 16 - Withering Strike and Improved Critical Level 17 - Brute Force Level 18 - Slippery Mind Level 19 - Deathblows and Spirit Tornado Level 20 - Blood Thirst But since multiple engagements don't seem to be a priority, I've considered dropping Thick Skin (Though Persistent Distraction is still a staple). 3. Party Composition - How should I prioritize my party to supplement my Watcher? I'm wanting to use party companions, so I've been thinking of using Eder as a Fighter or Swashbuckler MT, Aloth as artillery/CC, Serafen as CC, Xoti as healing, and Tekehu as artillery/CC. 4. Weapons: Any particular styles recommended? I've seen people suggest dual wielding blunderbuss/hatchet, but I've also seen mention of Lord Darryn's Voulge or Dual Wielding swords.

Marauder (Berserker/Streetfighter) Your class will be hard to play even in normal and the only way to make it work at melee is by using potions of Final Stand (with high alchemy and intellect) or Barring Death's Door from a priest. So until you reach Neketaka where you can find the ingredients for your potion my advice is to grab a hunting bow and use Frenzy until you become bloodied. Maybe that was the problem. I kept trying for the Flanked bonus, so I kept trying to play mine as a frontline fighter. What I should have probably done is had Eder as a Swashbuckler with a sword and shield out in melee range with Guardian's Stance for maximum engagement, at least until I can get some better armor for my MC.

I've never not recruited Aloth after clearing out the dig site. Ah mistake. The stats of the companions are not very good. Selfmade ones are much better. One playhtrough for the story is ok with them, but afterwards no need for them. Yeah, that's the thing. I want to do a PotD playthrough with story companions.

Pretty sure OP will like it, considering that should mean Aloth will get out of the cage ^^ Pretty much. It'd be cool to go back and do those fights again with better gear and such, but as it is I want to be on even footing with the mobs in PotD, not missing 70% of the time.

I've never not recruited Aloth after clearing out the dig site.

Hello, So, I want to give PotD an honest try, but I... honestly can't crack the Arena puzzle. It's brutal, the boars hit me for about 50 damage and 10+ raw damage over 3.0 seconds with their gore attack while the Wurms firebomb me (Again, my kingdom for a food chain). So, I feel like it'd be in my best interest to scum it, since I still want a respectable challenge from the rest of PotD with decent gear. So, my question is... can I stealth past the whole thing with a party, or do I need to go in solo? I'm assuming the encounters inside the digsite itself aren't as bad as the ones outside, so I can probably handle those. Essentially, I just want to get out of Port Maje, rob a few of the merchants in Neketaka blind, and then tackle PotD when I'm on at least somewhat even footing with the enemies. An addendum to this. If I have to do the arena trick solo, can I go back and recruit the party members I missed out on later? I want to complete this with a full party of story companions. Also, does this bit of sequence breaking cause Aloth to be stuck in a cage forever or can I recruit him afterwards? Is there special dialogue for figuring out what happened with Oderisi beforehand or do I just go through the normal conversation path and then just leave?

I've been trying to avoid spreading my passive skills too thin on my Watcher while still giving myself options that'd allow me to hit the widest range of dialogue checks. I'm thinking that Diplomacy/Intimidate would give me the most coverage - while Metaphysics, History, Religion, Insight, etc. are all good choices, it seems like they don't really tend to lead to many unique ways to resolve situations. It's just a little bit of extra information, which is sometimes pretty cool, and then the conversation moves on as if nothing was said. Is this generally the case? Since this character is going to be my first to fully complete the game, I want to be able to experience as much of it as possible. He's a Barbarian/Rogue if that matters.

Hmm. You guys seem really dedicated to convincing me I can do PotD. I'm honestly kind of flattered. Still, if the only way I can progress through the main story is by cheesing the Digsite (That is, if I don't want to recruit mercenaries from the Tavern), I kind of feel like I should do it on Veteran. At least it's still an okay challenge on Veteran.

Hmm. Honestly, just for the sake of my own experience, I think I'm just going to stick with Veteran. Edit: I guess I mostly feel a little intimidated because of all of these people who obviously have a ton of experience with the Infinity Engine who are clearing all of this content, and I can't.

Marauder (Berserker/Streetfighter) See, I'm in the middle as far as that goes. I /hate/ encounters where I'm just called upon to select my party, click on the enemy, and watch people auto-attack each other to death. I like using chokepoints, gunpowder barrels, and other things to really make each encounter feel different. That's why, even though it kicks my butt most of the time, I love the ship combat - because the enemy can easily flank you if you're not careful, and different ship types present different challenges. I want to feel compelled to use consumables to give myself an edge against powerful foes. But then I get murdered by two or three boars because I didn't make proper use of kiting and mob splitting to drag them into smaller, more manageable clumps. And, I don't know. I guess /that's/ where I draw the line. Using corridors and doorways to make it so that enemies can only attack my melee characters? That's fine.

Honestly, I'd much rather avoid cheesing the game as much as possible. Making use of chokepoints and environmental hazards, sure, those are things that are in the game. But my Watcher, on very limited resources, happening to find three or four badass Chanters and a Wizard in the Kraken's Eye? The fact that you can fine-tune pretty much everything you want to fine-tune about your created companions down to their background, culture, and physical appearance is really immersion-breaking for me. I guess you could just say that the class is all that's being asked for by the character specifically and then you're just asked to imagine everything else, but still. Really? So if you manage to get into the arena, everything else despawns? Okay. As long as the rest of PotD presents something resembling a fair challenge once you get decent gear, I suppose I could give it another fair shot. Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to sneak my whole party down there without fighting anything, if that's even possible. Because even the freaking boars and wurms are mauling me. Maybe if I use the ladder instead of going down the stairs... As far as Gorecci Street, as I said, dealing with Ilari peacefully makes sense for my character anyway. The quest giver asks for you to negotiate with him because he's not inclined to cause trouble and she can deal with him later. And bam presto, I've made it out of the tutorial island without fighting more than I had to.

Hey guys, So... I tried PotD. I really did. But the Engwithan Digsite just did me in. The small army of pigs and wurms (Why are they cooperating with each other? What bizarre act of nature brought this about?) before I even got to the big Drake encounter at the end that so many people have struggled with. Gorecci Street I honestly just sneaked past to make the deal with Ilari, because it was what Savia wanted anyway (Though killing the smug little Elf is satisfying in its own right). So I give up. I keep hearing that "After you get to Neketaka," PotD becomes much easier, but there's no point if I can't even get to Neketaka. Of course, I also hear that Veteran is too easy, but there's a Drake down in the Arena pit on both difficulties, and when I did some build testing on Veteran I had to blow up a gunpowder barrel to soften up the mobs all the same. I suppose my question goes to those who have played the game on both, post 1.1; Once you reach Neketaka, hit level 10 or so, and get some good gear, how big is the gap between the two in how easy the game becomes? For example, say a fight in PotD with good gear takes a minute. Would a fight in Veteran with the same gear take 55 seconds or 45 seconds? Also, how many more enemies does PotD add to fights compared to Veteran? I definitely saw quite a few in the Sea Cave.

Eh? Good luck with that. Plus you know that DoC BP can be stolen, right? ... I know now!

That'd honestly be really cool. I picked the ending where I told her to tell Persoq about his family, so it'll be nice to see her and her husband and kids.

Hey guys, So I have stats and abilities for my Marauder pretty much down - I wanted some feedback on what would be some good equipment for them to use. One thing that I definitely have set in stone is the Devil of Caroc Breastplate for the Recovery Penalty and an easy way to remove Confused from my Watcher. It also offers +2 to each Resource Pool, which is great for a dual martial character. Other than that, I'm not sure as to what weapons and such I should be pursuing - I'm thinking either a dual wield option or Lord Darryn's Voulge for the really nifty upgrade bonuses, plus the bonus engagement (For more Flanking action!) but I'm still wishy washy. Modwyr is out since I'm using DoC Breastplate, but there's sabres to consider as well. Neck Slot: Since I'm playing on PotD I'm thinking Protective Eothasian Charm - though I tried it with my testing and it really didn't seem to help with the not dying thing all that much. I might mod the game to bump it back up to 75% damage reduction. Rings: Entonia Signet Ring and Ring of Greater Regeneration - Doesn't seem to be anything better in the ring slot. Dunno if/how badly Entonia was nerfed. Cloak: Nemnok's Cloak - Really good defensive buffs at certain health thresholds, combined with high Int to make those buffs last longer? Sign me up. Pet: Animancy Cat - I like the bonuses to Arcana and Metaphysics. Gloves: Woedica's Strangling Grasp (Not sure what Garrote does, but Burn armor rating is nice), Not sure of any other good glove options Boots: Rakhan Field Boots (Not sure what "No Quarter" does), or Boots of the Stone Belt: Nature's Embrace or Trollhide Belt Any other recommendations would be appreciated. Nemnok's Cape is definitely one of the ones I'm going to be gunning for first, as I work up money to afford Devil of Caroc's Breastplate.

Hey guys, So... I'm admittedly one of those sorts of people who really likes having a lot of options available on one character. I really don't like missing much, and while I get that most skill checks in this game are just background fluff, some of them do lead to some pretty interesting stuff. If not things that change how quests play out, little bits of lore about the world, things a seasoned Watcher should, feasibly, know or be able to notice. Anyway, getting to the point. I'm thinking of doing a quick speed through of the critical path of the game and the Huana path to get just enough Blessing points to be able to use both the attribute point blessing and skill point blessing on one playthrough on PotD. For me, as someone who doesn't enjoy mob splitting, kiting, and other 'cheese' tactics, I think this will present a satisfactory challenge for me, especially going into the DLC if Obsidian continues to tune the difficulty properly. My reason for doing so is simple; I want my main character to feel heroic, and I want to avoid cycling through different 'skill monkey' companions as much as possible. I plan to skip through most of the dialogue just so I don't spoil myself too much in case I decide to do the Huana path again. I guess my big question here is... Assuming I play on the lowest difficulty before Story difficulty, about how long should this reasonably take? I've heard stories of people getting through the critical path in a few hours at most, and I'm assuming that either involves siding with at least one faction or just upgrading your ship enough to go it alone. On my actual 'main' playthrough I'll definitely be taking my time.

Hey guys, Figured I'd make a thread where people can share their hopes and dreams for the three expansions, especially given that the main game seems, at least to me, to be kind of sparse. Or perhaps spread out is the better choice of words. I get that each is going to be different, so let's focus on the first one. From Rock, Paper, Shotgun; “The first downloadable-content pack (DLC), ‘Beast Of Winter’ will be available in July 2018, and will take your party to an island populated by a mysterious doomsday cult, that hides an ancient secret. Players will get to experience adventuring in ‘The Beyond,’ a mysterious dimension populated by ancient souls and filled with devilish challenges." Right off the bat, it seems like this is probably going to be a self-contained story, compared to White March which had things to do outside of the new zone. It also seems really combat-heavy, though that's also said of the second DLC as well, so I hope 'challenges' includes an equal mix of combat encounters and puzzles. From what's been datamined, it looks like there's going to be a lot of Pale Elf NPCs in this expansion, and the name implies Rymrgand will make an appearance as well. There's definitely something of a thematic link between the two. Even though I haven't played a Pale Elf, their lore has always been really cool (Pun not intended) to me, so it'd be neat to learn more about them. (This would also be a great expansion to make Ydwin into a full companion. Hint, hint) Granted, I've also noted that they used the term "DLC pack" instead of "Expansion", but that they promised it would be hefty. On that note, I'd love to see... - More Soulbound items - A few new areas to explore on this new island we'll be visiting - (Maybe) some new spells/abilities and/or perhaps a Priest of Rymrgand subclass. - Content that can't be blitzed through in a day (Or that can, but with a sense that you're missing out on something).

Alright. So, one last trip through the main story, skipping past pretty much all of the dialogue, and just getting to Ukaizo for the Huana. Should be doable in a couple of hours, one imagines. Just gotta get past freakin' Tutorial Island again. Then I can set up bonus stats and bonus skills and never, ever, look back.

Honestly, "Heroes feeling heroic" is definitely what I'm hoping for. I want to potentially tackle PotD after all.