Greensleeve

I've only played with a single class Druid, so I'm not going to comment off of personal experience, but based on my experience with the other classes and what works well for multi-classing. So, here are some options I'd wager would work out really quite well: * Fighter: Multiclasses well with almost anything. Adds tankiness, adds damage, adds some great passives and instant buffs. If you want you druid to do some armed fighting, you're not going to go wrong with a fighter. * Monk: I don't have much experience with the monk, but it has some insane buffs and abilities. Thundering Blows and Lighting Strikes will work while shifted, and will Burning Wheel. It'll add damage, speed, and more damage that work while shifted or casting. You're also basically free from gear dependencies this way. * Paladin: Makes anything tankier. Seriously. +20 to all defenses and Lay on Hands makes you nigh-immortal. And Eternal Devotion is sweet. Really sweet.

I should've been more clear: the concepts of all the gods predate the actual gods. Eothas says they only usurped existing archetypes. PoE2 says the Wheel as a concept predates the gods. All evidence points to the gods just not having all the information, and that we shouldn't take anything they say at face value. That includes there not being any reincarnation without the Wheel. It also reinforces the theme of the gods being squabbling children with way too much power.

I do think it's worth bearing in mind that we have absolutely no indications that the gods we interact with are even close to omniscient. I'd even go far enough to say that they don't really seem to know more than the Engwithans they used to be. I'm also not convinced that reincarnation is the same as the Wheel. I know Berath implied as much, but I don't think they really know the whole story here. I'd argue that it's more likely the Wheel only prevented, or at least slowed, entropy from fracturing souls. If nothing else, the concept of the Wheel predated the gods. There is textual, in-game proof of that.

The only bugs I've found are very, very minor audio or graphical glitches. Like, I notice them, but they impact absolutely nothing. Actually, that's not entirely true. There are some save import bugs. So if you just want to play the game once and have your "canon" playthrough, wait until all of those are sorted out. If you wanna play the game a bunch of times and don't mind you can't get your "true" experience from the very start, play it now. Though it is too easy. But that's to be expected from an open-world game.

I just want to praise and thank Obsidian for the sea shanties. Going the extra mile and writing Eora appropriate shanties adds a lot to the verisimilitude of the gaming experience. That they're all super catchy (almost annoyingly so) and all I've had stuck in my ear for the past day is even better. So great job! I'd love if there'd be a few more along with the DLCs!

If I remember right (I'm doing this off of memory), it's Ondra, Moon, Rain, Moon, Hands.

In the description of "Priest of Gaun", just before listing the bonus spells available to the class, calls her a Priest of Berath. I wouldn't really call this a very large issue, but I figured I'd flag it at least.

I did have the same experience with the "not available" tag disappearing, but the "Install" button still didn't work. Haven't been home in a while though, so I don't know if the game's disappeared.

Other reviewers absolutely get **** for free, and all the time. Giving out swag to journalists is a cottage industry, and I can from personal experience tell you it doesn't matter much. The risk of losing audience credibility is far worse than the prospect of slightly singing a contact The real problem is that journalism is seriously under-funded, which leads to corner-cutting. And unpopular reviews rarely bring in the cash, so... Why bother writing them? Finally, if you have to finish a game to get a sense for it, it's a kinda ****ty game. If all a reviewer talked about was the story, then fine. You'd have to finish the game. But there's a hell of a lot more to it than that, and you can get a pretty good sense for the gameplay and audio-visual elements of a game long before you've finished a title. While this wouldn't be a review of the full experience (obviously) it's good enough for pro-consumer reviews. In-depth criticism not so much, but that doesn't really seem to be what we're talking about here.

What about the Devoted penalties? Are Blights penalized when used by a Devoted? I'm guessing Soulbound weapons work the same as the summoned ones: if they match the proficiency they get all their benefits, if not, their accuracy is penalized?

Basically, how does Devoted class abilities and penalties interact with Summoned Weapons, Monk Fists, and Soulbound Weapons? Like all other, regular weapons? No bonus, but also no penalty? Like their chose weapon? Info is a bit scarce and poor on this at the moment.

If I'm reading things right, the financial **** he's complaining about is MCA not having a share of the company, and then not receiving money when he asked to quit? Which is at odds with him saying he was de-ownered (which isn't a think outside of a buyout). His story just doesn't make sense. His claims of mismanagement are fairly easy to accept, but the specifics he's citing are down more to style and disagreements than actual ****-ups. Those one Obsidian have been fairly open on the past half a decade or so. So... I just don't get it. What's his beef with it all again other than "I disagree with how things are being handled, therefore I got ****ed over and deserve to be treated like a martyr"? What am I missing? What's the huge thing this reveals we're meant to be bulging our eyes at?

True, but it'd be weird for a company the size of Obsidian, which was co-founded by five different people who put their own money down as capital, to not issue internal shares to its owners. Like, really weird.

So if he was an owner (and why the **** would everyone keep calling him one if he wasn't?) he had stock in the company. And if they shafted him out of stock... Well, it's just about as clear cut black-on-white as you can get in American corporate law. And he hasn't sued. It still isn't too late to sue. He allegedly has a huge chest of cash to sue with. Until he sues, this issue isn't as black-on-white as Avellone is claiming and I'm not buying his version of events on that front. Him being forced out of a management position? Sure, no problem believing that. But that isn't what he's claiming. Also, he quit. Unless I misremember completely, there are zero obligations to pay out severance packages to employees who choose to quit. I seem to remember it even being the norm not to. And I can't really say I'd consider it unethical for a company to choose not to pay a person who straight up says "I don't want to work with you guys anymore." MCA has made some verifiable claims too. He claimed someone quit from Obsidian "yesterday" which presumably means sometime in May. This person and others will come with added **** on Obsidian, unless I misread his comments. The only one I can think of who left recently is Katrina Garsten, but she left a month back or so and has had nothing but wonderful things to say about the company since. So... what's up with that?

I'll recommend axes in that case. We Toki on a Barbarian is crazy good. Tons of fun. Every crit does extra damage, because it's an axe, and causes prone. I'd even suggest you duplicate the axe (after Durgan Steel enchantments etc) and wield both. Make sure you've got high perception and intelligence. Might is secondary to those two I'd say. Dex doesn't matter, but it never hurts. Don't waste points on Con, consider dropping it a point or two even. Resolve is a bit of a dump stat. The only thing you want/need from Resolve is Concentration, and you can always just have a Priest cast Holy Meditation to take care of that issue. I'd probably go for a MIG 16, CON 8, DEX 12, PER 18, INT 16, RES 8. Not min-maxed, but gets you points where you want them. You can change things around as you wish, but I wouldn't drop PER or INT below 16. Also, consider playing a Hearth Orlan. Their extra crits are pretty nice. Though hardly necessary. Race doesn't matter overly much outside of pushing the envelope. Focus on accuracy early on. When dual wielding, speed is basically a non-issue, especially with the weapon style. So grab accuracy talents first and foremost. Both Weapon Focus and Accurate Carnage are absolutely worth it. I'd also pick up Veteran's Recovery rather early. EDIT: I did some quick speed calculations. Dual wielding Durganized We Toki axes, with the Two Weapon Style, in Durganized Full Plate, with the Gauntlets of Swift Action, gets you half a second of recovery (16 frames) per swing. With Frenzy, it drops down to zero. So DEX really doesn't matter. You can easily leave it at 10 and still be fast as hell.

I'm currently doing a run in anticipation of Deadfire. Going to be the save I import. I'm playing a Fire Godlike fighter. I'm only playing on Hard, so there's no need for me to optimize all too heavily, so take anything I say below with that in mind. I'm halfway through act 2 right now. I'm currently using dual sabres and wearing breastplate. I've got Armored Grace and Two Weapon Style. I've got about 20 frames of recovery, which is less than a second. Each hit is usually around 20-30 points of damage. I don't get hit much, and when I do, it's not for very much damage. In fact, I've only activated Battle Forged 3-4 times. I should've picked another Godlike if I wanted to optimize, but Fire Godlikes seemed really interesting for Deadfire what with the volcano connection and all. In short: so far I'm doing great and enjoying the fighter a lot. Durable, deals lots of damage, fast. It's great. The only real utility the build offers though is through scrolls, which is either great or sucks depending on how much you feel like using consumables. My final weapon is going to be the Blade of Endless Paths though. With the gear I have in mind, I'll end up with a 17 frame recovery, with the damage potential of an estoc. It's going to be real tasty. For inspiration on how I'm building this character I'd strongly recommend you read the Lady of Pain build linked in the pinned thread at the top of the forum. Other cool, straight-forward melee builds include monks, barbarians, and paladins. Monk is versatile and perform similar to fighters, but with more micro. They're awesome in Ryona's Breastplate. Dual wield, 2h, armed, unarmed, it doesn't really matter. The monk will be awesome and kick ass no matter what. And if you get tired of micromanaging, the Aggressive AI tends to do a pretty good job of dumping Wounds into Torment's Reach. Barbarians can either be built as a controller, with On-Crit CC effect weapons (We Toki, Godansthunyr, Starcaller, Cladhaliath, etc), or damage. It's difficult, but possible to do a build that can do both simultaneously. Either one can be built as a dual wielder or 2h weapon wielder. 2h builds need both Bloodlust and Blood Thirst. And I'd strongly recommend the heaviest armor you can get on most barbarians. Paladins have much better utility than any other of these classes, but lacks in damage. Well, before Sacred Immolation that is. You basically have to go dual wield to get decent damage out of a paladin before then, or focus pretty hard on arquebus FoD shots. Which isn't sustainable. I hope this has given you some ideas. If you wanna know more about any of these, just ask. I'm sure other forum members will be along shortly with more and better advice than what I can offer. Which is needed when it comes to Barbarians and Paladins, as I don't have too much experience with them in the configurations described here.

Agree with above poster: pin this!

I don't really know the GemRB games, but I'm guessing it's the Enhanced Editions? Anyway, I really can't see this argument. Fights in IE relied on maybe a hard CC or two, hard countering layers upon layers of spell protections once in a blue moon, or just attacking with copious amounts of pre-buffs. Rarely did fights require any sort of real tactical considerations. Which is fine, don't get me wrong. Knowledge of the game and applying the correct buffs is a valid way to play. But it's not what I want out of a game like this. Similarly, I don't even know what spells you're referencing with the "does 5 more damage" comment. Most spells that are upgrades of lower level spells add more than just damage, such as new damage types, AoE, sometimes a CC effect. Each of which adds a lot of tactical considerations. The Minoletta's Missles series is an example where you don't always just wanna pick the highest level spell for more damage. Because of Vancian casting. With the removal of Vancian casting now in Deadfire, I understand they're completely revamping the rest system. How, I don't know, but it's supposed to change. Because of balance? Which really does matter in single player games. I rarely, if even replay the IE games these days because whenever I create a character I like playing (straight Fighter, Barbarian, or similar) I keep thinking "Well why bother with this. I might as well play a Fighter/Cleric instead." Similarly, if I do play that, I think "Well why bother with this, I win the fights without trying too hard anyway." By allowing a ****-ton of enchants on everything at all times, the power-levels available to the player will rise real fast. And then you end up with the scenario MaxQuest mentioned: Hmm, because players would start prebuffing before every 2nd fight. Which could lead to two possible outcomes:- the game becomes too easy. Obsidian buffs enemies. Prebuffing becomes almost a must, and basically a chore. - the buffs are nerfed, because you no longer have to choose between casting a damaging spell or a buff instead of it during combat, i.e. the cost of casting a buff becomes lower, and thus it's effect is being reduced to match it. Either the game is too easy and we have no fun. Or we have to do it and it all becomes a chore. Balance matters for fun. A common criticism of PoE was it was too crazy with too much going on all at once. It's hard to read once the screen gets too cluttered with effects and actions. On the other hand if you're speaking about power levels, then that's a whole 'nother thing. With crazy power levels, the feel of the game can spin out of control pretty fast unless the world and story are made for it. Like Diablo 3. Power levels are crazy from the beginning, and the world acknowledges it. That's nice. Final Fantasy Tactics, on the other hand, you can be absurdly powerful and clean out maps on your own, but the game treats you like a wimp without allies. Creates a disconnect Obsidian are aware of and trying to avoid. Finally, programming AI is one of the toughest things to do. This isn't a game with infinite resources. Saying "well, they could just program smarter AI" in fundamentally misunderstands some of the challenges Obsidian are facing as a developer. Finally: And many of these restrictions made the game more fun to me. Whose opinion shoulder matter more?

Sallets! Gotta have sallets! And helmets with crazy plumes! Basically, anything that would've been worn in the Renaissance Holy Roman Empire. Or just anything from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles Empire faction.

A Darcozzi Paladin who gets Liberating Exhoration and upgrade it at the next even level. The talent is called "Inspiring Liberation" and adds +10 Accuracy to the ally. Bond of Duty is for Goldpact Knights so you are looking at the wrong order or something that is out of date. https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Inspiring_Liberation Here you go. Also you are wrong on the nothing eye catching. It is the single best Exhortation a Paladin has. In the late game if you do the difficult bounties you will take a huge amount of debuffs like blind and targeted terrifies etc if you are playing on PotD you will get hit at some point no matter how good your defenses. Enemy accuracy is too high. If you are blinded and terrified from a spell for example you will not hit a thing and your defenses will be very low. You will die or be a non factor in the fight. If you are in a party clearing a Paralyze or Petrify from an ally can change the tide of a fight. An ally can go from a petrified about to be a knocked out target to cleared and fighting fully party member for a minimum of 20 seconds (base if you have 10 INT). The only other ability that does this is the priest third level spell and the AOE is TINY and even with a 20 INT it only last 8 seconds. A Paladin with a 20 INT can cleanse a powerful DPS party member or him/herself and turn them from a CCed useless character to a fully functioning and buffed ass kicker. This has literally saved my Triple Crown runs more then once. If you have a priest in the group and play it perfectly every time and are able to get status effect immunity on the entire party every single fight well then you would not need it. That being said on a Darcozzi I would take it anyway on PotD as Accuracy is DPS and DPS is life in this game. It has literally saved a Triple Crown Playthrough This right here. Liberating Exhortation is incredibly powerful. Removing all debuffs for the duration (which is huge, especially with high INT, one of the best Paladin stats) is crazy good. Some fights go from teeth-gnashing hard to cake walks with a timely Liberating Exhortation. Frankly, it's hard to overstate how good it is. I always take it on my Paladins. Always, and all of them.

Wait, you can cast Liberating Exhortation on yourself? So Inspiring Liberation can affect yourself? This changes everything. You absolutely can. Liberating Exhortation is the only Exhortation (command) that you can place on yourself. It is clutch on PotD where you need every point of accuracy in a dragon fight. What you have to be careful with not getting into the rhythm of using just as a buff and depending on the enemy treating it like the cleanse (temperory cleanse there is no permanent cleanse in this game lol it all comes back after the buff wears off it just suspends debuffs) that it is. Because sometimes you can use it at the start of a fight and someone takes a debuff and you have use up your second Liberating to get them out of the debuff. Again remember that all these "remove debuff" abilities in POE just remove it for a temporary period AND the debuffs can be reapplied while your under the cleanse affect. Although the AI usually does not continually spam debuffs. It seems that have some type of cool down mechanism that we don't. "shrug" Darcozzi Paladin here I come. @Rique: ACC is Accuracy, one of the more important stats in the game. The Darcozzi Paladin talent Inspiring Liberation adds a +10 Accuracy buff to the Liberating Exhortation talent, making it a powerful debuff remover and accuracy buff, that should stack with mostly anything.

Wait, you can cast Liberating Exhortation on yourself? So Inspiring Liberation can affect yourself? This changes everything.

Sister of the Reaping Moon is Xoti's specific subclass, which is unavailable to the player.

So I'm starting up a new playthrough. I'm going for a DW Fighter build, probably something similar to the Siegebreaker Fighter in the sticky. I'm aiming for the following party: PC Fighter Pallegina (Tanky fire damage build) Maneha (Novice Suffering unarmed build) Hiravias (Something like the Bat**** Tank build) Sagani (Stormcaller) Final slot is either Aloth or a custom Priest of Berath. I just can't stand Durance anymore. He was great first time around, now he's just tiresome. So, any advice? Given my party line-up and what I have access to, I'm thinking the Priest would be more useful. Between a Fighter with Lore and spellholding items, Hiravias, and Stunning Shots, I'm thinking I've got enough CC. Between basically everyone in the party, I think I have all forms of DPS covered. So I guess support is what I'm really missing? Pallegina can do some good stuff with Auras and Liberating Exhortation, but it's power just doesn't match up to Devotions of the Faithful etc. On the other hand... I'm kinda bored with Priests? Maybe that's just because I've been playing mostly Durance? I don't know. Sorry to be kinda rambling. I guess it comes down to: what's your experience of custom Priests vs Durance?

Hang on. Is the end of that article saying that Obsidian will reveal their secret project by the end of next week?