HawkSoft

Isn't that what pen and paper are for?

Yes, I'm not proud. TBH this is more of a roleplaying thing than an efficient use of talent slots

Hi Aarik, I know it is not limited to happening once per grimoire, without doing lots of tests I'd suggest it's once per grimoire per load.

Just because OBS wrote them to ensure they were lore friendly doesn't mean that the PoE Writers wrote them. If it was me I'd have organised a competition for all the staff and just have the main Writers act as editors. Think of the good/bad writing as reflection on the souls themselves, some may be great raconteurs whilst others are idiot savants.

I found that the beta AI gets bored easily and has characters and enemies wandering off to look for more trouble…

Priests were never about healing, they are buff/de-buff casters who can also heal. I agree that Second Wind is so powerful that it devalues most other forms of recovering Endurance in combat. Field Triage is about recovering Health, not Endurance. There is a huge difference.

I will normally have two characters with Field Triage, it's avery useful get-you-home talent that I use a lot. As I play on normal I don't have a lot of use for the defensive talents but I know many people do. The limited number of talents you get with a char means that you have real choices to make when levelling up, some talents are good in isolation, some are only viable for specific character builds and some only become great in combination with others. There are very few that are simply poor and almost none that are only fit for use as fertiliser. As for getting a bunch of talents at character creation I don't agree, the current perks are sufficient without throwing the whole of the early game out of balance.

Me too, not had a daylight fight there yet to check if that is OK. EDIT, I was able to get the loot after daybreak and a daytime fight with Derrin's murderer had no issues.

Greater Focus is still very useful at higher levels because it always lets you open the fight with a power one rank higher than you would otherwise. I agree that Greater Focus is still useful at higher levels but potentially less so than other talents which might create much better overall synergies. What I am noticing with the lower level powers is that most of them have shorter ranges so a cipher can no longer open with (EG) a MindWave against an onrushing mob on the limit of visibility but is better to start with a long range missile weapon. I think this is a good change.

I'm generally liking the latest cipher rebalance however I've noticed some odd behaviours with Whispers of Treason. At the start of the game in the fight before the storm struck the camp my cipher charmed one of the enemy just before the other remaining enemy went down. Despite showing as charmed the enemy continued to chase and attack Heodan. In general if the last enemy standing is charmed the results are unpredictable, sometime the charm ends immediately, sometimes it times out normally, sometimes it runs the normal duration but the enemy attacks you anyway. I've just arrived at Anslogs Compass and in the scripted fight with the xaurips I charmed one of them but this resulted in Egdrang turning hostile: What I am guessing happened is that the xaurip was in mid swing when I charmed it, it killed Tily (as my ally) so Egdrang turned hostile. The other xaurip then went down and the charmed one reverted to hostile.

I have no objection to re-spec being available for power gamers but as a role player I would prefer to avoid using it at all. I am concerned that focus is starting to feel less like a natural/organic capability and more like an arbitrary game resource which must be optimised (EG by using re-spec) for the class to remain interesting/viable to play. In v2 Greater Focus was optional, now I'd say it's essential at L2 but may become superfluous and even waste of a talent slot at higher levels. For me this is not an interesting character build progression.

I've gained the stronghold and my party now consists of 5 characters at L4. This second beta seems to have made a melee focussed cipher as protagonist viable but its hard to know what mix of powers to pick (this is generally good). Whisper of treason is fantastic if facing a small group of enemies (low focus and quick) but useless against single or last man standing foes. Greater Focus is a must have, at L2 it boosts starting focus from 10 to 20, a huge boost! Focus gain is unpredictable, trolls are very productive with their low DR and high endurance but other fights have left the cipher struggling to gain focus. Starting a battle with a high damage missile weapon seems good but I have yet to decide on the best style of melee weapon(s) to use.

The only jarring point for me with Sagani is the voice acting, it's well done but makes her sound like a town or city dweller rather than someone from a wilderness region. Exder's voice acting is very good, he sounds like he's from a small rural town/village without being stupid.

I think it's actually part of Sagani's culture and a reflection of her home environment that she comes across as very self confident. Hunters who suffer from self doubt may not return from a long hunt with the consequence that their village may starve.

Thanks, I forgot to try that and it was only Heodan who got thumped.

I have grown to like Sagani and think she is well written with most of her character coming out in the banter. Back home she has a deadly serious job, catching enough food to help keep the village from starving, there's no agriculture to create a food surplus. Village life has brief interludes of relaxation but much of the time it is centred on the need to hunt for food. The mission to find Persoq is a huge investment by the village, losing the services of an expert hunter for years in the hope of an indeterminate payback in the future. To me Sagani comes across as very focussed on her task but with a strong sense of fun she can very rarely afford to indulge.

Yeah I agree about Whisper. It's too strong now and I don't understand why it got buffed (though I'd still recommend against taking it, because I think Puppet's the better overall option now). If anything I would have given Tenuous Grasp the fast-cast speed and left Whisper at Long. Whisper makes some of the tougher low level fights feasible for a party led by a melee focussed cipher. The behaviour of charmed victims when they are the last foe standing seems inconsistent, it cam: Time out naturally End immediately Enemy remains charmed but attacks you anyway (party can't fight back until charm expires) Greater Focus is HUGE at L2, 20 initial focus instead of 10 makes it almost compulsory.

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This is still a problem in v3.00.957

This is still a problem in v3.00.957

Tweaked cipher with more RES and both the fast powers (MindWave and Whisper of Treason). This seems more useful. It's worth noting that the protagonist now starts the game with a Strange Illness that reduces their concentration. Whisper of Treason is good but there is some odd behaviour when the only remaining enemy is charmed, sometimes it wears off instantly, other time the enemy remains charmed but attacks you anyway

Rather than re-run my high level cipher who just beat the v3.00.929 beta I've started a new cipher to get a feel for the latest changes. My protagonist is Island Aumaua for the extra weapon slot and I intend to make them melee focussed to see how that works. I won't be dragging Durance with me so the protagonist will be the party mechanic, attributes are all in the range 11-16. I'm playing on normal because that's what I prefer and because I don't think many other regular posters here do. EDIT: add screenshot I took Mind Wave and Eyestrike as starting powers (possibly a mistake). Background is Old Vailian to start with rapier and stiletto, labourer to get Mechanics and Athletics boost. FIRST Impressions (camp site map): With a starting focus of 7 you can do nothing at the start of a fight except smack hopefully on the nearest foe, by the time you have enough focus to do anything the fight's half over. Casting Eyestrike from the front line is bad news, it's quite slow (or my char is being interrupted a lot) so doesn't have an effect early enough to make a real difference. I'm not sure what the best armour option is, Old Vailian gives you mail but the recovery penalty is nasty, hide doesn't seem tough enough to protect a cipher. The Disappointer is actually very useful at this stage of the game for a cipher, it can give you a good focus gain at the start of a fight. I will re-start to boost RES a bit and re-think my starting powers.

DR needed nerfing, it was a fantastic *free* perk for monks in the v3.00.929 beta. The accuracy bonus should be served on toast with lots of pickle, it's too good and too flexible.

Part of my relative dislike of Twin Elms was the absence of backer NPCs, just lots of anonymous ones. In PoE2 I would like to see all the *filler* NPCs be some kind of backer NPC so we don't get maps full of commoners, nobles, hunters etc. I agree that the godlike races were over represented in the backer NPCs, for a future campaign OBS should decide what race distribution they want the NPC population to have and then have different pledge levels for the different races (EG godlike = most expensive). Now there is a base of lore for Eora it should be easier to provide guidelines for NPCs that might be suitable for a location.

It might do on POTD with larger mob sizes but is rare on Normal difficulty as there aren't enough enemy squishies to harvest focus from. When it does happen it is usually because the fight was a walkover anyway and there is no need for a *nuke* from the cipher.