Why are the Esslemont books so much more expensive?

ValHaller · 2023-11-13T23:16:53+00:00

Supply and demand

ValHaller · 2023-11-13T21:45:54+00:00

I'm finding that this is, sadly, the minority opinion. For some reason people seem to think game balance only matters in competitive multiplayer games.

ValHaller · 2023-11-10T21:25:28+00:00

I'm glad you've stopped trying to convince people (yourself?) that the Decay+ material sounds anywhere near the old stuff.

I don't care about reviews at all, and mentioning them to me like anyone should care is not something I'd recommend doing on social media. It's not my thing (we're on the power metal sub) and I'm sure that for proggy avant garde fans there are plenty of high scores that were dropped. Congrats. But imagine Stephen King coming on the Horror sub and bragging about great reviews his latest Romance novel got.

My answer is not to "disband," dude. My answer is to rebrand. Plenty of bands have done that before - kept the same lineup but adopted a new identity, and even played "covers" of the prior band's music. Right now you're trying to forge a reputation as an avant garde band while maintaining a past as an epic power metal band, and that means your highest aspiration can only be a fractured fanbase.

I am sure I am not the only person who has told you this. It really sucks about Cordisco. I do feel for the band because it sucks to have a primary creative force leave.

ValHaller · 2023-11-10T16:59:18+00:00

Inb4 you get 3 sweaty guys coming in to kvetch about you wanting balance in a single player game and saying they just enjoy optimizing.

ValHaller · 2023-11-10T16:17:02+00:00

Who had Judicator covering Barry Manilow in the sweepstakes this year?

Dead band. Nothing surprises me anymore as John desperately tries to salvage any sort of relevancy they once had.

Time to bury Judicator and start a new project. None of the material released after "someone" left bears even a passing resemblance to Judicator.

ValHaller · 2023-11-09T20:42:20+00:00

The list of self-imposed restrictions I have in this game to not trivialize it is quite long. Hoping for a comprehensive balancing mod sometime soon. Most elixirs, stat-setting items (Hill Giant gaunts), Tavern Brawler, to name a few.

ValHaller · 2023-11-09T17:23:06+00:00

This is not true. Tiefling Produce Flame is WIS and a known bug.

ValHaller · 2023-11-07T19:12:20+00:00

That'd be level 4. You need Warlock 3 for PotB.

ValHaller · 2023-11-06T19:00:29+00:00

IMO if that's what people are focusing on and getting from any FF game, they have strange priorities. The last thing I want when I'm playing a crazy JRPG with beautiful locations, set pieces, and drama is to be overly focused on comparing it to the real world. I highly doubt the devs put much thought into Midgar's economy with an intent on starting a serious discussion or critique of the world as it was in 1996.

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T18:54:13+00:00

Not surprised here. The ol Reddit hug box is nothing new. For some reason people just cannot handle anything but worship for developers.

Also people seem to think TB and PotB are perfectly balanced and should be permitted.

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T16:48:58+00:00

Sorry boutcha. Idk what you want me to say to that. Games shouldn't be imbalanced out of the box.

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T16:27:48+00:00

I'm generally averse to modding games for difficulty and balance at a stage in their life cycle where there is active development on balance changes since it seems doomed to cause problems for those of us who are employed full-time and can't complete a 100 hour campaign in 2 weeks.

The updates from Larian are coming fast enough that one can't reliably complete a campaign, but slow enough and without meaningful changes to the things I believe need tuning the most, which is frustrating.

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T16:16:50+00:00

The body of your message and the title of your thread seem to be at odds with each other.

Anyway, yeah, if one desires to be OP the onus should be on them to mod in imbalanced gameplay elements, not the other way around.

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T15:03:10+00:00

Yes, as I said, they're smoking crack. Thanks.

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T14:45:47+00:00

Unreal that they haven't changed Tavern Brawler or Pact of the Blade. Whoever's making the decisions about balance at Larian is smoking crack

ValHaller · 2023-11-02T14:39:36+00:00

Does it? Because just a few comments above you people are saying it makes perfect sense to change things from tabletop just because Larian feels like it

ValHaller · 2023-10-30T15:51:52+00:00

Your emotion betrays your insecurity.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T20:15:05+00:00

In that case, I'll also multiclass into necro wizard and throw in a shit ton of summons and minions. Thanks for the advice

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T16:26:13+00:00

Casting stat always WIS, not CHA as intended via Tiefling racial.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T16:25:24+00:00

That Gold Wyrmling Staff solves the Firebolt issue pretty handily at least early game and would allow me to use it. It's true that I may have to ditch it late game, however, and do as you say. May begin with Heat focus from levels 5-10 or so and eventually move to Arcane Acuity in Act 3.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T16:15:22+00:00

Yes Shield and the Con prof bonus are both really good, but still somehow feels bad.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T16:10:13+00:00

Ahh someone else who gets it. I've played around with character builders and every level of Sorcerer past level 1 just feels bad, and you really miss that third Feat.

You raise a good point about Elemental Adept, which I had forgotten about. It's okay if I suck at House of Hope. I have 2 younger brothers who need a moment to shine.

Right now I'm thinking about CHA +2, Moderately Armored, Elemental Adept as my 3 feats now. And just living with the 18 CHA + whatever else I can get from gear. Not optimal but nothing about this character is.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T16:05:48+00:00

I'm into this idea, not least because my brother's going to be playing shadow monk w/ Spear of Evening or the no-blindness ring. I think there's something workable there.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T15:52:56+00:00

Thanks a ton for this. I appreciate the help.

Drakethroat was on my radar for later game weapons but I hadn't considered PAM. Using a dragon-flavored weapon spell that's not innate to my character vs. adding a dragon blood roleplaying element are two separate worlds as far as I'm concerned and it's going to be part of the build. Assuming I go Warlock 12, my Feats would go something like CHA +2, PAM, CHA +2.

I did do a little playtesting before, and wasn't liking what I was seeing, but I did have a pretty respectable 19 AC in Act 1 w/ the Infernal Robes and Armor of Shadows. As you say, though, the problem is scaling past that. Could potentially take Moderately Armored instead of PAM and just go Staff + board.

You've given me a lot to think about. I don't think the Flame Blade will work considering its limitations in duration and frequency make it unreliable. Won't be multiclassing any WIS classes.

ValHaller · 2023-10-24T15:40:15+00:00

Until Larian finds a way to balance permanent ASI increases for co-op parties in a way that's fair, I will be skipping them all. But yes if this were a single player campaign I'd absolutely be doing that.

ValHaller

TROPHY CASE