Why am I getting my ass kicked in Hard mode?

[taigadota]

Hey there. I am a 27 years old Baldur's Gate and old school RPG veteran. I also play Dota 2 actively, so I have good sense for game mechanics and rules. I like to be challenged, so I went for Hard mode, Expert mode and rolled a tank warrior.

 

I took everyone I met into my party and after leaving Gilded Vale, in the forest maps there already were some encounters that simply wiped me in seconds. I try to use all the active abilities of my mage and priest, I pause, I send my tank forward and try to fight smart. So why am I getting my ass kicked? Is this normal or did I do something wrong?

 

I have now arrived at Caed Nua, recruited the chanter, and as I enter the keep there is an encounter of like 6 ghosts that TEAR through my warrior in 3 seconds and then proceed to wipe the rest of the party. I really want to enjoy this game but these encounters are making me not want to play it anymore.

 

Should I just grind levels or something? Any help would be appreciated.

[Doppelschwert]

Should I just grind levels or something? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Well, which level are you, actually? The 'ghosts' are quite a steep increase in difficulty in the early game if you don't know what you are doing. They are weak against fire and deal ice damage, so you can use spells like 'fan of flames' if aloth has it or items giving cold resistance to help fight the wraths. If you want to have a better chance, you can go up to level 4 by doing sidequests in the areas around gilded vale.

[taigadota]

 

Should I just grind levels or something? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Well, which level are you, actually? The 'ghosts' are quite a steep increase in difficulty in the early game if you don't know what you are doing. They are weak against fire and deal ice damage, so you can use spells like 'fan of flames' if aloth has it or items giving cold resistance to help fight the wraths. If you want to have a better chance, you can go up to level 4 by doing sidequests in the areas around gilded vale.

 

 

Everyone is lvl 3, except for Durance and Eder, who are lvl 2. I am roleplaying, so after talking to the dwarven animancer, I thought my character had good incentive to leave Gilded Vale as soon as possible and go get some answers.

 

I guess I just didn't expect some of these encounters to be that hilariously one sided, especially after googling this and finding threads like "Hard mode way too easy" on this website. I will try to get some levels first before going against those ghosts.

[PrimeJunta]

Caed Nua is doable at level 3, but it'll be tough if you're not familiar with the mechanics. I recommend you putz around a bit looking for easier things to do until you've gained another level or so.

 

Playing on Expert Mode to start with is not a great idea, since you don't yet know how the mechanics work, and they'll hide the numbers from you which means you will have a really hard time learning them as it'll be all trial and error.

 

If you want a challenge, you can hit Caed Nua at level 2-3 on Hard: just pay attention to the combat log and other info the game gives you to see which defences are being attacked, and how your attacks against various defences turn out. Then adjust your strategy accordingly.

[Ineth]

Expert mode

 

This is your problem right here.

 

Expert mode hides information that would help you get a better understanding and mastery of the combat mechanics.

[Hebruixe]

Early game is by far the most difficult part of the game. It will become easier and more enjoyable as your characters level up and gain powerful abilities. I recommend that you do all of the Gilded Vale side quests before proceeding to Caed Nua.

 

In Caed Nua: Use Durance to buff Eder with damage reduction and the tier 2 HoT (Consecrated Ground, i think it's called). Summon minions with Kana.. LoS the trash groups into a small cluster so that Aloth can nuke them down with his AoEs. If your guys are mind-controlled by the Will'o'the'wisps, you can use Durance's tier 2 "suppress affliction" spell to cancel it out and regain control of them. But even with perfect strategy, it's not easy. Keep your group fully rested and rest-buffed before each pull. GL!

Edited November 30, 2015 by Hebruixe

[Hebruixe]

Also, shades have a nasty habit of cloning themselves. Try to keep track of the originals. The clones die instantly if the originals are slain.

[Doppelschwert]

Also, shades have a nasty habit of cloning themselves. Try to keep track of the originals. The clones die instantly if the originals are slain.

 

Are you sure?

I always thought that 'Wraths' (the bigger ones) can summon 'shades' (the smaller ones).

In either case, this is good advice: When you kill a summoner, all the summons die. This is a general rule for the game.

 

Everyone is lvl 3, except for Durance and Eder, who are lvl 2. I am roleplaying, so after talking to the dwarven animancer, I thought my character had good incentive to leave Gilded Vale as soon as possible and go get some answers.

 

I guess I just didn't expect some of these encounters to be that hilariously one sided, especially after googling this and finding threads like "Hard mode way too easy" on this website. I will try to get some levels first before going against those ghosts.

 

 

I think the best you can do before Caed Nua is lvl 4, which should make things easier quite a bit.

Note also that the shades are weak to fire and that they attack with cold attacks, so using fan of flames helps quite a bit in these fights.

 

And don't worry, the game will get way easier after Caed Nua. You will have a small sandbox of quests you can freely choose, so there is a lot of optional content to fall back to in case some place gives you problems later on.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Doppelschwert

[JerekKruger]

I'll mimic the advice of others and suggest turning off Expert mode. You can go into the gameplay options and manually re-enable some of the options if you want (some of the dialogue prompts can be fairly safely turned off if you want to increase immersion for example).

 

Also, whilst Caed Nua is probably doable at your level, I'd tend to agree that it's probably better to do some of the side quests in Gilded Vale first. At level 4 it's going to be a lot easier.

 

Are you sure?

I always thought that 'Wraths' (the bigger ones) can summon 'shades' (the smaller ones).
In either case, this is good advice: When you kill a summoner, all the summons die. This is a general rule for the game.

 

I think it's Shades and Shadows, with Shades being the tougher ones that summon the weaker Shadows. Shadows are a minor nuisance whilst shades, at this level, are pretty tough.

[Stoner]

Hard to believe BG veteran can have any challenge in this game aside from PoTD (sometimes). Also Dota somehow numbs brain functions, dunno why, but it certainly does =/

 

Expert mode doesn't add difficulty, ppl usually hit it on second/third playthrough not to be annoyed by excess info.

 

If you really feel Hard is a little too much, switch to normal, get a hang of it, than you can increase difficulty. In all honesty PoTD hits the sweet spot in this game in terms of difficulty, only superboss fights getting too cheese, the rest of the game is just fine.

[PrimeJunta]

I'd like PotD stats with Hard mobs. The PotD mobs are monotonously big which makes it all about CC which gets repetitive.

 

(Yes I've said it before, but maybe if I say it often enough they'll take notice. )

[Doppelschwert]

I'll mimic the advice of others and suggest turning off Expert mode. You can go into the gameplay options and manually re-enable some of the options if you want (some of the dialogue prompts can be fairly safely turned off if you want to increase immersion for example).

 

Also, whilst Caed Nua is probably doable at your level, I'd tend to agree that it's probably better to do some of the side quests in Gilded Vale first. At level 4 it's going to be a lot easier.

 

Are you sure?

I always thought that 'Wraths' (the bigger ones) can summon 'shades' (the smaller ones).

In either case, this is good advice: When you kill a summoner, all the summons die. This is a general rule for the game.

 

I think it's Shades and Shadows, with Shades being the tougher ones that summon the weaker Shadows. Shadows are a minor nuisance whilst shades, at this level, are pretty tough.

 

I see. I can never remember how all the different incarnations are called. Now that you say it, I agree it should be shades summoning shadows. Anyway, my point was that they don't clone themselves but summon weaker versions, so you don't have to remember which are clones and which ones are originals - just kill the stronger ones first.

 

I'd like PotD stats with Hard mobs. The PotD mobs are monotonously big which makes it all about CC which gets repetitive.

 

(Yes I've said it before, but maybe if I say it often enough they'll take notice. )

 

Yeah, it's kind of a mystery why you have to use both higher stats and more mobs instead of choosing that independently.

[Heijoushin]

As others have said: the beginning is the most difficult. There are some really difficult random encounters and tough (for a level 1-5 character) quests. Once you've gotten past the initial "hump" and start picking up speed, then nothing should stop a good party. Until then, making a few extra adventurers (via the taverns) can help balance the odds. 

 

I'm not a big fan of expert mode. It's more like "turn off convenient features" mode. 

[limaxophobiacq]

IMO Expert Mode is really just a bad UI and I would turn it off.

[taigadota]

IMO Expert Mode is really just a bad UI and I would turn it off.

 

I just turned it on thinking it would disable any "blizzard-like" hand holding like arrows pointing to where you need to go, game suggesting what you should skill etc.

 

I am now convinced I should turn it off. How can I turn it off? Or do I have to reroll and start again?

[Fenixp]

Your ass is too big, it's way too easy to hit.

 

And... Yeah, expert mode is a bad idea for a new player :-P If you want it disabled, go to menu -> Difficulty -> Click the Expert Mode icon beneath difficulty options. It can be disabled at any time, but IIRC you can't re-enable it

Edited December 1, 2015 by Fenixp

[brindle88]

Hey there. I am a 27 years old Baldur's Gate and old school RPG veteran. I also play Dota 2 actively, so I have good sense for game mechanics and rules. I like to be challenged, so I went for Hard mode, Expert mode and rolled a tank warrior.

 

I took everyone I met into my party and after leaving Gilded Vale, in the forest maps there already were some encounters that simply wiped me in seconds. I try to use all the active abilities of my mage and priest, I pause, I send my tank forward and try to fight smart. So why am I getting my ass kicked? Is this normal or did I do something wrong?

 

I have now arrived at Caed Nua, recruited the chanter, and as I enter the keep there is an encounter of like 6 ghosts that TEAR through my warrior in 3 seconds and then proceed to wipe the rest of the party. I really want to enjoy this game but these encounters are making me not want to play it anymore.

 

Should I just grind levels or something? Any help would be appreciated.

I had the same problem when I first started playing pillars.

 

And there is the punch line...................when I fist started playing pillars.