I am somewhat unclear as to whether or not this should be happening...  After maintaining spiritshift form for somewhere between the 5-10 seconds, the effect just ends.  The combat logs show that the ability was deactivated as well.  None of the tooltips display a duration to the shift effect, which implies it lasts until the end of combat.  Is this supposed to be happening?

It seems the ability is marked as Modal just like the fighters Defender ability, suggesting mode toggle. Its currently behaving almost like a short duration spell. However, with no listed duration, or way to know if its being affected by int (duration), or even when the ability will expire  makes melee combat rather risky. Suddenly, you pop right out of shift form at the worst moment. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the fact its marked "combat only". It may be an issue with the game not being able to calculate if the character is in currently in combat correctly. Thus deactivating the ability prematurely.

It's not a bug. They changed it from lasting the entire encounter to duration awhile ago. People submitted bug reports about the duration not lasting long or showing in the UI. These were acknowledged but obviously nothing was changed before release. 

 

Seemingly this is why wildstrike gives such a massive damage boost now.... because it doesn't last very long. 

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by Bazy

It's not a bug. They changed it from lasting the entire encounter to duration awhile ago. People submitted bug reports about the duration not lasting long or showing in the UI. These were acknowledged but obviously nothing was changed before release. 

 

Seemingly this is why wildstrike gives such a massive damage boost now.... because it doesn't last very long. 

Interesting...  Did they give any information on base duration, or if int increases the duration?

 

It's not a bug. They changed it from lasting the entire encounter to duration awhile ago. People submitted bug reports about the duration not lasting long or showing in the UI. These were acknowledged but obviously nothing was changed before release. 

 

Seemingly this is why wildstrike gives such a massive damage boost now.... because it doesn't last very long. 

Interesting...  Did they give any information on base duration, or if int increases the duration?

 

I think it's increased by intellect... but really not sure. 

Even if they changed the mechanic they would still need to change modal to instant and add duration to the description(and how/if it modified by int). Lastly it has no duration/buff icon on the character to see what the duration left is. So it would still fall under "bug", being that it needs a cleanup pass on the spell. Though, it would be nice if it truely is modal... that duration is awfully short at the moment.

 

 

It's not a bug. They changed it from lasting the entire encounter to duration awhile ago. People submitted bug reports about the duration not lasting long or showing in the UI. These were acknowledged but obviously nothing was changed before release. 

 

Seemingly this is why wildstrike gives such a massive damage boost now.... because it doesn't last very long. 

Interesting...  Did they give any information on base duration, or if int increases the duration?

 

I think it's increased by intellect... but really not sure. 

 

Right on.  Did some testing and yeah, it definitely does look like it's increased by int.  I agree with you though, Varg; even at max int, it still seems a bit too short

Though, it would be nice if it truely is modal... that duration is awfully short at the moment.

We tried....

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70251-435-shapeshift-forms-in-combat-feedback/?hl=shapeshift&do=findComment&comment=1565183

The sad part is a majority of Druid's talents revolve around this crappy "class themed" ability. 

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by Dongom

That, unforunately, seems to be the case   The real tragedy is several specs and animal forms are rather useless in the current state.  Bear form + high con, for example, is great for use as a non standard party tank, but as soon as your 12 seconds are up prepare to get crushed.  Who knows, maybe they'll notice how weak it is in the coming months and decide to change it back to having no duration. 

Edited March 27, 201510 yr by Ralkor

Ugh, that's no good. At least Int seems to increase the duration, thanks so much for testing that and letting us know. I seem to be in a bad spot when the form duration runs out. I hope they add a duration counter at some point. It's not needed I'd say, but it definitely would be super helpful.

This is ridiculous.

 

Had Spiritshift suddenly deactivate in the midst of a group of enemies and got butchered. Retreat probably meant death because of the (idiotic) engagement mechanic... Was pretty much completely f***ed.

 

If this ability had mentioned having a duration, I probably wouldn't have decided to play a druid. It is presented as if it lasts the entire combat (which it should imo).

Edited March 28, 201510 yr by ddillon

Thanks for the information guys, this explains alot! I had been trumbled by this since i begun playing as I wanted to play a spiritshifted focused druid but the information about what effects it and not is severely lacking. I did create my Bearshifting dwarf druid but this constantly deshifting was really confusing me, and escpecially, killing me alot!

 

I would really like to see Obsidian shange this back to constant duration and give some more information about what affects it and not, maybe with some spellcasting disadvantage while being shifted to balance it out? I could see maybe increased spellcasting time (making concentration and fast casting spells more important).

Yeah I found the same when I tried out bear   I think constant duration would work, or even allow for a talent to increase the duration further.  Assuming they feel that making it a modal is too op, that would allow people build into a more spiritshifting specialized druid at the cost of spending a few talents.

I add my 2 cents in this post, with the duration of the spiritshift form.

 

Right now Druid = random kamikaze since we dont know what the counter is and the form can just deactivate in the middle of ennemies (which means death because of de-engagement rules)

 

Why making this form with a timer? Rather make modal as it is shown in spiritshft description.

 

This makes the druid completely useless in melee after a few seconds, at the risk of dying because after the spiritshift form is gone you can mostly only rely on your spells to fight and survive.

 

I really like to play a druid, but it is currently unbalanced right now.

Edited April 4, 201510 yr by vahadar

I don't mind the duration.  I find it provides a decent damage boost and essentially adds an extra weapon set (and armor set!) to the druid.  The druid can tank better with a hatchet and shield, anyway.  If you're sending in a druid in bear form simply because she gets 10 damage resistance, you might as well keep sending her in with brigandine and a two-handed weapon because she'll survive just as long.

I don't mind the duration.  I find it provides a decent damage boost and essentially adds an extra weapon set (and armor set!) to the druid.  The druid can tank better with a hatchet and shield, anyway.  If you're sending in a druid in bear form simply because she gets 10 damage resistance, you might as well keep sending her in with brigandine and a two-handed weapon because she'll survive just as long.

Except that Brigandine has a -50% recovery penalty (0% for spiritshift) and spiritshift druids can get wildstrike dmg bonus to make them competitive with everyone else.

I've looked into this mod (http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/19/) on Nexus that removes the timer, but it has the unfortunate issue of a graphical problem whereby it doesn't display the magic effects or form correctly, instead replaced by purple.

 

I'm hoping someone will figure out a mod to just make it a modal ability and be done with it. It's frustrating that it lasts so short a time and has one use per encounter. I'd like shapeshifting to be my choice whether it's on (for the wildstrike bonus) or off (for gear bonuses).

 

I don't mind the duration.  I find it provides a decent damage boost and essentially adds an extra weapon set (and armor set!) to the druid.  The druid can tank better with a hatchet and shield, anyway.  If you're sending in a druid in bear form simply because she gets 10 damage resistance, you might as well keep sending her in with brigandine and a two-handed weapon because she'll survive just as long.

Except that Brigandine has a -50% recovery penalty (0% for spiritshift) and spiritshift druids can get wildstrike dmg bonus to make them competitive with everyone else.

 

Doesn't change defenses at all, which is why sending a Druid into a group (or almost anyone without high deflection into a large group) is suicide.

 

Anyway, I think the limited Druid Spiritshift duration is due exactly to what you described -- a Druid can essentially get all the benefits and none of the drawbacks while in Spiritshift.  True modal abilities should have a tradeoff.

Edited April 4, 201510 yr by durbal