Dryford village and defience bay

[Melusina]

Should you go to defience bay before Dryford village?

[algroth]

In my first playthrough I went to Defiance Bay before reaching Dyrford, whereas in my second I went to Dyford before reaching Defiance Bay... A couple of thoughts on either alternative in spoiler tags since they are mildly spoilery I guess...

 

 

In favour of visiting Dyrford first, there are two new companions to pick up on Dyrford and its whereabouts and if you make a run through Defiance Bay and the several quests it offers there'll be a lot of content those companions will be missing on - it's not crucial content but at least for me it's always nice to hear the companions chiming in more as it gives them a bit more colour and so on. And also because I feel like it's alway a bit more rewarding to build each individual character's power over time as opposed to already meeting them at a high level.

 

As for how the content in Dyrford itself changes, the only aspect I recall changing a bit is that there's a minor quest in Dyrford itself that involves people from a Defiance Bay faction, and whether you've crossed them before or not can have some effect on the way you deal with them and the way they speak to you. The advantage in this case is also that knowing who these guys are (or who the faction they work for is) informs just a little more on the quest and what exactly is going on in it. Also you are asked to go to Dyrford as part of the main quest later on anyways, so you are eventually bound to go that way - if character motivation is important for you it might make sense for your characters to first head over to their destination, and then find a reason to head to this village off to the side

 

 

With these things in mind I still feel my personal preference would be to go to Dyrford first, but there is no definitive answer and the difference is really not that crucial in the end.

[Boeroer]

You can go to Dyrford in order to buy stuff and get Grieving Mother - but once you start to do encounters you will see that you're severely underleveled.

 

The "normal" way to do it:

 

Defiance Bay --> do quests and follow the main story line --> the main story line will lead you to Dyrford

 

edit: added Grieving Mother

Edited January 22, 2018 by Boeroer

[Juodas Varnas]

Eh, i like going to Dyrford first to pick up Grieving Mother early.

I just really like her. Shut up.

 

But level and story wise, you probably should go to Defiance bay for quests, because some of the combat encounters around Dyrford can be pretty tough at lower levels.

[Torm51]

Eh, i like going to Dyrford first to pick up Grieving Mother early.

I just really like her. Shut up.

 

But level and story wise, you probably should go to Defiance bay for quests, because some of the combat encounters around Dyrford can be pretty tough at lower levels.

Before level 7 any of those encounters in Dyrford and the surrounding areas can be very tough.

[Vaneglorious]

I only ever go to Dyrford (but never first) to grab Tall Grass after I got the 10k gold quest reward.