What was your XP total at the end of ToB?

spork · Post by **spork** » Sun Oct 21, 2001 4:43 pm

I am very interested in how much XP your protagonist had just before going into the last battle of ToB. Please tell me also how large your party was, whether you spent a long time butchering Derro in Sendai's lair, and whether you smacked everything that moved, or ignored some of the side quests.

The reason why need to know is to help me balance the difficulty of a very large MOD which re-writes the ending of ToB. I never used a 6-person party, so I always hit my XP cap long before the end. I've heard reports that an honestly-played full party has a hard time even getting close to the cap. Is this true? Did someone with a full party actually reach the cap before the final fight, and if so, did you do anything unusual along the way? If you didn't reach 8M XP, how close were you?

TIA

spork

Yuusuke · Post by **Yuusuke** » Sun Oct 21, 2001 5:52 pm

Well I haven't finished TOB yet, but I've hit the cap so it's not gonna get any higher than it is now. 8 Mil, 13/28 Kensai Mage. 6-man party.

spork · Post by **spork** » Mon Oct 22, 2001 6:03 am

Thank you--that helps.

I guess another thing I would then like to know: Did you install ToB before finishing SoA to avoid the 3M SoA cap? What really interests me is whether there is enough XP available in ToB alone (incl. Watcher's Keep) to take a full party from 3 Million to 8M. I know there is if you hack Derro for long enough, but what if you don't?

TIA

The fallen one · Post by **The fallen one** » Mon Oct 22, 2001 6:40 am

I hread some where that the max Exp doing all the quest and hacking everything in site(just once). That the highest you could get with a 6 person party was about 6 million.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Oct 22, 2001 9:03 am

Hell, I've no idea. I finished it once, liked it with my evil party, and decided to do another run through with a good party that had some less-powered NPCs (Haer'dalis, Cernd) I'd avoided using in my three run-throughs of SoA alone. The only character I haven't used to date is Nalia.

R.Carter · Post by **R.Carter** » Thu Oct 25, 2001 5:31 pm

Yeah, an honest and thorough game nets a party of six about 6 mil and change in xps. Something like 6.2 or so. That includes cheeseballing any and all spawning points, to the limits of reason of course.
The xp total for each of my parties (4 in total, various rigs) all wound up with around this number. All of my parties were the full six. These numbers were the same with my multiplayer posse, who always seemed to get to the cap earlier than the rest.
Hope this helps.
R.Carter

Yuusuke · Post by **Yuusuke** » Thu Oct 25, 2001 9:49 pm

Well, there was definitely enough to cap everyone at 2,950,000 at the end without resorting to any exp cheats at the end of SoA.

I had my protagonist max'ed real early by scribing scrolls while alone in the group. But still, by the end of SOA, everyone hit 2.95 mil.

Don't forget that big bonus for switching from SoA to ToB. Like 1 mil , as I recall. Then, 1 mil per member again from the Deck of Many things is possible. There's probably another mil for each person by just going through Watcher's Keep.

Totals to about 6 mil. Earning 2 mil through the rest of ToB doesn't seem that farfetched to me.

[ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: Yuusuke ]

spork · Post by **spork** » Fri Oct 26, 2001 3:52 pm

Hey, thanks--this is great feedback. Somehow, I expected there would be more XP available than 6 Million X six players...

We've been testing the modified ending of ToB with well equipped, six-member parties at the XP cap. This weekend I'll test to make sure that even a six-member party with 6M XP each is able to make it through.

It will be tough. We have worked hard on the AI scripts of the monsters, so they're very dangerous. Expect some announcement before the end of next week, but until then keep the feedback coming!

spork

THE JAKER · Post by **THE JAKER** » Fri Oct 26, 2001 4:56 pm

It sounds really good, spork! I wanted to point out that there is probably not all that much difference between 6 and 8 mil exp - pure clerics definitely cap out after about lvl 31 when they've gotten all the abilities. Mages maybe get a few more slots but the spells only increase in power until level 20 anyway. Fighters and Thieves will have more whirlwinds and more traps, respectively, but their THACO and backstab multipliers have capped out, so you're mostly looking at a little more endurance, a few more abilities, 5 or 10 more hit points. I think fighter is most pronounced because a 8 mil fighter might have 8 more greater whirlwinds up his/her sleeve than a 6 mil, which could definitely make a difference in a drawn out battle.

In multi and dualled characters the difference between 6 and 8 mil MIGHT be more pronounced, so I would suggest maybe testing with a party of 6 that are mostly pure class, and then a party of 6 that are more dualled and multied.

Yuusuke · Post by **Yuusuke** » Fri Oct 26, 2001 7:13 pm

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

I JUST finished ToB for the first time, YAY, and I think I can shed some good light on the exp thinger. I revived Sarevok and had him with me throughout my entire ToB experience, so he is the best yardstick I have for ToB experience total.

Now he started at the SoA cap 2,950,000. At the end, I mean the VERY VERY end, literally before I shut the final soul portal at the Throne of Bhaal. His exp was 4,500,000. Or 4,43X,XXX to be more accurate.

This is killing EVERYTHING that was meant to be killed. Even that big fight at center of Amkethran with the monks and mercs right before you enter Balthazar's mansion. There must've been at least 100 of those guys. The fire giant exp exploit at Saradush was not used even once.

The only things I did not do were Watcher's Keep, that was already done back in SoA, and the 1 mil reward using the Deck of Many Things. Sarevok also do not recieve the exp award for crossing from SoA to ToB.

All in all, I think it will be really really really hard to accomplish 8 mil by the end of ToB if you did not install ToB to remove the cap before completing SoA. If you went through SoA with ToB installed however, it does seem very likely that you can reach 8 mil.

[MORE NEEDLESS ENDING SPOILERS AHEAD]

BTW, I knew it!!! I knew Melissan was the bad guy!!! Her voice was just too ear-shattering to be one of the good guys. And the fact that never once in the game were you allowed a chance to cast detect evil or know alignment on her was a huge tipoff. She did look kinda cute in the ending animation, though, right before she was crushed by the Throne of Bhaal.

And what is up with her being so damn tall? I guess taint makes you grow, better than milk.

[ 10-28-2001: Message edited by: Yuusuke ]

Yuusuke · Post by **Yuusuke** » Sun Oct 28, 2001 1:04 pm

I just went through Watcher's Keep again and did a tally of exp points before and after.

Haer'Dalis was the measuring stick this time:

Before talking to the Knights of Vigil at Watcher's Keep for the very first time - 3,050,000, give or take a few thousand.

After defeating The Imprisoned One with the betrayal to the Knights of Vigil and all those other quest exp, Haer'Dalis ended up with 4,325,000. So there's about 1.3 mil of exp in Watcher's Keep for each member of a 6-man party.

So okay...at the end of SoA you have 3 mil., add the 1 mil bonus for upgrade to ToB.

Another mil from the Deck of Many things.

About 1.5 mil for the rest of the ToB quests and dungeons.

Add the 1.3 from Watcher's Keep, I'm looking at about 7.5~7.8 mil at the end. That's WITHOUT upgrading to TOB before finishing SoA. Hope this helps.

[ 10-28-2001: Message edited by: Yuusuke ]