Cyrus_Blackfeather

For a bit of a TL;DR since I know I tend to ramble, I'm going to condense my decision making into three major questions for you guys. 1. Are Barbarian's accuracy problems on PotD helped somewhat with better gear later on? I'd intended to dual-wield to make best use of Barbaric Blow, but that skill seems to miss more often than not at low levels/with poor quality gear. I'm okay using things like drugs/potions/other party members' skills to help solve this. 2. Would it be possible to have a Barbarian/Monk with decent defenses? I'm not talking Paladin level, but I don't want to be steamrolled by every single attack. I get that I'm not a primary Defender, but collapsing if an enemy so much as coughs on me isn't fun. 3. How much will I miss Fighter passives like Armored Grace? Also, are Barbarian/Monk capable of decent Penetration on their own, or are Devoted/Penetrating Strike necessary for PotD in its current state?

Hey guys! So, with some of the changes to Fighter post 1.1 I've considered whether or not I should switch from my Monk/Fighter build concept to either a pure Shattered Pillar monk or a Shattered Pillar/Berserker. Both fit the character concept of a Galawain-adherent Watcher who values survival of the fittest quite well. Also, there seem to be a few ways to deal with the negative side effect of Berserk, so there's that. (I've also considered going with a no-subclass Monk, since as either a pure Monk or a Barbarian I'd be less tanky than a Fighter/Paladin multiclass, so I'd be able to accrue wounds in combat more easily). My build would be something like... 16 10 (+10% Health from PoE1 Decisions) 16 18 10 10 10% Max Health and one of those Might points comes from Gift of the Machine and sacrificing Durance to the Blood Pool. I might also consider sacrificing Devil of Caroc (Since she dies either way) for +1 PEN, but my Dexterity would still be the same. I've experimented with a Ravager early on, and noticed these pros and cons. Pros: - Decent AoE damage when Carnage hits, helps to soften up nearby targets for later - Synergizes well with Eder as a Swashbuckler or a pure Fighter - Barbaric Blow is one of the best Full Attacks in the game, and seems to have remained un-nerfed, probably because of its 2 Rage cost. - Shattered Pillar synergizes very well with Rooting Pain. Cons: - Constant raw damage over time while using Berserk. Could counteract this with potions/regen items? - Wouldn't be able to see my own health while using Berserk, but could gauge it through Human racial skill. - Confused affliction until I get a way to clear it (Enlightened Agony seems to work, not sure if Modwyr does) - Not as defensive as a Fighter/Paladin subclass. - Not nearly as accurate as a Fighter subclass (Would have to rely on Priest buffs, flanking, and so on). Haven't gotten much mid to late game gear in my testing, so I'm not sure how much Disciplined Strikes matters later on. - Loses out on a lot of good Fighter passives like Armored Grace, Weapon Specialization/Weapon Mastery, etc. - I feel like Barbarians as a whole have less Penetration (Har har) than Fighters do, through the Devoted subclass or through Penetrating Strike Are there any upsides to playing a Ravager, or just a pure Shattered Pillar, that I missed? For those who have played the beta branch extensively, what are your experiences with those two options, or the Fighter post changes? Also, I was thinking of using Modwyr and Whispers of Yenwood as my main weapons for whichever character I played. Are those still solid choices?

Not sure about Clear Out, but Charge is now just a stun instead of any kind of attack. Also, Cleaving Stance got nerfed - instead of a full attack on all enemies around the fighter on kill, it's now a full attack on just one enemy.

Alright! I'll play around with it a bit and see if I can get what I need out of it.

Okay, thank you! I'll definitely take a look at that. Do you know if it'd allow for the kind of "Half-editing" that I'm wanting to do? I.E. making sure Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming have an internal cooldown while still letting them have a 20% attack speed boost? Also, is there a way to re-enable achievements using this? Because I assume mods disable them like using console commands.

Productive, thanks! Alright, so if it's uncouth to ask for someone to do that for me, can someone instruct me on how to mod the game's files myself without screwing it up, and whether or not it'd be possible to have modded skills/items have priority over all other future changes? Reading the sticky, it looks like there's an override folder that makes it so that my changes would stick through future patches and stuff, so that's good. make an override folder, create a new text file named (insert name).gamdatabundle inside that copy over whatever u want to edit from the original gamedatabundles edit away, make sure the start and end of your new modded file are correct and save the stuff u want edited is scattered across a few files, statuseffects, abilities, attacks you could start by downloading some existing mods to analyze their mod structure and learn from them Alright, thanks!

Productive, thanks! Alright, so if it's uncouth to ask for someone to do that for me, can someone instruct me on how to mod the game's files myself without screwing it up, and whether or not it'd be possible to have modded skills/items have priority over all other future changes? Reading the sticky, it looks like there's an override folder that makes it so that my changes would stick through future patches and stuff, so that's good.

Hey guys! I was hoping someone could help me with reverting a few items/skills back to their 1.02 versions or, in some cases, performing a 'softer' nerf than what was given with 1.1 If this cannot be done until the full patch releases, let me know! I've included a list of skills and items I would like changed here. Skills: Monk - Swift Strikes/Swift Flurry/Lightning Strikes - Revert back to a 20% attack speed buff and restore Lightning Strikes' 30% lash. That said, I'd like for the ICD that prevents Swift Flurry from proccing off of itself infinitely to be kept in. Turning Wheel - Go back to 5% fire damage per wound. Fighter - Charge - Make it so that it's a full attack on all enemies hit. Cleaving/Mob Stance - Make it so that it's a primary attack against all nearby enemies when one is downed, not a full attack on just one nearby enemy. Priest - No changes Ranger - No changes Wizard - No changes Paladin - Flames of Devotion - Make it a Primary attack. Chanter - Restore the Brilliant infusion (T3 Intellect) but make it renew resource every 10 seconds instead of 3 seconds) Barbarian - No changes Druid - No changes Cipher - I'm not sure what Cipher needs. I saw one mod on Nexus that included a bunch of positive changes for Cipher but I'd want to somehow extract those in addition to everything else. Rogue - No changes. When I say "No Changes" I mean that I'm fine with the changes with Patch 1.1 - Admittedly there's a lot of Monk/Fighter salt coming from me, but I think the Charge/Cleaving Stance tweaks I mentioned are fair - and make those skills viable for two handed weapons as well as dual wielding. Item Changes: - I can't go back through every item in the game to see what should be changed and what shouldn't. Can someone list items that were definitely in need of a nerf, and then those items can remain changed while everything else gets reverted back? I feel like Obsidian were a little gung-ho about item tweaking in this patch. Achievements: - Since I'm not enabling god mode or anything with this patch, I'd like to re-enable achievements as well. Do I need to use a separate mod in order to do this? Any help and feedback in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Also, would I have to keep constantly re-installing this mod with every patch, or is it installed in such a way that it takes priority over any subsequent changes to the skills/items by future updates? I'm using the Steam version.

Yeah, they're just doing the beta testing stuff right now. They've apparently fixed quite a bit of stuff since then including one of the major memory leaks. PotD has also been reported to be much more challenging.

TW wasn't supposed to be good for Shattered Pillar. SP is a wound spending subclass and TW is a wound stacking skill ability. Other subclasses and pure class got hit harder by this. Fair enough. Though if I wanted to restore any of those skills back to how they were, or change their functionality slightly, would I have to keep doing that with every patch or no?

Hey guys! So, Patch 1.1 certainly changed a lot of things - some for the better (Priest Prayer buffs), some not so much (Cipher apparently got hit very hard). Before I start worrying about trying to mod skills and abilities (Or, more likely, asking someone else to do it for me), I wanted to get some opinions on the class I was intending to play when this all rolled out. The Brawler. Swift Flurry/Mob Stance infinite proccing aside, there were a few considerable nerfs to Fighter and Monk in this patch. Turning Wheel for Shattered Pillar went down to a 10% Lash from a 25% Lash - And while I get that a 50% lash for a Monk with 10 wounds was absolutely bonkers, the modal now seems rather useless for this particular subclass. Likewise, while the nerf to Charge was somewhat warranted (Full attacks are VERY powerful with dual wielding so prevalent), the adjustment to Mob Stance (Instead of attacking all enemies, it's now a full attack on only one other enemy) limits the Fighter's AoE toolkit considerably. From a class balance perspective, this makes sense - if Fighters could do everything Barbarians could, while having the capability to wear heavier armor and thus not have the same sort of risk/reward play, why bother using Barbarian? So my question is, with Fighter's new role as a duelist (With, say, Conqueror's Stance instead of Mob Stance) is it worth playing in PotD as it is with a team comp? Or would it be worth looking into finding someone to do some light modding - say, make Charge and the Cleaving Stance proc primary attacks, and restore Turning Wheel to the way it was... perhaps only for Shattered Pillar, if possible). I think that's the main issue I'm having here - a lot of people on these boards build characters with the intent to challenge the game solo. And, since I haven't played enough with these companions to get sick of them yet, that's not my intent. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Also, if I were to find someone to mod the game in this way, would I have to keep reinstalling the mod every time? Or would the changes to certain skills carry over from patch to patch?

Hmm, that is very true.. And I definitely want to be tougher for PotD.

Oh boo, that's unfortunate. Ah well. I'll probably stick with Barbarian for AoE damage then.

Wait, do you mean Cleaving Stance only procs once per kill and it can't chain? I'm fine with that.

Seriously? That sucks. Hopefully that's a change that gets reversed.

Hey guys! With the Beta Branch upon us, I'm trying to decide what sort of character I want to play. I know I want to be a Drug Monk, but other than that I'm torn between a Brawler (For more hits early game + the ability to wear heavier armor) and a Ravager (For something more thematically appropriate with the character I'm basing this guy off of). With what I've seen of the skill changes, I've compiled my thoughts on the matter. Monk in General: Seems relatively untouched - there might have been some adjustments to things but wounds are never going to be a problem as long as I'm always on drugs. Turning Wheel has been "Shock! Horror!" reduced from 50% total lash damage to 20%. Honestly I think that's perfectly fair, all things considered. Brawler: - Charge doesn't do a Full Attack anymore, which is kind of sad but understandable because of the synergies it gave with other skills. Plus, Flagellant's Path exists as a gap closer and (I'm assuming) the Crush damage gets fairly respectable when I actually gain PL. - Disciplined Barrage/Strikes is excellent early on, BUT the build I'll be using has 18 Perception so I'm not sure if that's overkill or not. Guaranteed hits are nice, but I'll be getting better gear later on anyway. - Bonus damage with proficient weapons is nice. Ravager: Aside from being in keeping with the character I'm wanting to play/a lot more fun sounding thematically (A Berserker constantly seeking the next high)... - Berserk's penalty can be overcome through certain Monk skills/Modwyr? (It makes you immune to Intellect afflictions at least) - Barbaric Blow is one of the best Full Attacks in the game and can refill its Rage cost when it gets a kill. - Good crit fishing capability synergizes well with Monk. - Did I mention Barbaric Blow is one of the best Full Attacks in the game, costs 2 rage, and can refill its cost when it gets a kill? ... Yeah, I'm honestly probably going to go Ravager.

Some things I've noticed... Charge no longer full attacks enemies, it instead applies a stun. Turning Wheel has had the lash damage reduced from 5% per wound to 2% (For a total of 20% as opposed to 50%)

I wound up going with Grieving Mother, because having an extra Int point to play with is nice, plus no one notices or cares so I pretty much just get away with it.

Please tell me they left Modwyr alone... I love that sword.

This, pretty much. I hope we get comprehensive patch notes.

Is that a blessing they give you for releasing the souls to the Wheel or do you get it at some point in Deadfire? When you start a new game you can spend Berath's Blessing's points on various upgrades like "start at level 4" etc. I nearly always take the one that adds +2 to skills so that it's easier to make conversation checks without gimping your character by leveling up skills you wouldn't otherwise use or that don't fit your character concept. It only buffs skills your class starts with though, so if you have 1 athletics from the monk class you would actually have 3 athletics in game from Berath's blessing. Oh, okay! That's... honestly pretty reasonable. I was leery about taking that because I was worried it'd count for every skill point invested, but if it's just starting class skills, that's fine.

I accept that I'm probably the minority, but I'd rather have the penetration than the breastplate, if it came down to it. And even if they wrote DOC into a future expansion, she's not someone who I'd want to see again. DoC was my #1 favorite character from PoE, hands down, and I'm *REALLY* sad that they decided to kill her off in the sequel. Such crap. At least in her 'Good" ending she dies relatively at peace after getting to see the ocean, which is something she'd never seen before. ... Wait. The ocean. ... Well, I guess we'd need a submarine/diving bell to go get her, but whatever.

Is that a blessing they give you for releasing the souls to the Wheel or do you get it at some point in Deadfire?

I was wondering what a good set of active skills would be for a combination Fighter/DrugMonk. I was originally going to default to Athletics/Alchemy, but raw data seems to suggest that Sleight of Hand shows up in a lot of Watcher only checks. So Alchemy/Sleight of Hand? Or is there enough Alchemy boosting equipment that I don't need to worry about pumping it up too high?

I prefer to think of it as an... aggressive work-study program.