Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Lack of XP/Early game levelling

Something that's bothered me in both D:OS 1 and 2 is that the early game feels starved of XP and leveling opportunity. When combined with the rather demanding and high leveled combat encounters, makes for a frustrating and slow early game experience.

I understand that the game is supposed to be challenging, but when you're gated at multiple encounters because your characters are under leveled and there is no easily available XP around, frustration ensues. I have spent hours wandering around the opening area in search of leveling opportunities in order to gain entry into the fort to no avail.

Not only is this a roadblock to inexperienced players just starting out, it's also detrimental to the feel of a large world bristling with opportunity. In order to scrounge enough XP to make it into the fort without being massacred, you basically have to do all the quests available regardless of whether it fits your playstyle or desire, and your characters still come up short! It makes the world feel claustrophobic and "designed" and really sells all the effort put into the world short.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I missing something drastic?

It definitely feels like you need to do basically everything that exists in order to level up enough. That converts "side quests" into "mandatory quests", which is not great. And yeah, D:OS 1 had this same problem as well.

I finished the alpha Patch 0 in September, but in the December patch, I felt a little lost as well. I was pretending I was a new player and I didn't know everything. Because I made a couple different decisions, and missed out on saving Elohdi, and playing with the kid in the grotto, which left me short of ways to go to get into the fort, and short of XP.

I eventually had no choice at all except to turn Stingtail into Griff because fighting him at level 1 would be a death sentence. I did save him by killing Silence, but I was pretty railroaded into taking only that course of action. That got me Amryo free, which told me of the trap door into the prison. Being level 2 I did at least beat the crocodiles and the arena, but reaching level 3 took a lot of exploring and finally killing some silent monks for the last little bits of XP needed to reach level 3.

I am still stuck in the prison area trying to figure out if it is possible for me to reach level 4 before leaving the prison and facing level 4 enemies, and which fights are possible for me to reasonably do.

No you aren't. There is a massive block between level 3 and 4.

At level 4 you can get (buy or steal) all the skill books you wish but prior to that they are very limited. It is fairly easy to get to level 3 inside the fort but level 4 less so.

There is an advantage to staying in the fort - you can kill Dallis and her pets which you can't if you leave. This gives you a lot of XP which makes it possible to be level 8 before the last fight rather than half way through..

If you don't care then you can leave the fort whenever you want and get XP from the following (with no fighting required except against fossils)



You can also get another XP1600 by

I found that if I could get to the village in the last DOS the rest of the game was pointless as I'd done the hard bit.

I now feel if I can get to level 4 the rest of the game (well this act to be fair) is pointless.

And before I get picked up on my incorrect use of words again by @stabby when I say pointless I mean possible. At level 3 you can't finish this act unless there is some trick I don't know about. At 4 you can. You have to cheat:cheese a bit but it is possible.

So for me if I make it to level 4 I'm done (it is possible after that) and I'll try another iteration.

Yes it is but it is tiresome. Go and kill some silent monks at XP200 a pop. It is slow but you always win as they have a disadvantage of being blind.

As you have lost your collar you can go and pick up some source points from the frog cave and by the turtles.

You have a massive advantage when you get to level 4 - all the decent skillbooks are available from vendors.

You can even get to level 5 before leaving the fort but you need to be a bit unpleasant to do it (kill everyone basically)

As it stands I am completely stuck on two separate playthroughs because I cannot for the life of me get enough XP to reach a high enough level to be able to progress in the fort.

On my first playthrough I have 3 characters (I killed Sebille) - main character lvl 3, others lvl 2.

My second playthrough has 4 characters, all party members lvl 2.

In both cases I am stuck with no further ways to get XP that I can find. I must be missing something major.

How close are you to level 3? What exactly have you completed?

Because I do acknowledge how much stuff you need to do to reach level 3, but I've got a level 3 party which missed:
- Intervening to save Elohdi
- playing with the kid in the grotto and discovering Withermoore's body (this can be done manually if you know about it)
- talking to Withermoor and learning of the statue secret
- learning about the hidden soul storage area (can also be discovered without talking to WM)


And I've also not done some things yet, like:
- passing the barricade and entering the acid frogs hideout and finding the 600 misplaced XP
- finishing Gwain's teleporter glove quest (although that only gives XP to one character)
- attacking the fire slugs in the prison tunnels (I talked to the one beach side and even without pet pal, you can choose non-combat options to allow you to pass peacefully as long as you stay away from the royal slug)
- choosing to fight the level 3 crossbow dogs (I wanted to do it with the houndmaster's ball)
- turning Migo's ring over to Yarrow and completing that quest (which I assume grants XP, but I wanted the ring more)

You can kill some silent monks for 200 XP each (which is not that much, but the 700 it used to be was too much). You can also kill the crocodiles at level 2, which will give you the glove and let you explore some hidden areas.

What are the crossbow dogs or silent monks? I've never come across those. I've done the following and the party is halfway to level 3.

- saved Elodi
- killed the crocs
- turned ring over to Yarrow
- freed Amyro from Griff's cage
- convinced Fara that her child is dead

Both are in the fort itself, in the "re-education" area, the floor of the fort between the prison cells and the courtroom kinda thing. You can get there from the prison level if you have someone with lockpicking ability (I forget offhand if the main door out of the cells is level 1 or 2) which avoids a confrontation with the houndmaster and his men. That floor also gives access to the area where Withermoore's soul jar is kept.

I'm not sure if fighting the dogs or killing the silent monks turns the magisters hostile, so save before doing anything...

Ah. You can use the Teleport gloves to send someone up to the ledge near Mona's tent, then they can lower the ladder there. That will get you access to the fort. You can also use the gloves near the beach where the rainbow and chest are by the hidden area on the island to get down to the ground level, where there's a hole to get you into the prison's unlocked cell, and form there you can sneak to get the key, which gets you into the prison and from there you can reach the ladder up top.

You don't need Lockpicking 1 or Sneak 1 to snag the key on the stool near the houndmaster, Sneak 0 will work to let you get the key.

Fighting the dogs and killing silent monks doesn't turn them hostile. The big danger with the silent monks might be if one chooses to buff a nearby silent monk, bringing them into the fight.

Also if you have freed Amryo, he should have marked an entrance to the prison on your map so you can get in that way.

Thanks for the advice, but all this just further confirms how finicky and unnecessarily restrictive the opening of the game feels. The beginning of any game shouldn't require the player to search for every little bit of XP in order to level up enough to progress. The whole "save before doing anything" also says a lot about the tightrope feel of the early game where every encounter (that's doable) is skin of the teeth and usually results in multiple deaths and reloads. This is the introduction for goodness sakes! It's meant to ease the player in.

I'm all for a challenging and tactical game, but this kind of difficulty should come further on in the game. The difficulty should ramp up, not start with a difficulty spike and then fall off a cliff like D:OS after the first act.

I can't believe, in all the play-throughs I've done, I never thought of that. So obvious, but I only ever used it as a way of sneaking out again. Which I did repeatedly without ever seeing "hey, this is also a way in!" D:

Maybe I assumed it would catch the unwanted attention of the nearby guards.

You can leave the fort without having to fight. In the top floor are two paths to leave with sneak. One is a oneway ticket, the other is more dangerous but would also open a way back.

Leaving the fort will give a lot xp, but also turn all magisters hostile.


Regarding the fact, that you are imprisoned, it is kind of fitting the story, that it is pretty tough to get around at the start.

But the main problem is still there: xp gain is pretty odd, difficult fights often give less xp than easy ones.


Using the ledge to sneak in was always the most obvious way to enter, in my opinion and regarding to killed the crocs. o.o

Yeah from my one play so far through the prison part, it's a shame they thought a prison would be a good way to start an epic RPG adventure.

Hey guys, want no gear, money, and scrounge anywhere to do anything? Don't worry, in 4 levels you can actually start doing things :O

Reminds me of my start to Oblivion and Morrowind, especially with FCOM installed on Oblivion which made venturing off the Imperial Isle an inadvisable jaunt except for those who enjoy the pastime of being pwned. So I spent the first few levels mostly foraging in abandoned barrels where Cyrodiil's inhabitants seem to get rid of last season's oh-so-tired gifts of tongs and ink-pots. Eventually after a few levels of doing this I'd be able to buy a mouldy haddock whose smell I could hopefully use to scare away bad guys.

The start of D:OS2 seems quite exciting in comparison to endless foraging through dustbins!

It's too easy to get out of Fort Joy all the way to Sanctuary without any fights.
Such exp boost for just exploring is a good start, even on Honor Mode.