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Power Gamers Look Here: How do you grind to 8 million XP?

So as the title says, for those of you who like hitting the 8 million XP cap, how do you do it? If you do ALL the quests in the game and rewrite your spells when you find them and do no pointless monster slaying, at best you are going to hit around 6.8 million XP, so what do you do for the little extra? for me I go to one of two places,

First I will go to the forest of Mir if I don't need potion of superior healing because in general I feel those could be one of the easier alternatives:

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Of if I'm a little low on potions of superior healing and feeling a little ambitious I will go to the fire giant enclave area and whip up some fire giants:

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Or, if you have some extra cash laying around do you just buy ( or steal) a whole bunch of spells and go on a spell learning tangent?:

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So, with that being said, how do you do it?
semiticgoddesslunarJuliusBorisov

Comments

  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    I never run into XP issues, and can't remember ever having run into them in 10 years. Granted, I do mod a lot and that involves some extra fights as well as tougher and thus higher-XP monsters (maximum difficulty spawns in SCS for example).

    If you REALLY need to, you can just rest in a dungeon somewhere you'll know you'll get high-value ambushes. Fire Giant Temple would seem like a likely candidate, but I've never really looked into that. Maybe WK?

    XP at very high levels doesn't do all that much anyway. Spells don't scale, HP bonuses are fairly small overall gains, THAC0s are maxed. You gain extra HLAs and that's mostly it. Not a bad thing, of course, but certainly the flat end of the curve. There really is not all THAT much of a difference between a lvl30 and a lvl40 (player) character.
    semiticgoddess
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    If you're playing vanilla, but not EE (I assume EE changed this), it's possible to get infinite XP from Rejiek Hidesman. You have to enter his home without accusing him, surround him with your party members so he can't move, and then attack him, just once. He'll give his running away dialogue, the party gets a big chunk of XP, and he'll try to leave, but he can't. If you pause quickly after exiting dialogue, you can talk to him again, triggering the same dialog and getting the XP again.

    But if you click him too slow, he'll escape, and if you click him too fast, you'll miss the XP reward sometimes. It's actually possible to hit the XP cap within a few minutes using this trick. There's a much slower infinite XP trick in Brynnlaw involving talking to the chef in Galvena's fest hall multiple times, but it comes later and is much less efficient. I assume neither is possible in the Enhanced Edition.

    Having more than 6 million XP doesn't do much, as @Lord_Tansheron says. The biggest jumps in power occur at 3 million XP for most characters, and 6 million XP for multi-class (if not triple-class) spellcasters. Getting the full 8 million XP will feel little different from the 6.8 million you find is normal at the end of the saga.

    There is only one way to reach the XP cap much faster, and that is to play with fewer party members. Cut the party in half, and they'll reach the XP cap in mid-ToB. A solo will hit the cap in SoA. But I find small parties to be much less versatile and interesting, and far, far less powerful than a full 6-member party.
  • You can get some extra distance by soloing SoA until level 12/13 to recruit your party members at a higher level. If you prioritize quests/encounters that give normal exp instead of party exp on the way there, you can get even further. This can be a particularly good idea for multiclass characters, as it will take you longer to get to 12/13 and you will have an easier time soloing due to versatility. A Mage/Thief can run around stealing and scribing scrolls, opening locks, and disarming traps for a bushel of exp before picking up your other party members. Obviously, this will limit your ability to customize NPCs somewhat unless you've modded the game. Basically, if you get to at least 1.2 million experience before recruiting the rest of your party, that makes up most of the shortfall you have in getting to 8 million, and your allies will still be at or near your experience total.

    Most NPC quests aren't worth much exp, but it's worth noting that the EE NPC quests have a decent chunk of exp associated with them; I wouldn't recommend crossing to opposing alignments in order to do them, however.
    semiticgoddess
  • OhmegaOhmega Member Posts: 35
    edited December 2015
    Kaigen said:

    You can get some extra distance by soloing SoA until level 12/13 to recruit your party members at a higher level.

    Do powergamers use the in-game characters? Seems like an oxymoron, pretty sure you just build your own party in multiplayer...

    Also, why do people call them (Minsc/Jaheira etc) NPCs when they're just PCs (playable characters)? Is this just something that ended up sticking?
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    Ohmega said:

    Do powergamers use the in-game characters? Seems like an oxymoron, pretty sure you just build your own party in multiplayer...

    A mix of both for me. Custom stats, classes, etc. but actually the game NPCs. For the banter, romance, etc. Functionally though, a 100% custom party for sure.
    Ohmega said:

    Also, why do people call them (Minsc/Jaheira etc) NPCs when they're just PCs (playable characters)? Is this just something that ended up sticking?

    Simply to distinguish them from THE player character, i.e. CHARNAME. It's not an exact terminology, but it's convenient and easily understood by most people.

    It's actually possible to hit the XP cap within a few minutes using this trick.

    Just editing your savegame in EEKeeper or using the console to add XP is even faster, and essentially the same.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    I just play with the Machine of Lum and reload until I get the XP booster.
    JustLeft
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Those images just remind me of some of the things I dislike about ToB :(

    But yea rest spawns are going to be your best bet once you've done Watcher's Keep.
    JuliusBorisov
  • James_MJames_M Member Posts: 140
    edited December 2015
    More of a maximal completionist rather than power gamer, but the two are similar perhaps...

    1. I finish SoA with the party having 31 million xp's total, playing with a 5-6 member party at all times (except Chateau Irenicus – 4 – and the first few moments of Chapter 2 while recruiting) getting Imoen in a timely manner:

    - do all quests and side quests possible, including the NPC’s whom have a quest (but not Dorn’s)
    - no erasing/re-writing spells!
    - no Watcher's Keep at all until ToB!
    - collect and buy spells as you go along and learn them with the NPC's who can scribe (but never erase and re-scribe)
    - only unlock and de-trap the essentials – save the rest until Imoen returns in Chapter 6 as the xp values go up a lot
    - Chapter 4: take advantage of a Rebel Cleric's continuous summoning in Sahuagin City to grind 1 million bonus xp's (while at the gym)
    - Chapter 5: take advantage of the continuously re-appearing Mind Flayer's in the Illithid Lair to grind 400k bonus xp's (while enjoying some tea)
    - Chapter 5: Imoen cast Limited Wish to carefully fight Golems 55k xp
    - Chapter 5: get rest interrupted in the Underdark Caverns a few times for a bonus 100k xp
    - Chapter 6: do a few extra Stronghold quests as relevant for the party composition: Cleric/Ranger, Fighter/Druid, Paladin, and Mage strongholds. Nets a few extra xp's, maybe an extra 300k.

    2. All chars of the 6-member party can then can reach the xp cap late in ToB by doing all quests and:
    - collect and buy new spells but only the mages of the constant-six party member scribe spells
    - Chapter 8: get rest interrupted on Level 3 of Watcher's Keep several times for a bonus 500k xp
    - Chapter 8: carefully fight several waves of the continuously re-appearing Glabrezu's in the Lower Crypt of Watcher's Keep for 1.2 million bonus xp's
    - this is without doing the new quests for the new NPC's Neera, Rasaad and that evil guy, whom I haven't used yet in ToB. I don't know how many xp's those quests would add.
    - this is without getting xp bonuses from the Machine of Lum or Deck of Many Things.

    My walkthough is here:
    http://www.scribd.com/doc/211406264/Baldur-s-Gate-2-Enhanced-Edition-Walkthrough-for-SoA-ToB-Cleric-Ranger




    Post edited by James_M on
    GallowglassGoturalFinneousPJJuliusBorisov
  • GallowglassGallowglass Member Posts: 3,356
    In ToB, an infinite XP mine (which is still open in EE) is to stand on the battlements of Saradush (near Errard), from where you can attack (with ranged weapons) the continually-respawning Fire Giant outside the walls. (Note that he's out of your line-of-sight, so you can't target him manually - you have to turn on the party-AI and let it attack him automatically.)

    I often use the Fire Giants outside their Temple to grind a little more XP, and also often use a rest-respawn at the Siege Camp to generate a few more Fire Giants. However, EE seems to have set a finite cap on how many times the Giants will respawn at both of these locations ... after about 10 pairs have respawned at each location, it seems to stop offering more.

    However, I don't usually find myself grinding away very much to build more XP, I tend to hit the cap (with a full party throughout) just before the Final Battle without needing to work too hard at it.

    I avoid more blatant cheesiness (such as re-scribing, and abusing the MoLtM) except that if I have a character who is substantially behind the rest in XP (most likely Imoen or Sarevok), then I sometimes (although not always) abuse the Machine to catch them up somewhat.
    semiticgoddessJuliusBorisov
  • OhmegaOhmega Member Posts: 35
    Why not just use Import/Export instead of using repetitive cheese methods to get exp? Make a save game file somewhere, at some point in the game you think would be good to play from (or start a new game) and just got from there? You can always import/export back into the end of the game (if that's where you get up to) for story purposes.

    At least you're somewhat playing parts of the game instead of abusing a singular aspect over and over. You can redo whatever quests you want. BG2 and ToB are very sort of open-world games, you can go wherever you want and whenever you want just about. Seems more fun to me to be honest.

    I don't see a reason to hold on to the 1 instance play-through, 6 party member mindset really. It's great for the first run through of the game and maybe a few more even but when you're powergaming, it's more about seeing what you're capable of, not story line. Besides, it's not like you can't continue the story if you import/export into another game. Your NPCs still do their thing (maybe not romances though - not sure) if you're keeping them for the interactions.
    FinneousPJ
  • the_sexteinthe_sextein Member Posts: 711
    I usually go to the Yaga Sura Encampment after I have defeated him and just go to sleep while having the "rest until healed" option enabled in the game options. Each time you sleep 2 fire giants will appear and two or three characters with greater whirlwind will kill them in a matter of seconds and many times you won't take any damage. Just push the rest of your party away so they don't get hit. Every 3 or 4 times you try to rest you will actually get sleep so it will fully heal your party and give you all of your greater whirlwinds back. As a result you never die or run out of abilities or use healing and you kill two fire giants every 10 seconds. I can usually get from level 35 to 40 in about 1.5 hours and it requires no skill or worry.
  • DaevelonDaevelon Member Posts: 605
    Sendai's lair; just where the slaves keep arrive if you don't go to the end of the map. It's an absurd amount of XP, and if im not wrong your Bhaalspawn is immune to their weapons (if imported from SoA).
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    Daevelon said:

    Sendai's lair; just where the slaves keep arrive if you don't go to the end of the map. It's an absurd amount of XP, and if im not wrong your Bhaalspawn is immune to their weapons (if imported from SoA).

    that's if you got the "immune to +1 weapons and less" ability, but the orog's do have two handed swords+2, but on the flipside, that is a GREAT area if you need gold for whatever reason, because there is a lot there

  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    How do you cause so much monsters to spawn in those screenshots? I WANT! :smiley:

    Stealing lots of scrolls, dumping everyone from the party (kick the members out while the game is paused if you have a romance, write the scrolls, and take your lover back when unpaused, so romance does not get broken.) and deleting/writing spells with your mage or bard. Galoomp the bookkeeper is excellent in Athkathla for this purpose, he has 4-5 of those juicy 5th level spells. Jan can steal all of them with some potion aid and you can rewrite them over and over for huge amounts of xp.
    It helps to get to the coveted mage level 12 early in the game. 6th level spells is a huge power leap from the 5th ones.
    JuliusBorisov
  • ArunsunArunsun Member Posts: 1,592
    Now that we have the new NPC quests, it is a lot easier, Dorn's, Neera's and Rasaad's bring a LOT of experience
  • dunbardunbar Member Posts: 1,603
    Whilst I'll quite happily farm Ankhegs until the cows come home in order to get a solo fighter 'up to speed', I really do have reservations about the MoLtM.
    It seems to trivialise all the hard work I've done so far just to get there, and you don't even have to finish WK to gain access to it, so it just becomes a 'pick what level you want to play ToB at' machine.
    I know that nothing in the game forces me to re-use it but why doesn't it just stop working after you've used it once? If you need all that extra XP in order to beat ToB then I would suggest that the game itself is unbalanced. Equally, if you don't need the extra XP then the MoLtM is redundant and shouldn't really be in the game.

    Having just re-read what I've written I've now come up with a counter argument with which to shoot myself in the foot:
    It's entirely possible that you could rush through SoA and find yourself out-gunned in ToB. In that scenario it would be reasonable to have access to the machine, but only after you've reached Saradush (presumably the original intention was that it wouldn't be possible to complete WK while still in SoA).
    semiticgoddessGallowglass
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    If you're spam-reloading on the Machine, you might as well just EEKeeper your XP or console it in. Goes for several of the suggested methods.
    luskan
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    lunar said:

    How do you cause so much monsters to spawn in those screenshots? I WANT! :smiley:

    Stealing lots of scrolls, dumping everyone from the party (kick the members out while the game is paused if you have a romance, write the scrolls, and take your lover back when unpaused, so romance does not get broken.) and deleting/writing spells with your mage or bard. Galoomp the bookkeeper is excellent in Athkathla for this purpose, he has 4-5 of those juicy 5th level spells. Jan can steal all of them with some potion aid and you can rewrite them over and over for huge amounts of xp.
    It helps to get to the coveted mage level 12 early in the game. 6th level spells is a huge power leap from the 5th ones.

    what you have to do is when you rest, spam the rest button and press it as fast as you can, what will happen is 75% of the time you will rest successfully for 8 hours but the other 25% of the time monsters ( these percentages are vague estimates) will appear, and they will not start attacking you until you finish pressing the rest button, this tactic always works in bgee but its incredibly easy to hit the level cap in that game so its not really necessary

    JuliusBorisov
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