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My party is doing the "kill 8 spiders" quest, which means "don't kill 8 spiders, but bring back 8 sacs." However, the first encounter turned up 2 sacs, the second one, 1 sac, and the last four encounters turned up none. Is that standard? Does it vary as much as that, and do spiders usually leave their sacs at their bankers before hitting the road on a weekend with the kids?

fable wrote:My party is doing the "kill 8 spiders" quest, which means "don't kill 8 spiders, but bring back 8 sacs." However, the first encounter turned up 2 sacs, the second one, 1 sac, and the last four encounters turned up none. Is that standard? Does it vary as much as that, and do spiders usually leave their sacs at their bankers before hitting the road on a weekend with the kids?

It varies that much.. depending on the opponent.

To my knowledge the "Hunter" (latanese) quests are a complete waste of time.

Spoiler:

Spoiler

The singing cavern, which you have to go to for a quest picked up in the tavern of one of the towns, is full of spiders - my party got 6 sacs just from clearing out that cave, and so did the first party I played with (which I abandoned before the end of Chapter 1 due to a lack of skills)

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Maybe I'll try that cavern soon, then. I've been holding out since I'm just playing with a party of four, and you can run out of spells quickly, that way. (Eldritch Chain rules, but if you've only got one party member casting it, you can easily get overrun.)

It's random how many bounty items will drop each time you fight a group of creatures. So if you're struggling to find enough of a bounty item, then you can save before attacking a group of creatures on the overland map, and load if they don't drop anything.

SWC

swcarter wrote:It's random how many bounty items will drop each time you fight a group of creatures. So if you're struggling to find enough of a bounty item, then you can save before attacking a group of creatures on the overland map, and load if they don't drop anything.

SWC

A good suggestion, but I don't like doing that sort of thing. It feels like a cheat to me. I'll just say this: the first "act" of SoZ is pretty boring thus far, with few characters to meet, hardly any conversation, identical (empty) tavern layouts, and random battles that add little flavor. By way of contrast, you really felt the life in BG 1 and 2, but here, everything feels static and simply placed to function in a stiff, uncreative game framework.

fable wrote: I'll just say this: the first "act" of SoZ is pretty boring thus far, with few characters to meet, hardly any conversation, identical (empty) tavern layouts, and random battles that add little flavor. By way of contrast, you really felt the life in BG 1 and 2, but here, everything feels static and simply placed to function in a stiff, uncreative game framework.

..and sadly it's pretty much that way throughout.

It really feels like a demo for the Overland Map.

"Quests" like the bounties are *work*, not fun.

Stick mostly to the Main Story quests, and then go out and explore as you want. It gives a better feel to the game.

Keep your level-grinding separate from your game playing. In other words set-aside some time each day for about 30 minute session(s) for "Whisp" hunting for Act 1, but do NOT *play* the game either immediately before or after these sessions.

Scottg wrote:Keep your level-grinding separate from your game playing. In other words set-aside some time each day for about 30 minute session(s) for "Whisp" hunting for Act 1, but do NOT *play* the game either immediately before or after these sessions.

Good advice.

fable wrote:A good suggestion, but I don't like doing that sort of thing. It feels like a cheat to me. I'll just say this: the first "act" of SoZ is pretty boring thus far, with few characters to meet, hardly any conversation, identical (empty) tavern layouts, and random battles that add little flavor. By way of contrast, you really felt the life in BG 1 and 2, but here, everything feels static and simply placed to function in a stiff, uncreative game framework.

That's the same impression I have from the game - I just can't seem to motivate myself to get past Chapter 1 and I'm considering going back to the OC and MotB (for all their flaws, at least they were actually fun to play).

Back on topic, the drops in SoZ are so frustrating - you'd think that every spider has a sac to drop ... not about 1% of them as it seems to be at the moment. Yet other creatures, such as dinosaurs, seem to have a near 100% drop rate on their claws.

mr_sir wrote:That's the same impression I have from the game - I just can't seem to motivate myself to get past Chapter 1 and I'm considering going back to the OC and MotB (for all their flaws, at least they were actually fun to play).

The problem I have with MotB is what I like to call "My atom bomb is bigger than your atom bomb," leveling that has turned the game's participants into super-creatures. Instead of battles being about obvious strategies, it's about knowing the wholes in hundreds of spells, special attacks, etc. Rather like playing through a silly comic book instead of a battle where forces can be flanked, body parts targeted, etc, with normal shots.

Back on topic, the drops in SoZ are so frustrating - you'd think that every spider has a sac to drop ... not about 1% of them as it seems to be at the moment. Yet other creatures, such as dinosaurs, seem to have a near 100% drop rate on their claws.

Any idea what the various console commands to get the drops are? I've about had it with doing this legit, and I wouldn't mind allowing myself one sac per spider battle.

The "my atom bomb is bigger than your atom bomb" seems to be a common occurance in the NWN series :laugh: My issue with SoZ is that it just has no substance, it seems to me like its just grinding for the sake of it - a bit like many MMORPGs in that respect really. The dungeons lack depth, the encounters are pretty much predictable and occur far too often, the NPCs have no substance and don't even appear to have quests (kind of makes them pointless when you can create 4 of your own characters to play - just an xp drain really) and although the use of skills is drastically improved it is not enough to make up for a lack of substance in other areas. The drop rates just add to the tedius nature of the game. At least in MotB, we were comparing the size of atom bombs for some kind of purpose other than Volo wants a random artifact from a temple that consists of 2 or 3 rooms if you are lucky, or some hunter wants 8 egg sacs that only appear on those spiders that were lucky enough to be born with them. It really does feel like it has a touch of MMORPG in it (specifically WoW) at times.

mr_sir wrote:At least in MotB, we were comparing the size of atom bombs for some kind of purpose other than Volo wants a random artifact from a temple that consists of 2 or 3 rooms if you are lucky, or some hunter wants 8 egg sacs that only appear on those spiders that were lucky enough to be born with them. It really does feel like it has a touch of MMORPG in it (specifically WoW) at times.

Thing is, I can't even begin to play MotB. It has the biggest atom bombs of all, rather like BG2's ToB--which I desperately try to like for reasons of character and setting. MotB doesn't even have that. It's just big nuclears being thrown at one another, in a 3D engine that constantly gets in the way of viewing, and I'd hoped that starting at lower levels in SoZ would at least provide a remedy for the former problem.

What a shame the team for the series can't write, or doesn't care to.

In the begining (Before Mask of the Betrayer was released), animals dropped things like pelts (wolf), the sac/gland (spider), etc... quite regularly. Around the release of MotB, They stopped doing so.

No Idea Why, but a 75% chance of each creature dropping something would be sufficient, I think.


As for the other 25%, well... I'm a wizard with a love of Fireball, Combust, Lightning Bolt, and cloud attack spells. I could very easily see my character destroying a few pelt's usability for crafting purposes....:mischief: