This is not a complaint of combat being either to easy or to difficult. I'm not a DnD buff, and that means any version. I'm mainly playing this EA because I've played BG II to a far thee well, and really like DOS2. And while BG III doesn't really have the BG feel yet, so far I did enjoy it.
Several other oddities aside, the thing that currently puzzles me the most is combat:
- I may be an old fashioned DM, but I do expect my enemies to be bound by the same rules I am. So when I encountered Gnolls who can either melee or range attack ocnsistently three times a round, or a would be level 4 paladin dishing out more than 20 hp damage in one attack and then happily going on to multiattack, my first reaction was "What the hell did I do wrong with my character and companion builds? Why can't I do that?". Following that was a frantic search to enable my party to provide the same level of punishment. Apparently I didn't do anything wrong, which beggars the question why a level 4 standard Gnoll is so much more proficient in combat than what should be the hero of the game.
- On a different note, how is it possible that my enemies always target my casters first? I mean before they even do anything. I can understand identifying the wizard, but the cleric runs basically the same equipment as my warrior, so that seems weird. I don't mind them doing that i n general, because I do the very same. I'm actually happy that whatever I'm facing is showing some sort of combat intelligence, but some things go too far.
- Currently I get by with the good old evade and long range attack strategy, which works rather well. If I can get Lae'zel in place, she does a good amount of damage, but getting her in place is extremely difficult. So far ranged attacks seem to completely rule, and I'm just happy that I have a Ranger preference, which means I get the most out of my character.
- Which brings me to the question: What is the purpose of a warrior? Or a rogue, for that matter?. I may be tied too much to the concept of a tank, but Lae'zel certainly isn't one. She's pretty good in one on one melee combat, but that seems to be it. And why would I need a rogue? I can apparently lockpick and disarm traps well enough with my ranger, so the concept of the rogue in this setting seems to elude me. The combat damage I've seen so far from Astarion isn't something to write home about, either, even if he is doing his sneak attacks from behind. Not that I would let that bloody Vampire near my party ever again, but that is a different story. ;-) Did I miss something? I can't really see why I would have a melee character in my party.
- Since Lae'zel doesn't seem to have any aggro generating tools, I've tried to use the bear companion of my ranger. Well, "goading" sometimes works, but seems to break immediately if I so much as wave a bit of damage in the fact of the affected foe. Again I get the feeling that I'm missing something, but I have no clue what that is.
So that is why I'm finding combat in BG III rather strange. I know it is early access, but still...
