2nd Edition XP vs 3rd Edition XP

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Which do people prefer?

In 2nd edition you get the same XP for killing a group of enemies at 1st level as you would at 20th level. And when you kill a really powerful enemy you get a massive XP bonus.

In 3rd edition you get no XP for killing really weak enemies (although in IWD2 you'd be hard pressed to find any "weak" enemies) and many are the times you win a really difficult fight and get nothing or next to nothing for it. And then there are the times when you get the better of a really might enemy and get sod all in the way of XP for it.

So which do people prefer - 2nd or 3rd?

 

I would have preferred 3rd E xp done properly The rules say you do get xps for killing a large group of lowish level monsters but IWD2 does not seem to implement this. This results in the crazy situation 2/3 thru the game where you are getting nothing for hacking your way through a tough scrap with a a dozen yuan-ti warriors and mages; and yet you get ~3000xp for killing a demon with a single blow without getting a scratch.

 

I think the EXP-systems is responsible for the most important weakness of Icewind Dale II.

With this relative EXP-Sytem, it's pretty complicated to calculate the "strength" of the enemy. In Baldurs Gate, that worked pretty well. With the fix EXP-System, they knew, then and then, the group will approx. have level 10, therefore the enemies must have this strengh.

I don't think an application of the relative EXP-system for CPRG's is impossible. ID2 is just a huge failure in this area. They keep the EXP-artifically low by not giving more EXP. So, a lot of the Game is sensless hacking versus to easy opponents which yield no EXP.

The first chapter is brilliant. The last chapter is brilliant too. But somewhere in between, they keep the EXP-low, because otherwise the end-fight would be far to easy. And the enemies are mostly just not ballanced enough, i.e. too easy.