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Strategic Tea posted:Come to think of it, one of the political themes of the books is that the Northern Kingdoms just aren't viable any more. Just out of living memory, when they were warrior kings carving civilisation into the wilderness, Temeria etc made sense. One of the common misconceptions about the Witcher's setting is that it's a Medieval crapsack world , when it's actually an Early Modern crapsack world.
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Mar 6, 2016 20:57
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 18:11 |
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Most of the quests that characterized the Nilfgaardians as maybe not the most enlightened people in the world, got cut. The remainders of that questline are Eye for an Eye (significantly reduced from design), Patrol Gone Missing, and Blood Ties. Coincidentally, all mine, though I don't think they were my best work; and divorced from the main quest most people never even see them. In Eye for an Eye, the Nilfgaardians were in that village to kill the people who helped the Temerian partisans escape Velen. Which is fair in war, I suppose, though the original design was for them to be in the village capturing slaves. (I must admit, the slavery thing was not *my* design, and I'm glad it got removed.) in Patrol Gone Missing there is a hidden event that probably 99% of people never see that reveals that the Nilfgaardians were executing prisoners of war. In Blood Ties, the dwarf "coachman" for the noblewoman is actually a slave, though it's never explicitly mentioned.
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Mar 6, 2016 22:40
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:in Patrol Gone Missing there is a hidden event that probably 99% of people never see that reveals that the Nilfgaardians were executing prisoners of war. I don't know if that's the case. Finding the dead prisoners was how I stumbled on to that quest and eventually that whole military camp. It's so far out there, that I never meant to go. I also think there's that quest where you train one of those twins that paints them in a bad light.
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Mar 7, 2016 04:53
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The Nilfgaards are utterly ruthless but they're also cultured and bring a lot of order wherever they go. They're like the Romans - gently caress with them and you'll regret it but not bad to live under. Of course you can make the argument that even though they are good to live under it's hosed up that they instigate huge wars to acquire more territory. Yes the North might be better under their rule in the future but is that worth the tons of deaths required to make it happen?
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Mar 7, 2016 05:34
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It's almost like human beings can be real assholes.
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Mar 7, 2016 06:11
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Arcsquad12 posted:It's almost like human beings can be real assholes. I agree. Another good argument for why Dwarves should take over. 
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Mar 7, 2016 07:27
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What the game needs is not more examples of Nilfgaardians being assholes, but rather some examples of non-Nilgaardians being not-assholes. There's a strong temptation to just throw up your hands and say "Rot everybody."
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Mar 7, 2016 08:31
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Shaman Ooglaboogla posted:I don't know if that's the case. Finding the dead prisoners was how I stumbled on to that quest and eventually that whole military camp. It's so far out there, that I never meant to go. I also think there's that quest where you train one of those twins that paints them in a bad light. Im definitely part of the 99% Where is that?
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Mar 7, 2016 09:39
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fickle poofterist posted:Im definitely part of the 99% Far southeastern of the map is a huge Nilfgaardian military camp. There are two quests there. In Patrol Gone Missing after you fight the wyvern, keep investigating the area.
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Mar 7, 2016 10:07
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I stumbled across that by accident also, i think i picked up a scent rail or footprints that was nothing to do with my currently active quest. So maybe more than 1% found it.
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Mar 7, 2016 12:24
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Shannow posted:I stumbled across that by accident also, i think i picked up a scent rail or footprints that was nothing to do with my currently active quest. So maybe more than 1% found it. One of my goals for that quest was that you could stumble on it if you are in the area and never need to visit the questgiver, so yeah, more people might have seen it. Still, divorced from the larger nilfgaardian army quest stuff it's very isolated.
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Mar 7, 2016 12:32
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Thats all good and well (stumbling across footprints etc) but whenever I do I am worried Ill stuff up the story elsewhere or fail a mission or something Edit: Like i did when i stumbled across the DLC Where The Wolf and the Cat play. I wasnt ready for that, so I ran off but got a fail message. lilbeefer fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Mar 7, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 13:00
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I just got Phillipa out of the bathhouse and decided to bargain with our potato-shaped spy captain by telling him what Emhyr is after, and Geralt began an insane ramble about a personal conversation about abdication that never happened. I’m guessing he’s referring to the conversation that would have happened if I’d dragged Ciri before the Emperor instead of going to Bald Mountain, which is a surprising oversight, this game’s usually really good about reactivity.
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Mar 7, 2016 13:13
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This game is so good. Seriously. For my second run through, I went death march but decided to alter the story as I see fit. I answered some questions differently at Vizima, and I completely unexpectedly came across Lethos in a quest that changed a fair bit from the first time I did it. This is probably common knowledge now but it was a very nice surprise to me. Fall of House Reardon. I was a bit weirded out by all the booby traps, but thought maybe it was some strange addition to the death march difficulty. Still my favourite game ever, no hyperbole. Rogue quest-bugging footprints or no
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Mar 7, 2016 13:27
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I just got Phillipa out of the bathhouse and decided to bargain with our potato-shaped spy captain by telling him what Emhyr is after, and Geralt began an insane ramble about a personal conversation about abdication that never happened. I’m guessing he’s referring to the conversation that would have happened if I’d dragged Ciri before the Emperor instead of going to Bald Mountain, which is a surprising oversight, this game’s usually really good about reactivity. Pretty sure that Nilfgaardian General also mentions it at one point even if you didn't take Ciri to Emhyr. Could be wrong though. e:I think it might also be mentioned in a letter from Fringilla to Yen that you can find after your first audience with Emhyr. You're right though, you could potentially miss all three, WhiskeyWhiskers fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Mar 7, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 13:29
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I just got Phillipa out of the bathhouse and decided to bargain with our potato-shaped spy captain by telling him what Emhyr is after, and Geralt began an insane ramble about a personal conversation about abdication that never happened. I’m guessing he’s referring to the conversation that would have happened if I’d dragged Ciri before the Emperor instead of going to Bald Mountain, which is a surprising oversight, this game’s usually really good about reactivity. Ha, I assumed Geralt was just bullshiting
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Mar 7, 2016 13:45
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fickle poofterist posted:Thats all good and well (stumbling across footprints etc) but whenever I do I am worried Ill stuff up the story elsewhere or fail a mission or something We put a lot of effort into preventing sequence breaking, you shouldn't worry too much.
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Mar 7, 2016 13:50
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:We put a lot of effort into preventing sequence breaking, you shouldn't worry too much. I really am not worried. The game is incredible. There have been times though where I stumble across red outlined clues and suddenly a quest I didnt even now about gets updated, stuff like that isn't game breaking whatsoever, but can still be a little jarring.
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Mar 7, 2016 14:12
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Question: I might be experiencing some Déja Vu. I had to reload a save and I ended up doing the Freya's Garden quest with Yennefer twice. The first time I went through it, there was a conversation about taking our findings to Emhyr after the quest ended. However, after I had to reload the save, I didn't get that conversation and instead only got it after finishing The Last Wish and teleporting back to Yen's room at the inn. I think the only difference was that the second time, I agreed to go straight to Larvik with Yen rather than saying I'd meet her there later. Was that intended or did I just get a weird conversation at the wrong time?
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Mar 7, 2016 15:23
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Did anyone else have a tax collector approach them during the endgame and ask completely random, non-sensical questions? I just said yes to everything and ended up having to pay 1000 crowns.  I looked it up afterwards, and that's a pretty neat little easter egg. Was never around for those original glitches, though.
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Mar 7, 2016 18:22
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I don't think I ever saw that one. Where does it happen? I guess that's what people were talking about earlier when they said witchers are classified as pest exterminators for tax purposes?
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Mar 7, 2016 18:57
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^^^^^^^I think it was added as an easter egg in one of the patches after people complained about making too much money or something.qbert posted:Did anyone else have a tax collector approach them during the endgame and ask completely random, non-sensical questions? I just said yes to everything and ended up having to pay 1000 crowns. You made the right choice as far as Im concerned. Being honest and paying the 1000 nets you 150~ xp, which unlike money is in short supply once you have answered most of the question marks.
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Mar 7, 2016 19:03
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Sindai posted:I don't think I ever saw that one. Where does it happen? It happens in Novigrad. I'm not sure if you need the HoS dlc or not for it to trigger. The questions he asks are related to crown farming glitches people used when the game first came out, but I think all of them have been patched by now.
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Mar 7, 2016 19:06
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twistedmentat posted:I hate having a ? I cannot discover. There are two in the mountains of Skellige that are inside, but I cannot figure out how to get there. I figure that its part of a quest. As probably the only person to do all the ?s in this thread, I know which two you're talking about because they were 2 of my last 3. One was in actually a hidden room in a plot gated area so it just took forever to find even when I returned.
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Mar 7, 2016 22:05
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Pffft I did all the question marks and I'm sure many others also did. I just didn't stop to loot those smuggler caches but I did uncover them all on the map.
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Mar 7, 2016 22:23
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Palpek posted:Pffft I did all the question marks and I'm sure many others also did. I just didn't stop to loot those smuggler caches but I did uncover them all on the map. That's what I'm talking about. All PoIs. 
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Mar 7, 2016 22:28
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I also found pretty much all of the ? On the map. Some are underground. Happy to help!
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Mar 7, 2016 22:40
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Am I mad for thinking of doing new game+ on death march and not fast travelling? Kinda wonder how many little quests I missed by bouncing from travel post to travel post.
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Mar 7, 2016 22:40
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Palpek posted:Pffft I did all the question marks and I'm sure many others also did. I just didn't stop to loot those smuggler caches but I did uncover them all on the map. I did, which is why I had enought money to level the Ruinsmith to max without going out and farming. The most annoying this is I never managed to find Enhanced versions of any of the Witcher sets other than ursine, and I found ever cache, hidden treasure, war spoils and everything on the map, Even the places the guides said to go for them, they weren't there, just other treasure. One thing I do know when I play against is to loot as much stuff as possible early on. There were a ton of swords and armor that would have been great at early levels, but I didn't bother doing them until I was level 38. Looting the smugglers caches was way easier when i got the indestructible boat mod. Just watched a movie while sailing around Skellige and collecting poo poo.
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Mar 7, 2016 22:43
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twistedmentat posted:I did, which is why I had enought money to level the Ruinsmith to max without going out and farming. The most annoying this is I never managed to find Enhanced versions of any of the Witcher sets other than ursine, and I found ever cache, hidden treasure, war spoils and everything on the map, Even the places the guides said to go for them, they weren't there, just other treasure. One thing I do know when I play against is to loot as much stuff as possible early on. There were a ton of swords and armor that would have been great at early levels, but I didn't bother doing them until I was level 38. The Enhanced sets are in set places not in random places though?
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Mar 7, 2016 22:48
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JetsGuy posted:The Enhanced sets are in set places not in random places though? Yea, that's what I thought from reading the guide. But for example, I went to the little island just below the Tower of Mice island where Enhanced Feline armor was supposed to be, opened the chest I found and inside there was crafting materials and a mid teens level silver sword, but no pattern. I wonder if you have to have the quest activated for them to show up?
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Mar 7, 2016 22:52
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Nah, they should be static and trigger the relevant quest - I know bear set definitely did in that troll cave with cocksucking Thaler.
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Mar 7, 2016 23:35
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Yeah, I've definitely stumbled across armor sets without having the quest in the first place, it's a thing. Those items are in the world from the beginning.
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Mar 7, 2016 23:48
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twistedmentat posted:Yea, that's what I thought from reading the guide. But for example, I went to the little island just below the Tower of Mice island where Enhanced Feline armor was supposed to be, opened the chest I found and inside there was crafting materials and a mid teens level silver sword, but no pattern. I wonder if you have to have the quest activated for them to show up? You may have been looking at a bad guide, none of the Enhanced Feline gear is located on that island. Edit: You may be thinking of Enhanced Wolven Armor, which is located around there, in which case a) maybe you forgot to download the free dlc for that, or b) I remember there being multiple chests underwater in that area and you may have opened the wrong one.
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Mar 7, 2016 23:54
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qbert posted:You may have been looking at a bad guide, none of the Enhanced Feline gear is located on that island. The chests with the armor diagrams definitely have the quest highlight to them different from the generic yellow/orange loot highlight.
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Mar 8, 2016 00:24
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qbert posted:You may have been looking at a bad guide, none of the Enhanced Feline gear is located on that island. Oops, yea it was probably Wolven, but I had the master crafted patterns for all the sets, just missing enhanced.
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Mar 8, 2016 00:40
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fickle poofterist posted:Im definitely part of the 99% If you travel from the southern part of Velen south of Fyke Isle towards that large camp thing in the bottom right you'll be in a forest. Eventually you will come across some tracks. Follow them and there's a cave you can see that starts a mission.
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Mar 8, 2016 00:48
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:One of my goals for that quest was that you could stumble on it if you are in the area and never need to visit the questgiver, so yeah, more people might have seen it. Still, divorced from the larger nilfgaardian army quest stuff it's very isolated. Wish that was a hidden achievement or something because I swear I caught that part of the quest but don't even remember enough to be sure I did that. I didn't even realize that it was not expected to be discovered fully because I figured a lot of people would go hunting around the site just as instinct to use witcher senses and presumed it was expected that most would get it sort of like the questline for finding Priscilla's attacker. Capn Beeb posted:Am I mad for thinking of doing new game+ on death march and not fast travelling?
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Mar 8, 2016 01:40
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So in NG+, all my alchemy formulas are gone? So, will I be stuck using normal swallow again in the beginning, instead of superior? Also, I'm really scratching my head figuring out how to build Geralt's skills. It seems like once you hit lvl 39ish, aside from occasionally finding better swords, you're already as powerful as you're going to become, since you only have 12 skill slots and 4 mutagen slots. On the one hand, I'm glad that most of the skills are rather unique instead of some of them just being upgrades of earlier skills, but on the other hand that also means that most of the skills you equip become so fundamental that replacing them with another skill later down the line seems unthinkable. Melee build 3 Greater Red Mutagens 1 Greater Blue Mutagen This was the second build, I used mostly for the late-game HoS content (Since it took me that long anyway to get enough red mutagens) It's rather a glass cannon, as I was trying to focus everything on increasing my DPS, hence cat-school gear and Cat School techniques. Quen was my last resort 'poo poo, I need some health' skills, but my sign intensity wasn't particularly high so it would only be able to absord 2-3 hits at best, and against bosses would usually shatter and injure me for about as much as I gained anyway. It's extremely poweful combined with health-regenerating decoctions, but the stamina regeneration is rather slow, limiting sign use in combat. At best I'd be able to put a Quen on myself every now and then, as I'd be saving my stamina for Whirl (and occasionally Rend) anyway. Human enemies weren't an issue, since I'd put the Ignition glyph from the Runesmith on my Cat Armour, so even a weak Igni spell would still incapacitate large crowds, allowing me to run in and Whirl them to pieces in most cases. (Ignition was particularly useful against enemies with shields, since they are ignited from the direction of their allies, not you, so in most cases the shield would not prevent them from going up in flames with the rest) It was a fun build for killing mobs of enemies, but it was difficult to fight many of the bosses, since a few hits would critically injure or outright kill me, and the slow stamina regeneration meant I couldn't rely on my signs for defense as much. The slower stamina rengeration also mean that dodging was more difficult, since I was much more cautious with my stamina management. If you combine this with Decoctions, it's an absolutely terrifying build, since you can easily make up for it's fragility with extra vitality or stamina regeneration, but you won't be able to heal without exceeding your toxicity threshold. Sign Build 3 Greater Blue Mutagens 1 Greater Red This was the build I played most throughout the game, and is the most forgiving. I forget exactly how high my sign intensity was, but it was nearing 200% depending on the runes I had equipped (most of which were boosting Igni). I wasn't able to deliver nearly as much damage with the sword as the melee build, but the stamina regeneration was such that I was able to rely on other means of staying alive. Again, I would use Cat Armour with the Ignition Rune, so setting crowds on fire was always an option (I could keep this up pretty much perpetually, though that made for rather boring fights), plus the Cat Armour + Cat School techniques would give a decent damage bonus to melee. I almost never used Yrden except for the occasional ghost or vampire, and only used Aard to bust up walls and doors, so I never bothered to upgrade them. Quen could absorb a tremendous amount of damage, and is borderline overpowered, since you can come back from near death almost instantly. On many bosses or larger monsters, I was able to stunlock them with Firestream and let burning damage do it's thing while I regenerated. This is much more of a general purpose build, and is much more forgiving than the melee build. You can take a lot of hits and regenerate quickly, so it's very forgiving if you gently caress up and need to huddle in a Quen bubble for a while. Igni will either incapacitate crowds, firestream will stunlock most tougher enemies, and if you can keep your distance you can use Axii to mind control enemies back to back (though this often bugged out on me- some enemies would often still target and run towards me, but wouldn't be able to deal damage, rather than attack one another). I think for NG+ I'll probably combine the build and split the difference down the middle - 2 Greater Red, 2 Greater Blue, enough so that I can take advantage of whirl while still keeping decent stamina regeneration.
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Mar 8, 2016 01:46
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The blade oil talents are really baller on NG+. Poison is % of max HP damage and I'm not sure how the -20% damage taken stacks with armor and such but it is a VERY noticeable increase in mitigation.
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Mar 8, 2016 03:49
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