Brilliant Radiance is way too weak

[Eonyte]

Just wanted to say I love this game, I've played it for over 200 hours now. Very glad to know there are still good games being made at these times. Though there is one thing that sort of bugs me. Namely, the lack of power in certain talents and spells. I wanted to focus on one of them, which strikes me as the weakest, probably the worst talent in the game.

 

Brilliant Radiance: 8-12 base damage.

Doesn't scale with level.

Doesn't scale with disposition.

 

Why is it even in the game? Why didn't the last patch buff it? Does anyone use this?

 

I read that it was kind of decent early on in the game's development but got a big nerf for some reason.

 

P.S. the Wolf Spiritshift still doesn't give the extra move speed its description says. Tested it myself.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Eonyte

[hrwd]

Also Paladin's Deep Faith(it merely adds +2 Def / +3 saves and doesn't scale at all). Chanter's Ancient Memory as well. There are useless talents all right.

 

Good news. We can mod the game and make the useless into useful. See? Berath in action right there. Usually it's just a number tweak or slight functionality tweak. This is what people did with Dragon Age: Origins. It really brought out the fun side of that game once all the bugged, weak etc skills got modified.

[Eonyte]

So... is there a compilation of mods to make terrible talents useful? I would really like a link, provided it is not too much to ask!

 

Speaking of Dragon Age: Origins, I played that a while back and indeed did I notice a lot of abilities were god awful.

[Loren Tyr]

Don't see how Deep Faith is a problem, actually. Pretty much all the generic defensive talents give +10 to one defense, this gives a total of +11 spread over the different defences. Seems reasonable to me. 

[Nemesis7884]

im pretty sure chanter's spirit thing is supposed to scale and read it somewhere in the patch notes? Deep faith i think is an okayish buth for what you get...maybe it could be a bit stronger to make it worthwile - right now its one of those talents you taken "when nothing else" is interesting...

 

I fully agree on the brilliant radiance - there is just no reaseon to take it over the inspiring radiance... brilliant radiance should be stronger to make it worthwile... i say it should start with something like 15-20 fire damage and should scale with lvl (or disposition or probably both - for example by giving additional effects with increasing disposition or burn dots).

 

The other radiance thing should probably be reworked as well...its a nice idea but i dont see its use...maybe change it to a +focus +attack speed +dr....that would work better towards either spellcasting or melee combat....?

Edited August 12, 2016 by Nemesis7884

[Boeroer]

Aggrandizing Radiance only lowers the healing the priest receives. The party members still gain the full healing despite the description. At least that was the case when I played my last priest on version 2.something. It also stacks with everything else, and that is a huge plus. So it's not too bad. Could last longer though.

 

Ancient Memory scales with level and is pretty good after the latest buff for all the regenerating self heals like Constant and Veteran's Recovery. However it is bugged ATM: it stops after the first invocation is cast.

 

I agree that Brilliant Radiance is lackluster. But simply adding more burn damage doesn't work either: it would also increase the already high burn damage HR does to vessels. HR can already one-shot most vessels when MIG is high and the dispositions are right. Instead, Brilliant Radiance should make it so that also other enemies than vessels get damaged by it. Maybe 50% of the vessel-only damage also works on all other enemies or so...

Or let it blind all foes in range. That would be a great tandem together with Painful Interdiction. Weaken + blind in a big AoE is good and can set up Deathblows very quickly 1/encounter.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Boeroer

[Eonyte]

The blind idea is pretty good. It fits with the name. Maybe it should have its vessel damage remain unchanged when taking the talent. 8-12 damage is never going to be relevant, I'm afraid. You can also graze or even miss with it. One thing they could do is make Brilliant Radiance deal damage equal to 50% (or so) of the Vessel burn damage and deal that to all other types. Its anti-Vessel capability remains the same but you also gain offensive usefulness when not fighting Vessels!

[Ad Hoc]

I've created a mod for you guys to increase the damage: http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/122

 

Let me know if you want any specific range.

[Eonyte]

I've created a mod for you guys to increase the damage: http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/122

 

Let me know if you want any specific range.

Oh man, thanks for this! You're a godsend. If you want, you could have some items for Dota 2 or TF2? I'm just really grateful. Thanks again!