i dont see why it was removed either. those books had nothing to do with how characters become ridiculously powerful. even if you have high attributes and many skills you are still locked in by the AP system limiting what you can do each round.
when things like invisibility and 100% resistances exist it seems really silly to go after something that allowed for more in-depth character design.
anyhow, the thing that kills replayability to me is the loot system. as long as the best loot in the game is located in specific chests requiring loading and reloading dozens of times in a row to get a decent item i wont have much drive to play this game for long.
