Should the experience cap in Shadows of Amn be restored to maintain balance
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- Should the experience cap in Shadows of Amn be restored to maintain balance101 votes
- Yes restore the original Exp Cap for Shadows of Amn25.74%
- No leave the Throne of Bhaal Exp Cap in Shadows of Amn52.48%
- I enjoy eating Quattro Formaggi Pizza3.96%
- Boo, when was the last time you had a bath?12.87%
- None of the above4.95%
1
Comments
The problem being, you can enter the expansion content in any order at anytime. Which is the same with Watchers Keep.
Again, most players will never hit the XP cap for ToB, and many players won't even hit the original SoA cap.
What you are saying is you were intended to play SoA up to Jon Irenicus with 2.95 million xp originally.
I'm saying you were intended to beat Saverok with 89,000 xp originally.
Unless you are soloing you shouldn't get very far above 2.95 million xp without Watchers Keep anyway.
What is it that breaks the game between 2.95 and 8 million that isn't so game breaking between 89,000 and 161,000 (given that the odds of you hitting 8 million in a party of 6 before the end of SoA isn't that high so REALLY we are talking about the difference in something like 2.95 and 4-5 million)? I'm assuming it is the HLAs. If your main point revolves around the HLAs which SoA wasn't balanced for I could see asking that the HLAs be limited to working only in Watchers Keep and in ToB. I'd be against that but I'm just trying to get to the heart of why you think a character is going to be overpowered by the end of SoA, assuming a party of 6 and not visiting Watchers Keep, and that a character with with 161,000 xp isn't overpowered for a end game fight balanced for 89,000 xp.
EDIT: In addition, reaching past 2.23 million XP requires a strenuous amount of grinding.. Granted, I've not played a solo BGII campaign, but I've played the 2nd one three times, and the experience felt balanced. In a sense, don't punish players who want to grind because if you don't want to move past the level cap, have a 6 player party as intended.
That being said I don't mind there being XP cap like there isn't now with ToB installed. It does make Irenicus ridiculously easy but that's fine for many people. I would like an option in the UI though to reinstate the 2.95mil SoA xp cap for those people looking for balanced and challeging playthrough. My favorite option would be an option to slow xp gain by 20-30%.
Remember that werebears are overpowered!
/THREAD
Wouldn't the problem with the cap being 2.95mil up to the Irenicus battle be if you went to Watchers Keep during SoA?
So doesn't that actually make the question, "Yes restore the original EXp Cap for Shadows of Amn AND make Watchers Keep only accessible during ToB."
enforcing the original level caps (19 fighter/barbarian, 14 druid, 16 paladin/ranger, 23 bard/thief, 17 mage/sorcerer, 21 Cleric/monk, Duo-classes (13 fighter, 13 mage, 16 thief, 14 cleric, 12 ranger, 13 druid), or triple-class (12 mage, 11 fighter, 12 cleric, 14 thief) rather then the xp cap, would allow you to continue to grind xp, that once you reached ToB could be used to level up immediately.
This would also give dual-class a much needed shot in the arm, since you could gain a slight advantage over M-C until ToB started. M-C would still ultimately be stronger, but it wouldn't be such an easy and clear cut decision.
The overall dynamic wouldn't change as much overall, but some classes, such as the Skald would retain their edge and usefulness much longer, staying an excellent party buffer through all of SoA, instead of merely to 3 mil xp.
You know...I just realized...BG2's original cap doesn't allow a Multiclassed druid to acquire the druid stronghold...haha..that is actually awesome, and somewhat PnP accurate. (Multiclass druids can't go above 13, since levels 14-16 are tied to the druid hierarchy, which only single class, or dual-classed into druids can participate in...winning the druid grove changes your class to Great Druid, which a multi-class isn't supposed to be able to be).
Not that it really matters...as several people (myself included) have found, you can beat BG2 and ToB with a 161,000 xp cap, rather easily as a party, some classes can even solo with that cap in place (though I refuse to count anyone who uses exploits or cheese in that count, since they're unnecessary and undermine primary purpose of the challenge). It's more the gear and the tactics you use, rather then your levels that determine if you win or die.
But I digress, to even remotely begin justifying such a proposition you'd need to vastly expand ToB. Throne of Bhaal alone doesn't give all that much opportunity to test out your new skills where as SoA has plenty of side-quests and story quests to explore long after you have reached your limit. Even if this were done, why limit how much a character can learn just because he has not got to a point you feel is fair on the enemy? At the point you can destroy enemies with ease you've already taken time and effort to get where you are, why shouldn't you be able to floor enemies like a badass. The experience is still there but it takes a great deal of effort to level-up when fighting worthy opponents let alone those your lesser. Its not like your cheating any systems here.
No, its not a good idea. Infact I would go so far as to say it is the exact opposite of what is desirable. The possibility of gaining immense power and using it is one of the major driving forces behind fighting difficult battles. Without that, why bother? No, what is desirable is more. Stronger enemies, harder quests. Broader horizons. More extreme battles. More power to gain. More to lose. More. Not less.