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.

[Raven]

I further agree that the IA teams that each player uses will become more similar as valid alternative classes are eliminated.

I don't understand this. I'm confident I could finish virtually all if not all of IA v5 with a party of six sorcerers, on Insane. Yes, it's an extreme example, and it would take extremely careful planning and spell selection. Some of the battles would take a very long time and a huge amount of patience.

The point is that I think the easiest (default) party to play the mod with is fairly well-defined. But it's incorrect to say that the possible parties are too similar.

[rbeverjr]

I further agree that the IA teams that each player uses will become more similar as valid alternative classes are eliminated.

I don't understand this. I'm confident I could finish virtually all if not all of IA v5 with a party of six sorcerers, on Insane.

I don't doubt that you are right. You, Sikret, Arkain, thetruth, and other expert players would succeed with many teams where I would fail. I'm not sure if the majority of the Improved Anvil players are at your skill level or at mine...

I guess what I'm hoping for is to keep the options open. Thieves can be overwhelmingly cheesy in the regular game, and need to be nerfed. Unfortunately, thieves seem most suited for only opening locks and disarming traps in Improved Anvil (excepting the Swashbuckler). If you only apply nerfs to the bard class, he becomes less than an optimal character, and I can't see why anyone would play one but to add to the challenge of the game.

I'm disappointed when avenues of effective play are closed at my skill level. However, my skills are slowly advancing. I am sure that I can adapt to the new rules of the game. As I said before, I will want to consider all the changes, however, before deciding if and when I will upgrade to IA 5.1+.

Although as Sikret has shown, there are still variations in the team that you can use, that does not falsify my statement in regards to me. For instance, I am using Xan as a wildmage and Haer'Dalis in my present game. In the proposed IA 5.1, I would use neither. I think losing the bard matters more to me than the wildmage. I can depend on a sorcerer, and using 2 sorcerers has an appeal. But I still need an anvil for my kensai. I could convert one of the Bioware NPCs are use a third party NPC as a fighter-mage multiclass or dual to serve as a tank. But to reaffirm my first statement, my options of bard and wildmage are no longer optimal.

This post has been edited by rbeverjr: Feb 11 2008, 05:24 PM

[Sikret]

However, my skills are slowly advancing.

That's the spirit!

I don't think that you should under-estimate your skills, rbeverjr! Play the battles slowly and think at each round and for each and every step. There is no need to finish a battle too fast. Try to enjoy the time even if takes long. Activate the game's "pausing" features so that it pauses the game for you after the end of each round as well as when a spell is cast and when any of your character's target is dead. Consider the situation and think just like you are playing chess (and I repeat again: Enjoy it this way! That's what I do).

I don't know if you have read my spoilerish walkthrough or not, but I have mentioned there that at some points I have sat down and thought for a long time in the middle of a battle before making a decision. Winning a battle in a seemingly hopeless situation with a brilliant tactic and without cheesy methods is what makes the game enjoyable for me. Finding the right decision after thinking for a long time is satisfying for me. If every battle were such that I would never need to reload or to revise my tactics, or if I wouldn't encounter situations in which I had to think long to see how can I save my severely wounded and cornered protagonist from death, I wouldn't enjoy the game. I'm sure that you have the same sentiment; otherwise, you wouldn't probably put so much thought on how to play the mod (something that I really appreciate and thank you for).