Gromnir

the fact life-bonding ain't current working, working as advertised as it did in the beta, is indeed disappointing. you play rt as 'posed to tb, yes? mounted combat aspects is having a few glaring issues in tb. am suspecting more than a few things working in rt is borked in in tb, including tandem trip which only works between rider and mount, and not 'tween multiple animal companions (edit: it isn't working according to our combat log, but can't say what it is doing in other player games.) speaking o' which, charge is most definite not fixed, in spite of claims by owlcat to the contrary. the only surprising aspect to tb mounted combat being so uneven at release is that it were working in beta... although charge has always been an issue. HA! Good Fun!

it works, or at least it did in beta. we had a colluding scoundrel/druid, hoping aivu would benefit from the hunter's teamwork feats. no go. the superpower fixed our aivu problem. warning: a few teamwork feats are bugged tandem trip doesn't seem to be working as advertised, but seize the moment is. speaking o' azata bugs, favourable magic is partial broken as the 75% damage on a successful save aspect is not realized. spells for which damage is halved is not seeing increased damage from favourable magic. HA! Good Fun!

skalds in general are bugged, but court poet is a particular noteworthy outlier as the charisma and int buff isn't being recognized as either a song or rage power, so it can't be augmented in usual ways and doesn't count for skald ability to confer rage powers. for particular parties, the int and charisma buff is nevertheless mighty effective and might be worth the functional lack o' skald compatibility. have mentioned previous in this thread how in spite o' being utter nonsensical from a rpg pov, giving seelah 8 levels o' court poet is an option we has considered and experimented with during the beta... gets her an effective +2 bonus to mark o' justice, guarded stance, uncanny dodge, haste, heroism, good hope, displacement and mirror image, all the charisma and int boosting goodness for ember and/or nenio, etc... HA! Good Fun!

it stacks. its the one aspect of court poet which is not bugged or broken. only slight hyperbole. HA! Good Fun!

angel spells are kinda op in wotr. am gonna admit we purposeful avoided doing merged spellbook for our angel run 'cause playing an angel cleric or oracle effective moves the difficulty slider at least one place to the left. nothing wrong with wanting to feel godlike in a game which pits you against against demon lords and has you challenging godly power, but for our first run facing the newish material in chapters five and six, we wanted a character who would not effective misrepresent game challenges for later choices. try and play an aeon after doing angel cleric and am suspecting we could become frustrated with aeon relative weakness... didn't wanna ruin subsequent wotr runs. also, when we got our mythic choice we knew azata were bugged multiple ways, so we went with choice number two. HA! Good Fun!

good luck. after days in a hospital and following dozens of tests, it's good to remember medicine is as much an art as science. the doctors are no doubt doing their best but sometimes there are no easy answers. your child is getting the best care they can manage, but you are allowed to be frustrated and disappointed if your doctors do not have a definitive answer, or worse, when they provide what seem to be conflicting answers. i have faced such a situation with my own med problems and i assume what you face is a thousand times less pleasant as your child is the one in need of care. so again, good luck.

is not complicated. is literal a different item for each mythic. if were a rl item which need morph into near a dozen different forms, that would be complicated. isn't. the angel benefit is not a complicated bonus. other versions o' the cloak is more complex, but not the angel. HA! Good Fun!

in our playthrough, arguably the single most annoying item bug is areelu's cloak. is resource expensive to acquire, but for angel path it s'posed provides an additional 2d6 holy damage on top of the sword of heaven damage bonuses. we don't care 'bout achievements, but we know we got one for managing to acquire the cloak, so at least the developers think the cloak is a noteworthy item. unfortunate, the cloak does nothing. zip. zero. zilch. tangential but related, one o' the hides of a magical creature locations is no longer providing a hide, so instead o' boots and helmet we needed make a choice 'tween the two, a choice which woulda' been unnecessary if we had not wasted hides on the cloak. swindled by a blind elf? is not a new bug. is hard to believe it is a difficult fix. oh well, is not a crippling loss by any means, but we can't even request a refund from the storyteller who convinced us to buy his fake rolex. HA! Good Fun!

oh, and david lee roth is retiring. is unfair, but the first thing we thought when we saw the picture from the linked article were how much david lee roth looks like maskless darth vader at end o' rotj. is more the complete absence o' color than anything and am hopeful he doesn't have health concerns as is hinted at in the article. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting that given your obsidian message board experience, you don't actual believe he is being facetious. so, does he take the bait and double-down as is predicted, or... regardless, am applauding hurl for channeling his inner movie velociraptor. temporary nickname you "clever girl" is in no way meant as disrespectful. HA! Good Fun!

wotr companions are, in general, not well written. however, am gonna admit a few o' the evil companions is our relative favorites. regill is tops for us, and while greybor has almost zero depth to his narrative, we ended up enjoying his story more than most other companions. by comparison, the good companions were largely meh. HA! Good Fun!

aside: ignoring personality quirks, am gonna suggest the best wotr tank companion for late game is camellia, but such an observation is assuming no creative multiclassing 'cause seelah gets serious tanky upgrades from dips into bard and skald and whatnot, though such dips have a predictable cost in terms o' those extreme useful high level paladin abilities. other than story reasons for preferring seelah to camellia, am almost always having seelah around, particular late game, 'cause o' mark of justice and other paladin support abilities and not 'cause o' pure tankiness. HA! Good Fun! ps am admitting we kinda loathe camellia. the writing is uneven and am suspecting you only get full benefit o' her "character development" if the elizabeth báthory options in dialogues make you laugh, so perhaps we missed the high points.

np. please note we did edit inquisitors as is pretty much all archetypes and the base class which has access to a single cleric domain, with the exception o' faith hunters. sacred huntsmaster gets an animal companion at level one and is not domain specific. HA! Good Fun!

am s'posing if we says, "most," it won't likely help. even so, off the top o' our head and likely to be missing options, so other posters feel free to correct, the list as we recall is as follows-- obvious excepting cavaliers as you can't muticlass into cavalier of claw from cavalier: sylvan sorcerer sacred huntsmaster, but actual all inquisitors save faith hunters as long as you choose animal domain as would a cleric. vanilla rangers and the demonslayer archetype which is either broken or just a waste at more than a one level dip... but curious, you will get your animal companion at level 4, so with boon companion it works. huh. hadn't considered that. wandering huntsman, divine hunters, vanilla hunters and colluding scoundrel clerics able to choose animal domain (i.e. gozreh and erastil). is gonna be a boon companion need 'cause is level four acquired. druids, save elemental rampager and blight... but am admitted fuzzy on those as our recollection is not 100% as never played those and am basing off o' perhaps a sidelong glance during feyspeaker creation when peering at other druid options. mad dog barbarian am not doubting we missed something. in any event, is many options. HA! Good Fun! ps (edit) added more to inquisitor

dips won't do it. with the mythic beast and boon companion feats, you will have a stout animal companion, but an animal companion only levels based on the class your animal companion were attained, though owlcat does implement so that two classes, both with the animal companion feature, allows a continuation o' the leveling o' the critter from the original class which granted your animal. if one class only provides for a dog or wolf animal companion, but you started out as a cavalier who took a triceratops mount, your new class, even if the animal companion is s'posed limited to dogs and wolves, will continue the triceratops leveling. odd. regardless, take a handful of levels to get a tripping dog companion won't cut it. you will have a dog with a handful of levels which is functional useless late in the game. there is some truth to the tankiness o' a few animal companions, but if wotr players cannot build seelah better, they is probable doing wrong, which is not their fault 'cause pathfinder is weird. sure, the stat sheet says you got seelah at ~60 ac and your lann who you level'd as a sacred huntsmaster's has his leopard at 70 ac, but those record sheet numbers rare rare tells the whole story and ignores feats which only activate in combat. HA! Good Fun! ps am not sure if is fixed, but in the last beta if you took three animal companion classes, the third would bug out and not allow continuation but would also functional lockup your leveling effort.

not taboo. complex. the US is almost unique when it comes to police. we do not have a national police force. police power is reserved to the states, which is actual one reason why national mask mandates for covid is functional impossible, 'cause as odd as it sounds, such mandates is considered, from a law pov, a police power. the fed may mandate for fed employees, but not state citizens. each state has its own police, and boy do they ever have police... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_law_enforcement_agencies_in_California you are never gonna see us post wiki as basis in fact, but the link provides a rough notion o' how many police forces there is in ca alone, and those numbers is hardly a california thing. check for wisconsin or missouri if you wish. similar extreme numbers. gonna use covid again to stress another point and that is that municipal and county sheriffs departments is beholden to their own constituencies more than the governor, so when governor newsom passed mask mandates, a fair number o' municipal police departments and county sheriffs simply announced they were not gonna enforce the mandates, and there was little the governor could do 'bout such violations o' the rule o' law from a practical perspective. sure, its illegal for the sacramento county sheriff to refuse to enforce covid mandates, but what then? ok, so the fbi asks state and local departments to keep records and share data on all sorta crime data and is then up to state and local departments to decide if they wanna share such data. there is fed grant money often tied to sharing data, but state and local departments are often creative or just plain lazy when it comes to how accurate and detailed is the data they share, and there isn't a damn thing the fed government may do to compel the yuba county sheriff to be more diligent in transmitting numbers and reports. is not taboo. is federalism. is complex. is almost uniquely american in its perversity. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing there is more than a few obsidian posters who agree with martha and larry, and am admitting the last four years has disabused us o' the arrogance o' being confident in any "most americans" observations, but we would hope many americans realize there is an unconscionable large % o' american children who only get one decent meal a day, and that one sufficient meal is available only 'cause o' free school lunch programs. nutrition is kinda essential for brain development as a child matures. ... am recalling a happier time when pundits were self conscious enough to be embarrassed if they let slip their prejudices regarding social welfare programs which benefited children and others objective unable to bootstrap themselves out of hunger and poverty. in 2021 we got fox news anchors casual bemoaning those damned lazy first graders being conditioned to look for the next handout? HA! Good Fun!

politicians already are subject to litigation for slander and libel. however, am suspecting what you want is to make it easier to sue such folks. “when the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.”-- oscar wilde you do realize the diminishing o' the nyt standard would impact not only politicians but message board posters as well, yes? in fact, anybody who publishes a lie may also be sued and the only thing preventing such publishers from being buried in litigation is the ny times standard. obsidian is technical a publisher o' all o' our posts. no more special protection for speech regarding public figures or issues? well then, dp is gonna need be much more careful and obsidian would need police their boards far more close... both o' which is unlikely. most immediate relevant impact to obsidian boardies is these boards would be gone immediate. HA! Good Fun!

it is a good question. a few vanilla class companions are effective, but am recalling a few o' the suggested level-up choices for feats appeared... curious. am recollecting there was a wotr developer who were doing a core walkthrough stream and only got through half of the end of chapter one grey garrison assault, likely because work on the game became an every waking moment endeavor in the final months before release. however, am gonna observe she most assured did not take suggested feats at level-up and she were also getting roll-stomped by othirubo before her walkthrough streams ended. am suspecting a few o' the optional encounters, on core, with recommended feats and spells for mc and companions would be a tough slog for most developers who admitted would have spent far more time working on the game as 'posed to playing. we had many hours invested in wotr beta, and after beating the pathetic quasit battle on core and hard, am wondering how frustrating such a battle could be for many players... and more than a few developers. HA! Good Fun!

by now is obvious Gromnir is not a meme guy, and am also old. nevertheless, our first thought after viewing your linked tweet were as follows: HA! Good Fun!

is just not a meme worthy topic. musk is not cheating on his taxes or taking advantage o' some kinda rich person loophole, at least not at the fed level which is what the meme is addressing. and the bigger issue is that the vast majority americans support the current scheme which allows musk to pay at a relative low tax rate. even after the great recession, americans is overinvested in their homes and small business owners is understandably even more dangerous tethered to the financial success o' their business. too many americans got a retirement plan which is large dependent on the sale o' their home or business, and while home ownership is becoming more difficult, most americans still foresee themselves as future homeowners. capital gains. have mentioned previous, so is kinda a broken record thing, but where the us tax scheme is most obvious in need o' a fix, other than hedge fund exception which wouldn't apply to musk anyways, is the exceeding low capital gains tax rate we got in the us. 0/15/20. depending on your income, you pay either 0%, 15% or 20% when you sell a long-term investment and that investment makes money. if you make over ~$445k per year, then on your capital gains you pay 20% (with a possible 3.8% increase), which is considerable less than 37%, no? 'course most americans face capital gains tax as a relative small % o' their yearly tax burden, unless they sell a house or business. many americans depend on capital gains being low as is part o' their retirement plan to sell house and/or business. fed income tax bracket for musk is 37%, but chances are for the majority o' the money he makes in a year, the rate he pays is gonna be in the 20% range. add in fact that the ultra rich has business and foundation resources which means they as often as not they ain't personal paying for travel or even housing expenses. is not sneaky. americans is always reluctant to pay taxes. no doubt you has heard the wails ' o the taxation is theft persons, yes? so when is explained that rich people in california and ny, 'tween state and fed, is already paying more than 50% on income tax and that those rich people is paying more than the vast majority o' americans for capital gains, americans end up finding themselves defending the musks, bezos, buffets and gates from the dirty scoundrels in washington trying to steal the money they earned. tax the rich plans from Presidential candidates is rare practical. such plans is meant to appeal to people in same way as slogans such as make america great again. is puffery. however, there is solutions to taxation inequity but such requires a bit o' education and patience and those qualities is in short supply on both sides o' the aisle these days. a good start would be overhauling capital gains, which is actual part o' the biden plan that would raise the capital gains rate substantial, but only for those making $1million per year or more. unfortunate, capital gains is not meme worthy, so is likely doa. HA! Good Fun!

is a little known fact that 'ccording to dante's notes regarding "the divine comedy," he were ambivalent 'bout whether fifth cirlcle of hell should be for anger or for those who abused puns. HA! Good Fun!

dunno. a general criticism o' the poe maps when you admit "plenty" don't fit the generalization is a dubious starting point. regardless, would say the longwatch observation is hyperbole. the broodmother mob is not trash. a single difficult combat to complete a quest is not trash. is when the combat becomes repetitive filler am believing the trash label becomes appropriate. most o' the other encounters on the longwatch map is avoidable or not trash. is dlc, so is understandable the maps is packed tight with quest related encounters. spectres ain't trash and neither is the mercs. galvino's did feel like a slog and it woulda' been nice if there were a way to avoid at least a fair portion o' the repetitive combat, but again, for those complaining 'bout the fail o' obsidian to match the "spiritual successor" not promise, that is exact what the ie games offered all too often. poe developers specific did not compare to bg2 'cause bg2 were the culmination o' multiple ie games and developers knew there were no way they were gonna achieve some kinda parity with bg2 level o' depth and breadth. poe were s'posed to be deriving inspiration from bg, iwd and ps:t, and even ps:t had a whole lotta trash. is arguable most ps:t combat encounters were trash 'cause were extreme few which offered unique challenges. arguable the worst aspect o' ps:t were combat, and there were a significant amount. that said, galvino's, cad nua dungeon, and a few other locations woulda' benefited from less homage to the ie games and more emphasis on alternative quest resolutions. get no argument from us on such an observation. HA! Good Fun!

... then why fight? is a few o' the outdoor poe trash mobs we never bothered to engage, 'cause... why? you could go around. sneak past. whatever. the thing is, most crpg players is skinner box victims. kill everything on the map is part o' your conditioning. now a few o' the cad nua encounters were different; different in a bad way. developers admitted they never expected to need create so many levels, so they slapped a few o' the cad nua mega dungeon levels together w/o much effort or planning. no excuse. IF you are one o' the folks imagining obsidian promised a "spiritual successor" to bg, iwd AND ps:t simultaneous, then am s'posing you could look to iwd dragon's eye and see that cad nua were no worse for inexplicable placement o' trash mobs one after another after another. get your ie game nostalgia the hard way, eh? even so, unlike the wilderness maps and as 'posed to the dryford ruins or raedric's hold, there were no options for avoiding the trash in more than a couple cad nua dungeon levels. tedious. am thinking the biggest problem with the few poe wilderness maps and the trash mobs is that players couldn't unlearn decades o' crpg behavior. you have been trained. if there is monsters on a map, you kill 'em for l00t and/or xp. in spite o' being told there were no reward for killing trash mobs on wilderness poe maps, people went ahead and killed everything anyway, 'cause maybe there were a special quest or l00t cache behind that next group of wicht. when the player discovered there were no reward for their effort, they blamed obsidian for putting the trash mob on the map. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

is one o' those few recurring issues which has us sympathizing with developers. no right way to do it so far as we has seen in +20 years o' following these game developments. too little xp for late game conquests and people complain they were getting similar xp for killing a pack o' wolves as they did for the sub-boss near the end o' the game. most rational approach is to exorcise the per kill and per action xp, but a significant % o' gamers will argue, quite vocal, that being treated like a skinner box participant is part o' the ineffable fun o' crpgs-- need the insular rewards to encourage further gameplay. if there is a perfect balance or even a good solution, we ain't seen one... though am gonna admit that post poe, there were few complaints 'bout quest xp save that a few o' the cad nua bounties were indeed providing far too much xp. whatever else it were that stopped people from playing poe, the lack o' per kill xp became an afterthought hardly worthy o' mention. xp rewards is kinda like "exploration"-- is no right amount. put too much empty space or time fillers in game and many people complain. reduce the gaps 'tween encounters and quests and many people complain. HA! Good Fun!