1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

Disadvantages of removing XP Cap

Discussion in 'BG2: Throne of Bhaal (Classic)' started by Amnasty, Oct 5, 2012.

  1. Amnasty Gems: 1/31
    Latest gem: Turquoise


    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2012
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    1
    Gender:
    Male
    Soloing Fighter/Illusionist Protagonist managed to hit level(s) 24/20 by the end of Chapter 5 Sequences in Beholder Den which for the rest of bits upto arriving Athkatla was completely halted in progression forcing me to recruit couple of NPC's just to stop wasting XP's.

    I want to install XP cap removal so that any multi-class solo session continues to grow in power but at the same time it appeared completely against game rules, just like, unaware of developer's intent in making Caps for some reason.

    That's why I would like to know are there any disadvantages for Multi-class characters progressing beyond the original cap(s) via artificial means .i.e mods offering xp cap removal?

    It makes no sense to me why halting multi-class players beyond certain levels since individual classes are still within acceptable 8 million XP. By capping the Total XP many combos of varied classes never get the full potential compared to dual-classed or single classed reaching beyond 30 levels. Triple Classing is what hurts the most since there is no way to progress by game rules and soloing hits the Cap way too early before Chapter 6.
     
  2. Paracelsi

    Paracelsi Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2011
    Messages:
    1,100
    Media:
    10
    Likes Received:
    104
    Gender:
    Male
    Because limits work, and they make the game more enjoyable. The strain of leveling 3 classes at once should come with a reasonable price. Also the game wasn't meant to be soloed. Thing is, if we start building on having everyone reach their max potential then it would end with everyone becoming godlike beings with reality-altering powers. There are already so many ways to raise someone's attribute to 25 in BG2 which, I believe, in D&D terms at the time meant god-equivalent. Upon reaching level 20+ you are already a being on par with the strongest mortals in the realms.

    That aside, I don't think there are any disadvantages to using the xp cap remover unless you're playing a single class character (40 in each class is the absolute max level, unless you download some other mod). It works best with triple classes, though you might wanna download some of the fixes in G3's tweak pack so you can cast the HLA spells. It seems F/M/Ts were originally designed to not have spell HLAs. More on that here. I'd also recommend using Shadowkeeper to make everyone a multiclass, it wouldn't make sense to waste the extra XP.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2012
  3. Amnasty Gems: 1/31
    Latest gem: Turquoise


    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2012
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    1
    Gender:
    Male
    For dual or single classes it is perfect to halt them since it fits the total cap exactly 8 million but that's not the case with multi-class. The game caps the Multi-class characters for Total XP and not Levels attained by the individual classes which are still low and way behind 8 million and that's what makes it unrealistic.

    Game should have allowed individual classes in combo to hit 8 million but do not allow HLA for total 3 million. This negates many unbalances and still works nicely.

    Thanks. I will follow the natural game flavor for now as suggested! :)
     
  4. T2Bruno

    T2Bruno The only source of knowledge is experience Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2004
    Messages:
    9,776
    Media:
    15
    Likes Received:
    440
    Gender:
    Male
    Soloing is not about following natural game flavor (whatever that is). Soloing is about powergaming and crushing your opponents because you have a godlike character who looks at the rest of society as "little bags of xp's".

    By soloing you've basically already crushed the intend of the designers so you may as well go whole hog here and remove the XP cap.

    Ummm ... no. What part of 8 million XP's is realistic? For that matter what part of D&D rules are at all realistic? Why would allowing 8 million in each class be balanced in any way?
     
  5. MrMermaid

    MrMermaid Reality is merely an illusion, albeit persistent Resourceful

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2011
    Messages:
    209
    Likes Received:
    14
    Gender:
    Male
    I have to admit, I found soloing the game to be really quite boring, once you start getting HLAs. Generally speaking, though, if annihilating your enemies with impunity is your kinda thing, remove the cap. If you'd rather be overcoming challenges, where your enemies are usually technically more powerful than you, by using tactics and intelligence, then not only would I leave the absolute cap of 8,000,000 active, but I'd go as far as reinstalling the SoA cap of 2,950,000. That provides a much more challenging (and, to me, enjoyable) experience, especially when soloing.

    Bear in mind that, as far as I remember, once any class exceeds the 40th level then the game engine goes crazy and loops it back round to 1st level, or something like that. I forget the details, and I've never tried it myself, but I recall reading that somewhere.
     
  6. henkie

    henkie Hammertime Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2006
    Messages:
    2,662
    Media:
    38
    Likes Received:
    158
    Gender:
    Male
    Why would soloing be about powergaming? You can just be role playing someone who doesn't like company and prefers to do everything by himself. And quite a few fights will still be more difficult than they would be with a full party, even if the full party is at a lower level.
     
  7. Ineth

    Ineth Instigator Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2012
    Messages:
    155
    Media:
    141
    Likes Received:
    57
    But the game would have to be designed/balanced with that possibility in mind, which BG2 clearly wasn't.
    Even with my party of 4, I became much too powerful at the end of SoA (with ToB installed) after I surpassed the traditional 2.9M SoA cap.

    On a (shamelessly SPAM'y) sidenote, Project Eternity will be designed from the ground up in such a way that any party size (from soloing, to filling all 5 companion slots) will result in a balanced and challenging gameplay experience. At least that's what the devs have promised.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2012
  8. SlickRCBD Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril


    Resourceful Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    May 7, 2005
    Messages:
    3,144
    Media:
    47
    Likes Received:
    188
    Gender:
    Male
    I think this is a matter of personal preferences, but I dislike games that scale the difficulty like that and try to prevent level grinding. It seems to take away most of the reward for getting more powerful, since the enemies just get more powerful to match.
    On the other side, I hate games that force you to level grind every time you enter a new area, either to get money to upgrade the equipment or just gain the stats. It's generally very difficult to get the right balance however, and only a few games have managed it. Baldur's Gate does a great job of it. It's only people who try things that clearly weren't intended by the developers that make people say BG (either) is broken like that. Besides, in the beginning the challenge of soloing is much greater as you are far weaker. For the first half of the game you are too weak alone, it's not until near the end that you get too powerful, and that wouldn't be the case if you still had the SoA XP cap rather than the ToB one.

    The soloers that complain that you get too powerful should try level squatting after getting 2,800,000 XP (or just your first HLA). You will find that you do NOT get "too powerful" in SoA that way. Remember, that was the original limit for SoA before ToB was added. For RP purposes, pretend that you can't continue to get more powerful until you get your soul back and undergo the Hell trials. Once you get to ToB, level up.
     
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.