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At present, Divine achievement-counters can be incremented only by:
- landing the killing blow on a Monster with an Orison cast through one's Focus, or
- performing either of two appropriately-typed Escalation activitiesEscalations are, in my experience, very much group-related activities, as the monsters seem to appear in larger packs, and those packs in higher densities. For someone still building a support-network in-game, that might leave only doing damage as an option.
My question was off topic in the other thread, so I moved it here. Sorry about that.
I don't usually follow the messageboards or the GW blog, so apologies for all the questions. I've had a lot since I started playing the Alpha, and I've been trying to search to see if they've already been answered before posting.
I did see the escalation activities. I think one was related to blessing items and another to converting...something. I can't log into the game now and don't remember the exact titles. But I don't know what it means or how to complete them.
Does anyone know what you need to do to for these achievements?
Goblin Squad Member
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No need to apologize :)
We ALL have lots of questions.
The Escalation activities are like quests: you go to the spot on the map and interact with something in order to suppress the escalation (usually after having defeated the enemies at the spot).
Example (cuz I can see how that could be confusing):
In the Razzmiran cultists Escalation, when you defeat the cultists, sometimes you find their 'holy' books (or some-such thing), and if you bring the books to a fire (specific fire indicated on the map) and burn the book, you gain an achievement.
As for the divine escalation achievements, I am not exactly sure of the details like 'how many opportunities are there to gain Divine in an escalation' as of the current build.
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No need to apologize :)
In the Razzmiran cultists Escalation, when you defeat the cultists, sometimes you find their 'holy' books (or some-such thing), and if you bring the books to a fire (specific fire indicated on the map) and burn the book, you gain an achievement.
As for the divine escalation achievements, I am not exactly sure of the details like 'how many opportunities are there to gain Divine in an escalation' as of the current build.
I think I see what you mean. Would you only find the holy books at the end of defeating the entire escalation, or is that something you can find when you take out a single camp/group of cultists?
I think one of the divine achievements says "Bless item to complete escalation." So in your example, perhaps you can find some item to bless? Like a cursed artifact?
The last couple days, we have been exploring near the town(not sure of it's name) SE of Thornkeep, and I think there's a pretty big escalation happening in that area. Lots of "broken" enemies like broken archers, broken wolves, etc. So if anyone's looking for one, head there!
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Goblin Squad Member
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Kindleburn's southeast of Thornkeep.
You'll probably find highly-advanced escalations in lots of places by now. On your minimap, you'll've noticed there a symbol at 10 o'clock on the outside ring that tells you the type of hex you're in; if you're near an escalation, you'll see a second symbol to the right of the hex-type one.
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Kindleburn's southeast of Thornkeep.
Thanks! I can't make out any of the names on the map. I've seen town names mentioned on the boards, but haven't found a readable map of the Alpha area, so I'm not sure where most things are.
You'll probably find highly-advanced escalations in lots of places by now. On your minimap, you'll've noticed there a symbol at 10 o'clock on the outside ring that tells you the type of hex you're in; if you're near an escalation, you'll see a second symbol to the right of the hex-type one.
Right. I think I saw the escalation symbol in the PFO user guide that's on the Covenant of the Phoenix website. Oddly though I didn't notice it while I was playing. I think I was just too concerned with navigating through all the monster camps!
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Goblin Squad Member
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There is a red alert escalation at or near 100% NW and West of the central mountain town (Ossian's? Crossing). If I'm not mistaken the Ogres NW of Thornkeep are also 'red', close to 90% or greater.
I think the one by Crossing is a mad Druid and his wrathful hunters along with pack warriors (wolves). Interesting plants up there yield Pine, btw.
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Goblin Squad Member
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...haven't found a readable map of the Alpha area...
Here's the world map Ryan posted for us to use. The game runs just fine windowed, so you can Alt-Tab, or Taskbar-switch, to your heart's content to reference it while you play.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The last couple days, we have been exploring near the town(not sure of it's name) SE of Thornkeep, and I think there's a pretty big escalation happening in that area. Lots of "broken" enemies like broken archers, broken wolves, etc. So if anyone's looking for one, head there!
Yes, numerous hexes at 100% escalation status. Head there, but bring friends! I've recently decided to try the starter quests, which i had initially skipped and went there for that. And let me tell you, the nearest goblin to be found was on the very northern edge of the map,hex 00.-07, to be precise, deep in the northern mountain range! That is quite a walk from Kindleburn, and more so in your undies with a just a club, I imagine. All the hexes were overrun by either broken men, or nature's wrath further north, no room for measly goblins, anywhere. I can see how that would frustrate a newly-arrived player...
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Here's the world map Ryan posted for us to use. The game runs just fine windowed, so you can Alt-Tab, or Taskbar-switch, to your heart's content to reference it while you play.
Awesome, thank you! I can't access GW while at work, and I've not had much luck at home, so I haven't spent much time there.
This will be very handy to have.
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...haven't found a readable map of the Alpha area...Here's the world map Ryan posted for us to use. The game runs just fine windowed, so you can Alt-Tab, or Taskbar-switch, to your heart's content to reference it while you play.
And since the devs don't seem to mind sharing, here's a re-sampled to a higher resolution copy of the map. (The difference is pretty subtle, but it's been re-sampled bi-cubically, which preserves a bit of contrast when blowing it up.)
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think it is the hex control above the hex type icon, the one that gives you the info about the escalation when you hover your cursor over it.
Yes, that changes color sometimes, as well. But the background of the hex-type icon itself also sometimes turns red. I guess it must be a local problem with my computer, then.
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Goblin Squad Member
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... the background of the hex-type icon itself also sometimes turns red.
I believe this is actually intended to convey information about the challenge level of the mobs in the area. When we faced high-level Escalations in a prior Alpha build, I noticed the background was purple. I originally thought it was a graphics glitch, but it was consistent across multiple restarts, so I came to the conclusion that it was intentional and meant to convey meaningful information.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I can't access GW while at work, and I've not had much luck at home...
Perhaps the Dropbox link will be better.
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The following Escalation Events provide Divine Achievements (Blessed and Evangelist):
Skeletal Uprising: Shallow Graves (bless graves)
Skeletal Uprising: Empty Crowns (return skull piles to priest)
Razmiran Cultists: Sermon's End (rescue captive audience members)
Razmiran Cultists: Bless Graves (bless graves)
Not a lot, I know, but we'll add more as we add more escalations and events.
thanks, Bob. I'll just drop a reminder that it would be nice to have some more Cleric progression options from non-slaying activity.Specifically, from non-slaying-with-orisons activity.
Yeah, some planned features will help with this issue, and if necessary we'll look into additional ways to better balance the progression options for clerics.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Yeah, some planned features will help with this issue, and if necessary we'll look into additional ways to better balance the progression options for clerics.thanks, Bob. I'll just drop a reminder that it would be nice to have some more Cleric progression options from non-slaying activity.Specifically, from non-slaying-with-orisons activity.
Does killing monsters with spells from a divine focus (rather than orisons from a battle focus) create a second source of divine achievements ?
(I would experiment but all the spells I have learnt (bar one I just added) do not work with the intro focus and I have been told there is no refined silver being made in Alpha 8 yet to build a better focus)
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Goblin Squad Member
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Yeah, some planned features will help with this issue, and if necessary we'll look into additional ways to better balance the progression options for clerics.thanks, Bob. I'll just drop a reminder that it would be nice to have some more Cleric progression options from non-slaying activity.Specifically, from non-slaying-with-orisons activity.
The cleric community in the making thanks you.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The cleric community in the making thanks you.Yeah, some planned features will help with this issue, and if necessary we'll look into additional ways to better balance the progression options for clerics.thanks, Bob. I'll just drop a reminder that it would be nice to have some more Cleric progression options from non-slaying activity.Specifically, from non-slaying-with-orisons activity.
+1
Does killing monsters with spells from a divine focus (rather than orisons from a battle focus) create a second source of divine achievements ?
The plan is for casting spells from a holy symbol to count toward divine achievements, but I don't think it's in yet.
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From the latest release notes:
The Skeleton, Cultist and Elite Cultist Slayer Achievements now in the Divine category instead of the Adventure category.
Yup, snuck that into the build yesterday, in part because of this thread. Crowdforging FTW!
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Yup, snuck that into the build yesterday, in part because of this thread. Crowdforging FTW!From the latest release notes:
The Skeleton, Cultist and Elite Cultist Slayer Achievements now in the Divine category instead of the Adventure category.
I don't post much, but I'm glad my initial question led to some good discussion, which then contributed to some changes in the game.
@Bob Settles
I know it was already said, but again the cleric community thanks you.
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Yup, snuck that into the build yesterday, in part because of this thread. Crowdforging FTW!From the latest release notes:
The Skeleton, Cultist and Elite Cultist Slayer Achievements now in the Divine category instead of the Adventure category.
Awesome!
Is there any hope of having some kind of healing achievements chain?
If I am soloing I try to get divine achievements by finishing stuff off with my orisons, but I do a decent amount of healing in party, and it's a little frustrating that I don't get anything for it achievement wise.
Thanks!
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Goblin Squad Member
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I have no idea how it would be implemented exactly, but it feels odd to have my party members trying to save kills for me at the end of a fight so I can finish them with an orison so I can get badly needed divine achievements to progress as a cleric role because I don't get anything for healing or buffing. It just feels kind of awkward and contrived to me. The achievements seem to come much more naturally to the fighter and wizard roles.
Just my impressions so far.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I have no idea how it would be implemented exactly, but it feels odd to have my party members trying to save kills for me at the end of a fight so I can finish them with an orison so I can get badly needed divine achievements to progress as a cleric role because I don't get anything for healing or buffing. It just feels kind of awkward and contrived to me. The achievements seem to come much more naturally to the fighter and wizard roles.
Just my impressions so far.
Reminds me of a table top game I used to play that had the "kill shot" xp thing going and the high damage characters would leave bleeding victims for the "peace loving buff bot" to slit their throats.
Nobody thinks maces, clubs and hammers should be divine? All the fighters that specialize in those weapons fit in a phone booth.
Seems to me the issue is divine "kills" comes from only one, comparatively low dps weapon, the focus. I don't think you should create a system where the cleric gains achievements in a dramatically different ratio of kills/quests. Waiting for a complex buff counting party mechanic could both be exploitable and take a long time. The answer is pretty clearly to me, give the cleric another "kill shot" outlet with at least a medium dps line. Maces, morningstars, light hammers, clubs and slings are all imho, "cleric and druid weapons".
I'd like to hear at least one reason why not before I drop it.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I have no idea how it would be implemented exactly, but it feels odd to have my party members trying to save kills for me at the end of a fight so I can finish them with an orison so I can get badly needed divine achievements to progress as a cleric role because I don't get anything for healing or buffing. It just feels kind of awkward and contrived to me. The achievements seem to come much more naturally to the fighter and wizard roles.
Just my impressions so far.
Reminds me of a table top game I used to play that had the "kill shot" xp thing going and the high damage characters would leave bleeding victims for the "peace loving buff bot" to slit their throats.
Nobody thinks maces, clubs and hammers should be divine? All the fighters that specialize in those weapons fit in a phone booth.
Seems to me the issue is divine "kills" comes from only one, comparatively low dps weapon, the focus. I don't think you should create a system where the cleric gains achievements in a dramatically different ratio of kills/quests. Waiting for a complex buff counting party mechanic could both be exploitable and take a long time. The answer is pretty clearly to me, give the cleric another "kill shot" outlet with at least a medium dps line. Maces, morningstars, light hammers, clubs and slings are all imho, "cleric and druid weapons".
I'd like to hear at least one reason why not before I drop it.
I'm not sure that I am a fan of the whole short bow kills = subterfuge, long bow kills = martial, mace kills = divine approach, but I think it might be easier than the current system.
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I have no idea how it would be implemented exactly, but it feels odd to have my party members trying to save kills for me at the end of a fight so I can finish them with an orison so I can get badly needed divine achievements to progress as a cleric role because I don't get anything for healing or buffing. It just feels kind of awkward and contrived to me. The achievements seem to come much more naturally to the fighter and wizard roles.
Just my impressions so far.
Reminds me of a table top game I used to play that had the "kill shot" xp thing going and the high damage characters would leave bleeding victims for the "peace loving buff bot" to slit their throats.
Nobody thinks maces, clubs and hammers should be divine? All the fighters that specialize in those weapons fit in a phone booth.
Seems to me the issue is divine "kills" comes from only one, comparatively low dps weapon, the focus. I don't think you should create a system where the cleric gains achievements in a dramatically different ratio of kills/quests. Waiting for a complex buff counting party mechanic could both be exploitable and take a long time. The answer is pretty clearly to me, give the cleric another "kill shot" outlet with at least a medium dps line. Maces, morningstars, light hammers, clubs and slings are all imho, "cleric and druid weapons".
I'd like to hear at least one reason why not before I drop it.
Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
There is a myth that this was historical but it was not historical and there is no evidence historically that the Templars or Hospitallers or any other holy fighting order avoided swords.
In PFO with Alpha the main issue is blunt weapons do not drop often enough to train feats in when they only have 20 HP.
Longswords also have a low drop rate but the choice of longsword feats and the impress nature of some like whirlwind makes it worth the risk of running out of weapons if you die a lot.
That said, my Cleric is already Divine 6 (20 points) and well on his way to divine 7 (27 points) with the focus. Its not that hard to shoot the approaching wolf down to almost dead and then switch to Touch of Darkness to finish him off or whirlwind almost all the hitpoints off a mob and the quickly switch to the focus to finish them off.
Still some more options for clerics would be very welcome.
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Its not that hard to shoot the approaching wolf down to almost dead and then switch to Touch of Darkness to finish him off or whirlwind almost all the hitpoints off a mob and the quickly switch to the focus to finish them off.
Has this been effective in a group or are you running more solo? Sounds like it could be difficult in a group, for me at least, since your party members could steal that kill before you can finish with Touch of Darkness, or any other spell.
I know I am struggling to get kills in a group because the wizard is stealing most of them. Darn wizards! Just kidding... sort of.
I just posted in another thread that I've had more luck getting kills while soloing the small groups of 1-2 guys in a heavy escalation area than I did in a group.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
There is a myth that this was historical but it was not historical and there is no evidence historically that the Templars or Hospitallers or any other holy fighting order avoided swords.
Yeah, we know. Every version of the game has fed us a different flavor of manure for why Clerics can use the "ok" weapons and not the really good ones. So as long as we've established that it's tradition, why not again? But your example is exactly why Clerics need the blunt weapons to be divine. No other class is being asked to burn you down with something outside the category and then switch for the kill blow.
The martial line would never know it was missing but it would sure help divine.
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Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
Yes, I'm one who still has trouble thinking of a Cleric as using anything except a blunt weapon. There's no reason, though, a properly-wielded blunt weapon can't let plenty of blood, as my friends in the Society for Creative Anachronism have pointed out ad infinitum over the years.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
There is a myth that this was historical but it was not historical and there is no evidence historically that the Templars or Hospitallers or any other holy fighting order avoided swords.
Yeah, we know. Every version of the game has fed us a different flavor of manure for why Clerics can use the "ok" weapons and not the really good ones. So as long as we've established that it's tradition, why not again? But your example is exactly why Clerics need the blunt weapons to be divine. No other class is being asked to burn you down with something outside the category and then switch for the kill blow.
The martial line would never know it was missing but it would sure help divine.
I have no objections to blunt weapons being divine. The skeleton achievements being introduced next patch will help a lot.
The focus being doublehanded does not help. If it were single hand yuo could equip a mace or hammer in your off hand and pick up some nice feats like escape (evade 20 metres) or a shield with shield charge whilst still retaining the second slot for other weapons.
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Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
There is a myth that this was historical but it was not historical and there is no evidence historically that the Templars or Hospitallers or any other holy fighting order avoided swords.
Yeah, we know. Every version of the game has fed us a different flavor of manure for why Clerics can use the "ok" weapons and not the really good ones. So as long as we've established that it's tradition, why not again? But your example is exactly why Clerics need the blunt weapons to be divine. No other class is being asked to burn you down with something outside the category and then switch for the kill blow.
The martial line would never know it was missing but it would sure help divine.
I have no objections to blunt weapons being divine. The skeleton achievements being introduced next patch will help a lot.
The focus being doublehanded does not help. If it were single hand yuo could equip a mace or hammer in your off hand and pick up some nice feats like escape (evade 20 metres) or a shield with shield charge whilst still retaining the second slot for other weapons.
Agreed. A one handed focus would also help a lot.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
There is a myth that this was historical but it was not historical and there is no evidence historically that the Templars or Hospitallers or any other holy fighting order avoided swords.
Yeah, we know. Every version of the game has fed us a different flavor of manure for why Clerics can use the "ok" weapons and not the really good ones. So as long as we've established that it's tradition, why not again? But your example is exactly why Clerics need the blunt weapons to be divine. No other class is being asked to burn you down with something outside the category and then switch for the kill blow.
The martial line would never know it was missing but it would sure help divine.
I have no objections to blunt weapons being divine. The skeleton achievements being introduced next patch will help a lot.
The focus being doublehanded does not help. If it were single hand yuo could equip a mace or hammer in your off hand and pick up some nice feats like escape (evade 20 metres) or a shield with shield charge whilst still retaining the second slot for other weapons.
The escalation achievemenets are nice and dandy as "equalizers". I think its a great idea to make up for imbalances among the grind lines. But what I don't want to see is a situation where one class grinds by escalations while the other 3 grinds by kills. It can create a division between clerics and other classes when partying to grind. They have to be in the same ballpark on escalation/kill ratio.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The escalation achievemenets are nice and dandy as "equalizers". I think its a great idea to make up for imbalances among the grind lines. But what I don't want to see is a situation where one class grinds by escalations while the other 3 grinds by kills. It can create a division between clerics and other classes when partying to grind. They have to be in the same ballpark on escalation/kill ratio.
Gygax made the original D&D clerics use blunt weapons because of a tradition in high fantasy that clerics and priests would "refuse to spill blood" and hence avoid bladed weapons.
There is a myth that this was historical but it was not historical and there is no evidence historically that the Templars or Hospitallers or any other holy fighting order avoided swords.
Yeah, we know. Every version of the game has fed us a different flavor of manure for why Clerics can use the "ok" weapons and not the really good ones. So as long as we've established that it's tradition, why not again? But your example is exactly why Clerics need the blunt weapons to be divine. No other class is being asked to burn you down with something outside the category and then switch for the kill blow.
The martial line would never know it was missing but it would sure help divine.
I have no objections to blunt weapons being divine. The skeleton achievements being introduced next patch will help a lot.
The focus being doublehanded does not help. If it were single hand yuo could equip a mace or hammer in your off hand and pick up some nice feats like escape (evade 20 metres) or a shield with shield charge whilst still retaining the second slot for other weapons.
+1
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Goblin Squad Member
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Its not that hard to shoot the approaching wolf down to almost dead and then switch to Touch of Darkness to finish him off or whirlwind almost all the hitpoints off a mob and the quickly switch to the focus to finish them off.Has this been effective in a group or are you running more solo? Sounds like it could be difficult in a group, for me at least, since your party members could steal that kill before you can finish with Touch of Darkness, or any other spell.
I know I am struggling to get kills in a group because the wizard is stealing most of them. Darn wizards! Just kidding... sort of.
I just posted in another thread that I've had more luck getting kills while soloing the small groups of 1-2 guys in a heavy escalation area than I did in a group.
You get better achievements solo.
If there are no "boss" monsters I just charge straight into groups of up to 3 or 4 targets (6 or 7 if "recruits" or gobbos) and start dropping them with the battle focus. Keep an eye on your health and self heal. Having a long bow with parting shot equipped can provide a handy retreat.
If a boss monster is present I target him with a longbow and draw him towards me and finish him in melee with the focus then clean up the minions.
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Nobody thinks maces, clubs and hammers should be divine? All the fighters that specialize in those weapons fit in a phone booth.
I don't think the hammer-related weapons should be divine.
Clubs are simple weapons. They require no xp to be spent before use, so they are excellent weapons for commoners and experts who focus on training refining and crafting skills rather than the specialized adventurer stuff. Any swineherd, bandit recruit, or village idiot can pick up a stout stick. There's nothing particularly holy about the average stick or hammer, but they can be used for fighting and killing, and commoners need martial points, too.
Yup, snuck that into the build yesterday, in part because of this thread. Crowdforging FTW!From the latest release notes:
The Skeleton, Cultist and Elite Cultist Slayer Achievements now in the Divine category instead of the Adventure category.
Awesome!
Is there any hope of having some kind of healing achievements chain?
If I am soloing I try to get divine achievements by finishing stuff off with my orisons, but I do a decent amount of healing in party, and it's a little frustrating that I don't get anything for it achievement wise.Thanks!
Yes, but doing that properly is complicated, in much the same way that distributing credit throughout the party for specific-weapon kills is complicated.
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Yes, but doing that properly is complicated, in much the same way that distributing credit throughout the party for specific-weapon kills is complicated.Yup, snuck that into the build yesterday, in part because of this thread. Crowdforging FTW!From the latest release notes:
The Skeleton, Cultist and Elite Cultist Slayer Achievements now in the Divine category instead of the Adventure category.
Awesome!
Is there any hope of having some kind of healing achievements chain?
If I am soloing I try to get divine achievements by finishing stuff off with my orisons, but I do a decent amount of healing in party, and it's a little frustrating that I don't get anything for it achievement wise.Thanks!
Is it in the works? I get that healing is not everyone's thing, and you have a huge amount going on right now.
I have a lot going on IRL right now, and I find grinding for divine achievements tedious, time consuming, and frustrating.
my 2 CP