Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

I kinda figured there wouldn't be another update ever since they 1) missed the initial projection like two weeks ago and 2) Josh Sawyer referred to the Backer Beta in past tense during the PAX stream =( It's cool, hard to complain since it almost seems like another update would be a waste of limited pre-release time at this point. I'd like another backer beta round just because I'm selfish but I'm not sure it's something that's really needed.

Yep, I'll make a video about it tonight Yeah I'd appreciate an explanation of that too. Am I correct in thinking that the various Lash effects stack? So like a cipher's soul whip lash and an electric weapon lash and a bard burning weapon lash song should all stack, since one's passive, one's a weapon enchant, and one's active?

Wasn't Josh playing on a lower difficulty though?/ In the backer beta difficulty level makes a huge difference because it exponentially amplifies the amount of time you spend paused in combat.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3593502&pagenumber=373&perpage=40#post442563993 Can't access those forums, what is this in reference to specifically? Yeah, that's Josh Sawyer saying that he's buffing melee wizards a bit at low levels, which is a problem people in the Backer Beta have discussed a little bit. i had to look up "gish" too. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gish

ALso this: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3593502&pagenumber=373&perpage=40#post442563993

Phrases don't all have the same duration. The lingering phrase will overlap the next one that the Chanter start to chant. In general, 2 (one lingering, one being chanted) is all that is going to be overlapping. Right, right. The real question underlying this is "how much do I need to pump Intelligence to get (two / three) phrases stacked at once." If there are edge cases where having a 19 Int will let things stack more vs. maybe it's better to just have a 15 Int because that gets you two at once and that's all you need.

Which to me is like the most "BOOOO!" reason ever. There's no need for any one class, and I believe that was even a stated design goal. Edér as a Fighter doesn't fulfil anything one of the beefier classes couldn't already, although I do see the issue here in that there's only a mere 8 companions, and out of those, the only ones that probably qualifies for the role would be Edér as a Fighter, Pallegina, or, like, Kana Rua, the last one unintuitively so. I guess it was just the easiest to change Edér into Fighter, with so very very CNPC:s in the game, rather than to keep him as a more fitting and interesting rogue. I can't help but to feel that it was the easy way out, but.. I do see the reasons. They haven't got a whole lot of wiggle room, since most other characters are very locked into their classes and most of them aren't really tanky at all. Yeah, no one class is Needed if you know what you're doing, but if you don't know what you're doing, in this game, yeah, you almost certainly need at least one fighter just to fill the tank role, and there aren't many other options as you point out. Difference between what you CAN do and what's easy for new players to do.

Well, it's probably the same mechanics either way. Good enemy AI is good party AI presuming they're using the same classes/abilities etc., or even the same types of abilities.

Yeah I hate to constantly beat this drum but it really does feel like the one glaring problem in an otherwise very solid system. I even like the engagement mechanics and other things that seem to be hot-button issues around here, probably because I'm more of a fan of turn-based systems anyway and a lot of those issues are just structural conflicts caused by trying to reconcile RTWP to a tactical game. Overall the game has surprisingly few balance issues, at least as per the BB. Wizard self-buffs (esp. Arcane Shield) seem a little underpowered and should probably have more uses/be castable out of combat. An in-combat buff has to be worth the free hit you're giving the enemy by not attacking first, and it's really hard for a single-target buff to hit that threshold. There are some UI issues and terminology that could be clearer (which you've done a good job of detailing). One-Hand-Only combat approach seems a little underpowered. Some of the more fragile classes could probably benefit from a *slightly* more generous Endurance curve. Wizards aren't going to be putting all their points in Constitution anyway, give 'em a little more reward if they do. There are a few other problems that might show up once we get the full game -- for example, I could see it being a problem that Paladin modal buffs seem to get completely superseded by late-game cleric spell buffs,and especially once the addons and expansions hit, character advancement and the main game plot storyline could get trivialized. But those are for down the road. Just about all of those aren't really that serious though because it's a single player game and within certain tolerances you can play as you want. If you're deliberately going one-handed ok that's a choice and you're playing on challenge mode, basically. The biggest issue I see right now is, as you say, Perception not doing jack for ranged characters and casters. I'm taking heart from the fact that the devs seem to not be commenting on that at all -- I'm crossing my fingers and telling myself that means they're aware of the issue and have some solutions in testing. Either that or they've decided we're full of it and that discussion is over

Yeah, they were right to make him a fighter. Every party needs at least one, and most people probably won't be fighters on their PC. It is surprising to me that there aren't rogue, monk, and barbarian companions -- maybe planned for an expansion?

Ok so buffing Int works, then. In practical terms, how long is the base phrase linger? How many phrases can you stack, max?

Yeah, I think that's the reason to go breastplate honestly, it has a really good piercing resistance. In practice it'll probably be determined by the armors I find. Believe you can theoretically enchant basic clothing.

I don't think you want more than one or two guys (your front line) in plate. Ideally at least, your back row isn't bearing the brunt of the attacks! At this point the composition I'm leaning towards, given that my first run will be with the prewritten companions: Front Pair: (tanks)Fighter and Paladin in plate, ideally with Estocs. Middle Pair (offtanks/support): Priest and Chanter, Chain, Pike OR Qstaff, Ranged Weapon (probably magran arquebus, whatever the Chanter uses well) Back Rank: (artillery/cc): PC cipher with blunderbuss and stilettos, in scale or breastplates, and wizard (druid? I realize wizzy is sub optimal, but I hate druids), also in scale or breastplates, with an implement and some backup melee weapon. Plate's good for the front row. Most corridors seem to be two columns wide so you generally don't need more than two front liners (and if you do, the chain wearers can pinch hit). Back row you don't want to go TOO light in case they get jumped or hit with ranged damage, but scale seems to be a nice sweet spot between too weak and too slow. Breastplates might be a good choice also depending but I like the look of scale more.

I've tried to look at this and I'm not sure either. It's hard to test because most of the good chanter songs are debuffs. Intelligence does seem to increase the Area of Effect, at least of Invocations.

That's not the only Darklands root. The whole scripted text box is straight out of Darklands too. I've actually talked with Josh Sawyer on SA about the feasibility of a Darklands remake, he apparently has ideas for one.

You aren't wrong. Sorry next week reply. We are holding off because some changes we made to the base game (streaming of VO) ended up causing serious problems in the Backer Beta. We are fixing them (and it might be good for tomorrow), but I wouldn't hold my breath. No joy in mudville? =(

Right. I feel like you want a debuff, you use Eyestrike (with it's Foe AoE) or Mindstrike; if you want a charm, use Puppet Master. The more I play Cipher the more I realize that abilities are at a premium -- unlike wizards, you never get more -- so I think it makes sense to prioritize a bit. I don't think move speed buffs everything else because then the reload rate buff would be redundant. I could be wrong on that easily though.

I haven't played with druids but apart from that your list isn't too far off from mine. I like having a wizard because it's a fantasy game and wizzzzard but it's hard to argue with your analysis of constitution and the wizard's general fragility. Paladins also suffer from the fact that their modal buffs seem to have a small area / be superseded by superior Chanter or Priest buffs. (Ciphers have the same problem with some of their debuffs, but it can be planned around). DO you really get that much use out of movement speed buffs? I'd basically ignored them. You know what moves really fast? An arquebus shot. For the Cipher my list is probably Eyestrike, Soul Shock, Mind Wave, Mental Binding, Mind Blades, Puppet Master, Soul Ignition, Silent Scream, but I'm still debating. I think it's a bit of a waste to take both Whisper of Treason AND Puppet Master. I never got much use out of psychovampiric shield -- the effect is weak, it takes too much focus/too long to cast to be useful as a last-ditch defense, and other powers like Eyestrike are stronger debuffs for cheaper. I agree that blunderbuss cipher is superior to melee, they don't have the survivability for melee. For the Chanter I'd been leaning towards Soft Winds, Dull the Edge, Thick Grew their Tongues, then Hel-hyraf, Thunder Rolled, and Thrice She Was Wronged, BUT TSWR just got nerfed according to Josh Sawyer's twitter (it needed it, let's be fair) so we'll see. At midlevels, Probably Sure Handed Ila, then maybe Lo their Endless Host; for invocations, I think the AoE paralyze. As to stats, yeah, Constitution isn't very useful if you aren't a class that gets a good multiplier, especially compared to the benefits of stacking Might. Perception doesn't seem very useful if you aren't a fast melee fighter. Resolve. . .ehhh? In a lot of ways it feels like there are three truly useful stats (might, int, and (if fixed) Dex) and the other three are also-rans. I'd like to see Perception give some Accuracy and, yeah, now that you mention it, shift some of that fortitude bonus from Might more heavily into Constitution, and give the weaker classes a more improved multiplier.

Ruffian? I thought Peasant was Unarmed?

Hard to say right now since Dex doesn't actuallly boost attack speed with weapons (it's bugged), but on the whole I'd *probably* lean dex. Perception doesn't do much -- just a boost to interrupt chance, which is only really going to be useful for very specific builds -- while Dex should give a solid boost to attack speed, which helps anybody doing anything. Right now I'd only suggest PER for people investing heavily in dex AND per to make dual-weild interrupt builds, but that's kinda niche.

At this point I'm not exactly hovering over my Steam queue =(

This was a really good question so I asked it over on SA and got an answer from Josh Sawyer. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3593502&pagenumber=363#post442335259 So in your example (presuming the debuff #'s on the wiki are still accurate, which is unlikely) it would just take the stronger debuff. But remember that debuffs also have AoE's, durations, etc., so sometimes it might be worth it to double up.

I asked over on SA and nothing has extended engagement range because "it was causing too many problems." http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3593502&pagenumber=363#post442335259

Just think of it as paying the locals 250 gold each for crossbows.

Yeah, it's an advantage but not a huge one and more for 2nd-rank characters. One question I have though is whether having a pike extends the Engagement Range for melee characters -- i.e., is it harder to get out of engagement range vs. a pike wielder. I suspect it is but not 100% sure.