Progress report for IA v6 Options

[Shadan]

You can encounter with Limak only if you have mage protagonist, what else you will probably won't meet with Limak if you play multiclass mage. I think it is pointless to have an item which can be used by tripleclass mage and they have real chance to get only if you have a single class mage protagonist. I suggest to change this potion to be surely available if you play tripleclass protagonist.

[LZJ]

Hi shadan!

If I remember the description of the potion correctly, it can be used by Mages or Cleric/Mages. Hence, I'm not too sure if a FMC can use it.

For the forging of the item triggering Limak, perhaps its great advantages are to reward a single-class mage for their dedication in magecraft? Due to balance issues, I feel that Sikret is right in not making this available to Fighter-Mages, but he could consider making it usable by non Fighter Cleric/Mages as well?

[Shadan]

Well, it seems my memory is too cloudy or item is changed since 4.2. I am pretty sure in 4.2 it was an item for tripleclass mages. Sorry for not being precise...

[Sikret]

Initial post updated with some important improvements especially in the "Tweaks applied to the vanilla game" section.

[Kerkes]

I have just read the first post in this thread, and have several questions:

Spell "wish" - will the "make if rested.." be area-dependant? For example, there are plenty of areas in the game where you can not be interrupted if you rest. Will this be changed?

xp cap - I don't know what I'm missing here, but I never got past lvl 34 as a vagrant.... Finished all the quests, using no inf.experience exploits, but this seems to be the max doe to new exp.points tables

time stop/improved alcatry combo - will this be omitted from JD sword also?

new version of imp.invis for enemy mages - I've noticed that chain contigency can be fired on imp.invisible creatures (for example, 2xruby ray + breach), making enemy mages who use it late in the game (once you get chain contingency) a walkover. will this possibility also be ommited from the game?

[Sikret]

Spell "wish" - will the "make if rested.." be area-dependant? For example, there are plenty of areas in the game where you can not be interrupted if you rest. Will this be changed?

We are discussing this issue with the testing team. There are arguments and counter arguments for both sides. so far, our decision is not to make it area-dependent, but this may change later after hearing all of the arguments. (NOTE: This thread is not for sending arguments for this case; send me a PM if you want).

xp cap - I don't know what I'm missing here, but I never got past lvl 34 as a vagrant.... Finished all the quests, using no inf.experience exploits, but this seems to be the max doe to new exp.points tables

You mean you played the entire game and your protagonist never reached 10,200,000 xp (the xp to have a 35th level ranger), eh?

Well, it has no contradiction with what I said: The new xpcap is more than enough for your ranger not to even notice that a cap exists.

Of course, you are playing IA v5. In IA v6 we have many new quests, but on the other hand, some monsters' xp values are decreased in v6 and some vanilla quests grant less xp . It makes it very hard to do a very accurate comparison between v5 and v6 regarding the total possible amount of xp the player can gain in the entire game. In some respects, IA v6 includes more xp (because of the new quests), but in some other respects, it includes fewer xp (because of monsters' xp value).

time stop/improved alcatry combo - will this be omitted from JD sword also?

JD sword has a chance per hit to cast Wish spell. This much is not omitted, but since the caster is the wielder of the sword and the wielder is not a mage, he will never gain the TimeStop+ImprovedAlacrity option.

I've noticed that chain contigency can be fired on imp.invisible creatures (for example, 2xruby ray + breach), making enemy mages who use it late in the game (once you get chain contingency) a walkover. will this possibility also be ommited from the game?

Yes, this cheesy trick will no longer work. Enemies don't use it against you either. It's fair play.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Aug 18 2008, 11:21 PM

[Kerkes]

You mean you played the entire game and your protagonist never reached 10,200,000 xp (the xp to have a 35th level ranger), eh?

yup, got to 35th level after EDE

[Vuki]

I play IA at the second time (I know it is not too much!) and I meet again with the same problem. At the beginning everything is more or less "easy" but when I reached level 10-11 (on average) then everything become tough. Until that point the quests are relatively easy but at that point everything become really hard. And a bit later (when my characters reach level 12-13) everything became easy again. Is it not possible to balance it somehow? Do other people notice the same?

There are several possible solutions for this problem (if it exists based on other opinions as well): XP for level up can be lowered a bit (to gain level faster) or some quests can be made a bit easier or some quests can give more XP. One example for the last option could be the last quest from Aran Linvail. In this quest Tanova is ok but Lassal is very weak. In this quest the characters can earn more XP if enemies are refined.

[Kerkes]

Few questions about "wish - make if rested....". Will it also remove negative buffs (greater malison etc) from your party along with positive buffs?
Will the type of creatures who appear (during the night) be dependant on your xp level?
Chain Contingency will be usable once a day. will it be usable after "wish - make if rested" again?

This post has been edited by Kerkes: Aug 22 2008, 10:02 PM

[LZJ]

Tentatively, I'll answer your 3rd question first, though Sikret should confirm it:

Chain Contingency will be usable once a day. will it be usable after "wish - make if rested" again?

From the way Sikret fixed it, I think Wish Rest would not make Chain Contingency usable immediately... you would probably have to rest normally or wait it out, and this would likely be reflected in the updated spell description. I think the same would probably apply to Enchanted Weapon, but I don't think IA players would still be using this particular spell by then.

This post has been edited by LZJ: Aug 23 2008, 01:34 AM

[Sikret]

Few questions about "wish - make if rested....". Will it also remove negative buffs (greater malison etc) from your party along with positive buffs?

Yes.

Will the type of creatures who appear (during the night) be dependant on your xp level?

In the current testing version of the spell, no, the hostile creatures don't vary with the character's xp. However, they are not weak creatures and since this case mostly happens in the middle of some other battle, those hostile creatures can make a differnence even if the character who has cast wish is high level, specially because the characters' buffs will also be dispelled.

Chain Contingency will be usable once a day. will it be usable after "wish - make if rested" again?

No, as LZJ pointed out.

[Vuki]

Does it mean that random enemies can appear when you choose the "wish - make if rested...." option? I do not see it as a problem but I think it is not logical. Based on my understanding the random enemy appears becuase you spent at least 8 hours in one position. When you do it with the Wish spell then you do not spend there any time, effects take place immediately.

[Sikret]

Yes, but the djinni gates those creatures into the game *as if* you have spent a full night resting. It's the same for dispelling your enchantments, you do not actually waste so much time that your buffs expire, but the djinni makes it *as if* you have done so.

It's all about the fact that the djinni tries to interpret your wish wording in a particular way to make life harder for you. Since you use the words "as if the party has rested a full night", the djinni can interpret it in that way too.

[Vuki]

It's all about the fact that the djinni tries to interpret your wish wording in a particular way to make life harder for you. Since you use the words "as if the party has rested a full night", the djinni can interpret it in that way too.

Yes, I agree with it. I knew that when using wish you have to be very careful. But I think using that logic the Chain Contingency should be useable again (like your items).

[Kerkes]

I don't know wether this is the right thread for this note, but shouldn't that Ring of Wizardy (I don't know the exact item name, but Harpers have it) be moved somewhere else instead of that evil Harper for whome you must have Jaheira in your party? I mean, getting that other mage ring (acuity perhaps?) from Lavok isn't all that easy, and the ring from Harpers is much more valuable (I believe it's +1spells from 5-7 lvl or something, which is a huge boost early on, and you can get it asap). Item Randomizer, exp.Mage Stronghold (new quests for IA6)..or something. Doesn't make sense that such an item is easy loot.

[Sikret]

You are right. The ring is already removed from that creature in IA v6 (even if I haven't mentioned it in the progress report; I naturally can't and don't write every small thing there in the progress report). It didn't really make any sense to have more than one Ring of Wizardry in the game, specially because it is even written in the ring's description that it was originally commissioned by spellcaster <CHARNAME> (referring to te fact that your apprenti in the planar sphere have made it for you).

[Vuki]

Sikret, did you refine the XPs for monsters in V6? I think in most cases the XP you got for the enemy is not correlate to it's power. I am sure it is quite a big work to balance them but can it be done? Just one example: Director in Firkraag dungeon is a joke for 10k XP but at the same time the Guardian is really very-very tough and the 8k XP is definitely too small for it. I killed the Guardian with my party (10-11th level characters) but all of my characters were very heavily damaged at the end of the fight. We killed the golems (in my case it was 1 Cojn, Stone, Clay and Bone golem) in that dungeon more easily than the Guardian itself (and they gave ~50-60k XP together). When I get too much XP for a battle then I always feel that I steal the XP and when I get less XP than expected then I feel I am somehow cheated.

I know it is not a big issue because what matter is how much XP you get generally during the game but it still disturb me a bit. I know also that the difficulties of battles depend on your party composition but in several cases it is still not the reason of this unbalance.

[Sikret]

Sikret, did you refine the XPs for monsters in V6?

As I've said before, yes, the xp value of monsters are re-balanced. Golems, in particular, have less xp value than in v5.

I think in most cases the XP you got for the enemy is not correlate to it's power.

This may be true for some cases, but not for 'most cases'.

Director in Firkraag dungeon is a joke for 10k XP

The director in Firkraag's dungeon was a vanilla creature and his xp was that in the vanilla game. In IA v6, the director is totally removed from the game; a brand new creature is added to the dungeon (as mentioned in the first post in this topic).

I know also that the difficulties of battles depend on your party composition

Yes, since you are currently playing an irregular party, your impression of the battles' difficulty levels is highly influenced by your party composition.

[Nivellen]

I have a question. Is there anything in a mod just for fighters (probably pure ones?). I recently started playing with fighter as protagonist as i though it would be good choice to try to get this nice judgement sword and i realized that its use it not limited to fighters but just warriors.

I think its kinda lacking that there isn't anything for fighters (and i think its also the case with clerics) while other classes have nice things (quests/items) just for them. Its especially visible when figter is compared to ranger..

[Sikret]

Specific new content for pure fighter protagonists (Expanded Fighter Stronghold) will be added to IA v7.

As far as new content/quests are concerned, the best choice in IA v5 is to pick a ranger (preferably Vagrant) protagonist.

In IA v6, mage, druid and ranger will be equally good, though they will have access to separate and different new quests; so if one wants to see all of the new quests in IA v6, he will need to play the mod for at least three times (once with single-class mage, once with druid, and once with Vagrant).