Watcher's Keep Options

[rbeverjr]

Color me impressed. A lot of XP and GP here if you are up to the task of taking it! Some good fights and varied combats.

[luan]

I had great fun in Watcher's Keep, but as with the rest of the game, there is a jarring contrast between improved and non-improved encounters. But hey, that's what iterations of IA releases are for!

In my opinion, I'd like to see a heavy difficulty boost for the early WK floors as the risk/reward ratio is too light. Sikret's later WK encounters are spectacular however, and earning their guarded horde is truly an epic experience. Unfortunately, the untouched game versions feel like treasure box freebies. Even Improved Demogorgon got ran over in 20 seconds flat whereas the Dragon directly before made me fight tooth and nail!

Offtopic: Are there any mods that continue an exponential XP table past 20? It seems that after X levels, the XP requirement to next level normalizes to ~250k... allowing me to gain levels like every 20 minutes.
I'd like to continue an SOA rate of level growth if possible.

[rbeverjr]

In my opinion, I'd like to see a heavy difficulty boost for the early WK floors as the risk/reward ratio is too light. Sikret's later WK encounters are spectacular however, and earning their guarded horde is truly an epic experience.

As always, difficulty is linked to a number of factors. Player skill, XP, and equipment are 3 factors. I had difficulty with Sikret's new encounter on level 1. I'm now around L30, and am moving right along. If I was going to make changes in Watcher's Keep difficulty, I would say that the difficulty increases with each level. I suppose that may be true now. At least the last level is clearly more challenging than the levels before. I'd be slaughtered if I wasn't well equipped at level 5! If it was judged absolutely necessary to toughen the beginning levels (I'm not sure there is a need), then the challenge still should increase as you get deeper into the keep - in my opinion. At the beginning levels, you do get fat loot, but the only thing that I particularly wanted I could buy from the Helmites or take from a tough chromatic demon or other tough Sikret monster. Sikret protects the nice treasure, and that's the way it should be. At any rate, I'm enjoying the upgrade of WK.

Don't you get more XP for not killing demogorgon - or did that change in the improved demogorgon? I suppose RP-wise, it would be most appropriate to follow the avatar's instructions, but I may have to do a save game to try the battle myself.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the main benefit in BG2 epic levels are just more HLA's right? If you want to limit XP, check out Zyraen’s Miscellaneous Mod and Ding0 Experience Fixer.

[Sikret]

I suppose RP-wise, it would be most appropriate to follow the avatar's instructions

This is exactly why I have reservations to improve Demogorgon and didn't actually improve him in the current version of the mod. I thought it's a waste of modding time, because when I play myself, I always seal the prison from outside as the avatar instructs.