Huge Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Update Provides Much Needed Bug Fixes, Naval Combat Balances

The latest update for the critically acclaimed RPG experience Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is one for the history books. It's huge! And important. Not only does the latest patch fix a lot of those high priority bug reports, but significant ship balance changes are also a huge feature. The UI also received a little much-needed tweaking, as well as a few critical changes to the companions and the crew. That part we'll save for the end, since it's got a few spoilers.

As far as new features go, the option to skip the intro has been included, as well as more custom AI support and character appearances. Check out the full patch below to learn more about the World Map Legend, major issues addressed, and much, much more. The "spoiler" portion will be at the end with SPOILER clearly marked!

New Features:

• Veteran & PotD Balance Improvements
  • Armor and Penetration now scale up on PotD.
  • Many encounters have had units swapped out for tougher versions.
  • Some encounters have had units added or set to ambush the party during the encounter.
• Additional Custom AI support and updates:
  • All Conditionals have now been categorized in the Custom AI menu.
  • The AI Toggle button on the ability bar now supports cycling through: Attacking while using Abilities, Attacking while not using Abilities, and Not using AI.
  • The following actions can now be conditionalized in Custom AI: Using Consumable quick slot items, Activating Modals, Switching Weapon Sets, and Basic Weapon Attacking.
• Ship Resupply
  • A new "Refill Ship Supplies" button can now be used to conveniently purchase ship supplies from any storefront that sells Medical Supplies, Cannon Shot, and Repair Supplies.
• World Map Legend Added
  • A new Map Legend has been added that allows all icons on the World Map to be filtered by category.
• Character Appearance Improvements
  • Character Appearance can now be changed in-game via the Appearance button on the Inventory screen (Player and adventurers only).
  • Character Hairstyles are now rendered naturally with some Hats.
  • Eye Color customization has been added.
• Graphics options expanded
  • Six new toggles have been added to the Graphics menu to enable/disable certain visual features including Weather Effects, Lights, and Combat Text.
• News Feed Updated
  • The News Feed on the Main Menu has been revamped to include links to the latest articles, DLC, and social media.

• Many edge case crashes (reported by users) have also been resolved.
  • Managing party with capes on the World Map.
  • God conversations returning party to player ship with characters who have capes.
  • Client was creating a folder that required permission to access.
  • Issues loading saves causing players to return to Main Menu.
  • Issues transitioning to difference scenes causing players to return to Main Menu.
  • Leveling up characters with bonus weapon sets no longer causes a black screen.
• Resolved an issue that blocked users with certain permissions from loading saves.
• Creating a multiclass character with spells and non-spell abilities no longer blocks character creation.
• Level Scaling now also adjusts enemy levels up. Normal enemies are scaled up to 4 levels higher and Named enemies are scaled up to 6 levels higher
• Critical Path Only Level Scaling is now working properly(Hasongo, Ashen Maw and Ukaizo).
• Gold, Greed & Guts achievement now consistently unlocks when requirements are met.
• A large amount of localization corrections have been implemented.
• Companions who died while Spiritshifted can now have their equipment looted.
• Part of Blade of the Endless Paths now appears in the Captain's Quarters if players had forged the blade in their Pillars I history.
• Fixed a memory leak that degraded FPS over time.
• Chanter Phrases are no longer removed upon Retraining.
• Fixed an issue where weapons could be removed from the player's inventory after Spiritshifting.
• Fixed an issue where faction questlines were not being closed out properly if the player had killed Queen Onekaza.
• Adjusted how Disposition, Reputation, and Relationship values were being calculated.

Ship Combat

• Cannon Range accuracy penalties have been adjusted to scale gradually.
• Made Closing to Board less punishing by lowering the base damage values for hull, sail, and crew damage.
• Increased damage for ramming ships (both to the rammer and rammee).
• Reduced the accuracy given per rank of cannoneer.
• Reduced Ship health by ~20%.
• Added opponent deck defender count to ship duel UI.
• Globally Updated ship combats to have a 1:1 ratio of combatants to crew. Enemy Ship Defenders are now shown separately.

• The Death UI now properly appears if player summons outlive the party.
• Fixed an issue where the News Feed was not aligning properly for certain screen resolutions.
• Fixed an issue where your screen could flicker black upon launching the game with preferences set.
• Transition icons in Crossroads scene on Splintered Reef no longer disappear when the mouse approaches.
• Level Scaling preferences can now be toggled in-game from the Options menu.
• Double Doors no longer block the mouse cursor when they are in an opened state.

Audio

• Atmospheric ambient SFX no longer play in taverns after attacking patrons or clients.
• The Druid ability "Terrifying Roar" now has SFX.
• Mercenaries in Spire of the Soul-Seers now have VO.
• Fixed an issue where one of High Priest Kasu's VO lines was not playing.
• Fixed an issue where Companion VO was not playing after winning the drinking contest in Fort Deadlight.
• VO is no longer being cut off when Fast Mode is active.
• Eothas' ambient SFX have been added in the Ondra's Spire scene.
• Various SFX have been added to the Chanter-summoned Dragon from the ability "The Great Wyrm Flew O'er the Mountains".
• Various SFX have been added to Tekehu's Spiritshift Shark form.
• Hired Adventurers now play their selected voice over during their character creation.

• Retraining a character (Respec) will no longer remove learned talents & abilities such as watcher abilities nor purchased skill bonuses.
• Ships on the world map no longer move while time is stopped (If the player's vessel is not moving).
• Watchers can no longer purchase more supplies than their ship can hold.
• Various performance related fixes including World Map optimizations, scenes with ocean water, and scenes with buoyant assets that are off screen. This should increase the frame rate of scenes like Queen's Berth, Hasongo, and Fort Deadlight.
• Hazanui Karu now reacts appropriately if the player has visited Hasongo before visiting Kahanga Palace.
• The ocean floor behind Fort Deadlight has been lowered to prevent showing during heavy tides.
• Death's Herald abilities now upgrade properly after completing the post Ashen Maw God Conversation.
• Bounty heads can no longer be pickpocketed from their owners.
• Looted preplaced corpses no longer show as unlooted after performing a save/load.
• Fixed the quality of Superb and Legendary Pollaxes.
• Keybindings for mapping Combat Speed up and down are no longer reversed.
• Druids now animate properly when they die while in a Spiritshift form.
• Players can no longer engage enemy ships during the Ukaizo fleet battle if they have no crew.
• Fixed an issue where item icons and ability icons in the crafting menu were displaying invalid images.
• Injured idle animations now play on characters who have 1 or more injuries.
• Orlans no longer lose their ears when equipped with Tricorn and Broad Brimmed hats.
• Capes should no longer get stuck inside characters.
• Vithrack now play their ambient animations.
• Scyorielophas has been updated to have more fidgets to break up his idle animation.
• Added "Sailor Overboard" as a possible event during ship combat SIs.
• VFX and animations have been added to the Luminous Adra Mill interior scene.
• It is no longer possible for the player to leave combat with Benweth after attacking him in Fort Deadlight - Command.
• Swift Flurry will no longer recursively proc infinitely.
• Characters should no longer get stuck in loading animations.
• Summoned Creature spells now benefit from the Quick Summoning passive.

SPOILER - SPOILER - SPOILER

Companions/Crew

• Eder & Xoti no longer repeat the same banter over and over.
• Pallegina now leaves the party if the player allies with the Royal Deadfire Company through accepting the quest "Final Maneuvers".
• Maia no longer leaves the party if the player declines to help the VTC blow up the Rauatai Powder House.
• Harker's conversation can no longer be exploited to gain positive Companion reputation infinitely.
• Companion interjections now trigger properly and allow Ydwin to be recruitable.
• Serafen's recruitment window now properly opens when asked, "What can you do for me?".
• Eder's Strong-Souled ability now has an icon.
• Fixed an issue where a companion could be alive when the player made a custom POE1 history saying they'd sacrificed that companion to the Blood Pool.
• Finishing Pallegina's conversation in Ukaizo now returns to addressing your remaining companions.
• Finishing Serafen's conversation in Ukaizo now returns to addressing your remaining companions.
• Mirke is no longer so drunk as to be naked with a human body.
• Players stop receiving infinite farewell letters from Maia if they had told her that Kana had been sacrificed to the Blood Pool in Pillars I.
• Fassina now uses her custom personality animation.
• Companion relationship conversations will now trigger at a slower pace.

Quest Issues

• The quest "A Distant Light" is now added to the quest log upon reaching Hasongo if it hasn't been obtained otherwise.
• Fixed an issue where the quest "Fruitful Alliance" was not obtainable from Queen Onekaza if they had already resolved the conflicts at Ori o Koiki.
• Fixed an issue where the quest "Fruitful Alliance" was not updating properly if the player dealt with the slavers at Crookspur before talking to Ruasare at Ori o Koiki.
• Fixed an issue so that quest rewards for "Fruitful Alliance" can no longer be obtained infinitely and the quest "Taking Out The Traders" can be obtained normally.
• "Sealed Fate" now fails if Degnos dies before quest is completed.
• The quest "Lost Dues in Good Faith" can now be obtained from Kahn by talking to her again if players declined before.
• Players can now turn in "A Shrewd Proposition" to Furrante if they have already started "Honor Among Thieves".
• Players can now turn in "A Shrewd Proposition" to Aeldys if they have already started "Honor Among Thieves".
• Fixed an issue where the quest "Clearing Out the Crookspur" was incorrectly being completed successfully when the failure conditions were triggered.
• Malnaj is no longer attacked by her own crew during the quest "A Sorcerer and a Gentleman".
• The Brawler's conversation now only triggers once in the Undercroft if the player spoke to Mad Morena first.
• Players can now complete "Velvet Glove, Brass Fist" if they stole the gloves from Bertenno. The bug previously prevented players from being able to recruit Fassina.
• "The Last Sanctuary" now properly fails if Queen Onekaza is killed.
• When asked to pay more for the medicine, "Harsh Medicine" will now properly complete.
• Players can now complete "The Courier's Calling" if they hadn't talked to Tuaha before killing her.
• The quest "Dirty Laundry" now properly fails if Director Castol is banished before the player has turned it in.
• The grimoires obtained during the quest "The Lost Grimoires" no longer disappear from vendors if the player has sold them.

And yes, there's more! Too much, in fact! If you'd like to learn more about the combat and class changes, you can check out part II of the huge patch update notes right here.