Leveling and game balance question

[rjspoe]

I have had POE II since it was released but only played it for a bit. One thing I noticed during the time I did play was that you leveled really fast. I think I was at level 6 already, and I wasn't in the game for very long. I recently just bought the season pass and now that turn-based combat is in the game I'm excited to try this again. I seen that there is -30% exp mod in the steam workshop. My question is does the game balance itself out throughout the expansions and end game, or will you reach max level well before completing all content? Do you recommend that I use this mod or just play the game as is?

[wih]

Depends on whether you are completionist. Those people find that the game becomes easy when they are over 14-16 level. If you are not completionist however, you can role play and only select those quests that make sense for your character. Then you won't be overleveled.

[Purudaya]

I have had POE II since it was released but only played it for a bit. One thing I noticed during the time I did play was that you leveled really fast. I think I was at level 6 already, and I wasn't in the game for very long. I recently just bought the season pass and now that turn-based combat is in the game I'm excited to try this again. I seen that there is -30% exp mod in the steam workshop. My question is does the game balance itself out throughout the expansions and end game, or will you reach max level well before completing all content? Do you recommend that I use this mod or just play the game as is?

 

I had the same concern when I reached level 5 by the time I left Port Maje, but the levelling speed does taper off as you get later into the game. That said, an 80-90% completionist run will reach level 20 without the DLCs, so you might want to play with level scaling: upwards only.

 

There is a mod over at Deadfire Nexus that reduces XP gain by ~20%. Just type in "Deadly Deadfire," select the "Lite" version, and place the XP gain folder in Pillars of Eternity II/PillarsofEternityII_Data/override. Works like a charm.

[TheMetaphysician]

I consider the XP reduction mod a must-have, because I'm pretty completionist (I want to do everything in the game because I like the game!) and you'll be overleveled quickly.

[rjspoe]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I'll go with the mod.

[house2fly]

For context, I raised the level cap and did a playthrough of the game+DLC, and right before the game's final encounter I hit level 27. So yeah, if you don't want to hit the cap that xp reducer is def the way to go

[xzar_monty]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I'll go with the mod.

 

I say, definitely go with it. I'm not, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a bit disappointed with this. I'm knocking on level 19 now (missing something like 250 xp points). I've done about 85% of the main game (my guess, based on areas visited, quests done and hints about me nearing the end) but nothing, not even a tiny bit, of any of the three DLCs.

 

So, even the main game would put me comfortably at max level. And then there are the three DLC that I haven't even started.