Balance Polishing Mod Release 1.0

[Ivanfyodorovich]

I have a suggestion for a simpler fix for Persistent Distraction and Blunderbuss/Streetfighter. 

Change Distracted to be -5 Perception, +50% Recovery penalty.

Leave Disoriented and Blind the same.

This let’s Persistent Distraction still add 1 Affliction to enable Sneak Attack, and Powder Burns can still be mitigated by Perception Resistance/Immunity. 

Am I right that this could be implemented somewhat easily, or would you have to edit every single Status Effect one by one? 

[Elric Galad]

43 minutes ago, Ivanfyodorovich said:

I have a suggestion for a simpler fix for Persistent Distraction and Blunderbuss/Streetfighter. 

Change Distracted to be -5 Perception, +50% Recovery penalty.

Leave Disoriented and Blind the same.

This let’s Persistent Distraction still add 1 Affliction to enable Sneak Attack, and Powder Burns can still be mitigated by Perception Resistance/Immunity. 

Am I right that this could be implemented somewhat easily, or would you have to edit every single Status Effect one by one? 

I would indirectly alter a lot of other abilities with an arguably more potent effect except for the said purpose. It's a way more radical change than the current one I would say. 

I won't fix the problem of Persistent Distraction making other Distracted inflicting abilities redundant. 

Also I'm quite satisfied with the current effects, so I won't change them. 

Edited January 28 by Elric Galad

[Ivanfyodorovich]

7 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

I would indirectly alter a lot of other abilities with an arguably more potent effect except for the said purpose. It's a way more radical change than the current one I would say. 

Oh, interesting. In my head, Flanked is the stronger of the two effects (+50% recovery vs. -10 all defenses, -1 AR). I suppose everything follows from that premise for me, e.g. the problem with Persistent Distraction isn’t that it grants an affliction, but that it grants one that is so strong, trivializes Deathblows, etc.
 

7 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

I won't fix the problem of Persistent Distraction making other Distracted inflicting abilities redundant

I suppose that’s true. Long live Debilitating Strike! 
 

7 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

Also I'm quite satisfied with the current effects, so I won't change them. 

Heard. I do think your solution is very nice. 

[Boeroer]

5 hours ago, Ivanfyodorovich said:

In my head, Flanked is the stronger of the two effects (+50% recovery vs. -10 all defenses, -1 AR).

Flanked causes "only" -10 deflection, -1 AR

[Testlum]

Quote

Am I right that this could be implemented somewhat easily, or would you have to edit every single Status Effect one by one? 

For reference, you would have to modify each instance of Distracted to reflect the changes you want, but that's fairly trivial. It is just slightly annoying having to collect them all before you copy+paste the modified child effects you want.

[Ivanfyodorovich]

6 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Flanked causes "only" -10 deflection, -1 AR

Whoops - good catch. 

[Elric Galad]

OK @Zahuaisready, @SenSx, I collected the bits. I only have the  couple of remaining changes to do and I will upload French files with next BPM version (along with a couple of minor changes)

EDIT : Ok, it is ready, but I will playtest it a bit.

Final files :FR localized package.zip

Edited January 30 by Elric Galad

[SenSx]

Hello, I think I have made some slight changes to the french translation since then.

I can upload these again if you want, unless it's too late.

I think I changed "délais de réutilisation" par "temps de rechargement" for "cooldown" translation.

"Délais de réutilisation" was not as good in the skill description.

But that's what you like best.

 

I don't remember if I changed anything else.

 

Thanks.

 

 

I'm also playtesting the Community patch translation, I updated it again on my side.

I will send it to the mod creator when he makes a new update, but will upload it on the mod topic of this forum as well.

Edited January 31 by SenSx

[SenSx]

Here are the last version of the french translation for the BPM Buff

abilities.stringtable cyclopedia.stringtable gui.stringtable itemmods.stringtable items.stringtable statuseffects.stringtable

[SenSx]

Here are the last version of the french translation for the BPM Nerf

abilities.stringtable cyclopedia.stringtable gui.stringtable statuseffects.stringtable

[SenSx]

Here are the last version of the french translation for the BPM Summon Rebalance

abilities.stringtable items.stringtable

[Elric Galad]

Hey, @SenSx, have you modified the files from my tuesday version ? 

[SenSx]

Hello, not at all the last version I updated was with wild leech.

[Elric Galad]

4 hours ago, SenSx said:

Hello, not at all the last version I updated was with wild leech.

Would be better if you let me know before working on such shared files, so I can transfer you the latest version to start from.

We can't work both in parallel or it would be a bloody mess to fuse the changes.

Now I can't really use your files since I haven't kept track of the changes I made since wild leech. Have you done a lot ?

[SenSx]

No I don't think, you can keep yours don't worry.

All I remember I changed was from the cooldown translation.

 

I made more changes on the community patch.

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, SenSx said:

No I don't think, you can keep yours don't worry.

All I remember I changed was from the cooldown translation.

This one I changed as you proposed.

Now let's say I have the "master token". 

Don't hesitate to request it from me if you want to make further changes to ensure you start from the latest file. 

 

I think I will upload the new version tomorrow. 

Edited February 1 by Elric Galad

[SenSx]

Ok it's noted, I think it's alright for now, thanks.

[Elric Galad]

French version released :

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

I call it 3.0 and @SenSx and @Zahuaisready are credited for it (as @Ivanfyodorovich for veteran's maneuver by the way)

[Elric Galad]

What do you think about Community Patch Biting Whip ?

20% Raw damages lash is great, but is it as great as +100% focus generation ?

CP biting whip                              : x1.2 damages x0.6 (x0.5x1.2) focus compared to draining whip

Ascendant CP biting whip           : x1.2 damages x0.72 (1.5/2.5 x1.2) focus compared to draining whip

 

Now the comparison change in case of underpenetration. The issue is Cipher is one of the class who has the least penetration issues due to hammering thoughts.

Currently, I have never been able to justify picking CP Biting over draining whip, even if I think the change was in the right direction. 

@Boeroer, what is your opinion ? (I know you use CP, so your oponion on this topic is especially valuable)

 

Picking Biting/Draining whip is about as committing as picking a subclass, yet one of the choices still feel subpar (even if in a much less immediate way than in vanilla)

 

Side note along the way : did you know Soulblade focus at start of a given battle depends on the accrued focus (per kills) at the end of the previous battle ? Still means (usually) less starting focus than other subclass, yet fun to know.

Edited February 2 by Elric Galad

[NotDumbEnough]

In my experience Biting Whip is OK on a Soulblade. Having slightly less focus for your Soul Annihilation is not THAT much of a penalty to your damage and the lash makes up for it. Even a 10 focus Soul Annihilation deals nice damage and most importantly gets the PL-based damage bonus. With a multiclass (e.g. Streetfighter Soulblade) you are often just hitting the enemy all the time so not having much focus to cast spells doesn't matter much either.

 

For the other subclasses Biting Whip is indeed not great.

[phanhaiminhkun]

So there is a bug with Blackjacket Rapid Recovery. When I pick up this talent, it gives me both Rapid Recovery and Constant Recovery.

[Boeroer]

14 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

What do you think about Community Patch Biting Whip ?

[...]

@Boeroer, what is your opinion ? (I know you use CP, so your oponion on this topic is especially valuable)

I think 20% raw lash is okay. I think for most ciphers who are not mainly into damage dealing, draining whip will always be the preferred choice - but on the other side of the spectrum: if you pick a Soulblade/Rogue or something like a  Ranger/Ascendant with Frost seeker for highest acc and then pure bow damage (and don't even use the ascended stage for casting but just keep firing because your soul whip doesn't turn off but gives you extra dmg) Biting Whip is the correct choice.

And then there's everything in between. 20% raw lash is a multiplicative damage bonus which works very well with all the other damage bonuses. So for a build with focus on weapon damage it seems like a must. But I don't think that making it even stronger would convince me to use it - because I personally almost never use (non-Soulblade) Ciphers as damage dealers primarily.

Well, maybe I'm the wrong person to ask in the first place since I found myself first drawn to Beguilers and now Psions - subclasses for whom Biting Whip is not optimal (or not even available). So I'm clearly in favor of Draining Whip anyway - no matter how much damage Biting Whip did (exaggerating). So for me it would have to be so tempting that it would be objectively unbalanced.

 

Edited February 3 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

My main concern is Soul Annihilation. It does 10+focus/4 multiplicated by damages bonus and PL. 

We can all agreed that the initial 10 focus are always more efficient, so let's just take into account the added damages. 

Most non mindstalker can expect around 100% added damages and around 1.5 PL bonus. That results in roughly 0.75 damages per focus spend. 

That means 50% damages into focus (what draining whip provides) translates roughly into 37.5% damages. 

Biting whip do generated more focus too (20% x base 50% is 10% damages) for about 7.5% damages that adds up with base 20%.

Now Soul Annihilation isn't super flexible and Biting Whip adds 20% raw damages to Soul Annihilation attack itself. Which matter if you use it every other attack. 

Also Soul Annihilation isn't super flexible (empty focus pool). 

But what I wanted to show is how close the number are, while Draining Whip has obvious advantages for casting 

 

I should check whether soul annihilation added damages does benefit from biting whip itself. 

 

Now CP biting whip sort of replace it for ranged build. 

 

To be Clear about my intent, I'm wondering about a 5-10% buff range, or something that scales with PL and benefits more SC Cipher. 

Edited February 3 by Elric Galad

[Hoo]

I'd rather say Draining Whip is too strong. This passive is doubling the effect, while similar passives from the other classes are not; Such as Fighter's Rapid Recovery and Monk's Lesser Wound. 

[Elric Galad]

25 minutes ago, Hoo said:

I'd rather say Draining Whip is too strong. This passive is doubling the effect, while similar passives from the other classes are not; Such as Fighter's Rapid Recovery and Monk's Lesser Wound. 

That's an interesting way to look at the Pb. 

I don't think changing Soul Whip + Draining Whip values would be a good option without changing the balance of the whole class, but lowering Draining Whip and rising base Soul Whip would indirectly buff Biting Whip. 

This is still a bit radical.