Hey Fish (brother-in-gills
)
Like you, I was struggling just a couple of days ago with Goblins - Chiefs were impossible and even lowly Lvl 7-ers were difficult for my Lvl 8 to kill.... as they usually attack in 2s or 3s, it was often Goodnight for me (though Whirlwind helped considerably...)
By digging around this Forum and also looking at
this very useful Guide and Walkthrough, you can find all the beginning Quests and build up your skill points and XP (for example, there's a pretty simple puzzle concerning books in the Inn, the solving of which will earn you a cheap Skill Point).
Also, as you level up, keep checking out the Traders, especially Derk the Blacksmith, for new Weapons and Armor. At Level 9, I managed to buy a humungous Bow, Ranger's Rest, which increased my Damage from 9 max to 40 max, this was enough for me to take down the Troll easily by running around him and hitting him from a distance. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth all the trouble, as it got me less than 300XP, and he didn't drop anything
.
In fact, this Bow is so powerful and so quick to fire that I just use it for melee, and leave my two-hander in its scabbard
The good thing about Divinity (at least, so far as I have played it....) is that mobs don't re-spawn, so you can slowly take down a group and retire to recoup before sneaking back again to pick off another one. Eventually, you'll clear the area and loot all the chests and boxes.
I dealt with Lovis' Tower by
climbing up the high ladders and platforms (you'll get to them once you've got rid of that pesky Troll...). You'll two Trios of Goblin Rangers to deal with (essentially, just side-step their arrows until you can melee with them) and then jump around the locked gate - you'll find a waypoint shrine here, so you can go back to the village and get new weapons or potions before continuing into the Tower).
After the Tower, I was Level 10, with a couple more skill points, some tasty Armour, and the Goblins and Skeletons became much easier to deal with, like a knife through warm butter, in fact - so stick at it!
Softlee Softlee...
