CottonWolf

I believe it was cosmic dog there too. Not sure about the capitalisation though.

I'm kind of interested on how they handle the AI. Is the AI on PotD better than Veteran? The text implies that it is. I think my dream difficulty would be Veteran (so with the standard enemy stats) but the AI of PotD.

that's what I wrote ... am I missing something? (reasonably likely considering the lack of caffeine) Nope, you're right. I'm straight up going crazy. In my case I think it's far too much caffeine though.

The console release isn't till winter and Obsidian aren't doing it. They can bugfix up until and past release with no worries about discs being pressed. (Though there are, of course, physical PC releases coming.)

I think you mean "adopting".

Best Character options through multiclassing and subclassing - you can build some really cool stuff Setting - tropical archipelago's are great and pretty unusual in CRPGs Graphics - it looks so much better than the first game (also, cloaks on mac!) The encounter design - especially at the higher difficulty levels The new stealth system - stealth feels like a more integrated option now Neutral The mechanics changes generally - most things that shifted don't seem better or worse, and generally I'm pretty positive about the mechanical changes (which feed into things like multiclassing), but not so much that it makes it into the "best" section The sailing/ship combat mechanic - currently seems underbaked, but we know big changes are coming, so I'm withholding judgement Worst Inconsistent stacking rules - it seems unclear on what abilities suppress what, and currently it's very easy to take passives where one suppresses the other if you're multiclassing. At the very least, suppression rules should be documented and the game should stop you from being able to take a passives that's suppressed by one you already have. Inconsistent application of power level - it's also unclear what power level actually does in a lot of cases. Does it affect melee abilities? Why don't summoned weapons scale with power level? Why do ranger pets not scale with power level but monk's fist damage does? What will empowering grant me if I use it on this ability? Some of this would be solved by better documentation, but other things, like multiclasses getting the full bonus of both classes unique abilities (e.g. carnage + sneak attack) without them being moderated by power level seems to be contributing to the vast gulf between multiclassed and single classed characters. Edit: I've also fallen into the trap of talking generally and not specifically about the last patch, but this is here now, and I can't be bothered to rewrite it.

You think that it's possible to "spoil" events of the first game in the sequel? It's a sequel. The events of the first game are known background. Edit: If they weren't, there'd be literally no point in it being a direct sequel at all.

Berserker/Stalker seems really good. You can get a massive AR bonus though frenzy, stalker's link and passives.

I put the Devil of Caroc down there, seemed like a good fit. I maintain that's actually doing her a favour.

He does, which is how he gained his initial following, and why Eder's brother chose to enlist in his ranks. Maybe. That bit's deliberately ambiguous. We might find out exactly what happened there in Deadfire, but I kind of hope we don't.

Everyone has their pet Deadfire mechanics issue. This is mine.

We don't know yet. Most thing's will be selectable, but whether that means literally everything, or just everything that isn't a one off cameo there isn't enough to say yet. You could try asking Josh on Twitter.

I had that issue with the rogue with hobbling strike too.

It's unclear whether this is deliberate, but mousing over a skill in the character sheet only shows the skill as calculated from the skillpoints of that character, it does not include the bonus from the rest of the party (which is what is actually used in game). This derived score is shown in the level-up screen, which makes me wonder whether or not its exclusion from the character screen is intented behavior.

If it was a 50% reduction to duration to spell effects (positive and negative) that would be reasonable too, with the current spell resistance and disruption. But applying it to the barbarian's abilities too makes no sense.

Yeah, maybe this is building up to something to do with The Outer Worlds.

FYI They've changed this, Mage Slayer now has a flat -50% duration on beneficial effects, which seems really harsh, but I guess it's for people who don't want a fenzy-build barbarian. The spell resistance probability is only 5% though, it feels like it should be 10-20% given strength of the malus.

I tend to agree that a relatively free background is generally good for a CRPG. I mean, my barbarian mystic who went to the Dyrwood because they got a vision feels much better as a background than many set protagonists in videogames. And obviously they helped Rymrgand at the end, because coming from The White That Wends, they obviously believed that the vision came from Rymrgand to begin with. It was a good interaction between the background options they give you at the start and the options you're presented as you go through the game. I disagree with Wormerine about the Watcher coming back being a bad thing though. The fact that you know the gods are constructed is something that would have been very difficult information to give to a different protagonist, and it's key to the "story".

Especially as talking too much about the relationship mechanics (the other new thing) would consistute spoilers.

#thaosdidnothingwrong

Josh's previously confirmed on SA that Sacred Immolation is in in some form. Might still be a level 13-14 ability though.

A subclass having value in PotD solo is such an edge case it almost shouldn't count. The number of people who'll actually ever do that is tiny.

I've only just realised how bad this makes the conjurer subclass (having just fiddled with one). Half the conjuration spells are summoned weapons, so you're essentially trading half your spell options for spells for no advantage (as other people have said +duration is terrible when the base durations are high) and a terrible pet. Worst subclass?

It's clearly something. You don't stick weird codes in your marketting materials for no reason.

Yeah. If I hadn't heard first hand that PoE1 was good on consoles, I wouldn't have believed it. Literally every design decision seems like it would make it horrible to experience on a TV a couple of meters away.