As Quartz points out it's true that when you use mods and are to dish out advice, you need to keep in mind the various versions of the game people might be playing. The flipside to that coin though is obviously that mod-using players will be aware of a lot of ways in which the game can be tailored to suit individual needs: threads about the xp cap (of which there are many) are basic examples of how vanilla players experience a frustration with a certain feature and express a desire to have more control over it. If such control is available by means of a mod, so much the better. It's not like it's a permanent alteration after all - if they find their game turns out worse for it, they can always remove the mod and go back to having an xp cap again.
Like other people have pointed out, with a full party BG1/EE is also virtually soft-capped in terms of xp anyway. And if it's challenge you're after, once more selecting the proper mods (SCS being perhaps the primary example) can deliver on that point too, and more so than in vanilla.
In the end, the only real drawback I see with mod usage is that you have to invest a fair amount of time to sift out the ones that you feel suit your game, often through a whole lot of browsing and repeated trial and error. Not all too suitable for people who prefer to just jump right in and not spend a few days "prepping" their install first.
For some classes, removing the cap is awesome. I'd say it was particularly good for my run through with a Dark Moon Monk, because monks are pretty useless in BG1, because the scaling is still pretty low then. It wasn't much, but it helped.
@Shin good points. It's also worth mentioning that the idea behind EE was that it was there for people to use without having to prep their install for a few days. I think it delivers on that very nicely, and anything extra you add to it you know you're just adding to tailor the game to your needs, not make it playable like was somewhat the case in the old game.
Comments
As Quartz points out it's true that when you use mods and are to dish out advice, you need to keep in mind the various versions of the game people might be playing. The flipside to that coin though is obviously that mod-using players will be aware of a lot of ways in which the game can be tailored to suit individual needs: threads about the xp cap (of which there are many) are basic examples of how vanilla players experience a frustration with a certain feature and express a desire to have more control over it. If such control is available by means of a mod, so much the better. It's not like it's a permanent alteration after all - if they find their game turns out worse for it, they can always remove the mod and go back to having an xp cap again.
Like other people have pointed out, with a full party BG1/EE is also virtually soft-capped in terms of xp anyway. And if it's challenge you're after, once more selecting the proper mods (SCS being perhaps the primary example) can deliver on that point too, and more so than in vanilla.
In the end, the only real drawback I see with mod usage is that you have to invest a fair amount of time to sift out the ones that you feel suit your game, often through a whole lot of browsing and repeated trial and error. Not all too suitable for people who prefer to just jump right in and not spend a few days "prepping" their install first.