Some thoughts on topics in this thread.
16. [Balance] Archers get Poison Cloud arrows in West Cyseal?
The game has a lot of OP powers, I don't think Larian should listen too much too feedback about it being too hard. First almost always they are not playing on easy. So Clint Eastwood would say "You should play on easy". Second many are determining that at level 3. Once you understand the game more, you become a lot stronger just with that knowledge if nothing else changes. But there are a lot of OP powers, I've been thinking of listing all the powers I've used with a review of each, not sure, that will take some time.
Generally, that's a reasonable point, and it's something to consider... but I've been alpha/beta testing this game for over 300 hours. I am one of the voices who generally
wants the game to be HARDER. I've got enough experience to know how to handle a lot of situations. So, I'm not some total newbie playing for the first time. I like a challenge and having to think carefully.
I think though, that if my full-health level 3 fighter (the tankiest character in my group), facing off against a level 3 enemy archer can be killed before their first turn (on Normal difficulty) because of the combination of initial hit + poison status damage, that there's a little issue there. If the archer gets that shot off, there's no mitigating that damage, someone is flat-out dead, no chance to heal. Knowledge doesn't help.
Not to mention that because of the formations, the poison cloud is guaranteed to hit additional party members at the same time, meaning that if the archer gets that arrow off on their first turn, it could be a death sentence for at least half your party.
West Cyseal is the "starter zone" for combat. It doesn't have to be easy, and I'm glad that it is challenging, but speaking as someone who wants difficulty and challenge: there is such a thing as too much.
I did eventually figure out a way to try and manage archers without deaths, but it was not easy. To avoid losing anyone, you have to shut them down before the poison-cloud one can shoot his arrow.
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41. [Balance] Farseer skill does nothing This skill does nothing useful at all. Your default sight radius is enough to see in most cases, the shroud's edge is rarely a factor, and this skill has no combat benefit. I tested it by letting my Rogue take aim with a bow at a zombie. He had a 65 percent chance to hit. I delayed his turn and then had Jahan cast Farseer on him. His sight increased, but the chance to hit did not. It also does not increase the range of Mage spells either.
42. [Design] Traits should not grant immunity with 1 point That is quite overpowered. Plus, it gives no reason at all to increase those Traits past 1 point. Status effects like Cursed and Charmed should not be completely taken off the board with just a single point in a trait like Forgiving and Blunt, that's poor design. Instead, each point into Forgiving/Blunt should increase the saving throw by 20%. That is still useful.
43. [Design][Worldbuilding] Hint at secret tunnel for new players This isn't a critical thing, maybe a little nitpicky, but it's an interesting option. The secret tunnel isn'tcompletely hidden, but it's also not particularly notable to spot. In story terms it's an explanation for how Evelyn smuggled Jake's body out into the undead-infested wilds, but this isn't actually stated anywhere.
One notion I have is to have Robert's journal (and possibly Roberts confession) mention that when he arrived at the graveyard early to bury the sheep, he noticed the gaping tunnel entrance, and he quickly covered it up to avoid inconvenient questions.
This would hint at the existence of the tunnel to an exploring player and allude to that as being the corpse's smuggling route without it being explicitly stated. This is just a minor thing, though.
44. [Request] A general merchant for crafting suppliesCrafting can be very useful. Something to help would be more crafting ingredients available for sale, or a merchant who specializes in such things, so you can buy some ingredients in bulk (not just "oh look this merchant randomly has a single ingredient". This will give the player a decision whether to spend gold to get specific things they want, or to save their money and take their chances with random loot.
