I played all maps up to level 8 on a fresh account, and here are my scattered thoughts: == Equipment Purchasing / Selling == This is old, but the bump in treasure is nice, as I could buy plenty of items early on; up to level 3 or so, I mostly decked out my team with commons / uncommons from the shop, plus a couple of rare drops I spent all my pizza (40 for treasure hunt + 80 for figure) on 24 gold chests, got quite a few decent items out of it, not sure if that counts as cheating ^_^ == Skill Changes == At levels 5-8, human skills are awesome (Adv. Guidance!), elf skills are decent. Wimpy is a terrible drawback below level 8, negating 50%-66% of most early attacks. It makes those skills unusable. == Priest Changes == Armor of Faith - didn't drop; it's only on 1 item lower than level 6, and 3 temporary armor isn't interesting at higher levels when I've already got tons of good armor... healing is better b/c it works after I know who got hit Surestrike Blessing - this isn't useful in the early campaign; penetrating cut is common on early weapons, so surestrike isn't necessary to bypass armor; all the block-carrying enemies have lots of blocks, and I have very few 1-hit KO cards, which means that surestrike is actually more useful to provoke and remove one block than to bypass N blocks just once Curse of Fragility - didn't drop much; I landed it only once, on the shieldhaven warden for +4 damage that round, mostly it just triggered blocks and was otherwise not useful (just like Bad Medicine) Bad Luck - didn't drop; it's only on 1 item lower than level 6; it would be most useful at levels 3 and 6, against goblins and kobolds, but will be useful against goblins and monkeys later on; IMPORTANT: Slub Gut needs to retain the old targeted version, he hit my entire party with it and proceeded to shred me (with tricky stabs) through multiple parries and armor Draining Chop - didn't drop; I don't expect it to be less or more relevant than the spear Avenging Touch - saw it a little bit more, it was satisfactory, but nothing I went out of my way to include Healing Pulse is the best early heal, and commonly available... Wellspring is awesome... I ran a Tome Of The Withering Source despite Wellspring being bugged (just 3 damage) for the melee buff In conclusion: Priests remain heal/frenzy bots in the early game, with occasional mega-damage thanks to Controlled Overswing. == The Adventurer Party (snapshot at level 6) == Spoiler: Level 6 Elf Warrior Heirloom Assegai Leaden Maul Improvised Halberd Reinforced Hide Armor Dueler's Buckler Shifty Skin Hat Heavy Dashing Boots Untrained Slicing Spoiler: Level 6 Human Wizard Lizard Fryer Berian's Locket Runestone Burning Bangle Humming Hide Robes Possessed Shoes Advanced Guidance Electroporter Novice Spoiler: Level 6 Human Priest St. Trobor's Maul Martyr's Pick Glowing Hide Armor Maple Shield Thin-soled Boots Tome Of The Withering Source Silver Healing Ring Novice Medic == Complaints == WTF? Kobold Lungers (diamond mines) have Shambling Bash? that's a 50% (or more) HP hit unless you're running dwarves
I agree with wimpy. I avoid that card like the plague, especially in the early game. Healing pulse is a great addition to the early game and I find curse of fragility a good card to have around. Couple that with frenzy and there's some decent damage potential. Wellspring is awesome. Armor of faith is useful I have found. As you say nothing special at high levels but early campaign it can be a life saver. Surestrike Blessing isn't much of a game changer for the campaign but it comes in handy when you draw those weak strikes. The human skills are the best changes. I never bothered with any race skills until later in the game but I've had fun with the human skills and smashing spin. The smashing spin could see decent use in MP leagues. I never ran into that problem against Slub Gut. Infact he just cowered in a corner and didn't do much all game :/
How does it feel if you run it on a character who doesn't use many damaging attacks? Have heard the exact opposite analysis several times now. Also experienced SB being very good for me in my own playthroughs. I guess mileage varies a lot. Word. That's a shame. Maybe we can shuffle some AoF and Misguided Heals around. I think they've always had this.
I just did this so that others could jump in and share / dispute / contribute. Y'all should probably still PM your report to Flax. Priests still have great low-level attacks. It's fine at higher levels, where attacks are more damaging and priests can be specialized without attacks. ^_^ Yeah, it would be great up to level 6 or so. After that, I had bought enough armor to stack multiple reliable hide / mail. Yeah, I'm sure they did. This is just me being surprised when I lose a character (the only one I lost) to an unexpected 8-dmg hit on the character standing behind the front lines. ^_^
I'm using a new account and just finished White Star. I bought one magnificent chest when prompted by Gary, but am saving the rest of my pizza. I don't have any human skills yet, nor any place to put them. I do wonder what people are expected to do with that triple Lateral Thinking skill. I've used this (just don't equip a divine item) and it's pretty decent at low levels; I usually throw it at my elf warrior. Speak for yourself, I love my unblockable, penetrating, frenzied Firestorms! I've got it on two divine weapons (U and R), and I'd say it's much more useful than Bad Medicine, but I think less than Misguided Heal. Haven't gotten any of these, but I think the chop could be good in SP. I'm pretty sure they've always had Shambling Bash, but the armor is a recent change that makes them much more annoying. Another reason to pack a bunch of Surestrikes...
lolz, my wizard had terrible equipment... and the wizard-class electric buffs are better than frenzy (excepting wellspring)
I haven't gotten very far because I've been on dial-up lately, but I'm really underwhelmed with Draining Chop. Going from Consuming Touch (~bludgeon), to Consuming Spear (~spear), to Draining Chop (~weak chop) feels like a series of nerfs. It may pull twice as many blocks, and buffs can apply to two attacks instead of one, but one buff on a Consuming Touch put it above the level of Weak Block. Pulling blocks is okay, but killing and healing is better. The same applies to getting damage through armor. How about going back to the original, as with Spear of Darkness? Weak Chop is pretty bad for a rare card, even if it is paper quality.
I reached level11 yesterday with a newly founded 2priest-1wizard team. Unlike the colleagues above, i purchased only 3 items from shops and zero crates. Detailed description of the progress is in the attachments. Okay, maybe it is a bit heavy on the details, but i wanted to deserve that bounty for a honest work.
