Anything a first time POTD player should know

[The Mole]

it's getting to that point for me

about to beat POE1 on veteran, really I feel POE2 a second time through on veteran will be too easy as I know how the game works

[xzar_monty]

One thing you really should know is that the first island is going to be extremely tough on PotD. Gorecci Street and the Digsite are really going to test you. Nothing that happens after the first island is likely to be as difficult as the beginning of the game (except perhaps the megabosses).

Edited May 5, 2021 by xzar_monty

[thelee]

yeah, don't be afraid to hire companions on the first island.

 

i think you have to more aggressively care about how you order your quests you do on potd. even if a quest doesn't have any skulls for you, they can still be extremely hard (for example family pride and hanging sepulchers can be extremely brutal for a non-unoptimized party even at target level). don't be afraid to back away and regroup. (family pride in fact i keep several saves in case i get stuck inside one of the houses in an impossible-to-win fight.)

[The Mole]

6 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

One thing you really should know is that the first island is going to be extremely tough on PotD. Gorecci Street and the Digsite are really going to test you. Nothing that happens after the first island is likely to be as difficult as the beginning of the game (except perhaps the megabosses).

gorecci street was hardest fight for me even on normal, went and did the digsite first 

Edited May 5, 2021 by The Mole

[mjo2138]

I concur above @thelee, the first island, and much of the early game can be very challenging. Avoid ship fights until you have a full party, decent armor, and enough AOE to survive.

Overall, what has helped me in POTD is really studying the skills I use and the defenses they attack. For example, A lot of wizard spells attack reflex, but before I can really land them, I need to debuff mobs' reflex stat (which can be done in a variety of ways). Studying the combat log , looking at damage rolls, penetration, and accuracy are very important. For instance, while sword and large shield can be good for defensive, it has very low accuarcy, which means your tank will not land many hits, thus prolonging fights. 

Steam has some good POTD guides, especially by Lost Sinner.  I would check those out. 

[The Mole]

so I've noticed that ships are way more aggressive with me

hunting me down

on normal I think I went straight to deal with benwith I don't remember, maybe I need standing with principi for them to stop

but I'm being swarmed with pirates at level 6, only thing I can do is really surrender

way different feel

going to level a bit and do a lot of what I can do in neketaka try to get as close as I can to level 10, then probably go deal with benwith

Edited May 7, 2021 by The Mole

[Boeroer]

Ships shouldn't attack you more frequently on higher difficulties as long as you use the Watcher of Dyrwood flag - unless you really have bad reputation with one of the factions. Did you by any chance change the flag your ship is flying? Maybe to Vaillian? Principi will hunt Vaillian ships.

If one faction's ships are giving you a hard time just fly their flag.

[The Mole]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Ships shouldn't attack you more frequently on higher difficulties as long as you use the Watcher of Dyrwood flag - unless you really have bad reputation with one of the factions. Did you by any chance change the flag your ship is flying? Maybe to Vaillian? Principi will hunt Vaillian ships.

If one faction's ships are giving you a hard time just fly their flag.

I had watcher up for the first few and then I switched to principi and that's when a level 14 principi hunted me down, so I just surrendered that one

Edited May 7, 2021 by The Mole

[Boeroer]

Huh? That's weird. Principi (being pirates) do attack the Watcher flag if you don't have good (or any) reception with them. Don't know why they would hunt you down when flying principi flag. Maybe there are other means of identifying you, no idea. I don't think it's a difficulty setting - I play PotD only and never noticed special attention. But it's possible it's even less on lower difficulties?

Another way to avoid ship battles or boardings is to buy palm slat sails. They make your ship a lot faster and are not superexpensive (because they also lower sail health). You can outrun every ship that way. Or let's be more cautious: every ship that hunted me so far.  

    

[The Mole]

9 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Huh? That's weird. Principi (being pirates) do attack the Watcher flag if you don't have good (or any) reception with them. Don't know why they would hunt you down when flying principi flag. Maybe there are other means of identifying you, no idea. I don't think it's a difficulty setting - I play PotD only and never noticed special attention. But it's possible it's even less on lower difficulties?

Another way to avoid ship battles or boardings is to buy palm slat sails. They make your ship a lot faster and are not superexpensive (because they also lower sail health). You can outrun every ship that way. Or let's be more cautious: every ship that hunted me so far.  

    

yea I think there must be less attention on lower difficulties, I did my first playthrough on normal and I was almost never attacked

 

feels a bit more like a pirate game now, some risk to traveling

[Boeroer]

That is interesting. I never read about this (I mean that the diff. setting also will influence ships' aggressiveness) - but it makes complete sense. 

[xzar_monty]

I seem to recall that there's also a difference in ship speeds: on Normal (or whatever it's called), the Defiant's default sails can outrun all ships in the archipelago (so you're effectively safe from everyone, if you want to be), but this is not true on the higher difficulties.

[Boeroer]

On PotD you usually can outrun any approaching ship (mostly slavers) with the starting sloop - except Furrante. With Palm slat sails it's a lot easier and forgiving though. 

[The Mole]

On 5/9/2021 at 1:44 AM, Boeroer said:

On PotD you usually can outrun any approaching ship (mostly slavers) with the starting sloop - except Furrante. With Palm slat sails it's a lot easier and forgiving though. 

yea turning 360 degrees and running away is good now that I have family pride upgrades