Mechalibur

With the cheat code "retrain" you can (doesn't stop achievements either, per Jeff)

I confirmed Krost is 3 times.

Are you getting any missile weapons skill from equipment? You have to naturally have 8.

It's not wrong - the damage dice don't increase from stats, the damage multiplier does. So check the percentage next to the damage range after increase magic skill.

Just a heads-up, it's Zora, not Nora. Nora is the guardian in the warrens, she won't join you.

 

Edit: But I think the main takeaway should have been "do the fight later" 

I can't believe I haven't tried this before, but I'm learning quite a bit by increasing skills to arbitrarily large numbers then seeing how they behave. In fact, I think I discovered that increasing the spell level of damage spells does a lot more than one would think by just looking at the tooltips! The scripts for most damage spells have a line in them that I wasn't really sure about at first:

 

    ab_node_percent_per_skill X = 25;

 

But after some testing, I think if a skill has this line in the script (X is tied to the ability node number), it means there's an additional % damage increase for each level of the spell you have (which of course isn't in the tooltips!) Here's what I found at Quicklash level 102:

 

Tooltip Display: 128-494 damage (+153%)

Actual damage against enemy with 0% resist: 17,880

 

There's no way to explain this massive difference in damage unless there's some additional not-displayed level component to damage that's influenced by skill level (25% per level - seemingly multiplicative with your other modifiers, if the script line is to be believed)

Did a quick test on Guardian Push: level affects slow duration. I cheated my stat up to 101, and I slowed my target for 232 turns.

 

Also it pushes 6 squares (at every level) instead of 3 like the tooltip suggests, not sure if you already have that in your mod.

2 minutes ago, Slarti said:

Oh, interesting!  That 1% makes sense -- I think everything that used to (in older engines) give 5% accuracy now just gives 1%, right?

 

I suppose I could change "nothing" to "nothing special."

 

Level ups still seem to be 5% increments

 

1 minute ago, Slarti said:

Oh, and Mech -- the issue isn't that spell/ability level doesn't ever influence buff duration.  It depends how the definition is written.  For many spells it's written in such a way that it does impact it.  For those weapon shaping disciplines, it's not.

 

Ah, so literally nothing. Great. They probably don't even affect accuracy like spells do since they're modifiers to attack rolls.

I did a brief test with buffs in Mutagen when it came out, and it does appear that the level influences duration, but it's kind of hard to pin down exactly how much. Seems like ~half a turn per level, but then you have to account for variance in the sample and yadda yadda yadda. Like Slarti says, not a huge difference having 1 vs 4 points.

 

In Infestation, spell level also seems to affect accuracy! ...by 1%! Not sure if it's still the case, but upgrading a firebolt had me go from 76% chance to hit to 77% chance to hit. I think this is the reason a lot of accuracy numbers don't seem to be nicely divisible by 5 any more.

Pretty sure it does nothing for them, yeah.

The lore on drayks is a bit inconsistent. The codex description says you can shape them with a license. I guess the situation in Drypeak is so extreme you get fast tracked for a license 😄

 

I think the problem is rogue/sapient drayks. Maybe the license-approved drayks are a dumber variant or something.

I understand that, but it's so underwhelming and overcosted that I'd rather take my chances on the second impactful spell than the weak guaranteed one.

I'm not a huge fan of Quicklash honestly. The cost is absurdly high for what it does. And the benefit of being a fast spell gets weaker and weaker as you get more ranks in spellcraft, haste + haste chance, and the Gloves of Spell Mastery. The only thing I can think of as a positive is that it is single target and works with the Lifedrain buff.

Agent as a loyalist is extremely disappointing because you won't get access to Essence Purge. It's difficult to overstate just how powerful that is for Agents since it's a spell with a whopping d8 damage die in an area that also inflicts an unresistable damage over time effect. For reference, the next highest battle magic spell is a d4 for damage.

 

Shaper can still be really powerful with a focus on any of the shaping schools. You can learn drayks in infestation which remain very powerful for raw damage and AoE. Battle shaping gets the rotgroth which is super cheap for how strong it is, and Magic gets you up to Glaahks (although as a loyalist you'd miss out on Gazers which is a shame).

 

Edit: There's technically a neutral drakon trainer for Essence Purge, but I feel like that goes against the spirit of a loyalist run 😄

7 minutes ago, mikeprichard said:

the rep threshold to join the Awakened appears to be < 95, not <= 90,

 

Oops - fixed

 

8 minutes ago, mikeprichard said:

d) Loot Medab, get altered by Tuldaric and buy as much spell training from him as possible, and fully explore the Barrier of the Winds.

 

I don't think you can easily explore the Barrier of the Winds. It has 3 very high difficulty locked doors in a row, which I believe you can only bypass with a key Pinner gives you after destroying the Radiant College. It's still possible in theory, but you might be burning around 30 tools to get in.

 

7 minutes ago, Randomizer said:

Also if you do the Kill Tuldaric quest for Infernal Teriel, once you turn it in he leaves so you can never kill 4 infernal for the Emissary.

 

I don't believe that's correct, I was able to do both.

 

3 minutes ago, ultra112 said:

you know I think Jeff should have some sort of index or meter that shows your reputation numbers cause it would be a whole lot better to keep track on the possibility on join which faction

 

You can find your reputation using the cheat "gsdf 100 0" if you want the exact number. I don't believe it affects achievement eligibility.

Just now, Slarti said:

- nlambert's Index lists a few other quests as faction-locked not on the list above; not sure which is accurate.  for example, Recover Mutant Drayk is listed as Takers Only.

 

The index is correct, but I intentionally excluded it (and the others not listed) since it's basically part of the meta-quest "The Takers."

Here's a rough list of quest dependencies/lockouts (could be errors):

 

Awakened Applicant (requires rep to be 94 or less, say you want to join the Awakened and Pinner will give you these, but you don't actually have to join)

Find East Medab Spy

Eliminate Spy Drayk

 

Awakened Must Tolerate You (getting over 115 rep, or joining another faction will make these quests unobtainable unless you later join the Awakened. Quitting the Awakened will also prevent these)

Open Shaper Pots

Check Ellhrah's Tomb

Kill Bandit Leaders

 

Awakened Only

Message for Muck/Triola

Spy on Rising

Find Control Center

Find Jeek

The Awakened (main quest, basically)

 

Loyalist Encampment (locked out if you join the Barzites or Takers as this camp will turn hostile)

Arixy's Rescue

Melathir the Thief

Spying in Gheth

 

Barzite Applicant (need 105 rep to apply, don't actually need to join the Barzites)

Barzahl's Testing (results in destruction of loyalist encampment and removal of questgiver of Spy on Rising)

 

Barzites Only

Evict Old Shaper

Get Research Notes

Recover Stones

The Barzites (main quest, basically)

 

Zhass-Uss Friendly (Zhass-Uss must not be hostile which will happen if you join the Servants or Barzites)

Kill Melancon

Spinecore Problem

Recover Pre-Wand

Sholai Investigation (requires talking to Syros to finish)

Zensital's Purpose (final part, which gives the best reward, requires Zhass-Uss to be friendly to send Zensital here)

 

Taker Applicant (rep must be under 90+leadership, but you don't have to join the Takers)

Recover Artifact

Slay a Leader (will inevitably make at least one faction hostile)

 

Takers Only

Slay Cultists

The Takers (main quest, basically)

 

Servants Only

The Servants (main quest, basically)

4 minutes ago, alhoon said:

???

What or who is Emily?! I didn't see any Emily person, I think. 

 

Zakary (the deceiver, jerkwad supreme, etc. etc.) gives you a quest that spawns her in. I'm not sure what the exact trigger is, but it happens sometime after leaving the secret tunnel.

Thanks for the list. I think an important reputation effect that isn't included on the list is that the Awakened will ice you out of several quests/vendors in both Medab and Triola if your reputation exceeds 115 (this will also trigger if you join another faction). If you're going full pro-Shaper it's possible that this can immediately happen when you enter Medab. It also persists even if you get your reputation below that threshold - requiring you to fully join them to cancel the effects.

 

Anyway, for what it's worth, I think the "optimal" path through gaming the factions (discussed here) doesn't actually require any micromanagement of shaper rep. Just consistently pick pro-servile options, use leadership to join the Servants, then join the Awakened, then when you've completed all quests that require Medab/Zhass-Uss to be friendly, have Darian swap your rep, then join the Barzites. The Takers don't really offer anything unique, so you wouldn't really need to join them at any point.

The issue is the dialogue, the skill (create thahd) is accurate. 

Curing pods remove null field. I also would recommend having 2 creations on agent by that level (you can invest in essence mastery if you're constantly low).

 

But there's no reason to fight that drayk at that level, it's a difficult encounter. Remember you can right click to see enemy levels to determine if maybe you should save a fight for later.

The first Awakened quest is to sabotage the Barzites I believe, but you get all the main benefits from the Awakened just by joining them (Pinner's key and Tuldaric's training).

 

You can also leave the Servants by joining another faction or typing "sdf 100 2 3" into cheats

The dialogue doesn't change based on your servile rep.

 

Shanti is the one who tells you that, even she made her own choice, many paths are open to you, and it's your decision which to follow. This was true in the original as well. 

28 minutes ago, alhoon said:

There's ... a book of Shaping thahds in the rooms of Keeper Thossila, who is a common. She also mentions spells to heal serviles (I don't see any such book and I would like more healing) and healing falls under Shaping although perhaps Shapers don't consider it so. 

What happened? 

 

It was changed from a different spell in development. Jeff is aware and will correct it next patch.

39 minutes ago, Slarti said:

One exception: you can voluntarily leave the Awakened by going to Learned Pinner, because the Awakened walk the talk when it comes to individual freedom.

 

Actually the Servants are the exception, you can leave all the factions by talking to their leader, except Zakary for some odd reason. The Takers, naturally, all turn hostile if you try to do so, though.