Pillars of Eternity Beginner's Guide

[Luckmann]

Waiting for the Duelist DPS Clothadin RES/PER build.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Luckmann

[Sensuki]

Tank Chanter is up next, followed by Druid and then I've had requests for Unarmed Monk and a Wizard, so I'll do Paladin after that.

[Fredward]

Do(es? English fail yoh) Death's Usher and Soul Whip stack?

[Sensuki]

Yes. 

[Descartian]

Thanks for doing the druid build

 

And good luck for the final against the Kiwis, they got lucky against us in the semis 

[NorthernSquirrel]

On the melee cipher you showcased in the video, how fragile did you feel? Does +4/+5 deflection make you feel noticeably more durable in the game?

 

Also, how fast is weapon swapping?

[Luckmann]

Do(es? English fail yoh) Death's Usher and Soul Whip stack?

Does. Not being a smartass, you just asked, and the best way to learn is to be corrected.

 

 

I'm actually not 100% sure, but being a smartass that is wrong is a much faster way to be corrected than to ask for help.

 

 

Tank Chanter is up next, followed by Druid and then I've had requests for Unarmed Monk and a Wizard, so I'll do Paladin after that.

I wasn't really serious, I would never expect you to make a Paladin that way.

 

Edit: By the way, since you're our friendly neighbourhood review copy aussie, one really quick question - is there a way around using a mouse wheel? My mouse is busted, so there's an oddly me-specific question for you. A lot of games does not allow you to reassign mouse wheel functions.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Luckmann

[BlackyNoir]

For the next showcase, could you explore the Rogue?

[Sensuki]

I uploaded the rogue vid before, it's on the last page I think.

 

 

 

On the melee cipher you showcased in the video, how fragile did you feel? Does +4/+5 deflection make you feel noticeably more durable in the game?

 

If your Deflection is already low, then no. If it's already really high, then yes.

[Kordanor]

Great Video about the rogue!

 

Is there any way to see which modal abilities are exclusive and which Abilities have follow-up talents? Of course there is the wiki, but I pretty much don't trust it in such special things. ^^

 

And maybe one tip for you: The current level when chosing new skills is always shown on the bottom of the level up screen. Realized in the rogue video and at least in one other that you were a bit confused about the levels. ^^

[BlackyNoir]

I uploaded the rogue vid before, it's on the last page I think.

Wasn't up to date on my page, it took several refreshes to show it. Damn cache. Thanks a lot.

 

As a sidebar, if you feel so inclined, maybe you could investigate the passive vs active builds around. For people who want to play über micromanagement, and for people who want the opposite maybe having the main character micromanaged and the rest of the party built around passive abilities or something.

[Kordanor]

I uploaded the rogue vid before, it's on the last page I think.

 

 

 

On the melee cipher you showcased in the video, how fragile did you feel? Does +4/+5 deflection make you feel noticeably more durable in the game?

 

If your Deflection is already low, then no. If it's already really high, then yes.

 

Depends on what you call low.

Mathematically there is a clear breakpoint which is at 0 Deflection over accuracy.

Pretty much the same way as the first 15 points of accuracy are worth the most. I did some calculations regarding that showing with more or less realistic conditions (not reflecting special encounters in the game), that the first 15 points of additional accuracy (which convert misses into crits) (so e.g. 35 accuracy vs 20 defense) increase your dps by about 10% per 5 accuracy. Once you are over these 15 points you get a dps increase of 4% per 5 acc.

Of course your boost is even higher if you are fighting against opponents with higher DR as a lesser percentage is getting deducted.

 

Now this also means that you are fine with 20 defense vs 20 accuracy. The opponent will have a 0% chance to crit you. With each of the next 15 points below the opponents accuracy, you allow him to get 1% of crit instead of 1% of miss. Past that it doesn't really matter that more. Of course I cant tell what accuracy opponents have later in the game. If they have like 60 and there is no way for you to get to 60 defense, you can as well just stop trying. As same as the damage boost, each point below that will increase the enemies dps only by 4%

 

Now something to add to Sensukis comment about Dirty fighting (converting 10% of hits to crits). I also did some math there. And by how much do you guess it boosts your dps?

Yeah...its whoppong 2.7%...which is...really nothing at all. Not in this game. Not when you can only chose 6 Abilities and this is one of them.

So the one and only purpose of this ability is to focus on crit builds - which by the information I have without playing the game, does not make any sense. BUT it might make sense if there are very strong items which give you insane procs on crit or something similar (but they have to be really, really, good).

[Luckmann]

Oh, another question.

 

I saw that Flails have been given Graze-to-Hit ratio. Could you check how this interacts with One-Handed Weapon Wielder? Do they stack for the purpose of the roll, or does it actually mean that there'll be two rolls to see if the graze is turned into a hit? Not sure if that's something you can easily determine from the combat log.

[Sensuki]

Flail convert chance is now 30% in the press build. But that's still only 30% of 35

 

I saw that Flails have been given Graze-to-Hit ratio. Could you check how this interacts with One-Handed Weapon Wielder? Do they stack for the purpose of the roll, or does it actually mean that there'll be two rolls to see if the graze is turned into a hit? Not sure if that's something you can easily determine from the combat log.

 

They stack. It also shows you in the log when you mouse over the line.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Sensuki

[Ashen Rohk]

God damn this is some good stuff mate.

 

I'll be getting the live game tonight and beginning, can't wait!

[Luckmann]

Flail convert chance is now 30% in the press build. But that's still only 30% of 35

 

I saw that Flails have been given Graze-to-Hit ratio. Could you check how this interacts with One-Handed Weapon Wielder? Do they stack for the purpose of the roll, or does it actually mean that there'll be two rolls to see if the graze is turned into a hit? Not sure if that's something you can easily determine from the combat log.

 

They stack. It also shows you in the log when you mouse over the line.

 

Yeah, I don't expect it to be any good, not even when stacked with the One-Handed Weapon Style (which is supposedly being buffed, but I don't think any reasonable degree of Graze-to-Hit alone can make it "good enough"), I just wanted to know how it worked. Assuming the Talent was buffed to 30% from 20%, even when stacked, that's just 30%+30%=60% Graze-to-Hit.

 

And that's still just specifically for Flails, which to me feels like the worst duelist weapon thematically.

 

Anyway, cheers for clarifying it.

 

Edit: I'm only just watching the Basic Gameplay and Combat vid, and ouch, that comment at 44:35 is just a mean, mean stab at poor BruceVC's heart. We must not gloat.. must not gloat...

Edited March 26, 2015 by Luckmann

[Kordanor]

Flail convert chance is now 30% in the press build. But that's still only 30% of 35

And just to back that up by some math:

thats 11% of the hits adding 50% to the damage multiplier.

Which in a "laboratory situation" with 0 other damage multipliers, 0 DR and 0 accuracy over defense these 11% equal to 6% DPS boost.

 

This of course will shrink massively if your accuracy is much higher than the opponents defense (also by temporary buffs).

Edited March 26, 2015 by Kordanor

[Namutree]

 

Edit: By the way, since you're our friendly neighbourhood review copy aussie, one really quick question - is there a way around using a mouse wheel? My mouse is busted, so there's an oddly me-specific question for you. A lot of games does not allow you to reassign mouse wheel functions.

 

I don't use a mouse at all. What does the mouse wheel do again?

[Sensuki]

One Handed Style was actually nerfed in the press build LOL HAHA wolololo

[Luckmann]

I don't use a mouse at all. What does the mouse wheel do again?

Zoom and stuff, scroll pages, whatnot.

 

One Handed Style was actually nerfed in the press build LOL HAHA wolololo

Hahaha, what? First they drop the one-handed bonus down to +8 from +10, and then they nerf the One-Handed Style Talent? What have they been smoking? What'd they do to it?

 

Being a duelist has been a bum deal for a very long deal, and painfully underpowered compared to dual-wielding and two-handers, and obviously so, so one really has to ask himself.. what?

[Sensuki]

I meant the style, not the talent. The style needed A BUMP not a nerf. The talent has been improved.

[Luckmann]

 

I meant the style, not the talent. The style needed A BUMP not a nerf. The talent has been improved.

 

Ah, alright, yeah, you mentioned that in one of the vids, about the style going from +10 to +8, which is just nonsense. It needs a large buff, not a small nerf.

 

What'd they do to the Talent? It was previously 20% Graze-to-Hit, and I think Sawyer said it would be buffed for the release version, but I have no idea how much (or I just forgot).

 

Unless they've actually changed things substantially, I can't see it making duelists worthwhile.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Luckmann

[Sensuki]

It's +30% now, as I said earlier in the thread and Kordanor posted some math about it. Tank Chanter build is processing now. Even I had fun making that one. Didn't even need Calisca lol.

[ushas]

 

Thanks.

 

I think in BB480 the prone part of Mind Wave was working pretty well. The spell description states that it targets enemies in 120deg cone behind the primary target. Is it possible that the secondary target wasn't standing in the aoe?  Well regardless, as player chooses only one enemy when casting, the original cone shown in game is confusing. So perhaps that should originate in the primary target, not the caster...

Edited March 26, 2015 by ushas

[Luckmann]

It's +30% now, as I said earlier in the thread and Kordanor posted some math about it. Tank Chanter build is processing now. Even I had fun making that one. Didn't even need Calisca lol.

He was posting about the Flail.