Balance Polishing Mod Release 1.0

[NotDumbEnough]

Maybe further decrease its range so that you have to get really close, e.g. 4.8 meters. It would make the increased damage you take more significant as right now Maia can just stand far away from the danger.

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Maybe further decrease its range so that you have to get really close, e.g. 4.8 meters. It would make the increased damage you take more significant as right now Maia can just stand far away from the danger.

Usually I like the idea of indirect nerfs so unique weapons and abilities can keep what make them strong.

But here we are are speaking about something that basically doubles DPS. It is way too much above the curve to be corrected by nerfing another trait IMHO.

[Not So Clever Hound]

2 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

Does the Red Hand need a nerf ?

It has almost double the DPS compared to a normal Arquebus, at the minor cost of a bit less range. No other unique provides comparable multiplicative DPS.

I would reduced its base damages by 20%. Still 160% base damages per double shot. That's still an enormous gain.

IMO an elegant way to nerf the Red Hand would be to increase its reload time (which would also make a lot of sense). But it doesn't really solve the issue pointed by @NotDumbEnough regarding backstab. Although... with any Arquebus I guess you could squeeze a second shot at combat opening (with the -85% recovery from stealth bonus) and get backstab twice. In which case the problem isn't really about the Red Hand alone.

15 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

What would you think about following design (principles and numbers) for Backstab :

+100% damages

+100% damages against targets ABOVE 50% health (in addition to previous one)

Applies when Invisible/Stealthed or fixed 1s after against target <2m

The idea is to have Backstab COMBINE with Strikes instead of competing, and to be used as an alpha strike against a fresh target, useful when you switch targets with SHadowing Beyond or Smoke Veil.

 

(Assassin passive would also applies when Invisible/Stealthed or fixed 1s after)

I like the idea! But agree with concerns above about Arquebus or even e.g. Amra from stealth.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Not So Clever Hound

[Elric Galad]

3 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

IMO an elegant way to nerf the Red Hand would be to increase its reload time (which would also make a lot of sense).

Agreed.

I can set the reload to 9s, which would preserve Red Hand unique spike damage ability. That's 30% more Attack + reload cycle.

3 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

 

But it doesn't really solve the issue pointed by @NotDumbEnough regarding backstab. Although... with any Arquebus I guess you could squeeze a second shot at combat opening (with the -85% recovery from stealth bonus) and get backstab twice. In which case the problem isn't really about the Red Hand alone.

I like the idea! But agree with concerns above about Arquebus or even e.g. Amra from stealth.

Getting a second shot for arquebus is not so easy.
15% of 6.8s reload is still 1.02s.
15% of 4s "normal weapon" Recovery is 0.6s.
Add 0.7s for the attack itself and you're above 1s window.

It is probably very hard to get a second attack from normal weapon and close from impossible from non red-hand arquebus (recovey speed bonus stacks in inverse fashion, so they won't help much - one need extreme attack speed bonus at the beginning of combat, that's achievable and not "broken" ; anyway it works once per combat).

 

Fast 1h weapons have base 15% of 3s + 0.5s attack = 0.95s for the whole cycle. The can probably benefit from Backtstab windows from stealth even without full attack. I would say that's good.

 

That leaves the problem of :
- BPM Crushing Blow (instant recovery). But I would say that's a "good combo" (that costs 2+ Rages)
- Red Hand indeed, but since the weapon as a whole will eat a significant nerf, I think enabling this combo wouldn't be too bad.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Elric Galad

[NotDumbEnough]

I think you might be able to pull off multiple arquebus attacks on a gun-switching Blackjacket as well. Can also do it multiple times per fight as opposed to making use of a one time -85% recovery from stealth. You just need high dexterity to reduce the 1.1 second attack time to below 1 second.

Edited March 21, 2022 by NotDumbEnough

[Elric Galad]

On 3/19/2022 at 6:55 PM, Elric Galad said:

What would you think about following design (principles and numbers) for Backstab :

+100% damages

+100% damages against targets ABOVE 50% health (in addition to previous one)

Applies when Invisible/Stealthed or fixed 1s after against target <2m

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think it would bit a bit too strong for the early game.

Probably more reasonable to implement +50% +5%/PL beyond 1 for both damages bonuses.

[NotDumbEnough]

I'm actually looking forward to an Assassin/Soulblade playthrough once these changes occur. It will be fun. Start the fight from stealth with Thunderous Report for instant full focus, quickly use Borrowed Instincts while the bonus is still present, then go into invisibility and one-shot an enemy with Soul Annihilation.

[Elric Galad]

19 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

I'm actually looking forward to an Assassin/Soulblade playthrough once these changes occur. It will be fun. Start the fight from stealth with Thunderous Report for instant full focus, quickly use Borrowed Instincts while the bonus is still present, then go into invisibility and one-shot an enemy with Soul Annihilation.

These changes just occured (small version, limited to Backstab / Assassin rework and Red Hand nerf) :

Deadfire Balance Polishing Mod at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

[Bosmer]

Very nice! Can't wait to try it out .. the Assassin passive should now also work with a variety of multi-hit spells (and not only with the initial target).. opening up many interesting combos (hopefully nothing too broken :))

[Elric Galad]

5 hours ago, Bosmer said:

Very nice! Can't wait to try it out .. the Assassin passive should now also work with a variety of multi-hit spells (and not only with the initial target).. opening up many interesting combos (hopefully nothing too broken :))

Thanks. I don't think it will be more broken that in the unmodded game. You will just have more possibilities. But it won't work on pulsating spells or similar ones.

[NotDumbEnough]

Beyond multiclassing with casters it might also be interesting to multiclass with a monk. With Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming you might be able to instantly kill a lot of enemies using the assassin bonus and backstab bonus.

[NotDumbEnough]

Persistent Distraction is not correctly removed when the enemy is killed, e.g. if you kill the Messenger you have a Persistent Distraction debuff forever.

[Elric Galad]

14 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Persistent Distraction is not correctly removed when the enemy is killed, e.g. if you kill the Messenger you have a Persistent Distraction debuff forever.

Strange. Maybe a base game bug cause I haven't changed this part.

EDIT : nay, it works fine without the mod.

EDIT EDIT : my bad, just realized it doesn't even stop after battle is over. I have to release an hotfix quickly.

EDIT EDIT EDIT : Now that I'm thinking about it, the persisting effect should be purged when disengaged by any other foe with persistent Distraction. This isn't convenient at all, but I'm just pointing that it isn't hopeless. Next version will work when you kill a distracting target and I will also add a backup purge at the end of battle, just in case there would be another weird case.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Elric Galad

[Elric Galad]

17 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Persistent Distraction is not correctly removed when the enemy is killed, e.g. if you kill the Messenger you have a Persistent Distraction debuff forever.

OK, so after investigating :

- The bug does not seem to be systematically reproducible. Knocking out the rogue won't systematically leave the Persistent Distraction debuff. Something weird happened in your case.

- In the case it happens, the issue is that this new condition isn't purged after battle. I will change it in next version (I will release it quickly since it may happen to others), so it will be robust to bizarre persistence.

- The known antidote in your case is annoying but doable : face another foe with Persistent Distraction, engage, disengage. The disengagement should purge the persisting status. In the worst case, console The Messenger again 

[NotDumbEnough]

I made a change in the mod file so that the debuff gets cleared on combat end and on rest. Since most enemies only have Persistent Distraction when they are bosses, this solves the issue most of the time.

 

Edit: never mind, that's what you did too

Edited March 28, 2022 by NotDumbEnough

[dgray62]

Is this change in the main BPM mod or the BMP nerf mod? I'm asking because I think I will wait until the next update to download.

[Elric Galad]

8 hours ago, dgray62 said:

Is this change in the main BPM mod or the BMP nerf mod? I'm asking because I think I will wait until the next update to download.

It's in the nerf mod cause it is not a buff.

[Elric Galad]

Hotfix for Persistent Distraction and a couple of minor changes. 

Deadfire Balance Polishing Mod at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

 

Mostly slight number tweaks. Among changes :

- Reduced Screaming Souls AoE as it was a bit broken vs Vessel and Spirit groups.

- Rusted Armor (Druid, Berath and scroll) targets Reflex now. It was barely possible to hit Fortitude on those targets requiring an armor debuff.

- Uncanny Luck reworked from CP version : this version is 5% resistance, 5% Hit to Crit, 5% Graze to Hit, 5% Miss to Graze. I kind of agree that the base game required a small buff, but 10% Hit to Crit from CP basically made it a no-brainer talent IMHO. It overshadowed Rogue Hit to Crit talent, Cipher's high level 15% Hit to Crit talent (Limited to Cipher's Spell vs Will !) and Wizard 15% Hit to Crit spell. Of course, this component is in the nerf package and can be deleted.

[Bosmer]

3 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

- Reduced Screaming Souls AoE as it was a bit broken vs Vessel and Spirit groups.

- Rusted Armor (Druid, Berath and scroll) targets Reflex now. It was barely possible to hit Fortitude on those targets requiring an armor debuff.

- Uncanny Luck reworked from CP version : this version is 5% resistance, 5% Hit to Crit, 5% Graze to Hit, 5% Miss to Graze. I kind of agree that the base game required a small buff, but 10% Hit to Crit from CP basically made it a no-brainer talent IMHO. It overshadowed Rogue Hit to Crit talent, Cipher's high level 15% Hit to Crit talent (Limited to Cipher's Spell vs Will !) and Wizard 15% Hit to Crit spell. Of course, this component is in the nerf package and can be deleted.

Great changes! Adjusting the AoE-size of screaming souls should make it a bit more interesting / challenging. I still find the ability a bit strange. Against very large groups of vessels/spirits (and there are enough of these encounters) it's extremely strong and spamming this the dominant strategy and otherwise it's rather useless and dominated by mind wave. Is it possible to introduce decreasing damage per "jump"? Such as in mind blades or driving flight? 

Edit: I'm not sure if I've already asked you this, so sorry if I did

Edited March 29, 2022 by Bosmer

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Bosmer said:

Great changes! Adjusting the AoE-size of screaming souls should make it a bit more interesting / challenging. I still find the ability a bit strange. Against very large groups of vessels/spirits (and there are enough of these encounters) it's extremely strong and spamming this the dominant strategy and otherwise it's rather useless and dominated by mind wave. Is it possible to introduce decreasing damage per "jump"? Such as in mind blades or driving flight? 

Edit: I'm not sure if I've already asked you this, so sorry if I did

The ability works with your Spirit / Vessel summons. Noticeably Spirit Ally, Phantoms, Dichotomous Clones, Ancestral Weapons and Skellies from Chant. That's a lot to work with. It also procs Death of 1000 Cuts (should be one proc per Spirit / Vessel, which is better than most spells). But you indeed have to build around in order to use it as something else than a type specific spell.

The ability doesn't jump, I can't see how to decrease damage per jump.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Elric Galad

[NotDumbEnough]

 

I think BPM's change to His Laughter Rang Through the Halls is making it push me even though it completely missed. See combat log

Edited March 31, 2022 by NotDumbEnough

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, NotDumbEnough said:

 

I think BPM's change to His Laughter Rang Through the Halls is making it push me even though it completely missed. See combat log

Weird. It just changed duration and the fact the Interrupt applies on Graze. Were you confused or something ?

[NotDumbEnough]

No. If you look at the combat log the ability missed (there is no roll against any of my defenses) but as you can see my character is sent flying anyways.

[Elric Galad]

6 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

No. If you look at the combat log the ability missed (there is no roll against any of my defenses) but as you can see my character is sent flying anyways.

I can't reproduce the problem. Is it systematic ? I suppose you have checked without the mod ?

[thelee]

5 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

I can't reproduce the problem. Is it systematic ? I suppose you have checked without the mod ?

is it like a custom version of the ability that enemies get? just wondering because in vanilla there are a few abilities that appear to function slightly differently for enemies than for PCs.