Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Metagaming Thread

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Murk]

sing two things also gives the benefit of one more slot with enchantments.

if memory serves me right, in dos1 2handers had twice the number of enchantments. It is no longer the case in dos2

I can't speak with absolute authority, but quite often I encounter one-handers with more enchantments than 2-handers. For example, the one-handed axe you get near the caravan raid at the start of Driftwood has like 8 effects on it, where-as the most I've seen on 2-handers is around 5. Having said that, two-handers quite often do 2x to 4x as much damage tho...

The issue that kind of further limits is the level requirement of the item reducing your accuracy, but you can get around that with buffs. You can get the two-handed 'reavers axe' very quickly from bloodmoon island but won't be able to use it for a while.

I also don't remember two-handers having 2x the enchantments in OS1, but that may be faulty memory on my part.

 

[Eyestabber]

My favorite ruskie nerd did a video on the Huntsman vs Warfare debate. The TL;DW version is: raise huntsman to 5 for the skills and put the rest of your points into warfare. Warfare >>> huntsman, unless you're weird and take huntsman as a mage

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Eyestabber]

"Mage" = anyone who deals mostly magical damage.

 

[Murk]

I just cleared blood moon island on my solo undead fighter at level 13. Was a bit trickier than I thought since the weird face-rape looking things have madness, but the enemy AI's tendency to focus on my summons, which often have lower armor than I do, makes them very easy distractions while I lay out the damage. Two level difference initially seemed like it may be no hope but beat each of outdoor fights in two tries, so I guess I'm getting good or something.

CC makes so many fights borderline trivial -- especially if you feel like pre-summoning your incarnate so that it's cooldown is almost up when you actually start the fight, allowing you to resummon it after it's turn (fresh turn), power-infuse it, and have it use battering ram from a favorable position to knock down a line of enemies you pre-damaged.

I think they fucked up by giving warfare two such reliable knockdowns that also do okayish damage.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm at the Bloodmoon Island and I haven't died in over 40 hours (Classic). I did use a few resurrection scrolls at the beginning of the game, but that was mostly due to me not upgrading armor often enough. Despite its flaws, I don't mind playing this every day, until I finish it.

I know that they have said on several occasions that they can't speed up the combat system (and I know you can use cheatengine and whatnot), but sometimes it is crazy slow. The fight in the Blackpits took forever. It wasn't even challenging.

There's a crapton of things to do, but I can't really say that the world building is amazing. They've pretty much made a playground for you to dabble in.

After 70 hours into my campaign, most of the enemies are actually dropping like flies. The armor system isn't that annoying at this point, just because I can get rid of it fairly quickly. It also helps that my characters now have lots of armor, too.

 

[jungl]

armor system only annoying very early in the game. Its fine after unless you play on tactician well what you expect? hard supposed to prevent you from winning, cheese tactics are a must.

 

[Murk]

I restarted on classic to get a better comparison of the differences between tactician and classic and cleared the ft. joy area and got to driftwood, and the differences are pretty drastic, even putting aside the number bloat.

Even as early on as the void-tainted turtles -- in tactician, they explode when they die, on classic they just die. Enemies use different skills and items, and while I can't attest if the AI itself is different, the overall experience is definitely different.

IMO tactician is a must if you want satisfying combat, even if the armor system seems ridiculous.

 

[Anthedon]

I restarted on classic to get a better comparison of the differences between tactician and classic and cleared the ft. joy area and got to driftwood, and the differences are pretty drastic, even putting aside the number bloat.

Even as early on as the void-tainted turtles -- in tactician, they explode when they die, on classic they just die. Enemies use different skills and items, and while I can't attest if the AI itself is different, the overall experience is definitely different.

IMO tactician is a must if you want satisfying combat, even if the armor system seems ridiculous.

That's actually pretty neat if it holds true for the entire game.

 

[Volken]

How to not meta-game in this game? :D It's designed for cheese. I wanted to avoid op builds and strategies exploiting flawed A.I. but it felt like a waste of time.

 

[Abu Antar]

How to not meta-game in this game? :D It's designed for cheese.

Never forget

 

[Luckmann]

I restarted on classic to get a better comparison of the differences between tactician and classic and cleared the ft. joy area and got to driftwood, and the differences are pretty drastic, even putting aside the number bloat.

Even as early on as the void-tainted turtles -- in tactician, they explode when they die, on classic they just die. Enemies use different skills and items, and while I can't attest if the AI itself is different, the overall experience is definitely different.

IMO tactician is a must if you want satisfying combat, even if the armor system seems ridiculous.

I still recommend just ditching the +50% armor of the enemies, reduce dmg from +50% to +30%, and up the health to about +60-75%. Yes, it makes it easier than regular tactician, but the pacing of the combat is clearly tuned to classic numbers, and +50% armor and dmg fucks that over pretty drastically.

Also, the reason those turtles explode is because they were killed near an open flame, which ignites the poison.

 

[Tigranes]

I'm gallivanting about a second playthrough with an elemental mage and a two-hander/necro. I expect I'll abandon halfway through but a way to squeeze all the remaining fundrops from it. Anyway, I'm running 30% armour bonus and the vit/damage/accuracy bonuses still as before. Honestly, having always played on armour-nerfed Tactician (and having forgotten to use debloat), I don't find it too egregious. Given how easy the game already is (which may be due to LW, I don't know), I feel like anything more would make combat be over in 2 turns.

Wouldn't upping HP just extend the bore of chaining CC on enemies? I suppose one radical solution is up HP even more so you can't do that, but in that case you might experiment with that saving throws mod.

 

[Tigranes]

How to not meta-game in this game? :D It's designed for cheese. I wanted to avoid op builds and strategies exploiting flawed A.I. but it felt like a waste of time.

How? Play a different game. This one begins and ends with cheese and the whole fun of the combat as it were is the cheese, for better or for worse.

 

[Murk]

Also, the reason those turtles explode is because they were killed near an open flame, which ignites the poison.

I was curious about this because I thought it was rather starkly noticeable, so I just tested it. On classic, when they die they just leave an oil puddle. On Tactician, they actually explode and the radius of it is greater than the oil puddle on classic.

I specifically killed them in water puddles and away from open flames to be sure.

I dunno, I think tactician is still p legit, but the HP/armor bloat is an issue.

 

[Jimmious]

To be honest the armor bloat is an issue only if you fight stuff that overlevel you and your damage. Otherwise its usually OK

 

[Quillon]

Otherwise its usually OK

Everything's OK or meh and there are too many things, quantity over quality and it doesn't fucking end I wanna be done with it goddamit.

 

[Jimmious]

Otherwise its usually OK

Everything's OK or meh and there are too many things, quantity over quality and it doesn't fucking end I wanna be done with it goddamit.

I on the other hand don't want to be done, I want to find the time to play
Damn you young people with free time

 

[Murk]

The degree to which level affects your damage output is pretty silly -- the game could definitely do with reducing that if not outright removing it. IMO it should depend on stats and skills -- if whatever degree level was used as a multiplier was replaced by the appropriate skill, that would not only make investing in skills beyond 5 more useful but also balance things out more, IMO.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Luckmann]

i thought that elemental ranger talent sucks, but like with elemental arrowheads skill it works with blood. It gives extra piercing damage, meaning it goes through any armor

Which, by the way, makes the elven racial even more insane, I might add, since it creates a pool of blood around you while also giving you extra AP just so you can apply that shit right to your arrows. It's awesome.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Murk]

If you use necro or summoning you can get blood pools easily by summoning the corpse or an incarnate and just hitting it.

Or just get bloodrain.

I'm replaying OS1 right now for comparison, and it is starkly different in how things play out, but I do miss all the weird tools the 2nd game gives you in skill variety. It was my biggest compliment to the game early on and still stays as such, especially since you really are encouraged to take multiple disciplines/skills/whatever they are called. Low cost + more points + most scaling together + new slot allotment = go nuts.