Heya,

Just wanted to say amazing job on the new version of IA! I finished my first v7 Core run and loved almost everything about it. The Druid Stronghold was my favorite, and all the new items were a blast to forge and experiment with (they definitely made the run smoother than usual).

I noticed EDE seemed significantly easier”SPOILER!
. This was a great incentive for me to actually complete it, since I usually quit my runs there.
Amelyssane was quite the surprise too! Her final phase had me stumped for an hour or two”I couldn’t find a reliable way to dispel her, so I had to tough it out, which felt a bit like a war of attrition (not my favorite kind of fight). Still, it’s a fantastic finale, and I loved the simplicity of the upgrade mechanic.

I also tried the new Wizard Slayer kit (turned Keldorn into one”this could be a cool optional tweak for IATweaks, since it fits an Inquisitor thematically). Access to Purge completely changed how I approached some of the toughest fights:
SPOILER!

That said, the WS still feels a bit clunky in a party (as others have mentioned). The lack of Haste makes them lag behind during exploration ”some quality-of-life adjustments would be great here. I ended up tweaking his movement speed with EEKeeper, which unfortunatly helped a ton in combat as a side effect (even if that wasn’t my original goal).
Despite this, the WS’s kit and HLAs make them surprisingly tanky and deadly ”they ended up third in party %kills, trailing only RB and Sibel.

Suggestion: Maybe introduce an early-game WS-exclusive item (e.g., armor or boots combinable with Boots of the Regiment) that doubles movement speed without magic? For flavor, it could be something like non-magical "roller skates" with a tradeoff (e.g., speed at the cost of AC/THACO penalties or an "aerodynamic plate" with reduced defense).

Sibel ”wow. She’s incredibly strong thanks to her gear, but what I loved most was how you made the Cleric feel like a true party member rather than just a buff/heal bot. She nearly matched RB in %kills by endgame while still being a full caster and using sword & board the whole time. This approach felt way more satisfying than the extra spells from IA6.5 (the Shaman update). That said, her questline felt a wee bit too easy for the power of her rewards ”though WS Purge might have skewed my perception.

As for my Avenger protagonist, I wasn’t entirely sold. He ended up feeling like an extra fighter with class-exclusive gear but couldn’t frontline effectively (dispels hurt!). In hindsight, I’d have gone Shaman (which I remember fondly from my last run).

Neera’s wild surges still make me nervous, but her new items are cool, and she handled solo casting just fine (with massive help from the WS). We cleared the run comfortably without RVE, which to me was a first.



Next Run Plans: Going Vagrant, with Aerie as a Shaman and Mazzy (excited to try her upgraded kit!).

Quick Questions:

While cleaning my install, I noticed the IATweaks option "Allow non-Vagrant protagonists to play Shimmering Light & The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" wouldn’t install. Is there a workaround?

Should SibelNPC be installed before or after IATweaks?


Final Thoughts: Thanks again for an incredible experience ”I had a blast with this run and can’t wait to see what’s next!

I found the Purge Magic ability overpowered, even one is too much never mind three of them. I thought maybe it would work better as a single target dispel ability but even that would end certain fights prematurely if I think about it. Perhaps something like a 2 round spell interrupter that leaves enough room for the enemy to cast weapon protecting spells and other low casting speed spells would work slightly better.

Thank you for your kind words! We're really glad that you had good time with the mod once more

That slow movement speed is one of his disadvantages that have to be painful to compensate for Purge Magic, which to me is the best ability in the game. But I agree that picking a class shouldn't affect the player's comfort when out of combat. So maybe we should add a passive ability that increases WS's movement speed but only outside of combat. The rationale being that they are very fast and agile (they get bonus strength and dexterity after all) in general, but when they fight they're really focused and make each move with caution and precision, which necessitates slower movements.


If I remember correctly, critto fixed that issue not too long ago, but the fix might not be present in the official release. You can download the newest version from https://github.com/critto-bg/ImprovedAnvilTweaks just click on the green button with "CODE" text and choose "download ZIP" and unpack it normally.

I am not sure if components like Simplified Economy affect Sibel Mod in any way, but since some changes that IATweaks make are global (ie the mod iterates over all files of some type and makes changes to them), it's better to install Sibel Mod first, so that the files it introduces are also patched.


Shaman was nerfed in v7.0, so you might want to carefully checks the kit and the descriptions of its new spells.

Good luck and let us know when you'll have your final party composition ready!


I hope you'll check my IA_Rebalanced component of IATweaks when it's ready then It'll introduce hundreds of changes, rework some battles, intoduce new items, spells, enemies and will make many lesser-used classes and kits go up at least a tier or two.

It most definitely is (especially the fact it bypasses SI:Abj), yet it was very satisfying to use, felt like having my revenge in some of those fights that tend to be endless.
It seems remotely balanced though, that the WS class being ALL about this ability, it takes a spot in the party.


It would, 90% of the time, I used purge for one specific target (IIRC, it was meaningful against several target for Sibel's questline and Demogorgon fight). If it affected every enemy, that was just icing on the cake.

Overall, WS was fun and a wee bit cheesy to have around, but I found my previous experiences with a Keldorn inquisitor more satisfying. Cheesy indeed, but being able to purge... heh that was priceless : P

@SparrowJacek :

That's doable ? Definitely the way to go ! Would make sense to prevent the use of armor though.


Just read about it, seems like mending access at level 17 is a good way to balance its early OPness. I'll give it a shot !

It is !
Vagrant, Aerie (shaman), Mazzy, Neera (sorcerer), Sibel, Korgan (DD)
It's been a long time since I played a run without Minsc (barb)


Sure will ! Any hints on when it could be out ? : )

It'd have a bit of a lag, something like the effect disappearing with a delay of up to 1 second when you encounter an enemy, but I think that's OK, as it's the mobility on the battlefield as a whole that matters.


A strong melee-oriented party with nice tanking/healing capabilities. Definitely a good composition for IA hardships


I spend some time working on it almost every day, but there's still a whole lot to do and I'd like to perform at least some basic tests, to ensure some stability. My progress is good, but it'll take a few months more to finish the first release.

Can't wait to try the IA Rebalanced component when it's out (But understand these things take time!)

Mending's actually available from the get-go. It only gets built-in alacrity for the next spell at level 17. It was a bit OP for the earlier parts of the game.

IATweaks's best to be installed last. And yes, Jacek's right, better download the "bleeding edge" version from the repository. There are some bug fixes that hasn't been put into a new release yet.

Cheers, glad you're enjoying the mod :-)

Yup, just noticed mending works from the start, had to go shaman protagonist instead of vagrant as I couldn't turn Aerie with EEKeeper without the game crashing.

And yeah, that "bleeding edge" version works perfect, install went as normal. I can access the main part of ranger quest so no need for a vagrant protagonist : )

Try Level 1 NPCs, I wouldn't use EEKeeper to re-kit NPCs.