Druid Shifter Evolution Mod?

I never really dabbled in mods for this game. Has anyone used this Shifter mod? Just curious how balanced it would be, probably will play veteran in conjunction with Deadly Deadfire mod (normal version, -20%xp). I never min/max, and I never fully completed the game either, let alone the DLCs (which I have). Been wanting to finally do a full run, but have been restarting/making characters way longer than I have actually played the game itself.  

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/244

Edited January 11 by astrolulz

I never really dabbled in mods for this game. Has anyone used this Shifter mod? Just curious how balanced it would be, probably will play veteran in conjunction with Deadly Deadfire mod (normal version, -20%xp). I never min/max, and I never fully completed the game either, let alone the DLCs (which I have). Been wanting to finally do a full run, but have been restarting/making characters way longer than I have actually played the game itself.  

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/244

It's pretty OP tbqh.

Its not nearly so OP like Tactician/Blood Mage or Heralds...

 

And do not forget: The Mod is still in progress and i update abilities and spells constantly.

 

@Stardusk78: If you want to help me to balance the Shifter - feel free to give me feedback.

 

I got feedback from other players and (even though they are no rgp experts) they stated that the new Shifter is far from OP and tends to go down pretty quickly if you do not play him right (say hello to Bane of the Spiritshifter!!).

 

However: Perfect balancing for solo and group play including all difficulty settings is (nearly) impossible. But i admit that my main target was/is solo play on the highest difficulty (including Deadly Deadfire) so - yes - the Shifter can be very powerful if you know how to chain-combo all forms. But its a lot of fun - at least for me!

 

My own experience says: Its a real blast if you play the new Shifter solo with Deadly Deadfire on top of that  - even more if you add some god challenges.

Edited January 11 by Harpagornis

Do attack abilities work in shift form? Like pally and rogue abilities? 

Yes, you can use rogue abilities without any problem. I have played Trickster/Shifter some time ago and it was a lot of fun. Tactician/Shifter is even more powerful and - yes - that one is borderline OP as you can easily flank groups with "Faerie Fire" and later on "Nature´s Beauty".

 

If you use one of my optional mods you can even enable spellcasting in animal form so all combos with spellcaster classes will work pretty well too. So many options...

Edited January 11 by Harpagornis

That sounds pretty awesome then. I think I'm ok just using the melee abilities in shifter form lol, leave the casting for when it runs out. Are there any other mods you recommend? I'm essentially doing a blind run through the whole thing, and I really just wanted to be a wolf shifter (not very fond of the werewolf/other models) lol. Is Deadly Deadfire (normal) on veteran challenging enough? Without having any knowledge of upcoming battles/bosses. Or should I just start on PotD? Playing with the stock companions as well. 

If you go in fully blind than PotD + Deadly Deadfire (normal) could get really challenging as you will most likely into enemy groups that might be too much for you. But thats what the reload button is for no?

 

What i can say about soloing boss fights: They should be doable with careful planning and good shifting combos but unlike Tactician/Blood Mage or Chanters the Shifter will most likely fail against the Mega Bosses as he lacks the sustain and will run out of resources. Maybe Chanter/Shifter can beat them but i have never tested this combo (i dont like Chanters at all).

 

However: If you play with a party things will be a lot easier so i would recommend PotD (plus DD) - at least if you are looking for a good challenge.

Edited January 11 by Harpagornis

If you really decide to play the new Shifter @astrolulz than i would be happy about some feedback later on. I am always willing to take the mod into a new and - hopefully better - direction!

I'm having a blast with it so far. I'm only level 7, playing on veteran with deadly deadfire (normal). Some fights really kick my ass and take a few tries, so it feels balanced I think. We'll see how it goes in later levels.

 

I ended up adding another mod so all forms look like a regular bigger wolf, I liked that look better, and I'm sure I'm in the minority for that.

 

I went with shifter/unbroken thinking I could decently tank, but I don't know if the stats are there to do it yet. I was thinking maybe I should have went with pally instead, but then there's the issue of engagement slots while in shifted form.

That sounds pretty good even though Shifter/Unbroken is quite unusual. But if you are having a blast: Great!

 

At the moment i am doing a lot of rebalancing so expect updates on each day!

 

@VictorCreed will soon start a complete solo run with the new Shifter and i will try to coment in the live stream.

 

If you wanna join the fun in the next days - here you go: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/362799428

 

Good hunting!

Edited January 13 by Harpagornis

In regards to updates, would I just need to overwrite with the new zip file every time?

The safest and cleanest way is to delete the old Spiritshifter directory and then copy the new one into the Override as i sometimes remove specific files that might cause troubles.

Sounds good. As far as stats go for individual shifts, where can I find the details on that? The animal form descriptions seem kinda vague. Or are they the same stat wise, and the difference is just in abilities and passive (life steal wolf, +1 engagement bear, etc)

The differences between the animal forms are - like you already said - that they get different passive and active abilities to make each one more unqiue.

 

The Bear also has better Armor Rating (10+4) while the others "only" get 8+4 Armor Rating.

 

The Cat also attacks faster (3.0 second recovery time) while the others have 4.0 seconds.

 

I also thought about changing claw damage for each form but so far i left this one untouched.

 

If things get too difficult you can always fall back to the optional files for more Armor Rating, getting even the Tier 3 animals with Multiclass or spellcasting also allowed for animal forms.

 

P.S. You can always  take a closer look at all active animal abilities once you have transformed even though some of them might be greyed out as you need to reach specific levels.

The differences between the animal forms are - like you already said - that they get different passive and active abilities to make each one more unqiue.

 

The Bear also has better Armor Rating (10+4) while the others "only" get 8+4 Armor Rating.

 

The Cat also attacks faster (3.0 second recovery time) while the others have 4.0 seconds.

 

I also thought about changing claw damage for each form but so far i left this one untouched.

 

If things get too difficult you can always fall back to the optional files for more Armor Rating, getting even the Tier 3 animals with Multiclass or spellcasting also allowed for animal forms.

 

P.S. You can always take a closer look at all active animal abilities once you have transformed even though some of them might be greyed out as you need to reach specific levels.

Sounds like a cool mod. Are they easy to install and enable?

Very easy to install, just a matter of unpacking files in an override folder (might have to create the folder first).

The differences between the animal forms are - like you already said - that they get different passive and active abilities to make each one more unqiue.

 

The Bear also has better Armor Rating (10+4) while the others "only" get 8+4 Armor Rating.

 

The Cat also attacks faster (3.0 second recovery time) while the others have 4.0 seconds.

 

I also thought about changing claw damage for each form but so far i left this one untouched.

 

If things get too difficult you can always fall back to the optional files for more Armor Rating, getting even the Tier 3 animals with Multiclass or spellcasting also allowed for animal forms.

 

P.S. You can always  take a closer look at all active animal abilities once you have transformed even though some of them might be greyed out as you need to reach specific levels.

Awesome, thanks. Yeah I've seen the different abilities greyed out on the ability bar.

 

Loving the mod so far!