AndreaColombo

1. Start the game. 2. Go to the graphic options. 3. Enable Font Ligatures. 4. Observe that nothing changes in the game's font. Font Ligatures, like the goggles, do nothing. Been like that since day one so I figured I'd put it on the radar. They were a nice touch in PoE.

Has any feedback from this thread made it in?

Hello. This thread is meant to be a comprehensive collection of feedback on what appear to be the most prominent issues with Deadfire's mechanics as gathered from several other discussions. The latest beta update has left me in a bitter mood with regards to the status of the game, as many of the concerns backers brought up since the first build do not appear to have been addressed at all; whereas other changes have been made that have honestly taken the fun away for me (appreciate YMMV.) These are the areas I believe should improve for the game's mechanics to be good and combat to be fun. UI should be more informative. As discussed here and here, as well as here (among other places.) Not only is the UI providing partial information about most things—what information it provides is too generic. Where are the hard numbers? Where’s the actual gameplay impact of things so that players can plan ahead and/or calculate their DPS and spike damage? It doesn’t help that one key piece of information Deadfire added, the damage calculation breakdown, has been broken since day one (link.) Stacking rules are inconsistent and counter-intuitive. As discussed here, here, and here. Good stacking rules are intuitive and make synergies immediately evident—the opposite of what presently happens in Deadfire. It should be as simple as same source = suppresses; different source = stacks. It doesn’t help that the UI doesn’t provide any information at all as to what stacks and what doesn’t, to add to the previous point. Power Level is inconsistently applied and obscure. As discussed here and here (among other places.) Different abilities benefit from Power Levels very differently; the UI doesn’t communicate this in any way, so players can’t know in advance. End result: Empower is bonkers for some abilities and useless for others, unbeknownst to players who may as well waste a use of Empower on something that doesn’t really benefit from it. Power Level, which is supposed to give an edge to single classes vs. multi classes by design, isn’t really doing its job in that department. Most people have a hard time understanding what Power Level even is or why it should be there at all (link.) Power Level should be consistent in its effects on spells and abilities, and it should make a substantial difference between single- and multi-classed characters. Weapon balance is inconsistent. KDubya’s been doing comparisons since the first beta. The latest can be found here: Melee Ranged As shown, there are a number of inconsistencies leading to some weapons being clearly inferior to all other choices in the same category. Weapon modals are too extreme. As discussed here. Most weapon modals are so extreme in their effects that you’d never want to use them. Take the Great Sword: The Accuracy penalty is so vast that it can only be used against foes who are lower level than you. But if my foes are lower level, I don’t need an extra 50% damage to deal with them—I can make quick work of them already. So what is this modal good for? Nothing. As evidenced in this previously mentioned thread, modals also have a problem with stacking rules (and UI information.) Casting times are too long (and inconsistent to boot.) As discussed at length in this thread. This post focuses on inconsistency. This post offers solutions. Summoned weapons should have 0.5s casting time and 0.0s recovery time. Anything longer than that and attacking with your regular, non-summoned weapon is the most efficient choice. It doesn’t help that summoned weapons are underwhelming compared to their PoE counterparts (Firebrand doesn’t even have a fire lash? Really?) Other spells also take way too long. Latest beta removed 1s from casting and added it to recovery, which is a bad joke. It did nothing to solve the problem and just made self-buffs worse, as now you spend 1 extra second of their duration in recovery (+ any penalty to recovery you might have.) Ciphers are bad (especially single-classed.) As discussed here. Their powers are underwhelming and have far too long cast and recovery times; the STR/RES split made them the neediest class of all in terms of stats. ANY other class is more efficient and more powerful than Ciphers right now, and for multiclass combinations only the Soul Blade is desirable as you’re going to dump all focus into Soul Annihilation anyway. Miscellaneous. I’ve always been very supportive of Obsidian and the Pillars development team, and I still am. I know there’s a lot of work and the team’s relatively small, and I loathe to come across as whiny or entitled (which I reckon I have in the past couple of days, and for that I apologize.) However I’m sure you’ll see where it can be frustrating that none of this early UI feedback has made it in yet, or that a bug this serious hasn’t been addressed since the first beta build (this issue contributes to the cascading crits issue with Swift Flurry and Cleaving Stance.) Even the inverted bar under the hair style selection at character creation has been there since day one. A minor thing, but also an annoying bug that you can’t not run into and 100% of players will experience. Or the missing elbow piece on female model plate armor, reported since the first beta and still an issue. Instead, changes were made to the UI for the worse as discussed here (and in subsequent posts.) Why spend time on that and not on one of the QoL improvements that beta backers requested since the very beginning? (Honest question; not rhetorical.) One last pain point for me, besides the fact that most beard styles look patchy like a porcupine with alopecia (I used to think they were temporary but this is the third beta build and they’re still unchanged), is how everything's been made slow. Not only is recovery a lot longer than in PoE; the attack speed system has been changed so that 0 recovery builds are impossible and recovery penalties weigh more than stacked bonuses. Everybody’s now forced to sit through lengthy recovery times. People who like fast-paced aggro are out of luck unless they wanna use Fast Mode, which is unchanged from PoE and looks like Benny Hill Show; way too fast for combat. I liked Normal mode in PoE and currently there’s nothing in Deadfire that compares. I also don’t like sitting through recovery; it’s boring to stare at my men do nothing and it makes me feel like my characters are weak. Why should there be no option for me to speed it up in a significant manner without openly gimping myself (e.g. by wearing no armor to avoid the penalty)?

So Armored Grace is now terrible. Because everybody loves a slow drag, right? I don't understand. PoE had fast, normal, and slow modes. Deadfire kept fast mode unchanged, which means it's unusable in combat unless you want to play Benny Hill Show; then changed normal to slow so that people who enjoyed normal mode in PoE can't have what they want. What's the purpose? Why must everyone play the slug fest? Is sitting through lengthy recovery times everyone's idea of fun? I can't be the only one who feels like their character is weak if they spend half the time doing nothing in combat.

Same.

3rd December Doesn't seem like any of that made it in so far, though, so there's that.

I think your best bet is to contact the physical edition's distributor, THQ Nordic. They are headquartered in Europe, by the way, so I don't think your friend we'll have to buy from the U.S.

^ Agreed. Switching inventories was indeed a little confusing, but the current solution is frustrating. The item icon is still where your cursor would be, so the most natural thing for you to do is point with the item icon and click—except it doesn't work. You have to point with the silly arrow that isn't where your cursor would be. Very counter-intuitive.

No need; Vektor sells it

I'm surprised nobody's brought up the cursor change in the inventory screen when you pick up an item. It is beyond annoying and runs counter how mouse-driven cursors work in any other RPG or even OS. Why was it done?

Generally true with the exception of a few direct damage spells that become overly powerful when Empowered. Power Level was supposed to do stuff, but with its inconsistent application it isn't really doing much at present.

I guess I should have seen this coming. If stacking rules are a mess, why not make them a mess all the way through?

@dunehunter: getting the bonus to recovery with Kalakoth’s Minor Blights is one of the few fun things left in the game. Why remove it?

Devoted + Tenacious = not suppressed. Because on top of everything stated in the OP, let’s make stacking rules unpredictably inconsistent. A Goldpact Knight’s Gilded Enmity ability is suppressed by Tenacious even though they’re not the same source/ability. Why? No reason—just like that. Goldpact Knight/Berserker is a bad build, but there’s no way for a player to know this until the character’s rolled and they find out the two abilities that should have created a key synergy for the build don’t actually stack.

Full game’s a separate key you can get from the backer portal. Beta branch will be dismissed when the full game launches.

It says right there in the OP that if you backed on Fig or on Obsidian’s backer portal, these are the goodies you’re getting

Those spell VFX are 10/10, guys. Unfortunately it also takes 10 hours to cast one

This stuff looks AMAZING. Is the CE box about the same size as the CE box from the first game? I assume the DVD steel case will come with box this time?

I'll be honest—I played this build for a whole 10 minutes before quitting and finding myself deprived of all interest to run it again. My main pain point is how recovery has been made even longer, paired with an unnecessarily convoluted attack speed system that prevents 0-recovery builds and makes one penalty weigh heavier than a bunch of stacked bonuses. It wasn't enough that casters were boringly slow; melee combatants had to be made so too. There are good changes listed in the OP, and yet some major issues that have been reported since day one linger still. UI is not informative; power level is applied inconsistently and doesn't make the difference it should between single- and multi-classed characters; stacking rules are counter-intuitive and inconsistent; casters are still slow; STR/RES changes weren't reversed and single-classed Ciphers still suck; cascading crits are still a thing; Transcendent Suffering still disappears after a save/reload ... and so on, and so forth. All of the major issues that took away from my fun are still there, and some of the stuff I liked is no longer. I guess this is my cue to leave the beta behind. I'll try the game when it's out.

This sentence in the detailed list isn't followed by any details as the colon would suggest:

Guys, we need to talk about beards. Are the beards we see in the backer beta final? Cause the only way a real beard is gonna look like that is if you're pubescent and growing it for the first time. Only the full thick beard is an exception to this rule right now; most other cuts look like a porcupine with alopecia XD

Her portrait's in the companions folder, though, and she's named. Only companions and sidekicks are in there.

Besides, -1s casting / +1s recovery doesn't really make the overall time any shorter—it's unchanged, and even worse off for self-buffs as you'll be wasting 1s of their duration in recovery (which you wouldn't have before the change.) Not only is it not a move in the right direction; it's mostly not even a move.

It's all part of the boredom masterplan. Let's take the most boring part of combat (i.e. watching your men sit through recovery time), make it longer, and ensure it can't be skipped by preventing 0-recovery builds. Now everybody must sit through the slow drag—with an attack speed system where a single penalty weighs more than your stacked bonuses to boot! Since you can't go melee with no armor... there you have it.

Scars? Yes. Medical conditions? They wouldn't be adventuring