jww

Henric in Port Maje, for 12070.

Actually, regarding the last two posts, "scored" and "rent" are correct as they are. Rent means a break or tear in something, and scored means scratched or marked up. Hope this helps.

I don't have all of this information handy, but I'll try to update this post later. - The files are missing in-game. Not sure about the save file location off the top of my head. - I have never used Cloud Sync, and I've never switched platforms (I'm playing on a Mac). - The problem was present through the early patches, but I figured out the behavior and have avoided the problem since then, so I don't know if it's still present. If you save the same file twice during the same in-game time, the save file disappears (I think this also happens if you save two different save files with the same in-game timestamp). So, for example, if you pause the game, save it, then don't remember if you saved it (because there is no output saying you did so) so you save it again, then that save file will disappear. A very similar issue occurred in PoE1, and I think when I took a look at the save files back then, it was adding the timestamps to the filename, so if the in-game timestamp hadn't changed, there'd be a collision. It can't be an out-of-game timestamp, because there'd always be at least a second between saves, and the problem is too consistent for those numbers to be a random hash, so it's got to be an in-game timestamp. I don't know all the ins and outs of the issue, but this work-around has worked for me: Always keep two rotating save files that you switch between every time (never save to the same file twice in a row), and always un-pause and take a few steps in-game before saving, just in case you forget that you just saved. Also, as a secondary precaution, before I quit a gaming session, I usually transition areas before my final save, since that will also give me an auto-save (auto-saves don't appear to be affected by this issue).

The problem is not related to a save file. This issue has been constant and consistent since the game was first released. Any time you open an ability description while in the window where you select an ability, the names of the abilities in the list continue being displayed over the window where the ability description is displayed. You can move the ability description window out of the way in order to read it, but it's pretty tacky looking. If the problem doesn't occur on every platform, I can confirm that it's happened on every single release/patch on my Mac version.

I know it's difficult mostly because I lack any cc, but even Aloth has big trouble landing spells :-/ . Edér dies very fast, too. My MC is a dual-wield (swords) Devoted/KindWayfarer, and by far the only character in my party who can actually do meaningful damage and also stay alive long. But some encounters seem very hard without cheese tactics. To do Maje Island on PotD without cheese tactics, you might try grabbing a couple hirelings, say a tank (maybe Pale Elf Goldpact Paladin/Troubadour or /Priest) to help out Eder and also someone to stand in the back and do a lot of damage (say, Rogue/Ranger with an arquebus or dual pistols) (or cipher for crowd control, of course). Though if I get hirelings, I like to wait until Watcher, Eder, and Xoti hit level 4 first (right after reaching the digsite, if I've done everything else), because adding extra characters delays that level. Without extra hirelings, I so far haven't been able to do the digsite on PotD with just Watcher/Eder/Xoti unless I pull smaller groups of enemies (which can take a few tries), and that's including Berath's Blessings. In relative terms, Eder should be able to tank fine as a Fighter/Rogue if you left him with a shield, but.... not the full groups of digsite enemies by himself. You'll want to create custom AI scripts for your companions if you aren't controlling their every move -- many of the default AI scripts aren't very good, particularly for multi-classed characters. Be sure to include Second Wind and other healing abilities in the AI scripts. As a dual-wield Kind Wayfarer, you get two free AoE heals with each FoD (if you hit), so you can try holding those until you and Eder need healing. There are a number of threads about digsite and Gorecci Street tactics with advice from people who know the game much better than me, so you might check those out.

Priest of Berath has a corrode lash on their spirit weapon. Fury definitely takes the hit in patch 1.2, not sure on other shapeshifts. Looks like other forms do, too.

Jaheira got Ironskin But yeah, it works fine mostly specced as a fighter. Just not quite as optimized as a multi- that takes full advantage of both classes, like Arcane Knight or Battlemage. Not sure since I never spiritshift with this character, but I can try it out later.

Yes, it works fine (I went Devoted/Druid after seeing this thread). Firebrand doesn't have a lot of extras, but I think it's the only great sword with an elemental lash. And it looks cool -- I like that I can actually find my character in the middle of a fight. And for a Devoted, it gives you the choice of three damage types with a single weapon type, without taking Devoted penalties for using a different weapon (burn/pierce with Firebrand or slash/pierce with a regular greatsword, when you run into enemies that are resistant to burn/pierce). The +10 accuracy from the ring and +3 PEN from Devoted/Scion of Flame is nice on PotD -- I think that +10 accuracy is worth giving up extra bonuses you might get from other weapons. The problem is that other than than Firebrand itself and Scion of Flame (if you're not multied with a class that already has SoF), druid doesn't really add much to the mix. If you're casting spells, you're not attacking with Firebrand, and vice versa. You have very few physical buffs, and the ones that you do have take a long time to cast, so I mostly haven't bothered with them. You could either play as a druid mostly, and cast all your spells first, then switch to Firebrand for clean-up (but then why create a build centered around it?), or you can toss out a Hail Storm to start the fight, Relentless Storm for ongoing damage, then cast Firebrand, and mostly ignore your spells after that (or just use them situationally). It would be nice if druid had some fast-casting buffs like wizard does (come on, at least give us Ironskin), but this is still a viable build.

I agree, all three of these are working really great on my Ascendant (I went single class to get the higher level abilities more quickly). You'll want high INT so the ascended state lasts as long as possible (can also make your Amplified Wave area of effect quite large), and high DEX/low recovery so you can fire off the abilities as many times as possible during it. Mine is currently at 22 seconds, and I can get Mind Blades in about 8 times (or 7 plus borrowed instinct), and maybe 5 or 6 times if I go with Disintegrate or Amplified Wave instead.

that's a really good tip, thanks -- I'd been ignoring mind blades because slashing damage type and it was a poor performer in the prior game. Does Amplified Thrust get similar additional bounces or is it just MB? just MB amp thrust is always a single projectile attack Also MB is kind of ridiculous and underrated as long as you have penetration on slash to get through the enemy armor. It scales on pl and is a fast cast. Seriously, before getting amp wave/ time parasite etc I was testing this thing in an optimized damage party with a streetfighter and a beserker also doing damage in the party. All the ascendant had to do to keep up in damage and possibly stay ahead is get ascended as fast as possible and then just spam mind blades as long as two enemies where there to hit. Against a group of 6+ enemies grouped sure stuff like slower cast Silent Scream is better but at 2-3 enemies around Mind Blades is gold. After seeing this thread, I decided to try an Ascendant for the first time, though not as optimized as this build and I don't use any buffs outside of equipment. It did reasonably well starting at level 3 with Mind Blades, and then yesterday I picked up the Red Hand and switched from medium armor to Miscreant's Leathers at the same time -- I now reach ascended state much faster and can now get Mind Blades off 7 to 8 times during the ascended state, and it seems to do damage in excess of what I'd expect. Fights that I've been having problems with in other similarly low-level PotD parties since 1.2 are now being finished so quickly that as long as my tanks can keep the enemies off me, my biggest problem is clicking on targets fast enough that I don't waste any of my ascended time. I just hit PL 5, so in a few more levels when I can get Disintegrate, my strategy might change, but at low levels, Mind Blades has been effective enough that I don't really have time to bother with crowd control.

What's the trick to get the Fury shapeshift to deal damage? The trick is to use the Fury's elemental spells to deal damage rather than spiritshifting. If you run out of spells and end up in melee, you can spiritshift and use the free teleport to get out of the way, and it gives you one last spell-like lightning ability, then you can plink away from range with the spiritshift attack, but it would be pretty hard to create a decent build centered around just the spiritshift attack. But I'm not sure multi-classing it with a priest would be much fun - if I was going to multi-class a fury with a spellcaster, it would be with a wizard (Lord Darryn's Voulge + those evoker gloves to compensate for losing 2 PL from multi-classing).

A couple notes to add to this issue: 1. It also happens on a companion dialogue request. The icon disappears after you speak to them, but the flashing white orb continues to flash. 2. The problems are linked to the location of the portrait, not the specific character. If the character whose portrait is in spot 2 is switched with another character, or even switched out of the party, the flashing will appear on the portrait in spot 2, even if that character hasn't leveled up or had a dialogue request since you last restarted the game. 3. This is a visual issue only (but a very annoying one). Clicking on the yellow or white flashing orbs doesn't do anything. Whatever code removes the flashing icons just no longer removes the flashing when it removes the icon. EDIT: Should have checked my GOG client before posting. This is fixed in 1.2.0.0017.

I encountered this as well, and had to steal it.

Just to follow up on my own post, Captain's Eye still gives you -5 deflection when you are flanked, but there no longer appears to be any way in the item description to learn about that (you can no longer click on Captain's Eye to get more details). It seems problematic to have detrimental effects completely hidden from the user in the item description, particularly on equipment you are given when starting the game.

I've tried the new Whispers of Treason and have some thoughts. Cancelling the charm if you attack the enemy makes sense and is an appropriate change... but, if your companions have already selected a target for an attack, they still attack the same target, even if that target is now on your side. And you can't always tell who a companion is targeting when you are picking your own targets (plus they can change while you are casting). Meaning, at the Engwithan digsite, my companions were regularly cancelling the charms as soon as I placed them (at least until we were surrounded by enough enemies that I could pick one from way in the back). It still worked in the end, but it was more tedious. Re-targeting every single companion before and after casting Whispers of Treason is a little too much micro-management for me. Perhaps the devs could add something so that the companions automatically re-target if their current target becomes friendly, even if they've already selected their action? (They do still re-target after an action completes, of course, but since they are almost always in the middle of one action or another, that's where the problem occurs.) The new range is going to be problematic for squishy ciphers attempting to cast Whispers of Treason from stealth before a battle starts. They'll need higher stealth and maybe boots of speed to run away after casting, before they get surrounded. == I'm kind of sad about Virtuous Triumph, but it was pretty over-powered -- limitless zeal regeneration (given how easy it is for paladins to defeat enemies with full-attack FoD), and available to multi-classes. Better to take the passive that gives you one extra zeal now, instead. == I've avoided any builds based around Alchemy and Arcana since it was pretty obvious they would need to be fixed. But did Arcana actually get fixed? I don't see it on the list, only Alchemy in reference to poison spells/abilities, plus an ambiguous "removed overridden scaling" for potions, poisons, and drugs (I don't see a similar message for scrolls).

Was the Defiant Apparel's Captain's Eye effect changed to no longer give -5 deflection when flanked? Previously, you had to click on "Captain's Eye" to see that (it wasn't in the basic item's description). Now, I don't appear to be able to click on Captain's Eye anymore, so it seems like it only has the perception resistance, but I don't see it on the list of item changes.

I've played a single-class Fury druid on Veteran and it worked very well. I went with Lord Darryn's Voulge with its +3 PL for Storm spells (it hasn't been nerfed), and took all of the elemental +1 PEN passives (so +2 PEN for elemental spells, with the +1 that the Fury gets for free). With that setup, you do massive amounts of AoE damage, though it's not so great at taking down a single enemy quickly. I wouldn't attempt to solo a Fury on Veteran or higher, but in a party, it's done more damage than the rest of the party added together (granted, a couple of the custom AI scripts I set up prioritize healing over attacking, so those two don't do much damage). I think the fourth level Hail Storm might be my most damaging spell (Great Maelstrom is probably better, but my tanks are finishing off their enemies so quickly at high levels that they run into the AoE before its second blast triggers, so I don't use it as often; Plague of Insects seems pretty good too, but it's not as obvious how much damage you're doing with it -- and none of your Fury, Storm, or Elements bonuses apply). I also like Relentless Storm because it can briefly stun a bunch of enemies over and over again, and Sunlance for when I need to attack a single target. You wouldn't actually spend much time spirit-shifted with this build, because you lose the bonuses from Lord Darryn's Voulge (and your spiritshift form simply isn't very good, though I haven't tried a specialized build like Boeroer's). I'd generally only spirit-shift after I ran out of spells and wanted to use the spiritshift's extra lightning ability, and then teleport and attack from a distance. I've never bothered with Empower on this playthrough (for anyone in the party), so I don't know what the spells look like when they are empowered.

I like the change. What I don't like is that you can't see the name if they are talking, whether they are an important NPC or an unimportant one, either by tabbing or holding the cursor over them. You have to wait for the dialogue to disappear. It would be preferable if tabbing would hide the dialogue and display the name instead, and then return to the dialogue after you release the tab key.

There's also Lord Darryn's Voulge, which gives +3 PL to Storm spells when bonded to a druid. It's easy to completely upgrade, and you can get it immediately after leaving Port Maje (though you have to sail through a storm to get to the island it's on, and it took me three tries to not lose any crew members).

Related to this, my party is regularly hit by ranged attackers that I can't see, so it seems like enemies have a longer line-of-sight? And in town, it's kind of annoying when you are well within your line-of-sight range (which is already pretty short as mentioned above), and you can see the background near you (for example, the steps in front of a building), but you can't see people standing on that background, presumably because there's some sort of obstacle, even if that obstacle is very tiny and shouldn't be blocking your view? You think you're able to see that spot, and can't figure out why the NPC you expect to be there isn't there, until you change angles and realize that a tiny shrub or something was blocking your view of the entire front of the building.

Just as a follow-up, I encountered a second bug with formations in addition to the one I described above. In the previous bug, the definition of the formation hadn't changed, the game just kept reversing the order of the party members on any area transition. In the new bug, the definition of the formation has actually changed - on the place where you define the formation, the party members had changed places (the places themselves were still the ones I had assigned, but the party members were standing in the wrong ones). I was used to this happening after walking around the ship (since the game has to re-add your party members when you get off the ship -- though this should probably also be considered a bug), but this time it happened simply by changing to a new area (or possibly by loading my game from the previous day, not sure).

I don't know that it's not enough combat overall, but that you can get stuck for hours running back and forth doing fetch quests (or conversation quests, which are basically the same thing). And you can't skip them (or at least not all of them), because doing a fetch quest will typically give you significantly more xp than actual combat. It just seems odd that running messages back and forth will improve your combat skills more than fighting will. I'm enjoying the game overall, but I hope they add some in-depth dungeon fighting in the DLC.

Has anyone else noticed an issue with formations where the formation is regularly reversed, so that the tanks get moved to the back and the squishy characters are moved to the front? The definition of the formation itself hasn't changed, and once I'm in an area, if I move to another spot, then when they come to a stop, they'll be in the order they should be in, but they never start out that way. Anytime I enter or exit a building or area, the order gets reversed (and if I click to move elsewhere on the map, and forget to stop and wait for them to get back in the correct order, then the entire time they are moving, the tanks are in the back). Anytime I enter an encounter spot on the world map, the order gets reversed. It's a custom formation, if that matters. I'm not referring to scripted encounters where you're supposed to be surrounded, or anything like that.

I have repeatedly experienced this problem on the Mac version of Deadfire, but I do not know what a DxDiag file is or where to find it. I searched my filesystem, but it didn't find any matches by that name. The pattern appears to be that whenever I boot up the game, my most recent save file has disappeared. This is different than the pattern I encountered with PoE1. In the first game, the save files disappeared whenever I saved multiple files with the same timestamp (as far as I could tell) -- but it based it on the in-game timestamp, not the real system time. That meant that if I paused the game and saved two files, the second one would always delete the first (because within-game, the time hadn't advanced any since it was paused). And since I typically always pause the game before doing anything, then anytime I did any management of my save files that included saving two copies (because neither PoE1 or Deadfire send any message to the console that your save was successful) and deleting what I thought was an unnecessary copy, I would generally end up deleting the only recent copy (because the game had already deleted the other copy). I haven't tried replicating this pattern in Deadfire, because the Deadfire bug is so much worse I get too frustrated to continue playing. Another Deadfire bug that may or may not be related to the save files getting deleted: Twice now, I've encountered an issue where it split my current character's save files into two different characters with the same name. So I have one copy of "Bob" with maybe an autosave from the current day, and a completely separate character also named "Bob" who has all the historical save files from the day before.

The game keeps deleting my save files, which, you know... kinda seems serious to me.