POLL: Experience in IWD 2

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Experience gained is based on the average level of the party.
This invites players to "squat": one or more characters in the party are deliberately kept at a low level for a long time.

What do you think of squatting?
Do you squat?

Note that the poll has another question: "Does the experience system need fixing?"

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 26 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Experience in IWD 2 (26 votes.)

Does the experience system need fixing? (Choose 1)
* Yes - 54% (14)
* No - 46% (12)

 

I did the biggest squat possible with my HOF game, 1 level 24 char followed by level 1 chars. At least I get real xp this way. 12000xp for 1 Maralite priest is worth the squat....

No I don't feel guilty, why should I?

 

Funny, you brought up the guilt part on your own. I wonder why?
Anyway, I agree that you have no reason to feel guilty about squatting if you think the xp system in the game is screwed up.

Edited:
Four people have voted that the xp system does not need fixing. It would be nice to see a motivation for this.

[ November 15, 2002, 16:14: Message edited by: Earl Grey ]

 

I think the XP system in IWD2 is faulty, but I don't think it should be fixed.

It's faulty because:
- It's not reasonable to have level 1 chars reach level 15 just after a month or two of adventuring.
- It's not reasonable not to get any xp from fighting after some time. Excercise is always good and should be rewarded with xp, especially since the creatures you fight are different and use different fighting techniques. New experiences should give xp points. Logical.
- XP from quests should increase as xp from defeating enemies decreases, if the quest involved defeating many enemies or new enemy types or solving some puzzle, etc... (not fed-ex quests, and these would then be no longer needed, as they're only there to give you some xp later in the game when you're not getting any from fights).
- There could be other reasons why the system is faulty.

I don't think it should be changed, simply because this game is playable and enjoyable the way it is. Not everything should be perfect, and not everything should resemble everything else. This is a strange game that stands separate from other games as far as monster killing difficulty and xp is concerned. It's good to have such different examples/references to compare with, or for developers of future games. If all games behaved the same way, they would quickly become boring I think.

[ November 15, 2002, 17:05: Message edited by: Quint ]

 

First you must know that I haven't voted and I won't vote.

However, I think that for the sakes of this topic I must post that there are three reported XP "faults" that sometimes don't grant XP:
- yuan-ti
- instant kill spells
- wounding effect imbued weapons

I'm unsure if any of those are bugs as I've not seen any official confirmation on it. It's now on you to say if you think these three need to be changed or not.

[ November 15, 2002, 21:16: Message edited by: Extremist ]

 

so YOU are Extremist!!!!!!

And where is my patched Remove Paralysis spell?

 

I expected that I would be told to be ashamed of myself for exploiting the game and thus should feel guilty about it, in the same way that I should feel guilty about rescuing the peasants to get xp and then going back and slaughtering them to get their cash...

No I don't feel guilty about level squatting since I have a party of 6, 2 are on level 28 and the rest level 1. I just like xp. And as Quint said above, it is lame to get 0 xp after smashing your way into an armed fortress and wasing thousands of hordlings. Lame.

Quint, what is fed-ex referring to?

 

Actually I wanted to say that simple silly quests should not exist towards the end of the game, like those mini quests in the Severed Hand, each giving 750 xp. What will 750 do by that time? 75000 is more like it. But it would be strange and not at all plausible to give that kind of xp for those silly mini-quests.

 

I still don't have the confirmation on stun nor Remove Paralysis, so altering it can only be taken as a tweak so far.
Be patient.

 

Simply make a new experience table ( really easy, did it myself )

 

Got my HoF party of level squatters to level 30 just before walking up the stairs inside the Goblin Horde Fortress. I noticed that I still get xp eventhough everyone is level 30. That is such a relief, since I now know that I would always get xp in HoF mode right to the end no matter the level. I am definitely playing HoF normally with my party from the second run through now. It shoudl be much easier too...

 

Squating's fine if you don't want to get attached to your own characters. For me, I would much rather see my characters "mature", even though some battles are especially tough for lower-level parties. 'cause it's like at the end of the game day, my babies are all grown up and killing people. *grin*

 

Having a lvl-1 character in your lvl-10 party can be a real nuisance, it's hard to keep him alive sometimes, once hit and he's history ... on the other hand, taking care of him makes you earn your xp the really hard way

Just try to guide a char with 14 hitpoints through the forrest near the wandering village and keep him alive once you ran out of sanctuary spells and you know what I mean ...

[ November 18, 2002, 14:24: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

FYI HoF starts acting just like normal mode as you move on. I'm in Chapter 4/HoF with 5 level 23 characters, and it seems like half the monsters give me no xp, and lots of them are paying out in the 200's. (For example Hook Horrors give me nothing, Guardian Hook Horrors give me 264 or so...)
I do not squat, not for moral purposes, but it just seems annoying to have to babysit the weak characters. I have enough trouble keeping my sorcerer alive! I already have to sacrifice one to two characters in almost every battle.
Squatting probably works better in normal mode.

 

Curious. Let us know what types of creatures give some xp as you move on. I sort of wrongly assumed that since I was level 30 and getting xp off orcs, that I would still get something for everything.

Send in a list of monsters that give xp so we can look forward to something. Thanks in advance.

 

IMO the best character short of levels probably is a deep gnome monk, give him high dex and wis and just a few minor items and he'll have an decent AC.

My deep gnome monk was in the drider underdark, still level-1, when he was attacked by 3 driders. He just casted invisibility and the show was over. Eventually I decided to allow him to level up slowly as a broken order monk, another healer - scout.