Improved Haste on items

Illitti

There are three items in the game that I can remember which have Improved Haste x times per day modifier. These are Ring of Gaxx, Bracers of Blinding Strike and Amulet of Cheetah Speed. The way I remember these worked in Vanilla version was that they cast the spell as it is in the game, which lasted for 3 rounds + 1 round per level of the caster. The exception was the Bracers that explicitly state that their Improved Haste lasts for 20 seconds, although I'm not sure about that since I can't remember ever using the bracers.

Now I'm playing BG2EE and I look at these items. The Ring lasts 10 seconds, the Bracers still last 20 seconds and the Amulet is 138 seconds. Also anyone playing the game might want to know that Bag of Holding/Gem Bag bug for resetting the daily uses no longer works (thank God for that). Now considering that the amulet is ultra lategame item, I'm fairly content with it being as it is, although I must say it still is absolutely ridiculous compared to anything else, especially since it can be swapped after casting the spell. The biggest change is the Ring of Gaxx. 10 seconds means it cannot be combined with abilities like Critical Strike or Assassination. I'm not sure if devs realize how big change in metagame this is, especially for solo players like myself.

Don't get me wrong either. I'm not mad that Gaxx was nerfed. Indeed, considering the overall balance of the game, this change is more than welcome. However, as a rigid minmaxer, I'm quite mad that I have to learn about these changes as I play. On an unrelated note, I also just found out that Dwarven Defender Defensive Stance doesn't stack with Hardiness. When was this change made, I sure as hell didn't see it in any changelogs? Would a complete changelog with every difference between vanilla and EE really be too much to ask? It's pretty much a standard practice with other game developers.

Lord_Tansheron

I've never been one to rely in items for IH as I always make sure to bring plenty of mages that basically don't pick other lvl 6 spells at all... But from what I remember, Ring of Gaxx has always been on a fairly short duration even in vanilla BG. Now I don't know if it's always been 10 seconds, but definitely noticeably shorter than the spell if actually cast.

Illitti

Lord_Tansheron said:

I've never been one to rely in items for IH as I always make sure to bring plenty of mages that basically don't pick other lvl 6 spells at all... But from what I remember, Ring of Gaxx has always been on a fairly short duration even in vanilla BG. Now I don't know if it's always been 10 seconds, but definitely noticeably shorter than the spell if actually cast.

I thought about this as well, and here's how I see it. It was definitely more than 10 seconds because I remember combining it with Assassination on my Fighter/Thief without trouble. Also it wasn't "3 rounds + 1 round per level of caster" as you pointed out, it was definitely shorter than that.

I always thought it was "3 rounds + 1 round per caster level", which means 3 or 4 rounds only because as far as Mage spells are concerned, Fighter/Thief has "caster level" of 0 or 1.

Maybe I'm completely wrong on this, I wouldn't be surprised, but I definitely remember combining it with Assassination successfully.

EDIT: For the sake of completeness, I forgot there's one more item that grants Improved Haste: Darkfire Bow +5. It's Imp Haste lasts for 138 seconds, same as Necklace.

ryuken87

You remember incorrectly, the durations are unchanged. There's also the Improved Cloak of Protection I think.

Illitti said:

I also just found out that Dwarven Defender Defensive Stance doesn't stack with Hardiness. When was this change made, I sure as hell didn't see it in any changelogs?

How can this be a change when there was no DD in vanilla? Unless you mean the patch changed it. It should really stack though.