Beta IV - General Feedback [The Good // The Bad]

[M4xw0lf]

Concentration stays on until you’re hit with an Interrupt attack. For casters I think it’s a pretty good talent.

 

 

 

A question on the 'combat focus' ability: description says you gain concentration at the start of a fight, but how much and for how long? Is it a flat bonus, or based on your stats, and is it for the whole encounter or for limited time? Could be a very good or very meh ability.

 

Concentration has no duration, you have it and you have it until the end of combat or get netrulized by interruption. And you get 1 layer of Concentration with combat focus.

 

 

I'm a bit confused on how this system works. Has it been changed from PoE1?

Edited April 5, 2018 by M4xw0lf

[Boeroer]

Yes. A lot.

[JerekKruger]

As I understand it (which is probably wrongly) Concentration acts like a one time shield against Interrupts, so if you get hit by an ability that can Interrupt (not all abilities can anymore) and you have a charge of Concentration you don't get interrupted but you lose that charge. I'm not sure whether you can stack Concentration charges or whether you can only have one at a time (I'm sure someone here knows).

[dunehunter]

Concentration stacks, the titan u fight has an initial of 4 layers of concentrations.

 

But some abilities that remove concentration will remove all layers, like that Chanter phrase, it removes all titans concentration at once.

[Boeroer]

Yes. I played a Skald/Mage Slayer with that phrase and it's quite nice once you realize what it actually does.

[Wormerine]

It would make sense if one could stack concentration. I didn’t find a handy way of finding if your character has a concentration and how much.

 

In addition, dual wielding full-attack abilities which do interrupt are very handy, as they will interrupt with each attack. I did a run with a default rogue, and gave her two pistols. One use of “Ring the Bell” would do decent damage + provide 2 interrupts, pretty much guaranteeing a spell cancel.

[Boeroer]

I still find Crippling Strike to be the best attack ability of the rogue - mostly because of +2 PEN and the low cost. I don't like to take several different strike abilites because they compete for Guile. But since all rogue attack abilites interrupt now, he's a good disruptor with dual weapons, I agree.

[dunehunter]

I still find Crippling Strike to be the best attack ability of the rogue - mostly because of +2 PEN and the low cost. I don't like to take several different strike abilites because they compete for Guile. But since all rogue attack abilites interrupt now, he's a good disruptor with dual weapons, I agree.

 

Agreed, strike the bell was the only interrupt ability rogue has, now every ability rogue has is an interrupt on hit ability, so....

[theBalthazar]

Ranger and rogue need a serious recalibration.

[kbot]

Would it be too much to have some very obvious indication you have concentration (I'm not logged in atm, so if there is, disregard this post)?

 

I don't mean the buff icons. I mean like a "C" in the corner of the character portrait. Something obvious but not intrusive.

[dunehunter]

Ranger and rogue need a serious recalibration.

Why ranger need recalibration?

[theBalthazar]

- Concussive shot have a slightly lack of power, even for one bond.

- Pets seems to be less powerful than POE1.

- There is a racket with protective companion (+1 engagement = defensive) for stalker link (+10 accuracy = offensive). And 2 abilities point for  +10 accuracy and +1 engagement if both attack the same ennemy is a little bit discouraging.

- Hobbling shot. Affliction level 1, for 2 abilities point. Yeah...

- Big Nerf of wounding shot since beta 1.

- Like often, second ability (when sucessive) give 50 % more effect only. There is a lot of example like that, Rapid recovery for constant recovery, exalted focus for zealous focus etc etc. Here this is for defensive bond. Obsidian like use this approach but I strongly think that it encourages not to take the talents.

Edited April 5, 2018 by theBalthazar

[Dr <3]

I did a couple of runs with wizard, i have to say that they are really great to play atm. All the self buffs fast cast gives back the poe1 feel of swift casters.

Actually now they are good in every department: crowd control, pure nuke dmg, self defence, melee dmg ( conjured weapons). Lot of flexibility for a fun class

[dunehunter]

- Concussive shot have a slightly lack of power, even for one bond.

- Pets seems to be less powerful than POE1.

- There is a racket with protective companion (+1 engagement = defensive) for stalker link (+10 accuracy = offensive). And 2 abilities point for +10 accuracy and +1 engagement if both attack the same ennemy is a little bit discouraging.

- Hobbling shot. Affliction level 1, for 2 abilities point. Yeah...

- Big Nerf of wounding shot since beta 1.

- Like often, second ability (when sucessive) give 50 % more effect only. There is a lot of example like that, Rapid recovery for constant recovery, exalted focus for zealous focus etc etc. Here this is for defensive bond. Obsidian like use this approach but I strongly think that it encourages not to take the talents.

I agree that a lot second abilities only gives 50% more effect is not encouraging to take..

[PatrioticChief]

Sneak applies to wizard spells right?

 

Also Bleaker walker/devoted dual wield is a hell of a lot of fun. Soloed the entire starting island.

 

I had planned to do a devoted/soul blade but I hate having a dump stat and I think the cypher UI is super ugly if you don’t take any spells.

Edited April 6, 2018 by PatrioticChief

[Boeroer]

No, it does not apply to spells. But Assassinate does.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Boeroer

[Doppelschwert]

Now that I actually had a bit more time to play the game and try some builds, I'll go a step towards my original position and say that while the passive talents might be a good step in the right direction, they are mostly a totally unbalanced mess right now, either in terms of numerical benefit or in terms of placement on the skill tree.

 

The fighter has a lot of abilities that leave to be desired; given its placement, Superior Deflection is almost insulting with its +4 deflection compared to the benefits of the early available Shield Style or the paladins Deep Faith, which is both accessible earlier and more powerful. I honestly also don't understand the time limit on Constant Recovery when the paladin can now easily upgrade the defensive aura to grant unlimited healing for the whole party and Ancient Memory being unlimited as well. Last but not least, I don't get the escalating ressource costs for higher abilities in the martial trees either.

 

I also don't get the rationale behind many of the subclasses - I'd love to play a mage slayer, but the 5% spell resistance is laughable compared to the loss of 50% time on buffs and not being able to use either potions or scrolls. If I just want to shrug of spells, I'm better off to just play a crusader and take all the resistances against afflictions.

 

Right now, the system has the potential to become amazing, but it needs more class locked passives and a way better distribution to be balanced.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Doppelschwert

[Boeroer]

When comparing abilites with each other one has to be aware of the advantages of passives over actives. For example Constant Recovery is a passive while Exhalted Endurance is an active ability. A passive will stack with everything (won't get suppressed) while the robust regeneration may get supressed by other active healing effects. I'm only assuming this (did not test this case yet) - but given the general stacking rules of Deadfire this may happen. THat can be a reason why the bonuses of passives are generally lower than those of active abilities.

 

Also (in this case), the Robust inspiration will get removed by an appropriate affliction. Constant Recovery will not get cancelled by anything.

 

Weapon & Shield Style gives you +6 deflection (and even more reflex) while it forces you to wear a shield (loosing dps) - while Superior Deflection stacks with it and has no drawbacks. But I agree that +4 is laughable. Why nerf it from 5 to 4 in the first place? It's like somebody said "Whooha look at that! +5? Let's stomp this overpowered thingy down to 4, that will balance things out a bit and teach it a lesson, show it some modesty!".

 

Escalating resource costs: yeah totally!

They make the same mistake again they did with cipher and chanter in PoE and which they fixed in Deadfire - just to introduce the same flaw with the ability trees. Those are higer level abilites for a reason. It's a higher level, you had to do work to get there. It's ok if they are more powerful than tier-1 stuff. No need to increase the resource cost a lot. I mean active low level abilites should still stay viable, but the ratio is pretty harsh sometimes. I mean 2 compared to 1 is double the cost. Maybe the resource pools need to be more granular.

 

Mage Slayer: I agree to that, too.

[draego]

Also (in this case), the Robust inspiration will get removed by an appropriate affliction. 

 

Is this actually the case. Not that ive been messing with the beta i just saw this on somethingawful 

 

Question: 

 

Wait a second, important question

 

Learned from the stream that *any* inspiration will wipe out *any* affliction on the same stat

 

question: does that apply in reverse, or not? Will a later-cast affliction wipe out an inspiration, or will it be blocked by the existing inspiration?

 

It matters a lot for setting up scripts etc., not to mention the relative strength of buffing vs debuffing.

 

Josh 

 

Inspirations always trump Afflictions.

Edited April 7, 2018 by draego

[divx]

My biggest complaint with the current beta is a lack of first level passives, especially for fighters.

 

Next biggest complaint is that I can't figure out how or if I can turn off pushes in combat. I just had the Rogue shove my Soul Blade out of range when he was trying to use Soul Annihilation, wasting the ability. With the increase in recovery time, it was really irritating having to wait another 4 seconds to attack not to mention draining all his focus.

 

For multiclass characters, I also hope that we'll be able to spend both ability points on the same class when we hit a new power level.

[dunehunter]

My biggest complaint with the current beta is a lack of first level passives, especially for fighters.

 

Next biggest complaint is that I can't figure out how or if I can turn off pushes in combat. I just had the Rogue shove my Soul Blade out of range when he was trying to use Soul Annihilation, wasting the ability. With the increase in recovery time, it was really irritating having to wait another 4 seconds to attack not to mention draining all his focus.

 

For multiclass characters, I also hope that we'll be able to spend both ability points on the same class when we hit a new power level.

 

Yep, happens a lot to me when there are a lot mobs in a small area, one bump another away and make me miss my target(out of range) and lose my abilities.

[AndreaColombo]

 

Also (in this case), the Robust inspiration will get removed by an appropriate affliction. 

 

Is this actually the case. Not that ive been messing with the beta i just saw this on somethingawful

 

IIRC, it is. Try a Berserker/Wizard, for example. Cast Infusion of Vital Essence to gain an INT Inspiration, then go berserk. The Confused Affliction wipes your INT Inspiration; the net effect is that you're free of both and get to reap the benefits of the berserk rage without Confusion.

[PatrioticChief]

My biggest complaint with the current beta is a lack of first level passives, especially for fighters.

 

Next biggest complaint is that I can't figure out how or if I can turn off pushes in combat. I just had the Rogue shove my Soul Blade out of range when he was trying to use Soul Annihilation, wasting the ability. With the increase in recovery time, it was really irritating having to wait another 4 seconds to attack not to mention draining all his focus.

 

For multiclass characters, I also hope that we'll be able to spend both ability points on the same class when we hit a new power level.

 

Strong agreement for your first sentence. 

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

Oh, a minor point on the combat log:

 

 

good: I LOVE that it can now filter by character

 

Bad:  I hate how short it is. If you filter by character in a big fight you'll only see a few seconds back, usually one or two actions at most, because of the length limit on the overall log. Don't truncate it; let me scroll back over the whole fight. It can't be a significant amount of memory to do that.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Indeed. I don't know how many times I've been making experimental parties, and than after each fight, when I check the log, muttering: "What use is a combat log if it's just a snub?"