In progress patch notes for 1.0.5- big buff for Wizards and buff for Ciphers (lol...), a lot of strange nerfs to everything else, couple of fixes.

[peddroelm]

owned containers now display steal cursor when hovered onto .. Before you never knew if it was free stuff - or you'd turn the entire town hostile if caught stealing a carrot .

[Blovski]

Here are patch notes in progress for 1.05: https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-183-patch-notes-105-in-progress/

 

Personally I think I will stay with 1.04 and do not install this one....

 

They made a whole lot of buffs to Wizards, which is frankly imo not necessary as they are strong class, able to solo Triple Crown (as was proofed) but still I have nothing against it and good for them, since they seem to be underplayed class. They also buff Cipher Enduracen and health, which is imo one big LOL- last class I think that needed buff in survival.

 

The biggest factor for me however is change to Sanguine Armor:

 

 

- Sanguine Plate's Retaliate mod has been replaced with Spell Holding: Frenzy

 

Basicely making the only badass and great looking armor in game useless. It is not only becasue I think retalitation is great on solo, no. But it was the only armor in game that would be consider end-game item or meta and the only SUPER GOOD LOOKING ONE. It had great enchant, great look and its bloody red, making it great for role playing some badass characters (which are all my mains ^^)

 

Frenzy is one of those very useless talents that even my solo Barb do not use 90% of time outside of beginning of game. Considering that most melee classsess dump INT- its duration will be not worth at all. And for caster- even less usefull.

 

And so next meta armors will be Coat of Ill Payment and He Carries Many Scars or Argwes Adra.

 

Read rest notes but I am personally very very unimpresed and since I don't have any game-breaking bugs in game I will stay with 1.04 version and do not patch it.

 

Also a lot if unecessery nerfs to some abilities, which is lol in single player game (apart from OSA, yes it said that it was fixed, however not how). And no petrify nerf makes whole patch even more strange.

 

Or nerf to something like Stag Horn or Paralyze scrolls...really? And of course resting system and supplies stay as stupid as they were before.

 

Cheers!

Sanguine Plate was probably a bit strong for where it was in the game. Coat of Ill Payment and Argwes Adra and especially He Carries Many Scars are behind harder stuff and make more sense as end-game equipment. Also reduces overlap between armour specials. Why use Coat of Ill Payment when Sanguine Plate is just a better version of the same.

 

A moderate Petrify nerf would be welcome (apparently they've added a new effect to it? Don't know what.). OSA will presumably be percentage based rather than flat damage, in line with EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE GAME. Nerf to Stag Horn seems un-needed for the player because druids tend to have better third level spells anyway but enemies with it were really nasty. Paralyse scroll was blatantly insane. Glad that's been tweaked.

 

You've ignored that Ciphers received a massive nerf to their opening-encounters casting, which is excellent news and Fan of Flames has been tweaked down for sanity's sake. Ranger Animal Companions got the fatigue issue fixed, which is wonderful. Lots of good bug fixes, some great usability stuff.

[Sanctuary]

 

Lol, this does absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.  You play the game as a "standard IE caster" for a very long time prior to that spell.  Plus, the radius is so small to begin with, and there are very few fights where it truly shined that it wasn't even worth picking most of the time as one of your first two spells at level 11.

Its biggest influence was on PotD anyway.

It was an example. If you want more examples, Fan of Flames (which you get immediately and is your bread-and-butter damage spell) has also been nerfed and the effectiveness of the Bracers of Spiritual Power has been cut in half.

 

Except with the groups I use, I rarely every used Fan of Flames after the initial dungeon.  Despite it being really powerful for a level 1 spell, I almost always used Chill Fog over it.  Later, at level 9 when you have way more room to use multiple spells per encounter, I still didn't use it that much.  Some of you overestimate how strong it really is.  It's great burst, for sure, but when you don't need to kill everything ASAP, Chill Fog actually does more over time.  Plus, if you're using a Rogue, they all get hit with Sneak Attack.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Sanctuary

[Atchod]

When 1.05 is going live (not beta) which day?

[CriticalFailure]

The change to Sanguine Plate makes Retaliation builds dependent on getting Hiro's Cloak.

 

... because this game needed moar rng amirite?

 

Besides the shield, you can (at least could) get another retaliation armour in one of the second round bounties (I wonder how much XP they give now, BTW). But don't tell anyone, lest they'll "fix" those items too.

 

I don't get why some people are so happy about the nerf to cipher's focus. I mean, to each their own and all that, but it's not like the game forces you to spend your whole focus reserve. Nor it used to force you to use the Sanguine Plate if you felt it was too cheesy, but I digress.

[Tigranes]

 

The change to Sanguine Plate makes Retaliation builds dependent on getting Hiro's Cloak.

 

... because this game needed moar rng amirite?

 

Besides the shield, you can (at least could) get another retaliation armour in one of the second round bounties (I wonder how much XP they give now, BTW). But don't tell anyone, lest they'll "fix" those items too.

 

I don't get why some people are so happy about the nerf to cipher's focus. I mean, to each their own and all that, but it's not like the game forces you to spend your whole focus reserve. Nor it used to force you to use the Sanguine Plate if you felt it was too cheesy, but I digress.

 

 

Uh. Then why not give the Cipher 3000 focus? Nobody forces you to use it all. 

 

You can't apply "it's a choice" rationale to everything, or you just become a silly satire of Sartrean radical freedom. 

 

"Of course I have a choice when you raise the price of water to a million dollars! I mean, I could just kill myself!"

[b0rsuk]

"Marked Prey" is now working as intended... what does it mean ? The tooltip says +20 damage in 1.04. It actually adds a +40% damage lash in 1.04.

 

The only thing I really don't like in this patch is savegame incompatibility. Instead of waiting for 1.05, I'll finish my story playthrough with the remaining companions (Pallegrina, Aloth, Grieving Mother).

Edited May 1, 2015 by b0rsuk

[peddroelm]

"Marked Prey" is not working as intended... what does it mean ? The tooltip says +20 damage in 1.04. It actually adds a +40% damage lash in 1.04.

 

The only thing I really don't like in this patch is savegame incompatibility. Instead of waiting for 1.05, I'll finish my story playthrough with the remaining companions (Pallegrina, Aloth, Grieving Mother).

marked prey is the same in 1.05 .. Only with 0 recovery delay (you can instantly wack the target after applying it) .. 

 

1.05 auto converts 1.04 saves . No need to start a fresh game.. 

[b0rsuk]

 

"Marked Prey" is not working as intended... what does it mean ? The tooltip says +20 damage in 1.04. It actually adds a +40% damage lash in 1.04.

 

The only thing I really don't like in this patch is savegame incompatibility. Instead of waiting for 1.05, I'll finish my story playthrough with the remaining companions (Pallegrina, Aloth, Grieving Mother).

marked prey is the same in 1.05 .. Only with 0 recovery delay (you can instantly wack the target after applying it) .. 

 

1.05 auto converts 1.04 saves . No need to start a fresh game.. 

 

 

This:

* Marked Prey and Sworn Enemy have been set to 0 recovery actions, so they can be used and the Ranger/Paladin can immediately act again.

(...)

Items, Spells, and Abilities

(...)

* Marked Prey is now working at intended.

 

I misread about saves. NEW saves are incompatible with OLD versions, which isn't a big deal. I guess it's Nuclear Throne then until 1.05 :D.

Edited May 1, 2015 by b0rsuk

[rheingold]

Overall looks great. Happy with most of the decisions.

For future would like a couple of things changed - druid spirit shift, tweaking ranger and paladin classes, though with the change to fatigue on an AC plus the marked prey being instant, rangers don't need to much work.

Good stuff Obs.

Edited May 1, 2015 by rheingold

[Ormag]

 

 

 

 

Here are patch notes in progress for 1.05: https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-183-patch-notes-105-in-progress/

 

 

- Sanguine Plate's Retaliate mod has been replaced with Spell Holding: Frenzy

 

 

 

This made me really sad and a bit angry. Sanguine Armor was the one item in the game that allowed me to build an (off-)tank for something outside of the "min might/dex, max deflection and HP" meta that currently rules the tanking game. Currently, the most efficient tank is nothing outside of a engagement field placement, that for all other purposes might as well not even be there.

 

The Sanguine armor on the other hand, allowed me to build an at least somewhat usefull (off-)tank with a decent might and either Tidefall or The Rose of Salthollow, which could hold his own (somewhat) and be usefull in the fight (somewhat) outside of being a static engagement field placement. It allowed me to do something slightly more creative, not to mention immersive. A tank that hits like a leaf in a calm wind, and is awesome at his job while doing so, reminds me way to much about mmo's and breaks immersion for me.

 

I have not seen a single person complaining about Sanguine armor being OP or needing a nerf. It's certainly popular, but that because you've actually managed to give us a good unique item that we enjoy using. Why on earth would you remove it? I see absolutely no reason whatsoever for this change. I also don't see who would actually use it now. If you want to slap Frenzy on something, then it should be a light or medium armor. 

 

I am deeply dissapointed.

 

 

I agree. Well, just don't install patch like I won't . Nobody force us to do this

 

 

Really? I don't see how I can choose not to. In Steam the only update options are

"Always keep this game up to date"

"Only update when I launch it" or

"High Priority - update first"

 

 

That is.

 

GUIDE: HOW NOT TO PATCH YOUR Pillars of Eternity AND PLAY WITHOUT PATCH (For Steam):

 

You start Steam- you change updates to "Only Update when I launch it", then you start Steam- it wont patch since you didn't start game. You click on "Steam", choose "Go Offline Mode" and from now on your Steam will start in Offline mod- which means no updates and no patches. If you want to play other game with Steam on, just start steam, go Online and it still won't patch PoE since you have "Only Update when I launch it" .

 

Simple. It is my game so I will decide if I want to patch it or not.

 

Almost sounds like you don't like the ironman change, and you want to finish the game in ironman(by scumming ofc) before you patch it.

[VahnXIII]

This patch is excellent. In the future I would like to see the Ranger class get some attention and perhaps more focus on optimization to reduce load times and random FPS drops some players experience.

 

To be honest, I'm going to start a fresh game as a Wizard once 1.05 goes live. Is there an ETA on when 1.05 will roll out? 

[Fessels]

To be honest, I'm going to start a fresh game as a Wizard once 1.05 goes live. Is there an ETA on when 1.05 will roll out? 

 

I am curious about that as well.

[mazeltov]

Good progress with this patch, though they probably went overboard with the Wiz buffs.

 

Cipher is almost in a state where I would run one in a party. A global nerf to caster hard CC durations would do the trick.

[CriticalFailure]

 

Uh. Then why not give the Cipher 3000 focus? Nobody forces you to use it all. 

 

You can't apply "it's a choice" rationale to everything, or you just become a silly satire of Sartrean radical freedom. 

 

"Of course I have a choice when you raise the price of water to a million dollars! I mean, I could just kill myself!"

 

 

No need to go into super sarcasm mode. I just didn't see anything wrong with it or in need of fixing as it was.

[MadDemiurg]

I'd rather prefer toning down cipher spells across the board and leaving the starting focus as is, since starting focus nerf hurt the interactivity (and thus fun factor) of the class, but from the dev perspective changing focus was ofc much easier.

[CriticalFailure]

I'd rather prefer toning down cipher spells across the board and leaving the starting focus as is, since starting focus nerf hurt the interactivity (and thus fun factor) of the class, but from the dev perspective changing focus was ofc much easier.

 

Exactly. I'm not arguing about power balance here, I just like how cipher can cast more often and be more liberal with spellcasting than other classes. I understand that simply reducing the focus is much easier than rebalancing all the spells, and I'm not saying it will RUIN the class for me, but it affects what I find fun and unique about it in the first place.

Edited May 1, 2015 by CriticalFailure

[Sanctuary]

 

 

I dunno, +33% cast speed looks good for casters . Problem is, you need to get critted first. Cipher looks like he got a buff for solo (starting focus nerf isn't as big of a deal in long fights  and endurance buff is nice, while soul shock is useless solo), but a nerf for party play (50% less for initial alpha, plus soul shock is a bit weaker (still pretty good though)). Melee wizards looks OP with this patch, but seems like the devs really want it to happen. It was possible to make it work before with some effort, now his skillset is just asking for it. Jedi Wizard it is. 

How are wizards becoming Jedi's? I played a fighter/mage in the BG series and it was one of my favorite classes to play. Are you saying wizards are now able to have a similar play style with the most recent changes?

 

It is. Wizards got a major buff to base health/endurance, heavy buffs on all defensive spells and conjured weapons (staff/lance) are super strong now.

 

I still don't understand how having 18 more endurance at level twelve compared to now is a "major" change...

They start out with 6 more now over base, and gain +2 more per level compared to now.

 

I'm also not sure how much the lance change will matter. I mean, it's good that it got buffed, but it will still be super situational and it's not like you'll be using it non stop as your primary weapon or anything.  If nothing else, it just seems like it compliments a Tidefall build and can be used for relatively large packs as a better alternative to an AoE spell on the few fights that would demand it.

 

Not sure I'd really use it over Malignant Cloud or Call to Slumber though.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Sanctuary

[MadDemiurg]

 

 

 

I dunno, +33% cast speed looks good for casters . Problem is, you need to get critted first. Cipher looks like he got a buff for solo (starting focus nerf isn't as big of a deal in long fights  and endurance buff is nice, while soul shock is useless solo), but a nerf for party play (50% less for initial alpha, plus soul shock is a bit weaker (still pretty good though)). Melee wizards looks OP with this patch, but seems like the devs really want it to happen. It was possible to make it work before with some effort, now his skillset is just asking for it. Jedi Wizard it is. 

How are wizards becoming Jedi's? I played a fighter/mage in the BG series and it was one of my favorite classes to play. Are you saying wizards are now able to have a similar play style with the most recent changes?

 

It is. Wizards got a major buff to base health/endurance, heavy buffs on all defensive spells and conjured weapons (staff/lance) are super strong now.

 

I still don't understand how having 18 more endurance at level twelve compared to now is a "major" change...

They start out with 6 more now over base, and gain +2 more per level compared to now.

 

They also have health = 4*end rather than 3*end. And you know, all that separates them from a fighter now from endurance perspecitve is "just" another 18 endurance.

Edited May 1, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[Sanctuary]

 

 

 

 

I dunno, +33% cast speed looks good for casters . Problem is, you need to get critted first. Cipher looks like he got a buff for solo (starting focus nerf isn't as big of a deal in long fights  and endurance buff is nice, while soul shock is useless solo), but a nerf for party play (50% less for initial alpha, plus soul shock is a bit weaker (still pretty good though)). Melee wizards looks OP with this patch, but seems like the devs really want it to happen. It was possible to make it work before with some effort, now his skillset is just asking for it. Jedi Wizard it is. 

How are wizards becoming Jedi's? I played a fighter/mage in the BG series and it was one of my favorite classes to play. Are you saying wizards are now able to have a similar play style with the most recent changes?

 

It is. Wizards got a major buff to base health/endurance, heavy buffs on all defensive spells and conjured weapons (staff/lance) are super strong now.

 

I still don't understand how having 18 more endurance at level twelve compared to now is a "major" change...

They start out with 6 more now over base, and gain +2 more per level compared to now.

 

They also have health = 4*end rather than 3*end. And you know, all that separates them from a fighter now from endurance perspecitve is "just" another 18 endurance.

 

 

Uh, no?  Unless you're going to actually keep CON at 18.  That's what seperates them the most from Fighters right now.  Unless you're making a damage sponge, 3 MGT Fighter, you would need to have MGT, CON, DEX (at least don't drop it below base) at relatively decent levels, while also having a maxed out RES and whatever you can spare in PER.

 

Wizards on the other hand NEED to max out MGT and DEX by default (or at least start out with 16+ in both).  If you're going the melee route, you don't have to max out INT, but you still need it to be higher than base so that your buffs actually have an extended duration.  You also need to raise RES as much as you can.  That means you're going to be dropping CON regardless.

 

Even with these changes, you wouldn't be using a Wizard as your sole tank.  They could off tank pretty well, but they won't ever be tanking 4-5 enemies through most of your encounters, because those situations would be heavily dependant on limited buffs that the Fighter doesn't need.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Sanctuary

[Dinky Dino]

Here are patch notes in progress for 1.05: https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-183-patch-notes-105-in-progress/

 

Personally I think I will stay with 1.04 and do not install this one....

 

They made a whole lot of buffs to Wizards, which is frankly imo not necessary as they are strong class, able to solo Triple Crown (as was proofed) but still I have nothing against it and good for them, since they seem to be underplayed class. They also buff Cipher Enduracen and health, which is imo one big LOL- last class I think that needed buff in survival.

 

The biggest factor for me however is change to Sanguine Armor:

 

 

- Sanguine Plate's Retaliate mod has been replaced with Spell Holding: Frenzy

 

Basicely making the only badass and great looking armor in game useless. It is not only becasue I think retalitation is great on solo, no. But it was the only armor in game that would be consider end-game item or meta and the only SUPER GOOD LOOKING ONE. It had great enchant, great look and its bloody red, making it great for role playing some badass characters (which are all my mains ^^)

 

Frenzy is one of those very useless talents that even my solo Barb do not use 90% of time outside of beginning of game. Considering that most melee classsess dump INT- its duration will be not worth at all. And for caster- even less usefull.

 

And so next meta armors will be Coat of Ill Payment and He Carries Many Scars or Argwes Adra.

 

Read rest notes but I am personally very very unimpresed and since I don't have any game-breaking bugs in game I will stay with 1.04 version and do not patch it.

 

Also a lot if unecessery nerfs to some abilities, which is lol in single player game (apart from OSA, yes it said that it was fixed, however not how). And no petrify nerf makes whole patch even more strange.

 

Or nerf to something like Stag Horn or Paralyze scrolls...really? And of course resting system and supplies stay as stupid as they were before.

 

Cheers!

But companion respec and stash sorting alone makes it worth it..besides all wiz really gets is health and endurance buff which is ok but unless you are soloing you really don't get hit that much. Plus fan of flames got a 25% nerf in damage which hurts.

[Atchod]

So all pointless crap aside when this patch is going live ? (NOT BETA)

[MadDemiurg]

 

 

 

 

 

I dunno, +33% cast speed looks good for casters . Problem is, you need to get critted first. Cipher looks like he got a buff for solo (starting focus nerf isn't as big of a deal in long fights  and endurance buff is nice, while soul shock is useless solo), but a nerf for party play (50% less for initial alpha, plus soul shock is a bit weaker (still pretty good though)). Melee wizards looks OP with this patch, but seems like the devs really want it to happen. It was possible to make it work before with some effort, now his skillset is just asking for it. Jedi Wizard it is. 

How are wizards becoming Jedi's? I played a fighter/mage in the BG series and it was one of my favorite classes to play. Are you saying wizards are now able to have a similar play style with the most recent changes?

 

It is. Wizards got a major buff to base health/endurance, heavy buffs on all defensive spells and conjured weapons (staff/lance) are super strong now.

 

I still don't understand how having 18 more endurance at level twelve compared to now is a "major" change...

They start out with 6 more now over base, and gain +2 more per level compared to now.

 

They also have health = 4*end rather than 3*end. And you know, all that separates them from a fighter now from endurance perspecitve is "just" another 18 endurance.

 

 

Uh, no?  Unless you're going to actually keep CON at 18.  That's what seperates them the most from Fighters right now.  Unless you're making a damage sponge, 3 MGT Fighter, you would need to have MGT, CON, DEX (at least don't drop it below base) at relatively decent levels, while also having a maxed out RES and whatever you can spare in PER.

 

Wizards on the other hand NEED to max out MGT and DEX by default (or at least start out with 16+ in both).  If you're going the melee route, you don't have to max out INT, but you still need it to be higher than base so that your buffs actually have an extended duration.  You also need to raise RES as much as you can.  That means you're going to be dropping CON regardless.

 

Even with these changes, you wouldn't be using a Wizard as your sole tank.  They could off tank pretty well, but they won't ever be tanking 4-5 enemies through most of your encounters, because those situations would be heavily dependant on limited buffs that the Fighter doesn't need.

 

I don't think fighter tanks need 18 con either unless you solo. The only stat difference between fighters and wizards is that wizards need int much more than fighters, since most of their spells are int dependant. You can get away with low might (cc/tank wizards) and/or mediocre dex (you have aclaricity when you need speed anyway). Low dex/might hurts fighter's dps in the same way it hurts wizard's and you can make a damage sponge of either one. Fighter would still be a better sponge (at least in a party) since he does not rely on per rest spells to tank, so I wouldn't make wizard the main tank of a party. Still, wizards got 20% buff to their endurance and 33% buff to health which together with endurance buff results in like 40% health buff. 40% health buff = 40% more time until rest is needed unless you need to rest to recover spells. What's so hard to understand about that? I say that's pretty major and gonna help their survivability and staying power.

Edited May 1, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[omgFIREBALLS]

I do not understand this one? You cannot load while playing trial of Iron anyway & they cant mean quitting. If you quit during combat it still wont save?

You can load a different party's save, and then load the ToI save again. It's not a huge setback since ToI still autosaves upon area transitions.

 

However, I think this is a rather hopeless battle for Obsidian to fight. Is it still going to force-save if I quit the game? Okay, what if I force close the game? Even then? What if I flick my computer's power switch? Surely the only real solution is to save every second, and that would probably be unplayable on most systems.

 

And even then, you can just backup the save file yourself and put it back when the original gets deleted because you lost. So the next step would be to camouflage the ToI saves, which still can only get them so far because they're still on our hard drives, of which we are the kings and queens. There would be anger, and someone would figure out how to access the save files anyway.

 

Wait, why anger? Because... well, partly because some people can't cheat their achievement, I suppose. But remember also that a reload (or save-game-edit) can often fix a bug. For example, on one ToI run, after the spore fight in Anslög's Compass, my tank was permanently knocked down. I couldn't move him around at all. Perhaps there's a fix, but a reload was one I didn't have to search for, and after a re-enactment of some glorious sporestomping, I could proceed with my adventures... only to have them ended an hour later by a volatile combination of shades and hubris, but still.

 

Reloading just got a little harder. Now I'm certain they won't really take any hefty steps to prevent ToI cheating, because these little hacks, while enabling us to cheat, also let us undo the harm of bugs when we're quick to notice them. And in the end, we have the ultimate power over our saves, not Obsidian.

 

I actually backup ToI saves myself, right after reaching Gilded Vale and recruiting the custom party I intend to use. It's cheating to a degree, I won't argue it, but without it I probably wouldn't play much at all. Unless someone makes a Dungeon-Be-Gone mod for PoE, perhaps.

 

In other news, formatting quotes is annoying on these forums and my signature will need a replacement when the patch hits.

Edited May 1, 2015 by omgFIREBALLS

[Althernai]

In other news, formatting quotes is annoying on these forums and my signature will need a replacement when the patch hits.

It's helpful to use a combination of BBCode mode and the standard mode to format quotes. Why will your signature need replacement? Did they add an option to pick the lock anyway (for the XP) even if you have the key?