Patch Notes for 4.0.0

[Cdiaz]

Patch Notes for 4.0.0

New Features

• Ship Respawning - Ships will now respawn as captains are defeated on the world map to keep the seas interesting to traverse. Ships will not respawn for every captain defeated, but the seas will continue to be populated with ships of each faction.

• Ondra, Wael, & Woedica's Challenge - Three new exciting Challenges will be coming in with this patch:
• Ondra - Storms on the world map are bigger, faster, and more frequent and Enemy Captains and crew about the ship are increased in rank and travel faster when chasing the player.
• Wael - All numerical data for characters, spells, and items and more are hidden! This excludes Item Counts and Party Member Attributes, Skills, and Levels.
• Woedica - All Per-Encounter and Class resources become Per-Rest, Party Health no longer regenerates outside of combat, and only "Prepared Meals" will recover injuries and Resources.

• New Megabosses - Two new Megabosses can now be challenged in the game:

• Sigilmaster Auranic:
  • Briny Grotto
• Dorudugan
  • Corroded Wasteland

• New Subclasses - 11 new subclasses are being added to the game to add variety and allow for more interesting combinations!

• Tactician (Fighter)
  • Those who can rally their wit in the heat of battle are known as "Tacticians." These warriors see all forms of combat as only pieces moving in play. Frequently assuming leadership positions within a structured military, Tacticians weaponize cleverness and sharpen experience.
  • Bonus

Restore Discipline when successfully Interrupting an enemy action.

Gain Brilliant Tactician.

Penalty

Penetration and Accuracy is reduced when attacking a target that is not being attacked by an ally.

Gain Tactical Dilemma

• Furyshaper (Barbarian)
  • Furyshapers carry a burden of trauma in their past lives, suffering when those emotions inexplicably bleed into their current psyche. These rare individuals can manifest their emotions in a physical form, inflicting their rage, terror, or madness onto the world.
  • Bonus

Gain Shape Ward: Frenzy at Power Level 1.

Gain Shape Ward: Fear at Power Level 4.

Gain Shape Ward: Blood at Power Level 8.

Gain bonus Accuracy against spirits.

Penalty

If a Ward is destroyed, take immediate Raw Damage and a Power Level penalty until combat ends.

Will is reduced.

• Debonaire (Rogue)
  • As charming as they are devious, these rogues use cleverness and diplomacy to achieve their goals. Often acting only in self-interest, they have been known to contract high-society thefts, unveil scandals, or even perform the occasional white-glove assassination.
  • Bonus

Gain significant Hit to Crit against Charmed targets.

Gain Roguish Charm ability.

Gain Hit to Graze against attacks when not affected by any afflictions.

Penalty

Cannot Engage.

Gain Cowardice ability.

• Steel Garrote (Paladin)
  • The Steel Garrote is a feared paladin order dedicated to Woedica. They work with powerful individuals and business interest to hunt down those who violate contracts, especially if said contracts were endorsed by a priestess of the Exiled Queen. They were founded in the Aedyr Empire and are active throughout the region - branching out as far as the Dyrwood and the Vailian Republics.
  • Bonus

Heal for a portion of the damage dealt to afflicted targets.

Gain Garrote ability.

• Arcane Archer (Ranger)
  • A rare few find themselves gifted in both physical ability and the more cerebral, arcane talents. Arcane Archers are among those few, and apply their innate aptitude with magic by temporarily infusing spells into their projectiles. More commonly seen among traveling performers or during archery contests, these skilled individuals are both admired and reviled for their abilities.
  • Bonus

Imbue spell effects gain increased Accuracy from Arcana skill.

Gain Imbue: Missiles at Power Level 1.

Gain Imbue: Web at Power Level 3.

Gain Imbue: Fireball at Power Level 5.

Gain Imbue: Eora at Power Level 7.

Gain Imbue: Death at Power Level 9.

Penalty

Receive a penalty to Accuracy with attacks not of the following traits: Imbue, Elements, Fire, Frost, Acid, Electricity, and Spell.

Max health is reduced.

• Forbidden Fist (Monk)
  • Followers of cryptic teachings rooted in a dark past, these monks are among the few granted - or cursed - with knowledge of forbidden techniques. Their martial prowess was said to corrupt the very soul of the wielder. Believing that great and terrible events justify their use, these monks travel Eora weighing the balance between the purity of their soul and the necessity of conflict.
  • Bonus

Gain Wounds and Health when Hostile effects expire.

Gain Forbidden Fist ability.

Penalty

No longer gain Wounds from damage received.

• Bellower (Chanter)
  • Bellowers are often found in communities steeped in hardship, particularly among those that have experienced recent misfortune. Their tales better resemble a collections of ramblings and gibberish than coherent stories. Their name stems from the rare, violent, empassioned outbursts of fearsome magic.
  • Bonus

Invocations grant (and benefit from) a brief bonus to Power Level based on the number of held Phrases.

Penalty

Invocations consume all remaining Phrases.

Chant radius is reduced.

• Priest of Woedica (Priest)
  • Priests and Priestesses of the Exiled Queen express their faith as lawyers and judges in towns and urban centers. The most prominent among them have served as advisers in royal court. They are of particular importance in the Empire of Aedyr, where business contracts require their endorsement. Woedica's devotees are typically found in the upper classes, but any tradition-minded person who longs for a vanished past will find a place in her faith. "When Woedica takes back her throne" is a common saying amongst her followers, signifying a utopian future when society will be properly ordered once again, and she will take her rightful place as ruler of the gods.
  • Bonus

Automatically learn the following priest spells at new power levels:

1. Writ of Engagement

2. Spiritual Weapon

3. Writ of Consumption

4. Divine Terror

5. Writ of War

6. Pillar of Holy Fire

7. Writ of Sorcery

8. Hand of Weal and Woe

9. Writ of Mending

• Ancient (Druid)
  • Not all Ancients are venerable in form, but many have walked Eora for hundreds of years. Primal in nature, these zealots of Galawain tend to keep to themselves in forests and extreme environments, warding off would-be travelers and conjuring untamed magics.
  • Bonus

Gain bonus Power Level with Beast and Plant spells.

Automatically learn the following druid spells at new power levels:

1. Summon Sporelings

2. Hold Beasts

3. Wild Growth

4. Form of the Delemgan

5. Wall of Thorns

6. Venombloom

7. Call to the Primordials

8. Fire Stag

9. Aspect of Galawain

Penalty

Reduced defense against Veil-Piercing attacks.

Increased damage received from vessels.

• Blood Mage (Wizard)
  • Devoted to the belief that blood fuels the power of the soul, Blood Mages walk a painful and self-destructive path to arcane mastery. Though reputable animancers have discredited their beliefs, those few that have witnessed blood magic cannot deny that gratuitous self-harm can indeed preface unbelievable - often terrible - magical events.
  • Bonus

Gain Blood Sacrifice ability.

Gain passive health regeneration.

Penalty

Unable to use Empower.

All defenses against bloodied attackers are reduced.

• Psion (Cipher)
• Psions are quite rare, often beginning as prodigal young minds that slowly unlock secrets deemed incomprehensible to even the wisest scholars. Their powers require intense meditation, but can allow them to manipulate the conscious mind or move objects with incredible force.
• Bonus

Gain Soul Mind passive ability.

Gain Telekinetic Burst ability.

Penalty

Loses Soul Whip ability.

Receiving damage disables Soul Mind briefly.

 

Major Fixes & Updates

 

• Savegames with subdirectories in the zip no longer fail to load.
• If Beast of Winter is installed, you may now converse with Ydwin as you would a main companion.
• Summoned creatures now unsummon when their summoner is knocked out.
• The game will no longer return to the main menu after loading a save in particular scenes and exiting and re-entering that scene.
• Veteran Difficulty has been tuned to be slightly more difficult.

• Enemies now have +12% health, +8 accuracy, +1 penetration, +8 all defenses and +1 armor rating on Veteran difficulty.

Challenges

 

• God Challenges no longer disable mods or Berath's Blessings.
• New games will no longer have Challenges enabled if the player loaded a Challenge save before starting the new game.
• Berath's Challenge timer is no longer modified by hostile/beneficial duration multipliers.
• Berath's Challenge now delays 10 seconds until unconscious party members are killed (from 6 seconds).
• Slightly increased Vela's base defenses and the health she gains per level during Hylea's Challenge.
• Users can now use Slow-Mode while playing under the Magran's Challenge.

 

Quests

 

 

• Whehami now acknowledges Aexica's admission of guilt.
• A Bigger Fish quest ends after completing A Sinking Feeling and siding with the Bardattos.
• Bounty - Assila Wave-Skipper can now be completed after speaking with Fleet Master Wakoyo. This will allow players to accept other future bounties from the Royal Deadfire Company.
• Sabotaging and blowing up the Powderhouse will automatically fail the RDC bounty quest for Radulf should the player have this quest.
• Captain Pai now correctly leaves loot after being defeated.
• Sugaan now correctly gives the Strand of Favor to the Watcher.

 

 

Text & VO

 

• More than 100 typos have been fixed.
• There are no longer errors in the conversation with Engari when Pallegina and Xoti are in the active party.
• Speaking to generic NPCs in the Sacred Stair no longer displays Missing String messages.
• Xoti's VO is no longer cut while talking with a lost soul.
• Dunnage Townsperson no longer produces two barks simultaneously.

• All dialogue lines during the first conversation with Queen Onekaza are played correctly.
• Eder's bark during Gul Endurance Trial is now correctly voiced.
• Serafen's Final Maneuver reaction bark is now fully voiced.
• Aloth now skips over keeping discretion with the Animancers when recruited outside of Clario's office.
• Pressing "Read" button on missive from Vatnir now correctly displays the letter.

 

 

Abilities

 

• General

• Visage of Death's Herald (and its variants) can no longer be cast on self.
• Hunter's Instincts has a proper stat block.
• Boreal Dwarves' Hunter's Instinct effect now matches its description and grants a bonus vs Primordials and Wilders (not beasts).
• Writ of War no longer turns off spell abilities.

• Rogue

• Pernicious Cloud Base Penetration from 0 -> 7.
• Debonair can no longer select Persistent Distraction.
• Roguish Charm no longer applies inspirations if its Charm is resisted.
• Enduring Shadows or Flurry of Blades no longer allow the player to get both Shadow Step and Shadowing Beyond.

• Fighter

• Tactician only recovers resources when interrupting an ability being cast, not on all interrupts.

• Paladin

• Garrote can no longer be used on Destructibles.
• Garrote now ends when combat ends or the target is killed.
• Garrote's base duration reduced from 8.0 sec to 6.0 sec.
• Garrote can no longer be used on self.
• Steel Garrote passive healing effect now only applies to weapon attacks.

• Barbarian

• Furyshaper wards now properly increase in level based on the Barbarian's level.

• Ranger

• Animal Companion Armor is now of the category "Light" (from Medium) - this only affects validation such as from "Charged Field".
• Evasive Fire will no longer target destructibles.
• Ranger's Strengthened Bond no longer becomes impossible to acquire in some situations.
• Bonded Fury and Shadowed Hunters will now provide feedback that they are unavailable if the Ranger Animal Companion is unconscious.
• Imbue Missiles scaling now provides additional projectiles in addition to default scaling.
• Arcane Archer will no longer spam spells when using an AOE weapon.

• Cipher

• Psion focus generation increases every odd power level.

• Chanter

• Their Putrid Stench Wafts Across now uses the same targeting style as its base ability "White Wurms Writhed in the Bellies of the Dead".
• His Laughter Rang Through The Halls now pushes from the caster position rather than the target.
• Fixed an issue that caused the base Cone effect from "Her Revenge Swept Across the Land" to bounce, not just the additional bolts.
• Bellower power level bonus per phrase increased from 0.5 -> 1.

• Priest

• Restore is no longer restricted to combat.
• Eothas Incarnate summons now have weapons that use the same material as the models.

• Monk

• Slog zones and other infinite hostile effects no longer trigger Forbidden Fist to gain wounds.

• Druid

• Fire Stag's Self-Destruct ability is no longer named "Fire Stag".
• Call to the Primordials now more clearly displays the number of summons.

• Wizard

• Wall of Draining will now properly increase the duration of effects on the caster.
• Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon will now correctly heal the caster for each affected enemy.
• Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon will no longer cause characters to take damage extremely quickly after the caster unequips the grimoire it's in.

• Items

• Thundercrack Pistol, Dragon's Dowry, and Frostseeker now have keywords for their respective elements on their attacks.
• Thundercrack Pistol's Conductive Blast & Storm Rune Shot attacks now have the Electricity keyword.
• Added minor delays to Essence Interrupter's effects to prevent it from invalidating on death mechanics.
• Cleansing Flame and Chain Lightning Scrolls now use the "read scroll" animation.
• Deltro's Cage (Shock Shield) is no longer a passive ability and it is now active.
• Magran's Shield has the "Shield Engagement" mod now.
• Scordeo's Edge Accuracy bonus can no longer be stacked higher than the number of times listed on its effect.
• Multiple instances of the same item mod effect from The Red Hand should no longer infrequently appear as separate effects.
• Description of Solitude effect has been updated to be more clear.

• Spoilers

• • Characters affected by Jadaferlas' Fiery Maw can no long move while petrified.
  • Serafen no longer learns a PL3 Cipher Spell when he first acquires PL2 Cipher spells in his auto-progression - Fractured Volition replaced with Phantom Foes.

 

Sound Effects

• Belranga's Consume ability has proper SFX.
• SFX have been added for the water pillar during Battle Royale.
• Rotghasts now have proper SFX when Combat Speed is set to low.
• Sheathing and unsheathing weapons triggers SFX.
• SFX have been added to the lightning strike during the play in A Tidy Performance.
• Defensive Roll trigger has SFX.

 

Visual Effects

 

• Soul vision VFX are not prematurely removed during conversation with Spirit Engari.
• Aexica has proper VFX when appearing to assist Whehami.
• Glowing eyes effect of the statue of Toamowhai properly fade out.

 

Misc

 

• Accuracy indicator on mouse-over now represents the chance to at least Graze, instead of at least Hit.
• Vatnir has casting voice and hit reactions.
• Hostile NPC Encounters in the Old City will not pull together when they shouldn't.
• Hostile NPC Encounters in the Engwithan Digsite will not pull together when they shouldn't.
• Examining a Soulbound item's detail page will no longer show that item's artwork in future item detail pages the player examines.
• A loading exception when clearing child effects from racial abilities, which prevented some saves from loading correctly, has been fixed.
• Food items are now classified as either ingredients or prepared meals.
• Daily Wages are no longer deducted multiple times when loading a game.
• When the player sells enchanted items that stack with ones the store already has, they will now receive the proper amount of money.
• Port stores no longer contain multiple infinite stacks of basic supplies.
• Watershaper's Robe character model no longer displays prominent neck seams.
• The ability bar has received some optimizations.
• Fixed an issue that would cause Strengthened Bond to become unavailable during level up.
• Characters that are engaged or engaging two or more enemies cannot be bumped by allies.
• Soulbound items can't have quality enchantments added manually, even when they're damaged in Abydon's challenge.
• The subclass abilities column in the Ability Tree will no longer permanently disappear after viewing a tree that didn't use it.
• New ship items can now be removed from the shopping cart in the Store UI.
• Updated bestiary sorting keyword on Body Affliction Resistance so it will now sort correctly.
• Eating Spoiled Food now lowers the crew's morale.
• Attacks that teleport the attacker to the target now properly receive accuracy from the attacker's Class.
• The player can now click to move closer to the edge of the revealed fog of war.
• DLC Deck of Many Things and Beast of Winter NPC's are no longer displaying empty stores or empty conversations with the player.
• Uncharted Island naming can no longer be closed by accident.
• If the player canceled the dialog for naming an uncharted island before this patch, they may access it again by entering and exiting the associated dungeon.
• Players can no longer duplicate morale rewards from ship combat using quicksaves.
• The 'Follow Camera' option works correctly on the World Map.
• Initial cutscene is not repeated after performing a save/load cycle during Battle Royale.
• Special Armor Ratings are now correctly displayed in the Bestiary.
• The door in the Eastern Cavern of Rimebound Temple now blends correctly with its surroundings.
• The combat with the bears in the Eastern Cavern of the Rimebound Temple will not start without Line of Sight.
• Conditionals for player responses in conversation with Beast of Winter have been updated.
• Portals in the Sunken Crown are now marked on the area map.
• King Wingauro's headdress no longer clips with the wall behind him.
• Responses in the dialogue with Menzzago now grant appropriate disposition points.
• Glossary links for the word "Nilkzenze" are now appearing correctly.
• Skill checks in the Kohatekana Expanse function correctly.
• The Inspect (question mark) button now works in the Grimoire UI.
• The game will show a useful error message when trying to upload a mod or exported character to the Steam Cloud if the user is out of space.

• Conversation about the Pool of Lost Memories in the Drowned Kingdom no longer triggers without Rekke being in the party.
• Vela appears next to Engrim at the beach only when the correct conditions are met.
• Remaining volumes of Pitfalls of the Deadfire are now available at Sanza's Map Emporium.
• Players will no longer get stuck on a loading screen in the Endless Queries when using multiple Void Gates.
• Sigilmaster Auranic Megaboss Encounter can no longer be repeated on lower difficulties.
• Reputation is lost with the Valian Trade Company is reduced if Aenia is killed by the player party.

 

[Boeroer]

Ha! Caught you in flagrante delicto!

I'm pretty sure you didn't post this yesterday at 03:50 AM - because it wasn't there a few minutes ago...

 

 

[thelee]

 

 

Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon will no longer cause characters to take damage extremely quickly after the caster unequips the grimoire it's in.

 

thanks for the quick turnaround on this bug I reported. Must've been an easy fix!

[MaxQuest]

Bellower power level bonus per phrase increased from 0.5 -> 1.

Hah, belower might be actually worthy of being considered now

Edited December 13, 2018 by MaxQuest

[Eelectrica]

Can ship spawning be toggled off? I pretty much hate the ship combat.

[Boeroer]

They don't attack on sight. You can just sail past them. At least I can...

[guildwriter]

Garrote can no longer be used on self.

 

Well there goes my idea for a Woedican Paladin with an predilection for autoerotic asphyxiation. 

Edited December 14, 2018 by guildwriter

[Boeroer]

 

Garrote can no longer be used on self.

Well there goes my idea for a Woedican Paladin with an predilection for autoerotic asphyxiation.

Speaking of Steel Carrots...

[Frak]

 

Bellower power level bonus per phrase increased from 0.5 -> 1.

Hah, belower might be actually worthy of being considered now

 

I have a predilection for chanters it seems. Testing!

[Graschwar]

Will there be some new weapons?

 

I am in need of a good pike!

[pmchem]

Great patch.  Already looking forward to the next in the 4.x.x series!

[JoniOdin]

Can ship spawning be toggled off? I pretty much hate the ship combat.

 

I whole-heartedly agree.

It's good that we can just ignore the ships and sail past them, but I would like to turn respawn off for another reason:

The sense of accomplishment when I have cleared an area!

That's why I generally hate respawn (except when it's done very conservatively and in a realistic/believeable way). I want to feel safe and secure when I return to an area I defeated all enemies in.

Edited December 25, 2018 by JoniOdin

[Guest Psychovampiric Shield]

I am pleased to see that certain other sideckick got her dialogue tree as well, even though it is not mentioned in patch notes.

[AlexDeLarge]

Nice patch, but I really hope in the upcoming Definitive Version, you will balance the XP progression, so that encounters remain very hard at every step of the way (the way Larian did in DOS2).

[protopersona]

Nice patch, but I really hope in the upcoming Definitive Version, you will balance the XP progression, so that encounters remain very hard at every step of the way (the way Larian did in DOS2).

I think rebalancing the scaling rules would be more productive. I think the problem is the scaling is stuck at bumping things up a maximum of 4 levels, so a level 8 creature bumps up to a maximum of 12. If the maximum scaling was something like 9 then that level 8 can now go as high as 17, preserving some of the difficulty all the way to level 20.

 

Both the XP gain rate and level scaling cap are issues fixed by the Deadly Deadfire mod. I highly recommend it.

Edited January 2, 2019 by protopersona

[uuuhhii]

 

Nice patch, but I really hope in the upcoming Definitive Version, you will balance the XP progression, so that encounters remain very hard at every step of the way (the way Larian did in DOS2).

I think rebalancing the scaling rules would be more productive. I think the problem is the scaling is stuck at bumping things up a maximum of 4 levels, so a level 8 creature bumps up to a maximum of 12. If the maximum scaling was something like 9 then that level 8 can now go as high as 17, preserving some of the difficulty all the way to level 20.

 

Both the XP gain rate and level scaling cap are issues fixed by the Deadly Deadfire mod. I highly recommend it.

 

level scaling and ptod should also stop give ar and pen buff to ai

it just doesn't make sense

maybe give them better equipment and replace them with higher level version

Edited January 3, 2019 by uuuhhii

[protopersona]

level scaling and ptod should also stop give ar and pen buff to ai

it just doesn't make sense

maybe give them better equipment and replace them with higher level version

If they did that wouldn't the players be able to loot that gear, and the problem would become players get to powerful too quickly?

[thelee]

 

 

Nice patch, but I really hope in the upcoming Definitive Version, you will balance the XP progression, so that encounters remain very hard at every step of the way (the way Larian did in DOS2).

I think rebalancing the scaling rules would be more productive. I think the problem is the scaling is stuck at bumping things up a maximum of 4 levels, so a level 8 creature bumps up to a maximum of 12. If the maximum scaling was something like 9 then that level 8 can now go as high as 17, preserving some of the difficulty all the way to level 20.

 

Both the XP gain rate and level scaling cap are issues fixed by the Deadly Deadfire mod. I highly recommend it.

 

level scaling and ptod should also stop give ar and pen buff to ai

it just doesn't make sense

 

why doesn't it make sense? potd is supposed to be hard and imbalanced against the player: the net effect of the buff is that all the enemies are inherently tougher. this is kind of like in BG/BG2 where the harder difficulties just straight up multiplied enemy damage against you (except better, because acc, defense, AR, PEN buffs are more interactable then a straight up multiplier)

[dunehunter]

I think a more generic buff on enemies in PoTD is better than AR/PEN buff. The reason behind is that boosting enemy AR/Pen narrows our choices of classes we can pick. If the team cannot effectively reduce AR and boost Pen, it will have big issue on PoTD, thus force u to pick classes that able to do so.

 

Also high hp bosses favors classes that has unlimited resources (chanter/monk/cipher). So if you wanna solo the game and beat these mega bosses, u better pick a chanter or monk because one of the boss has 7600 hp on PoTD...

 

Of course improve AI is the best way to make the game more fun, but as we all know it is very difficult and requires a lot of work. But I do think we can find a better way to make enemies more challenging than just boost ar/pen.

 

For example, boosting enemy damage, attack speed and movement speed, giving random inspiration to mini bosses.

Edited January 4, 2019 by dunehunter

[Boeroer]

I agree that raising AR on enemies on PotD is not the best decision that was made. I keep saying so since beta because of the reason Dunehunter posted: narrows down choices (classes, abilites, weapons - items in general).

 

In PoE's PotD difficulty enemies didn't get additional DR but "only" defenses (besides adding more enemies and tougher creatures, too).

 

Boosting enemies' damage output would be fine. Healing is very strong in Deadfire anyways - and usually PotD players know how to stack enouch healing sources so that they are nigh unkillable. Or giving enemies more abilites to play with.

[thelee]

I think a more generic buff on enemies in PoTD is better than AR/PEN buff. The reason behind is that boosting enemy AR/Pen narrows our choices of classes we can pick. If the team cannot effectively reduce AR and boost Pen, it will have big issue on PoTD, thus force u to pick classes that able to do so.

 

Also high hp bosses favors classes that has unlimited resources (chanter/monk/cipher). So if you wanna solo the game and beat these mega bosses, u better pick a chanter or monk because one of the boss has 7600 hp on PoTD...

 

Of course improve AI is the best way to make the game more fun, but as we all know it is very difficult and requires a lot of work. But I do think we can find a better way to make enemies more challenging than just boost ar/pen.

 

For example, boosting enemy damage, attack speed and movement speed, giving random inspiration to mini bosses.

 

bullet sponge bosses can be problematic, but only if they are fairly common, which they aren't. you can actually bypass most of them and still beat the critical path, at least. contrast with heart of fury on IWD2 where burst damage spellcasters became very very poor because enemy health pools were so vast so the game heavily skewed towards casters who could cast Wail of the Banshee or tanky classes with huge amounts of sustain damage. chanter in particular does real well in drawn-out fights, but that's part of the chanter's strength. if the game was nothing but bullet sponges that would be a problem because then only a beckoner or something would do real well, but it's not the case.

 

even if you just made every enemy smarter, i think it's inevitable that the higher a difficulty, the narrow the path of "viability" in terms of what you can choose to do. Even in a completely "fair" (no artificial benefit to enemy), encounters are varied and asymmetric with your party, and the harder they are the more you have to rely on metagaming them. To wit, part of the skill of playing deadfire is knowing how to assemble a balanced, capable party, and it's pretty forgiving on lower difficulties but you can still mess up (moreso than on poe1 because subclasses and multiclasses open up avenues for more nonviability), and if PotD makes it completely unviable to make a party of i don't know 5x mage slayer barbarians, i'm fine with that.

 

(if the enemy AI was even slightly smart right now PotD would be brutal, because right now enemy casters/archers/gunners don't know how to focus-fire. for example, in the bridge ablaze part of BoW dlc, every single enemy archer is deathblows-powered and abuses confounding blind. if they even had the slightest inkling on how to focus fire and prioritize certain classes, they could wipe you out in a matter of seconds. instead, they attack different targets, and they have an artifical AI-script-enforced pause between successive uses of confounding blind, whereas a human could spam it nonstop. be careful what you wish for... this would thin out party viability way worse than anything currently in place or proposed)

 

 

I agree that raising AR on enemies on PotD is not the best decision that was made. I keep saying so since beta because of the reason Dunehunter posted: narrows down choices (classes, abilites, weapons - items in general).

 

In PoE's PotD difficulty enemies didn't get additional DR but "only" defenses (besides adding more enemies and tougher creatures, too).

 

Boosting enemies' damage output would be fine. Healing is very strong in Deadfire anyways - and usually PotD players know how to stack enouch healing sources so that they are nigh unkillable. Or giving enemies more abilites to play with.

 

frankly, the only time i actually find enemy AR relevant is on PotD with upscaling. I actually feel like the designers are doing the PEN/AR mechanic a disservice by not increasing it across the board on lower difficulties and upscaling it. increasing enemy PEN i'm a little more ambivalent about, since it basically has meant in PotD that only heavy armor will consistently provide damage reduction and the faster armors (even breastplate) basically just amount to avoiding overpen (and very occasionally spell damage interactions).

 

re: the last point - this is already true? At least for the damage bonus I don't think it's universal, but I remember seeing some sort of PotD-specific damage bonus added to some enemies (i believe mostly ranged). Also with the nid-late encounter rebalance that occured some patches ago, enemies do use more varied abilities (a lesson I learned when I had members of my party disintegrated in the Old City, which I don't ever recall happening before).

 

anyway, tl;dr: there's no "safe" way to increase difficulty and maximize viability when you have a finite number of patches and developer hours available to you to constantly retweak things. i actually find some of the suggestions to be horrendously worse ideas whan anything PoE or Deadfire has done. even something as seemingly "safe" as more across-the-board damage upgrades, people suggesting that should go play IWD2 on heart of fury mode and see how thoroughly consistently boosted enemy damage eliminates so many classes and builds from viable contention (e.g. Deadfire potd metagame could devolve into exclusively high-deflection builds, which is basically the IWD2 heart of fury metagame).

Edited January 7, 2019 by thelee