Viable party compositions, Topic split by Sikret Options

[rbeverjr]

I see that the wildmage is ending in the next version? Too bad. I am playing Xan as a wildmage (no hand of undoing, just improved chaos shield). He seems to be very effective. I'm really not interested in the rationale for just dumping the class; I don't agree. Even in IA, I think that the wildmage probably becomes the most powerful mage. Even so, he's not the most powerful class in IA, unlike the vanilla game. Furthermore, the wildsurges can be disasterous in the tough battles; so, you have advantages and disadvantages. While I am disappointed, I could and may just play a second sorcerer or perhaps a wizard in IA 5.1+. (Any chance of editing out "For the Needy" from Nalia?)

I agree that without PfMW the bard class may as well be dumped too. (At least, I consider there are better alternative classes in my game.) I further agree that the IA teams that each player uses will become more similar as valid alternative classes are eliminated.

Once 5.1 is done, I will have to carefully consider all the changes before I elect to play the new mod rather than sticking to 5.0.

[Arkain]

Hum... it's not that there aren't many parties you can actually play with. I think it's more a matter of how the players think. It's easier to think about standart party compositions that would make it through the game "for sure". While these obvious "effective" parties are a valid choice this doesn't mean that there aren't any other "effective" party compositions. The players just have to think about it and maybe need some "skill" to employ the characters' possibilities in a more effective way.
There is indeed some variety, but if you limit yourself to Bioware NPCs it's of course way less. Additionally some classes, like non-swashbuckler thieves, are indeed a bit weak for IA and may be a suboptimal choice. Still, a suboptimal choice doesn't make the game (mod) itself impossible and may add interesting situations for the player. On the other hand it may be frustrating to have party members whose main stengths (like, say, traps and backstab) are useless most of the time.

I agree that maybe there isn't unlimited variety if you want to play IA (as in "six assassins"... that's something I wouldn't recommend or try ). Nevertheless there is some *if* you look carefully.

This post has been edited by Arkain: Feb 11 2008, 04:57 PM