Is whispers of the endless paths bugged?

[baldurs_gate_2]

Because i clearly see two enemies in the cone, but only one gets hit. Same happens when i use a active ability like knock down or soul annihilation.

[Boeroer]

No really bugged, but implemened a bit weirdly so that visual cone AoE indicator can be misleading. It shows you the cone where it would be if you really hit the enemy in that particular angle you aimed for.
But once the "real" attack and the AoE proc happens the cone will be aligned in a way that its center line would be a straigt line from your char's center point to the target center point. And this might place the cone AoE a bit differently than the indicator showed when you were choosing the target (clicking slightly left or right to the center point of the initial target to make the indicator "hit" the other enemies behind it).

Unlike other cone attacks such as invocations, the cone of the WotEP is not bound to the ground but to the enemy you pick. And once you picked that enemy as target the game will use the center of that enemy's circle as anchor point, not where you clicked. But the visual cone indicator used the point where you clicked.
It's not a great implementation of course - but I guess nobody really noticed before (and long after) release.

Some cone-shaped cipher powers that have to have an enemy as initial target have the same "problem". But often there the cone indicator gets "centered" once you picked your target iirc. WotEP's cone indicator doesn't do this unfortunately. Clear Out/Clear the Path would have the same problem as well - but they have no indicator VFX in the first place so you won't get deceived. 

I made a quick drawing to explain it a bit better:

The best solution to not "trick yourself" with the cone indicator is to pick your target right in the middle of its circle (see red X in the bottom pic). Moving a bit left and right just to bring the indicator to touch other enemies (see red X in the upper pic) won't work. Instead, if you need the cone to move a little bit to the left and right, just move your character accordingly. This might be a problem with disengagement attacks - another reason why I recommend Nomad's Brigandine (immunity to disengagement attacks) when you use WotEP - not only when you enchant it with Offensive Parry (but mostly).  

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Boeroer

[baldurs_gate_2]

That explains a lot. But that has to be in the game since the start or? Because they nerfed the WotEP one time with the double hit, but did not realize that cone problem?

[Boeroer]

Yes, it was always like this. I guess you only realize that it's a problem if you a) invest some playtime with WoTEP, b) meticulously try to aim with the cone in order to catch as many enemies as possible (meaning: not much AI use) and c) pay attention to the combat log or the numbers on the screen.

I guess during playtesting this combo wasn't too common and also players really have to be bothered by a behavior to report it. For example I knew about this rel. early but maybe didn't think it was worth reporting it - like... subconsciously. I even kind of forgot about it - since I mainly use the WotEP as parrying tool and not as an AoE dmg tool. 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Boeroer