delfador

The problem is they nerfed Ciphers big time, unless I'm missing something or there's a bug in my game. Time Parasite cost 70(!) focus, Amplified Wave 60, even good ole Mental Binding is now 20. I'm withholding judgement until I can figure out if there are other changes that balance this (like increased focus generation). If not, it seems a bit out of the blue. On the bright side, high level Chanters only take 60% as much time for phrases (so 2.4s for level 1 phrase). High level phrases still compete with high level Invocations, but at least Chanter scales a bit now.

Very very minor issue: the new tooltips in Patch 3.0 beta are excellent and show what factors contribute to a score, like Damage Reduction. However, the Second Skin talent from Knights of the Crucible doesn't show up in the tooltip for DR. For example, tooltip will show different things that add up to a number like 11 (e.g. blood blessed skaen robes 3, +4 excellent quality, +4 armor of faith), but the DR on the character sheet will show as 13 total at the same time (which is the correct value). Second Skin does show up correctly in Active Effects. Other things from talents/items/temporary effects show up in the breakdown tooltips. For example, Dungeon Delver's effect on Mechanics, Song of the Heavens +1 perception, or Fletcher's Stay bonus to ranged Accuracy. So I'm guessing maybe the Second Skin talent was missed? This was loading a pre-3.0 save into 3.0 beta Anyway, not a big deal by any means in the grand scheme of things. (p.s. so far I'm loving the changes in 3.0, especially UI ... really awesome stuff!)

We knew this was coming (Josh Sawyer SA posts), but it's live now in the beta 3.0 patch. Even though it's technically a nerf, I find myself really liking it. There's no huge transition at level 9, and it lets a caster have a bit more "personality" if you will, in what spells they choose to master. The hard part is choosing spells! What are your picks? A few that seem obvious to me: For Wizard, Deleterious Alacrity For Druids, Returning Storm Level 1 & 2 are harder. Probably Eldritch Aim and Sunbeam (though other choices are tempting). I would've said Miasma for Wizard, but not sure after the nerf. Priests are tough too, since their spell choice varies a lot depending on situation. Repulsing Seal and Pillar of Faith seem like safe choices.

huh... Does low int or res affect dialogue options much? It doesn't. You won't get the special Int or Res options but those require 12+, typically more like 15+. That said, if your int/res is 10, you can get it substantially higher with equipment+buffs, and still make some checks. If you start a 3, you'll never be making any dialogue check. Personally, I don't like either of those that low. 3 res is just asking to be interrupted, 3 int and you give up pretty much all duration based abilities. It's not worth it, IMHO.

Probably a dumb question, but: aren't Boots of Speed after the point of no return, near the end of the main quest? Do they show up somewhere else?

Here's a good one on Druid builds: [Class Build] Like a thunder: A Solo Druid Guide It's for solo PotD but would work fine for a full party or lower difficulty. I think the consensus is that all of the casters (Wizard, Druid, Priest, Cipher) are very strong. Druids have two main builds, AFAIK. You can either spend feats on making your shapeshift better, or you can spend them on defense/harder hitting spells/extra spells. Either approach works.

Yes, if you want to minimize the risks - for example I can't be petrified at all in the videos. Yes, I finished all the quests, but don't imagine you'll simply walk in the middle of the packs and kill everything. You have to split them to defeat them - especially in the expansion. Wow, awesome videos! I think you may have already answered this, but is Wild Orlan necessary (because of the +10 to defenses)? It looked that way but I wasn't sure.