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IWD:EE and Heart of Fury Difficulty Level

Hello!

So... I bought IWD:EE, studied how to build a nice party, created my characters. Then started to play on Heart of Fury difficulty, because some guide said it would be nice - characters would evolve much more quickly, who wouldn't want that?

Now I'm in Kuldahar / Vale of Shadows, just finished cleaning the Crypts. My characters are somewhere between Lvl 5-8 (depending on classes), and they seem to evolve pretty quick, really... however, I'm starting to feel I might be pushing it too much for mainly four reason:

1) I have to play guerrilla tactics with my enemies, luring them one by one...
2) I have absolutely NO chance of winning a fight if more than 5 enemies are in it at the same time (i.e.: Yeti Cave was an onslaught ;))... so sometimes I have to turn difficulty down so I can deal with what the game throws at me.
3) I don't have neither the magic items adequate to my character level, nor anywhere near the gold to buy them.
4) My arcane casters (1 Mage and 1 Bard) have more spell slots than spells known. Heck, I can cast 4th Level spells but I only know a couple 2nd Level... basically I don't have access to spells adequate to my casters.

So, if I keep playing on Heart of Fury the game is too difficult and doesn't reward me accordingly (items, spells, etc). On the other hand, if I lower the difficulty I already have characters that are too powerful and the game becomes boring due to the lack of challenge.

The question is... what should I do, keep playing the game on HoF (guerrilla taticts are kinda boring)? Keep playing it on a standard difficulty (it'll be a piece of cake for a longe time I guess)? Or start it from scratch since I'm the begging and play on a less cheated difficulty where I can't level up by just killing one goblin?

Thanks in advance :)!

Comments

  • DaevelonDaevelon Member Posts: 605
    In my opinion it's better to restart, but maybe on insane.
    If im not wrong the exp would be more of the core difficult anyway, and if it's still too hard you can lower the difficult without problems (in HoF you can't, the difficult is blocked)
  • AristilliusAristillius Member Posts: 873
    You havent gotten far, so maybe start again? Wouldnt matter huuugely in the grand scheme of things though.

    At any rate I am a firm believer in core difficulty for first-timers.
  • OnslaughtOnslaught Member Posts: 7

    You havent gotten far, so maybe start again? Wouldnt matter huuugely in the grand scheme of things though.

    At any rate I am a firm believer in core difficulty for first-timers.

    I'm a first timer to IWD... back in the 2000's when I bought the game, many copies shipped to Brazil had a bug that made it impossible to install, so I didn't had the opportunity to play it.

    However, I did finish Baldur's Gate 2 a couple times (and started it countless times ehehehe)... so I'm in a gray area between first-comers and kind-of-experienced players :)
  • AbelAbel Member Posts: 785
    edited November 2014
    The usual strategy for HoF is to use Web and two front Warriors with Arundel and Orrick stolen Free Action rings. And summons with projectile weapons.
    It eases things, but if you have trouble managing five to ten enemies there must be a problem with your party composition.
  • OnslaughtOnslaught Member Posts: 7
    Hun... I didn't steal anything from anyone, but I guess my party composition is OK:

    Human Paladin, as a main tank frontliner
    Elf Ranger (Archer)... this thing is a monster
    Half-elf Bard... mostly for buffs...
    Halfling Fighter/Thief
    Human Fighter -> Cleric (at lvl 7), as of now he's another main frontliner / tank
    Elf Wizard -> Should be doing wizard's stuff, but I have access to really small selection of spells... I mean, I've seen no Lvl 4 spell so far, and nothing interesting from Lvl 3... but wasn't using Web, also.

  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Sorcerer is the way to go for HoF mode, you don't need to worry about finding scrolls with a sorc.
  • OnslaughtOnslaught Member Posts: 7
    It does make sense, since I solo'd BG2 with a Sorcerer :)

    Well... ended up restarting the game and playing on Insane - I just reached the Vale of Shadows.

    The characters don't evolve as fast as in HoF mode, but the game seems to flow in a much better pace... and the difficulty seems just right.

    Maybe after finish the game I'll jump in a HoF-only playthrough... or I might just switch to HoF when I get enough Lvl / items to have a bit more fun with it.

    Thanks for the help guys :)!!




  • ZyzzogetonZyzzogeton Member Posts: 526
    edited November 2014
    Sorcerer is the way to go for HoF mode, you don't need to worry about finding scrolls with a sorc.
    Not really.

    Clerics and Druids also get their spells without scrolls.

    Clerics are even better since they require the least XP to get their first summon spell.

    Sorcerers do get a leg up with access to Invisibility 10' Radius for the dungeons in the Vale of Shadows that start the entire party off in sight of a bunch of enemies. But that's pretty much the only time where a Sorcerer greatly contributes to the party not getting a game over than any other spell caster
  • grogersongrogerson Member Posts: 116
    Your choice to restart on Insane without Heart of Fury is, in my opinion, was probably best. Heart of Fury mode was intended for play with an already experienced party (think second time through) in vanilla IWD. I just finished my playthrough on Insane with Heart of Fury on and I needed every hit point, special ability and spell from my level 15+ party, especially near the end of the main game and in the expansions.

    IWDEE delinks HoF mode from the difficulty slider, so currently it's possible to play with it active on any difficulty level. Vanilla IWD HoF mode automatically set the difficulty slider to Insane. There was some discussion of this in the Beta forum, but it's up to the devs if they'll keep it as is or change it to linked as in vanilla IWD (by putting it at the end of the difficulty slider).
  • saoxsaox Member Posts: 106
    Use invisibility to finish the vale, temple and first X levels of dragons eye to avoid getting new exp from killing monsters, bur still progressing throughout the game. Eventually it will ballance out :-)
  • AltairAltair Member Posts: 128
    Seems I am coming a bit late in the discussion but I respectfully disagree: the HoF mode is totally feasible and great challenge/fun for a party starting at level 1, if one is ready to struggle a bit at the beginning. I beat the game this way with a six-character party, and am currently playing a HOF solo run from level 1 with an F/M/C, who just reached Chapter 5 with levels 20/18/22. The only major issue is clearly the fact that you are always behind with the mage spells you find versus what you could cast, but it evens out at the end and what you need the most anyway is summons from your cleric...
  • moody_magemoody_mage Member Posts: 2,054
    Just to point out. As per BG2 you can exit areas (tombs in Vale of Shadows for instance) and enemies will chase you through the transition. You can then avoid being mobbed and create battlefields more to your liking.
  • KloroxKlorox Member Posts: 927

    Sorcerer is the way to go for HoF mode, you don't need to worry about finding scrolls with a sorc.
    Not really.

    Clerics and Druids also get their spells without scrolls.

    Clerics are even better since they require the least XP to get their first summon spell.

    Sorcerers do get a leg up with access to Invisibility 10' Radius for the dungeons in the Vale of Shadows that start the entire party off in sight of a bunch of enemies. But that's pretty much the only time where a Sorcerer greatly contributes to the party not getting a game over than any other spell caster

    IMHO, you're short-changing yourself (as a power gamer) if you play this game without a Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, AND Bard.
  • SigleafSigleaf Member Posts: 22
    The game was originally never intended to be played in HoF mode, and in fact, HoF mode negates a large portion of the game such as dmg spells, using melee instead of summons for a large portion of the game, etc. If you play on HoF mode you cheese the character generation making a perfect character, then you cheese reload/load saves to steal things you shouldn't even have at that stage of the game (rings of free action), then you cheese some more by abusing 1 or 2 spell combos to beat the game?

    I've beaten the game on HoF mode, I don't really see the point, and I think you did the right thing by restarting.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited November 2014
    Anywho...getting back to what the OP was asking I would say just avoid Heart of Fury. You could probably just play the game on core difficulty until you are more comfortable with the games spells and classes. Plus there is always Insane difficulty if you still want a challenge but don't want Heart of Fury.
  • OnslaughtOnslaught Member Posts: 7
    elminster said:

    @Bengoshi could you maybe split part of this thread (about druids vs clerics in HoF) off into a new topic? OP never mentioned if they even had a druid.

    Indeed I don't have a druid... but seen this topic grow that much made me smile :)
    elminster said:

    Anywho...getting back to what the OP was asking I would say just avoid Heart of Fury. You could probably just play the game on core difficulty until you are more comfortable with the games spells and classes. Plus there is always Insane difficulty if you still want a challenge but don't want Heart of Fury.

    That's basically what I did... I just finished the Vale of Shadows on Insane. It can be quite challenging (mobs!), but still quite fun!!

    Using my Thief/Fighter to "pick & run" enemies and kill them with my Archer is a bit cheesy... but keeps the main party healthy to deal with more advanced threats.

    I'm still having trouble with my semi-useless Mage (who at least got Haste now). Hope she'll become a force to be reckoned with by the end of the main game...


  • jigglefloydjigglefloyd Member Posts: 21
    HoF mode is meant for level 13+ or so, otherwise you just have to cheese it up by constantly kiting monsters and never going into melee, luring monsters one by one, massing skull traps, etc. I don't see the point of doing this nonsense.
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