[quote=Beechams]
1. First, no it isn't. For whatever balance problems 5e has, it would definitely not be advising you to hand out items of the strength that Larian is handing out in this game, or the unbalanced tadpole powers, and haste is written the way it is in 5e for a reason (which Larian changed for this game in a way that greatly empowers martials.)
2. It is entirely a legitimate criticism when many players find that the final act of the game becomes a slog because ill-considered items and powers makes combat trivial. For example, I paid good money for this game and I could not enjoy a full playthrough because of the above issues, 2/3rds in it became a chore. I'm waiting to see how things go with future patches and such before I commit to another playthrough. My conclusion from this would not be "Oh I need to use mods!" it would be "I shouldn't buy Larian games in the future." If I can't get at least one good playthrough out of a game, I usually don't think that investing my time in trying out a bunch of mods to make it fun would be worth it.
Honestly, what is the point of your post? What do you lose by people pointing out some of the issues with this game's difficulty? What harm is being done to you or your experience?
Nothing against your post, I hear you loud and clear. I do find it ironic that literally tens of thousands of people are saying the fights are too difficult on Explorer in the beginning of the game and
IMPOSSIBLE once you hit the level cap. Seriously, it is pretty insane how many people are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and both cause people to quit. Granted, there are far more people on Reddit and YT saying it is too hard, but I still feel ya. if you're familiar with pretty much any edition of D&D the game can become easy very quickly. Use Tasha's Hideous Laughter instead of sleep at low levels and the bosses are dead pretty quickly. Learn dance it higher levels and, once again, boss fights are a complete joke. I had Gortash dancing the entire fight, it was ludicrous. Making dozens of potions of speed sure helped. Sure they only last 3 rounds, but the majority of battles are over well before then when every character drinks one on turn one, the a potion of heroism +2-5 more attacks/spells/wtv for the rest of that turn then 2-6 more attacks/spells/wands/tables/thrown smokepowder/alchemist fire/grease backpacks (Heh, yeah, backpacks with about 25 bombs that pop for around 400 damage...it is insane. Throw the bag, which is weak, the alchemist fire sets off all the rest, it is absurd. Fun, but absurd.). People like us actually do have to police ourselves which is silly, but a fact. If an effect should only last 5 rounds and it lasts until a long rest or until con is broken, just end it on your own after 5 rounds. Is it a good solution? No. But Larian can't make it more difficult and easier by adjusting spell and item effect durations based on difficulty level unless they actually added an even easier level and an even harder one.
The two things I would do first, if I were Larian, is raise the level cap and have enemies scale after level 12. Even if they just added more spell slots for level 6 and below along with feats/skills. There is just way too much content to cap at 12. I played at level 12 for over 100 hours, had 173K XP after level 12. That is ridiculous. The story was great, but that is far too long to go with no progression. If they can't do higher level spells and such bc they are too powerful, like I said, just add more of the lower level ones then. Or allow multi-classing to 20 with no one class above level 12 and no spell slots over level 6. The custom XP tables are already in the game up to level 20, as is the progression which they would need to change. Like I said, too much content for zero progression save a slightly more super weapon even though you already have a wand of 22-66 damage per swing (example).
The next thing I would do is cap Haste. If you go with the old "Each turn is a minute, there are 6 segments per turn" then Haste would last 6 rounds or until con was broken and only one person could get it.That spell, in particular should be fixed. Same goes for Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Ottiluke's Irresistible Dance
. I forget the duration in 5E, but I have never seen the spell end. And it works on Giant Steel Watch Robots? I get if you figure out how they are being controlled and you cast it on that, but the robots? No, that's silly.
I won't cast Haste. I just don't. I'll pop potions, but not with the entire party and not every fight. Again, are they perfect solutions? No. "Don't cast it" sucks, but the level cap is what did me in. I just couldn't deal with not seeing my stats go up anymore. The first 45 hours or so were no big deal, but basically, the entirety of Act 3 I was at level 12. I quit with Wyrmway (Wyll's part), the House of Hope and my final stone holder boss which also wrapped up the Murder quest from the very beginning. The "Hand-bag" one, so I had quite a bit of XP left to earn. And was level 12. With 273K or so total XP (100XP total is required to hit level 12). 271 hours in my first run to not finish was a bugger. Ahh well, maybe I will mod it, maybe I'll avoid enough content on my current playthrough to not get bored, though I actually enjoyed playing my first character more. I picked hte jacked body for this one and am just not a fan. Stupid decision. I work out a lot irl and wanted the character to look more like me, but he is simply to jacked. The other is a little too thin, but still closer to my build. Lol, I am having less fun at this point in my playthrough bc I made my muscles too big. Stupid. I also picked a straight Cleric of Corellon Larethian/Tempest as opposed to a Gloomstalker/Storm Sorcerer and the latter was just more enjoyable for me to play. *shrug.* My fault I guess. I'd rather be able to adjust cosmetics than completely respec though. I'm 100% sure most people would disagree with that one though.
OK, so ends my wall of text.
