Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

This is my biggest beef with PotD. It's not just weapons, but also subclasses and builds that we are pigeonholed into thanks to insane AR. Playing a fighter striker? You better pick devoted or you will hit like a wet noodle. Playing a barbarian? Zerker every day for the same reason. Does your character have talents that increase pen? Take them or literally underpen the majority of enemies. I get that PotD is about full knowledge of game mechanics and synergy, but at of right now you either use specific weapons, talents or subclasses or you will make the mode much harder for yourself. Yeah, it's also a big issue for casters because it's a lot harder to raise spell penetration. I find at high levels it's more efficient to combusting wounds + [something that does a large number of non-penetrating hits, like mind blades or minoletta's], rather than to actually break through the armor directly. Tbh I find Ascendant to be the only strong type of cipher right now. I would reduce his Draining Whip focus generate bonus by ~25%. But at the same time would buff cipher powers (specifically: damage, accuracy or cast time; but not! duration) by 15-20%. I agree, in at least general terms, with everything above except this; given that the change to per encounter casting makes focus a hindrance rather than a help, I'd just as soon get to max focus on my Ascendant ASAP. The focus mechanic isn't a benefit, it's a hindrance, and most of the time it's just getting in the way of doing the fun stuff, the necessary ante you have to pay before you can really start to play. As such, I'd be fine with it being even easier to raise focus. I'd probably be ok with doubling the starting focus every Cipher gets at the start of each encounter. As to details, I'd suggest something like changing Mindweb to have a chance to break on damage or hit -- the problem right now is that a single AOE damage effect like Chill Fog can effectively wipe it, even if it only grazes. For most other cipher powers below level 7 the answer is generally "needs shorter cast and recovery time". For the stuff level 7 & up, ciphers aren't alone in needing an additional positive balance pass on their top end powers (I'd also suggest adding one or two more powers at each level, to bring them up to parity with the spell availability for druids and priests and chanters).

If you use it appropriately yeah it will. It depends a lot on build is the thing. If you're just playing a generic Ascendant sure the red hand is a very solid choice but there are a lot of tweaked multiclass builds that put it to shame using other weapons (as per the links). It's a good weapon that lets basic pure Ascendants do pretty well but it's nowhere near the peak optimal build right now. The main advantage it has is convenience and ease of use for single-classed Ascendants who don't want to bother carefully plotting out something more optimized. All you're really doing by dramatically nerfing the Red Hand would be pushing single-class Ascendants further back behind multiclass optimized builds. As above, the real source of potent damage for ranged weapons, especially at the top end of the game on PotD, is driving-flight type effects or AoE effects, and the Red Hand has neither. Other weapons can hit 6+ targets in the time it takes the Red Hand to shoot twice. The Red Hand just feels more powerful because the effects hit the primary target you're looking at. Another example, see this "Banshee" Ascendant/Berserker build: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104892-build-witch-the-banshee-build-very-high-damage-berserkerascendant-rdps-caster/ Uses kitchen stove and a wand. Red Hand only shows up as a third weapon (basically to metagame the damage bonus then switch it out, which I agree is lame, or for situations where you need very high penetration).

All they need to do is improve the scaling range. The reason the game gets easy after about level 14+ is that the game only "upscales" any encounter a max of six levels and most of the game is level 8-10 or so base because it's open world and you could hit pretty much anything as early as 8th level. Improving the scaling range should solve a lot of these issues.

First off: I actually think the game is in a pretty good place right now. There's still definite room for improvement but (at least to me) it feels like we're getting to the finishing-touches and refinement stage at this point. So what finishing touches does the game still need? Obviously mods can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but given the challenge modes etc. that can't be a complete answer. So what tweaking does the game still need? What things would you like to see in future ? Here's my list, which is not intended to be complete: 1) more shanties 2) the ability to select subclasses for companions and sidekicks 3) the ability to select additional side classes for companions and sidekicks (i.e., let me make Eder a streetfighter/trickster) 4) more unique pikes, hunting bows, wands 5) replace flails' useless "graze to hit" bonus with crush/slash best of (warhammers are already crush/pierce) 6) uptweak the few cipher powers that still need work (defensive mindweb should be on hit not on damage; haunting chains should be an AoE) 7) rescale experience so that you can still get to level 8 or so pretty fast but it takes about two to three times as long to get from 10th to 20th change the triggers for the "faction enemy" ships that carry unique loot, I can't even figure out how to get my faction that low at all without going on a gigantic murder spree -- maybe change it so they trigger when you complete all the bounties against that faction? 9) nail down the few remaining long-term bugs, like the last few import bugs (sky dragon wurm, etc.); a way to view our histories in game would be really helpful on this front 10) UI improvements, especially with the enchanting options and being able to view the skill screen when not actively levelling up. 11) Incorporate some of the most popular mods -- "More AI conditionals," "enhanced user interface" -- into the base game so that they can be used with the Magran challenges 12) expand the level scaling upward so that low level encounters can scale up +12 levels rather than just +6 so as to increase late-game challenge 13) More unique-item clothing armors; I want a vailian jacket that is magical What other suggestions do people have? This feels like a good time to make such suggestions, while they're still working on the DLCs and so there's still a budget for some non-trivial additions.

It's a lot better than it was but it still needs improvement. Basically what's happened is that they've given each encounter a level-appropriate PotD tuning, but the scaling is capped at, I think, +/- six levels, and a lot of the game's content is relatively low-level (as in aimed at level 6-12 or so). So the game is now adjusted for PotD and genuinely challenging, but once you pass about level 12-14 or so, you start outleveling the scaling, and so stuff starts getting easy again. The DLC is perfectly challenging even at level 14+ because it's level 14-16 content so the scaling problems aren't an issue. Other locations that were intended as high level content are still challenging (fampyrs) because they're high enough level to scale appropriately. But most of the game is relatively low level (because open world) so overall the game gets easier. Basically what they need to do is go through and expand the scaling cap to, like, up to ten or twelve extra levels, rather than just six.

Hahah, yeah, good point I tend to not even think about that sort of thing because it's so ridiculous.

That fight is one of the harder ones in the game right now due to the way they primary you ASAP. Using Dismissal or Abjuration can help a lot or dropping a figurine summons to take some of the initial hits while you get your defenses up.

so it's bugged and not going away long term? The unity console mod has a "purify" hack that should wipe it but could you revert to a prior save? Are you still in combat? I'm not understanding the bug.

Yeah, I could see removing the buff if it were completely un-equipped (not switched out from a different weapon slot, but put into inventory) as a legit change just to discourage metagameyness.

The Red Hand isn't even the optimal weapon for most ranged builds. People have run damage tests lately and Ascendant Ciphers using the Red Hand end up doing like a third of the damage that Ciphers using Kitchen Stove do, much less Magran Priest fire nuker builds etc. See https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104924-dps-tests-of-some-classesmulticlasses/ It's definitely good but considering the downsides (increased damage received; single damage type; etc.) it's not that dramatically overpowered vs. other optimized builds. The main advantage of the Red Hand is that it's relatively simple to understand and use well compared to those more optimized builds. What really makes the top-end guns take off is the ability to drive through to hit multiple targets (either via AOE or drive-through to next targets) and Red Hand doesn't have that so at the top end it underperforms vs other missile weapons. if you really want to tweak guns, make the Arquebus do Crushing damage type. If you actually look at the numbers, the Red Hand underperforms. It feels very satisfying because the double-fire effect is cool, but that's not actually the same thing as being overpowered. You gotta look at the numbers.

Hrm. I wonder how well a one-handed Scordeo's Ranger/Ascendant build would work, with the Arcane Blaster for backup.

Two more I'm reposting from over on SA because they deserve to be preserved: Caed Twoa Caed Newa

What Boeroer said but there are a few ways to deal with the first island 1) you can sneak past both tough fights - Gorecci and the Drake 2) thekey to PotD in both games is use of either *consumables* or *debuffs*, and ideally both. You don't need to bother with either at lower difficulties in either game but on PotD you have to start using them because the monsters all have stat bonuses so you have to debuff them down to your level or you'll get creamed.

So what's the secret for getting your Vailian Trading Company rep that low?

Oh I don't necessarily disagree. Personally I think that Mindweb probably needs a buff (i'd suggest changing it to break on crit, not break on damage) but that got me wondering what the theoretical optimum was with it. I suspect that the end-point answer is going to be that the real answer is "if you make a character with strong enough defenses to make the party invulnerable, that character could solo the game by himself anyway and the party isn't necessary," which is another argument in favor of boosting the spell. But I'm curious and wanted to test the hypothesis.

I believe so, but i haven't actually tested it because I hadn't bothered much with Mindweb in its current incarnation. It sounds like basically what you'd want to do if limited to the standard companions is max out Pallegina for reflex/fort/will and the chanter damage shield, and then maybe do Aloth as a spellblade with deflection stacking magic.

so you are saying that instead of 15seconds it will take 60 seconds to kill him? 25% damage dealt is still damage The base game is kinda easy but there's a BIG difference between the watershaper's guild dragon and the Messenger dragon in the expansion (even the first time you face him when he's supposed to be easier).

Is there any downside to just talking him into trying to tackle Rymrgand? Because that solved the dragon problem also.

Defensive Mindweb is not very good in the current incarnation -- any damage at all kicks you from the web -- but just as an exercise in theory: Theoretically, the best party for Defensive Mindweb is one person specialized in each of the four defenses -- that is, one person with high Deflection, one with high Reflex, one with high Fortitude, one with high Willpower. What builds would people suggest to max each of those out? And how would those answers change if you're only using the standard companions and sidekicks? For Deflection, I've seen some builds posted here that had extremely high Deflection ( for example, https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100521-class-build-solo-arcane-knight-what-happens-when-you-have-210-deflection/ ) but I haven't seen builds that stacked other defenses similarly high -- is it possible? The two big hurdes I'm seeing are that some items (e.g., giftbearer's cloak) stack fort/will/reflex equally, so would be in demand for all three; also not all class combos are available in the standard companions (no wizard/paladins). What items would people leap towards? What builds in particular?

Arg, this still isn't fixed in 2.0?

You can only progress either the shield or the armor at once on one character. All you have to do is stand in the undercity and get Sickened but it will do first one item then the other in serial not parallel edit: you may have to unbind/rebind the shield but you take damage from the afflictions anyway.

There's very very little in the DLC that can stand up to combusting wounds + ectopsychic echo the hard part is lowering target defenses enough to land the combiwt..

Hahah, years later and The Bear is still reaping newbie faces Good Bear

Ahh, so there's a "killsteal" element going on here -- whatever kills fastest in the group will snap up a Lion's share of the available damage in the encounter. That may explain why there's such a steeply dramatic dropoff in damage output. I was expecting to see like a 1 or 2k difference not a 20k difference.

Interesting that blunderbuss so far outclassed red hand, since red hand frequently gets classed as "broken." I'm not sure I fully understand how the game "attributes" damage -- i.e., I've stacked 20+ iterations of combusting wounds via bouncing mind blades, but I don't know if that damage is attributed to the cipher or the wizard.