Level 14?

[danest]

I'm struggling on the mercenaries in white march at level 9 (I probably didn't min-max the characters into super-efficiency, because it's almost a massacre as I click furiously to try to keep the group healed and standing).  
I've read that there are actually level 14 areas in the white march content, yikes.  How does one get to level 14?  I've read that after the main quest, it just dumps you back to the main menu -- no continuing.  It seems strange to have a level 10 ending (which was the level cap for the entire original game) with no further play, with level 14 content in white march.  Am I missing something, or did I read mis-information?  

[Tigranes]

Original game level cap was 12, not 10.

 

Some WM content is designed for highest level parties, though you can of course do them earlier if you wish.

 

The original game itself gives you enough XP to get past 12, while White March gives out a ton of XP so you can hit the level cap before you tackle the most difficult bits. 
 

Just play, do stuff you can handle, and eventually you'll be there without undue worry.

[Climhazzard]

Wouldn't bother with Cragholdt until you're level 14, the rest of white march part 1 should be doable at 8-10.  It's actually possible to get to level 16 before doing white march part 2 if you're meticulous about doing all the quests.  

 

If you're having trouble just go do all the quests around Defiance bay, Dryford, and the bounties from your stronghold, that should probably push you up to level 10.  There should be plenty of quests around white march part 1 you can do at level 8 too.

[Boeroer]

There is a big misconception about the expansions: they are not meant to be played after the main quest. They expand the main game, they are not adding a new closed story line like BG, NwN or ID used to. So you can always go back and forth throughout the main quest line.

 

Once you jump into the pit on Burial Isle there is no turning back and no chance for expansion any more.

 

Everybody struggles at Crägholt Bluffs with lvl 9. Lvl 9 is a good level for entering the White March/Stalwart - but Crägholt is high level content which becomes doable with lvl 13 or so (strongly depends on difficulty and player proficiency and meta knowledge). Don't be frustrated when you get obliterated at lvl 9 - everybody does.

[Raven Darkholme]

There is a big misconception about the expansions: they are not meant to be played after the main quest. They expand the main game, they are not adding a new closed story line like BG, NwN or ID used to. So you can always go back and forth throughout the main quest line.

 

Once you jump into the pit on Burial Isle there is no turning back and no chance for expansion any more.

 

Everybody struggles at Crägholt Bluffs with lvl 9. Lvl 9 is a good level for entering the White March/Stalwart - but Crägholt is high level content which becomes doable with lvl 13 or so (strongly depends on difficulty and player proficiency and meta knowledge). Don't be frustrated when you get obliterated at lvl 9 - everybody does.

Six chanters wouldn't :D

[Boeroer]

Yeah there are certain parties that could do it - I meant normal parties Although I doubt that 6 chanters would have an easy time because of their chants' low ACC and the lack of self buffs besides consumalbles (which every class can use).

 

I guess 5 ciphers and a speedy wizard could do it: Alacrity, Chillfog + Pull of Eora + Bitter Mooring (or any other beam spell), Boots of Speed and 5 * Ectypsychic Echo might kill everything before it kills you...

 

5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Chillfog, Pull of Eora, 6 Wall of Flames and Combusting Wounds and a priest with buffs

 

5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Martial Power + Blast + Envenomed Strike plus a priest with buffs

 

6 fighters... naaaaah!

[Sfzrx]

Pull of Eora is actually a terrible skill in my opinion, it sucks them in then push them right back, and if it crits the distance actually gets multplied too, pushes enemies right out of the spell, it'd probably only work when placed in corners on slow melee enemies that are still trying to walk towards you.

 

I was quite disappointed when I saw the actual skill effects, thought enemies would stay in the middle.

[Boeroer]

They get swirled around in the AoE - they don't get pushed out of it. In My opinion it's one of the best CC spells there is. The enemies normally stay in the AoE even if the spell misses from time to time and can be nuked to death without fighting back.

[Sfzrx]

I just rememmber it criting and threw an enemy out a massive distance, out of the circle, and my circle was quite big already because of max int and 10% aoe ring.

[Sfzrx]

It's pretty easy to test though, let me test it real quick.

[Raven Darkholme]

Yeah there are certain parties that could do it - I meant normal parties Although I doubt that 6 chanters would have an easy time because of their chants' low ACC and the lack of self buffs besides consumalbles (which every class can use).

 

I guess 5 ciphers and a speedy wizard could do it: Alacrity, Chillfog + Pull of Eora + Bitter Mooring (or any other beam spell), Boots of Speed and 5 * Ectypsychic Echo might kill everything before it kills you...

 

5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Chillfog, Pull of Eora, 6 Wall of Flames and Combusting Wounds and a priest with buffs

 

5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Martial Power + Blast + Envenomed Strike plus a priest with buffs

 

6 fighters... naaaaah!

I remember the times when the most vocal members in this forum thougt fighters are the best class ingame, whatever happened to those guys?

5x Echo sounds fun and so do the other options.

 

Somebody really should try and find out what the strongest party at level 9 is, maybe never level the party after 9 and beat the game and all optional challenges with it.

My money would still be on the chanters just because of their simplicity.

[Sfzrx]

Yea, it pulled her right out of the circle when it crits, the distance is pretty long, probably because of my 1.8 crit multplier.

 

http://imgur.com/a/fq7TI

[Raven Darkholme]

Yea, it pulled her right out of the circle when it crits, the distance is pretty long, probably because of my 1.8 crit multplier.

 

http://imgur.com/a/fq7TI

That looks weird indeed.

[Loren Tyr]

Crits should only affect duration and damage though, not push distance. But as I recall the push distance of Pull of Eora is greater than its AOE, so it should certainly be possible for characters to be pushed out of it. I haven't used it much myself recently, but I certainly remember that happening.

[Boeroer]

Thanks for testig it so quickly.

 

Hm... that's weird. I never experienced that behaviour. But I have to admit I didn't use it for a while because I played no implement wizard for some time now but only a wiz tank. Maybe they changed the push distance in order to balance it a bit?

 

'Cause I found it to be crazy powerful when I did my hurtstacker build with implements (patch 2.something). Prevented whole bounty groups from reaching me, containing them in the AoE while I blasted them to death.

 

I also did a hilarious test with Pull of Eora and Fire Stag some time ago and also didn't see those far pushes.

 

However I still think it's one of the best CC spells for me. Lasts a long time and totally messes up the "tactics" of the AI. And most of the time packs a mob together so they can be nuked properly. But if you want to combine Chillfog or Wall(s) of Flame it would then it would indeed be better if enemies wouldn't get pushed out of the AoE.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Boeroer

[Climhazzard]

I tested Pull of Eora a bit when I first came back to playing PoE (patch 3.03).  To me enemies would just get pulled once then walk right out of it, so I didn't use it much, always used the tentacles or confusion spell instead.  SInce there is no hold your ground AI option the only time I use Foe AoE is for doorway strats anyways.  Like stacking chillfog, expose vulnerabilities, and the tier 2 confusion spell.

 

I really wish there was a hold your ground option other than turning off AI...  anyways maybe Pull of Eora was changed at some point because for me it wasn't that powerful.

[Boeroer]

Maybe. It was ridiculously good when they introduced it. At least I had the impression back then.

[Arddv]

Hm... that's weird. I never experienced that behaviour. But I have to admit I didn't use it for a while because I played no implement wizard for some time now but only a wiz tank. Maybe they changed the push distance in order to balance it a bit?

 

Could you share your wiz tank build pls.

 

I just finished my normal playthrough with story companions (where my greatest achievement was soloing sky dragon with Aloth at lv 16 lol) and now I want to try PoTD with 4 man party - Cipher MC, Chanter tank, Wiz and Priest offtanks. All Melee and armored.

[DreamWayfarer]

Could you share your wiz tank build pls.

 

I just finished my normal playthrough with story companions (where my greatest achievement was soloing sky dragon with Aloth at lv 16 lol) and now I want to try PoTD with 4 man party - Cipher MC, Chanter tank, Wiz and Priest offtanks. All Melee and armored.

I think he means the Bilestomper. It can be found on the sticky post.

[Boeroer]

Yepp.

[Raven Darkholme]

Some of the upscaled enemies are ridiculous. Baelsyr went from 91 Def to 126 and also hits like a truck with over 100 Acc.

I didn't play upscaled WM1 till now but since I played upscaled WM2 I thought I was ready for this.

Mind you with a level 9-10 party of 3 I managed to beat everything till now but I had too many reloads and I haven't even faced broodmothers or Alpine yet, let alone Magrans Faithful.

[rheingold]

Try the darn ogre bounty in Elmshore - upscaled. It's insane - but strangely enough only the ogres outside of the cave are tough - the actual boss is fine - almost like the upscaling only applies to the exterior map and not to the interior. But those ogres outside are unpleasant, really unpleasant. I was 13th level and had to use a bit of cheese the last time I picked a fight with them.

[Raven Darkholme]

I noticed the same in upscaled Sun in Shadow not all enemies were upscaled and often enemies that are supposedly tougher were easier than their upscaled "weak" counterparts.

I'll try the ogre bounty< as soon as I'm in Elmsshore, might be level 11 or 12 depending on whether I finish WM first.

[Raven Darkholme]

I kind of feel upscaled Sky dragon is actually as strong as Alpine Dragon.

The raw stats even look better than Alpine, instead of doing the massive damage of Alpine breath Sky stuns.

Anyone know if Adra dragon is upscaled when Act 3 is upscaled? Otherwise it will be a joke for my 3 monsters.

[Boeroer]

I didn't notice anything with the Adra Dragon.