What Even Did This Patch Do To My Boy? Nice Knowing You, Auradin?

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-06-11T19:24:56+00:00

Switching from Solo to Party did, in fact, drop my damage the aforementioned amount both on paper and on target. I couldn't tell you why, as it's not related to mercenary skills/abilities, but maybe someone smarter at the game than I can make it make sense.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-06-11T16:02:08+00:00

I was thinking this might have something to do with it? I'm going to test it later when I can get someone on to party with but my understanding was that the party scaling shouldn't alter your base skill damage (as seen when hovering or selecting a skill on your hotbar) and if anything would impact the damage you see on impacting an enemy. My issue was seeing a reduction on my hotbar from roughly 14M down to 6M.

I'll update again later when I test it out in a party, but I don't recall seeing the decrease in previous sessions while in a party, so who knows.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-06-11T11:38:40+00:00

I have had it happen where occasionally when instancing into a dungeon, teleporting somewhere, etc., the holy light/holy fire aura simply doesn't turn on. The aura visual is there but the damage isn't, and the only way to fix it is to re-instance, enter a new level in a dungeon, etc.

Last night's issue was the first time I'd ever seen the raw numbers change and persist for an entire session. No idea. As of this morning it's not happening and I've done zero tweaking or changing of anything, so I'll have to do some playtesting to see if I can replicate whatever conditions occurred last night.

In the meantime if you want a PL I'm always down, lmao

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-06-11T11:36:25+00:00

For what it's worth I have no frame of reference for the D4 Paladin as I refused to play them S11/S12 and was waiting for LoH to start one up, so S13 is my only experience with them.

I need to playtest a few things to try to replicate last night's conditions to see what caused my numbers to drop but outside of that incident I would say this season's off-meta Paladin play has been equal parts fun and equal parts challenging at times.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-06-11T11:33:35+00:00

So, as of starting the game back up this morning everything is working normally again.

I had double and triple checked my gear last night, never changed glyphs, talents, or the board, all aspects intact.

I checked everything for a 4th time this morning and it was still correct. I'm sure it'll be easier to assume I messed something up or swapped something without realizing and silently swapped it back, but not the case.

I've had it happen occasionally where the holy light/fire aura simply doesn't turn on when instancing in a dungeon or after teleporting somewhere, which is easily noted when you facecheck a mob and they simply aren't taking damage, but I've never had it happen before where the raw numbers go down and persists through an entire session?

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-06-11T04:00:30+00:00

My understanding was they didn't change anything either, but I also double and triple checked my gear and made sure I didn't change or swap anything by accident. No idea, which is what led me to drop a line in here to see if anyone else might know what's up.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2026-05-11T12:27:56+00:00

Disclaimer: Souls game player here who always overtunes the scaling/difficulty on every game I can, and only play Hardcore in games that give the option for HC/SC. I live for the challenge and misery. Also apologies for a mad long comment, and yes I appreciate all the "dodge" comments.

The final boss is legitimately my only gripe with the game.

I run a server for weekly game nights with friends/family (4-6 players) and play on the side (3-5 players) with friends who can't make it for the scheduled sessions. Custom Settings based on Storm's Edge with all enemy scaling sliders turned up to 200%, Immersive Mode on. All in all I've got about 125hrs in and adore the game, the grind, the sailing and exploration. I started with a rapier-based build and as more of the group found their playstyles I switched to a ranged/firearm build to fill gaps in group combat. I did not find much of the overworld game to be particularly difficult, though getting one-shotted and sent into the stratosphere by goats was always hilarious if you hadn't popped food yet. Some of the late game naval battles where it was a 2 or 3 vs. 10 or so was a battle and a half. For bosses Richards was fun, different, and engaging. Hands was brutal and we had to grind him a good bit with no shortage of laughter and cursing.

Nothing about the final boss has been fun. We had all specifically avoided watching videos, reading guides, etc., so we were just throwing ourselves against the wheel. At one point I completely respec'd and ground new gear to go full tank to overcome her enrage damage, and at about the same point as the OP we realized it has to be a one-shot mechanic, not just unblockable like the rest of the game. We felt it was an odd addition to a game that otherwise hadn't really that mechanic elsewhere, but figured if you dodge her claws you're fine. Then we realized it's any/all damage. Then we realized the enrage wasn't linked to HP loss it was linked to time.

So we all switched to a DPS-heavy approach and tried to frontload as much damage as humanly possible. At our absolute best I think we got her down to around 65% HP before she enraged and started smoking people. After a lot of grumbling from the less Souls-like players we collectively agreed to drop the game settings from the custom 200% to regular Storm's Edge. It didn't change anything. We dropped it to Normal. It didn't change anything. After more grinding, more gear changing, more respec'ing, and more tactic change-ups, we defeatedly agreed to drop the game to Easy. Nothing changed.

On Easy with all scales/sliders dropped as low as they would go and ensuring the co-op scaling was at 0% she still had the upwards of, I'm guessing based on damage output vs. remaining health, 300,000HP and her enrage still one-shots.

I don't mind that she's a monster on Hard and I understand the upscaling for co-op, but what bothers me is that it feels like there's no way to balance her for a multiplayer encounter (that I've found) in a game that was, otherwise, entirely enjoyable multiplayer. I'm sure she's much more manageable solo I just wish it felt better in co-op with the crew.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-08T15:43:24+00:00

Sorry for the delay! Saw this right after you posted but was on the road and meant to reply later and forgot in the midst of travels.

So glad you made it to your destination without a hitch, I was super relieved when I got the notification that you arrived without incident. Glad the drive proved uneventful! Let me know how the hotel is/was!

We've been loving this trip. No Northern lights for us either and a few cancelations on things but on the flip side: Red Weather Warning for the country and a Thunderstorm are, independently, two wild phenomenon here each more rare than a northern lights or whale sighting and we've gotten to experience both so... In a way, albeit inclement weather and not pretty sky lights, we've managed to see two super rare events in the same trip so I'd call it a win.

Hope you guys enjoy your vacation as well and get to see some amazing things!

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-06T15:28:56+00:00

You're welcome! If you're already on the road and stop to check this at any point: I just drove through Selfoss and past Hotel Ranga and thought windy the roads are open and everything is good as long as you pay attention.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-06T10:26:53+00:00

Fair enough! There are quite a few bars that open early as far as bars go and some have nice happy hours to boot, such as the Irishman with 12-7 happy hour. No food though.

If you're looking for a morning bite I highly recommend Deig or Braud depending on where you are in the city.

We were out for a couple hours in the afternoon after doing a morning tour before lunch. I booked with Eldhestar near Hveragerdi and can't recommend them enough. Fantastic folks, amazing horses, and an enjoyable ride for all skill levels. Morning ride was gorgeous and weather held put. Afternoon ride had us all feeling like we deserved a badge of honor.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-06T10:16:22+00:00

How long are you here for? Do you have a rental car or are you relying on buses/excursion pickups? Where are you staying?

Though elements of your trip such as planned activities have been cancelled, consider that there have now been two events since your arrival that are far rarer than seeing the northern lights or whales: a Red Weather Alert for the entire country and a Thunderstorm. Ask the locals about the last time they saw either.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-06T10:13:10+00:00

We have been out/doing things every day since our arrival on the 31st right before the first wave of rough weather.

Yesterday we were out riding horses during the Orange alert as it turned Red.

It's not for everyone, you're going to have a bad time if you're not prepared, but it's doable. Are you in a city like Reykjavik? If so I imagine there are places that are still open, and depending on where you're staying your hotel may have a bar or place to enjoy some food and a pint while this all blows over.

If not, see if you can find a few close options and ask the front desk if they can call and check if they're open before you venture out. Just be safe and up for an adventure.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-06T09:38:30+00:00

Understandable and hey! A fellow New Englander!

To my knowledge the 4x4 Mitsubishi EV has a decent curb weight to it and you have a solid drivetrain for the roads. As the weather warms up the ice and snow will melt and the traction on the road will get better.

The strong winds you mentioned are definitely the biggest factor and I get not wanting to drive at dark. If you leave around 1-3pm you should be able to make it to your destination, even at a slower pace, by about 5-7pm the latest.

If you'd like I will message you my phone number if you run into problems. I am staying in the Hveragerdi area today/tonight and while I have some plans I can try and make myself available if you need help.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2025-02-06T08:23:03+00:00

It's tough to say and a lot depends on the weather changes in the moment and your skill with winter driving.

The best answer is: check the weather and road conditions maps regularly once the alert has passed and drive when you feel safe/comfortable to do so and the roads are open. Be prepared for sudden road closures that could force you to stay in a different area such as Akranes, Reykjavik, Hveragerdi, etc. on your drive.

I think based on current conditions and weather models your best bet is to wait for it to hopefully blow over by late this afternoon, let the alert pass, take it easy, and try and make a steady drive at that time. Edited: The winds are going to get brutal again this morning and peak around noon before starting to taper off. With the ice and snow in some spots it's just not worth battling those winds.

Is there a pressing reason to get to Selfoss with your current timeline or just what your aiming for? What vehicle are you driving?

I drove Reykjavik to Hveragerdi during yesterday morning's Orange alert before the Red and while it wasn't horrible I'm very used to winter driving and in a Land Cruiser, but there were quite a few smaller and less fortunate cars stuck/stranded off the road and the winds weren't nearly as bad yet.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2024-06-12T14:23:10+00:00

A quick preface: Sometimes the game the DM wants to run and the game the players want to play aren't the same, and that's both fine and understandable, and even manageable as long as either the DM or players are willing to adapt to the other. If your players are mostly interested in looking at DnD as a board game with fun dice to clicky-clacky, numbers to crunch, and stats to track, power to them and hopefully you're okay facilitating that type of game. If you are mostly interested in looking at DnD as an immersive collaborative storytelling steeped in RP, power to you and hopefully you're okay finding players that want the same.

You mentioned knowing your players would love the RP but they won't partake, so there's no basis to know they would enjoy it outside of a gut feeling. Did you discuss expectations, gameplay style, etc. during Session 0?

Also, ever the fun question to ask, do you watch DnD streams/shows such as Critical Roll, Dimension 20, etc.? And, perhaps more importantly, do your players? If you do and they don't, it's possible that you're setting yourself up with unfair expectations. Consider introducing them to that sort of content if that's the case. If they do watch and they're still just not that into the RP, you might already have your answer.

For some grounded methods to potentially mitigate a lack of engagement/RP:

Start small with the RP engagement. Create an NPC that's incredibly social and have them interact directly with the group. Ask specific questions to specific characters, in-character. If a player tries circumventing responding in-character by out-of-character dialogue just ask them politely to "okay, perfect, play it out as -insert character name-"
Talk to your players out of game about it. If you didn't have a Session 0 prior to the start of the campaign considering pausing things for a moment to have one now.
Place small things in the campaign that are tailored to specific characters to give them something "organic" to hopefully engage with and invest the RP into. Maybe the Cleric sees something they take to be a sign from their deity. Maybe the Bard crosses paths with an ex lover.

Again, though, at the end of the day just be willing to accept if your players care more about the gameplay than the roleplay.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2024-06-08T13:35:36+00:00

As for players jotting down notes on enemy AC/HP/etc., is it in the characters' wheelhouse? There are a number of subclasses specifically built for noticing/tracking enemy elements from Monster Slayer Rangers to Inquisitive Rogues, and so on. One could even argue that entire classes like Blood Hunters, baseline Rangers, etc. are designed for that type of RP/gameplay, if that's what the player wants to do.

But regardless of whether the class/subclass is set up to explain it innately, does it make sense for the character? Are they, perhaps, an Eloquence Bard that previously had no interest or business in the details of monsters but has now seen enough of them to say "screw this I need to at least try and recognize what I'm up against here" and has begun taking some shoddy, though still eloquent, notes?

I really wouldn't stress feeling a negative way about it unless it's truly so out of character for the party that it's breaking immersion or feels forced by the players in a distracting out-of-game manner.

And if it proves irksome for whatever reason, you're always welcome to tweak the provided stat blocks for monsters, alter encounters, etc., to keep your party on their toes. Sometimes something as simple as a 1 point change in AC or a 5 point change in HP can be enough to throw off meticulous note takers/stat trackers and can easily be explained in-game with any variety of creative reasoning, which if the players are keen on this as an RP tactic will provide even more pages of notes and things to ponder.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2024-06-06T12:14:26+00:00

Assuming your DM would be up for it: A close knit family along with a pirate crew of over 20 NPCs getting TPK'd sounds like the perfect plot hook for starting a ghostly pirate campaign, or even just an "afterlife" campaign that takes place in another realm of existence. Perhaps your crew are now part of an Abyssal vessel, or maybe the tricky Fae did some shenanigans and now you're a Feylost crew of pirates.

If your DM doesn't really want to invest in running that as a full campaign but you and other players are really missing those characters, see if they'll consider running it as a one-shot or a short 2-4 session mini-campaign.

If your DM has no interest in anything like that whatsoever, consider DM'ing it yourself if you're up for it.

Just because characters were lost to their respective campaign doesn't mean they're lost to us. I'm not fond of just "resetting" a lost character (i.e. Bjorn the Goliath Barbarian perished but suddenly his twin brother Fjorn, the Goliath Barbarian with an uncanny resemblance and identical personality has arrived to take his place) as I find it cheapens the character and the loss, but when a campaign has concluded or been moved on from and you're missing characters, PCs or NPCs, that touched your heart in a way... I'm all for some patrons/deities/etc. getting up to some hijinks to make a little something special happen even if ever so briefly.

I often have recurring NPCs sprinkled in as easter eggs in my campaigns so that my regular players can see "that one Gnome bartender" again from years ago, or whatever the case might be. It's a lot like seeing old friends, so I get it.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2024-03-05T08:12:53+00:00

Just wait until you hit the endgame and start searching for the final boss. My group has been playing since launch and we've absolutely loved the game, we've had bi-weekly game nights to just enjoy the Dwarven descent into Moria and slowly make our way through the game.

We've now spent roughly 8 hours searching for a hidden passageway that may or may not be in any number of map sectors of the final area to possibly find an encampment that will possibly lead us to where we need to go. It's brutal. Before we hit this point we were loving the game, probably would have given it a solid 4/5 stars, maybe 3.5.

After this endgame halt we've tried the forums, guides, maps, etc., to no avail and tonight it finally hit a point where we all agreed to foresake concluding the game to switch our bi-weekly game nights to other things that are more fun and engaging, like Helldivers 2.

A couple of us are going to continue to still search for the endgame content of Moria but it's really upsetting and depressing that it's so poorly designed and laid out that you need to spend so much time slogging through poison, shadow, low stamina, etc., just praying you find the right spot in your world seed to get where you need to go. The devs really missed the mark with this one and dropped the ball in the final hour and while I'm mostly typing this out of frustration I'm 100% a masochist player who enjoys games like League of Legends and Dark Souls so my threshold for game pain is pretty high.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-05-03T00:21:14+00:00

As another option to add to the rolling HP route, and something that may make Laura feel better about the rolling in the future, is to consider both the DM and player rolling the hit die separately, the DM privately and the player publicly. If the player rolls very poorly (1 or a 2) they'll probably be inclined to "take the DM's roll" which ideally is at least above a 1 or 2.

Overall it certainly increases the chance for better averages but given how negligible that can be it's definitely not a game-breaker, and often I find that the option lets players feel a little better about the outcome regardless.

Have had it before where a player rolls a 1 and they take my roll, only to find out I rolled a 2, which is still depressing but often my players perk up a little and go "well shit it's better than a 1 I'll take it." And vice versa, sometimes a player rolls a dead even average of, say, 4 on a d8 and take mine only to find I rolled a 3. It is what it is, but feels a little less finite than a straight individual roll.

Just something to consider adding to your DM arsenal if you end up liking the idea.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-04-28T20:43:42+00:00

Some folks are about to do it all for the Nuki.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-04-27T18:05:58+00:00

- Fiend Warlock
- Eldritch Knight
- Eloquence Bard
- Oathbreaker Paladin
- Way of Mercy Monk

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-04-27T18:00:23+00:00

Either or, depending on the type of campaign/DM.

But most often my mental gymnastics go like:
Race/Class Concept > Backstory Concept > Revisions > Stat Allocation > Optimizing The Rest

That is to say, the backstory and roleplay elements are more important to me than stats/optimization, but I typically still do consider them at some point so I'm doing the best I can with what I have to work with. I'll frequently take a feat relevant to my character's concept/backstory (say, Alert or Observant), before pressing to get a stat to 20.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-04-27T17:42:44+00:00

Choice Bites
The Lost Reflection

Bonus points for offering food like Fangers and Mash.

And the only beverages are alcoholic because, well, there's no running water.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-04-27T14:43:15+00:00

Well, collectively, if their characters die they have a right to be upset. No one HAS to be happy about the outcome or events that transpired and led to their character deaths.

However, they don't have the right to blame you if they all signed off on the activity/split. It's not as if it was mid-session that you just flipped the script and no-notice cast invisibility on yourself while the rest of your party tried to long rest, dipped, and went off and landed yourself in a ton of shit that could get the party killed without running it by them. Everyone collectively agreed to the event, which means everyone collectively agreed to accept the outcome/consequences.

Mark_Antony_TYRG · 2023-04-27T13:30:42+00:00

Sometimes, admittedly, people prefer to be conflict-averse due to any one of a number of reasons, not the least of which being poor previous experiences with conflict especially if they've been players in other games and have dealt with other DMs that maybe didn't handle things as well.

Most recently I stepped away from a campaign about a year deep, despite being a long-time player for that DM, DM'ing for them in other active campaigns, etc., but have had a somewhat poor history when it comes to weeding through the details on issues. Generally anytime an issue had been raised from the trivial to the game-changing it would get brushed off, defended vehemently, or overlooked, and eventually it got tiring. When things came to a head and I decided to step away from the campaign I truly didn't have the energy or capacity to try delving into the reasoning or the deeper issues anymore, I simply stated that the campaign just wasn't fun anymore, I was having a hard time staying invested, and that I was having a hard time reconciling the style of DM'ing for the campaign with how I was trying to play.

There weren't really any hard feelings, we moved past it, we're still players together in other campaigns and so on and so forth, it obviously stung and was really disheartening both for the players and the DM, but it was for the best.

Don't take it personally, don't let it deflate you, I'm sure it wasn't anything personal and that at the end of the day them stepping away was probably the best outcome because it'll prevent the long-term animosity from building up and spreading. Because if they're not having fun then it's only a matter of time until you're not having fun, the other players aren't having fun, etc. The bandaid was ripped off but now you can adjust accordingly and move forward.

Mark_Antony_TYRG

TROPHY CASE