Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[MajorMace]

I didn't even feel this bad with DAO or NWN2.

How? Those games were filled with trash mobs all over the place. More or less than POE, I don't know. Even Pathfinder, true to its BG roots, will often just say "oh here's 6 fights of 5 spiders". Anyway, it's a general design feature across this subgenre that isn't great.

Cognitive biases sometimes unveil forgotten truths.

 

[Shadenuat]

at the time you'd go through 6x5 spiders in PoE, you could probably rush hasted party through Firkraag dungeon to the end.
on any difficulty. (since in IE games it just affects damage taken)

 

[MajorMace]

You can pass by much of the content in poe, you just need the proper build.
Like in fallout.

 

[Nano]

I didn't even feel this bad with DAO or NWN2.

How? Those games were filled with trash mobs all over the place. More or less than POE, I don't know. Even Pathfinder, true to its BG roots, will often just say "oh here's 6 fights of 5 spiders". Anyway, it's a general design feature across this subgenre that isn't great.

DA:O's combat system is significantly more fun than PoE's, especially with spellcasting characters. Spells in PoE are weaksauce.

 

[vortex]

DA:O's combat system is significantly more fun than PoE's, especially with spellcasting characters. Spells in PoE are weaksauce.

Excuse me? No, it isn't.
Dragon age is NOT top down. You could make it but it can't replace PoE's.

 

[Tigranes]

at the time you'd go through 6x5 spiders in PoE, you could probably rush hasted party through Firkraag dungeon to the end.
on any difficulty. (since in IE games it just affects damage taken)

I think IE games would be faster to rush past trash mobs than either POE or Pathfinder primarily because of AOOs/Engagement - you can just Ctrl+A and click and scratch your arse.

That said, the real solution is better encounter design, and every game mentioned here - DAO, NWN2, POE, etc. - have their own problems in that regard.

Random encounters synergise badly with all this as well. OK, make resting more risky or whatever, but whether in Kingmaker or BG2 I really don't need yet another boring ass fight against 4 generic spiders.

 

[Nas92]

How do I protect against the breath attack of the Adra Dragon at the end of Od Nua? I have the Scale Breaker ability, My party is lvl12 and I can get her down to Injured and kill most of her helpers. But the eventually she gets off one of her super powerful breath attacks and kills my whole party or at least enough where it doesn't matter.

 

[Lacrymas]

The Adra Dragon is infamous for being unlike anything else in the game and it's just a troll fight. I never managed to draw up a reliable tactic for her, it was always down to luck, and could never understand the mechanics behind her attacks no matter what I did. I think her wing slam or something is the thing which kills the party in basically one hit, her breath can be avoided by her being tanked away from the party.

 

[Shadenuat]

How do I protect against the breath attack of the Adra Dragon at the end of Od Nua? I have the Scale Breaker ability, My party is lvl12 and I can get her down to Injured and kill most of her helpers. But the eventually she gets off one of her super powerful breath attacks and kills my whole party or at least enough where it doesn't matter.

the best would probably keeping it permaparalyzed, also isn't max level in White March 16?
at max level and with scroll +20 to all defences perhaps you could survive the breath.

 

[Parabalus]

That's just outleveling the content tbh.

 

[Rivmusique]

use summons immediately and have them charge dragon while your party runs opposite way. use many priest* buffs (protection from fear and any accuracy boosts most important) while your summons stall them (spread them so they don't all die to one breath). send high defence party member to engage dragon and face it away from party. have the rest of the party stay at max range from dragon to avoid wings and nuke. let all the dragons buddies die in aoes, or throw out confuses/charms so they help. lower dragon's reflex/will and target it. keep high defence man healed, if he dies the dragon will face your party, breath and kill most (might be worth spreading a bit so not all die and you can possibly recover with a res?) of the party.

*if you don't have a priest, can use scrolls or some chanter shit as substitute, i think.

 

[Butter]

You need to attack her from multiple sides. If you let her breath hit the whole party, you can't win.

 

[Nas92]

It's not really working, so I'm gonna forget about this for the moment. Way too aggravating for my tastes.

Anyhow, strange stuff is happening around my stronghold. There was an attack which I fought off, but now there's that weird angry mob sound playing in front of the great hall.
Also, are you supposed to get a prestige and security reward from the Steward after getting rid of the Spirit of Od Nua? I thought I'm only supposed to get a reward like that only after killing the Master Below (which I obviously hadn't done).

 

[Arthandas]

How hard is it to hit the level cap? I'm starting a new game and I'm wondering whether I should use the nerfed xp table from IE Mod.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Pretty easy if you do bounties, which give shitloads of xp. AFAIR, I've hit the cap somewhere in WM1.

Go with IE and 25% or 33% nerf.

 

[DalekFlay]

I'm 95% sure I hit the level cap and I never played either White March.

 

[Arthandas]

Pretty easy if you do bounties, which give shitloads of xp. AFAIR, I've hit the cap somewhere in WM1.

Go with IE and 25% or 33% nerf.

Thanks, I think I'll go full retard with square progression setting., that'll keep me busy

 

[Jimmious]

You need to attack her from multiple sides. If you let her breath hit the whole party, you can't win.

I remember that I beat the Adra Dragon by simply having multiple paralyze scrolls and basically not letting it move even once. Not fun pausing every few seconds but yeah

 

[oldmanpaco]

You need to attack her from multiple sides. If you let her breath hit the whole party, you can't win.

I remember that I beat the Adra Dragon by simply having multiple paralyze scrolls and basically not letting it move even once. Not fun pausing every few seconds but yeah

Before the WM expansion i think stun locking it was the only way. Remember it being a pain in the ass.

 

[Nas92]

Any of the White March companions worth it enough to send one of my party member back home? I just encountered the Devil of Caroc, but I know there are two others. My current party members are: Edér, Kana Rua, Durance, Aloth, Grieving Mother. (My main character is a paladin, who is more of a damage taker than a damage dealer.)

 

[Lacrymas]

Maneha is shit, Devil is Caroc is great mechanically but very underwhelming narratively, Zahua is one of the best story-wise (not that it's a high bar) and is not too shabby mechanically. I'd replace Eder with Zahua and Kana or GM with Devil.

 

[Nas92]

I completed WM Part 1. I got to Level 14, I now have Zahua in my party, I shelved Grieving Mother for the time being, needed another damage dealer badly. I upscaled the encounters, but they really didn't become more challenging, aside from a few of the boss battles with the ghosts in the White Forge. The trash mob encounters just became more drawn out and annoying, but at least there wasn't one every 10 seconds like in the base game. Guess it's time to do Part 2.

I started doing Siege of Cragholdt as well, the mercenaries were still tough, but not near impossible to beat. How difficult is the Concelhaut fight and what are the rewards for it? Is it worth doing at all?

I also attempted the Adra Dragon fight again, I still fail hard. I managed to kill off her buddies and get her down to badly injured, but at some point she just manages to kill me no matter what I do. Are there any spells that do significant damage to her at all? Wall of Force hobbles her and hurts her a little, but it really is only effective in fucking with her buddies.

 

[Lacrymas]

Keeping her petrified gets the job done usually. As for Concelhaut, I never found him difficult, a rogue can solo him.

 

[Elex]

Adra dragon is extremely easy at lvl 16.

 

[Ulfhednar]

I started doing Siege of Cragholdt as well, the mercenaries were still tough, but not near impossible to beat. How difficult is the Concelhaut fight and what are the rewards for it? Is it worth doing at all?

You get to keep Concelhaut's skull, which is weirdly satisfying...