Exploits matter and should be addressed. And Withers is an easy one to address. What�s your problem with removing it in a new mode Gottfried? Since you think you are the better player and the only one not exploiting the game your conclusion is that �it doesn�t matter�?
It doesn't matter as it would not change the overall difficulty of the game on tactician for most players. Lets take Withers, would removing him raise the difficulty level of combat? No, because nothing has changed
You state the obvious and like the previous poster you only look at yourself. It doesn�t matter for you. But I think you miss the implications.
If exploits in general are not removed first (and it hasn�t happened yet, right?) there won�t be an acceptable reference to even start talking about gameplay changes, of the kind requiring full Q&A and testing, like redesigning combats.
Combats difficulty could be increased at will until, go figure, even you will turn to exploits to beat them. How about then? That�s not a good goal.
Btw, exploits sometimes means �exploitable features� here. Larian knew what it was doing when introducing Withers.
Removing Withers doesn�t require any tests exactly because it doesn�t change anything in gameplay. That�s why I think it would be an easy move. But for an Honour mode it would certainly make the game closer to a better experience for experienced players, and for D&D purists too. You could already play without Withers: let�s make it a feature. So we cut from the discussion tens of possible builds that use exploits, things like cleric Gale with Warding Bonds, respeccing at will any time, expendable hirelings in a mode that should focus on survival of companions.
Otherwise talking about combat and resources redesign doesn�t make sense.
And I reiterate, taking away hirelings matters a LOT in Honour mode. What doesn�t matter is if YOU, or I, have not been using them.
Tbh, I don�t see items suddenly becoming unavailable or combat suddenly change from the current implementation. Maybe some % increase here and there. Best scenario, XP curve redesigned.
But the possibility for Honour mode to be just Tactician is still on the table. At least let�s focus to make it �Honour� for community members that can�t stand to self-imposed restrictions. Tactician mode will remain as it is for those that actually enjoy exploiting games, they should have their space without people calling them �mentally ill�. When community doesn�t pretend it�s min-maxing I also enjoy seeing things I would never discover the way I play.
