Maximizing XP/rewards at Hunter's Edge war?

[HighCaliber]

So I'm at Hunter's Edge and I've done the following:
Killed the Rat King
Freed the prisoners
Rescured refugees and explored Wizard's house
Killed Spinebreaker

I've still got the following quests:
The Star-Crossed Lovers
Distill My Heart
The Armory Key
The Back-Alley Trader

I haven't entered the tomb.

I know how to complete all the quests, but should I if I want to maximize XP (Is it better to snitch out the Trader and Lovers, or kill them myself once the war starts)?
And when will the war trigger? Should I side with Humans or Orcs? Side with one and then kill them after the war? Give the key to Gural or Grutilda?

[Invasion_Dec]

The war triggers when you deliver the evidence you find in the tomb, to the human leader.

I didn't trigger the war because the fight is buggy. You are supposed to side with the humans but the fights easily bugs out and everything in Hunters Edge becomes hostile to you. Having to annihilate an entire town didn't feel right with me.

Despite that, I still got to level 21 before the end of the game. At that stage in the game (Hunter's Edge) there's little point to max out your xp/rewards b/c you can still get to 21 and by then you would have enough gold to get anything you want.

[Tenath]

You can't really choose a side - orcs will always end up being hostile.

You'll have to enter the Tomb in the course of the 'War of the Stones' quest. After you do what's needed in there, you'll have to report back to the human leader, who will then go and accuse Grutilda, after which the war starts. The second battle (near the bloody fountain) is somehow bugged, so you end up fighting everybody who joins it (including the cat and the skeleton). If you take too long and the battle near the gate ends, then the survivors will join the one at the fountain, too.

You'll probably want to leave at least 1 human alive, so that the quest can properly close. Once you've talked to one, all the remaining humans leave (and despawn).

If you don't mind spoilers and have the DLC, then there's a CollectorsEdition\DesignDocuments folder within the game directory,where you can find a document called Quest_Design_Documentation. There you can get some insight on how the quests are meant to proceed, and how to maximize the benefits.

Personally, I ended up with 5 humans remaining, haven't cleared out any friendlies elsewhere, and finished the game at level 22 (just in time for the final battle). By clearing everything everywhere, I suppose you can get to 23, maybe at most to 24, but the game simply doesn't have enough exp to cover the increased requirements. That is unless you exploit one of the bosses that have summons with exp to farm exp infinitely. At least the final boss has one.

[HighCaliber]

ok, thanks for the replies. Guess I'll finish the quests and save before triggering the war. I don't have an issue with killing the human scumbags that work with the orcs, but I'd like to be able to finish the quest at least.. And spare the cat.

[eidolon232]

I killed everybody inside of Hunter's Edge other than the servants, ther 3 humans playing card, Jarl, the 2 Ork Guards in front of the Inn and the Orks inside. You have to use Featherfall on some of the neutral targets so that Jarl doesn't start attacking.

If you are worried about missable XP, cast a Meteor Shower on the Imps before the Watch sends them home, wait for the Watchfull Eyes in the Swamp to summon stuff and don't try the peaceful approach when it comes to stone guardians (be it in front of the Cyseal Church or the Knight's Tomb).

[Tenath]

Haha, saving the cat ended up being a whole special operation by itself for me - had to constantly featherfall&midnight oil it out of the harms way. Then, when everything ended I charmed it and fleed. It doesn't seem to have anything new to say after this though.

[Invasion_Dec]

Damn I didn't know those Watchful Eyes could summon. I just sniped them from 20+ meters away.

[HighCaliber]

Follow up in case someone finds this thread and wonders what to expect during this mission.

I gave the key to Gural (was worried that Grutilda would kill him, I wanted to have the pleasure) and gave the Whiskey to the bartender to get the Orcs drunk. I didn't snitch on the lovers and trader because that gave no XP, but killing them in the war does and they drop loot.

The war consists of several battles, with breaks as the humans go to the next group of Orcs. It's a good idea to save after each battle. It did glitch on me several times when the entire town (including cat) would turn on me for no reason, so I had to reload several times.

I was going to kill the humans afterwards, but they all ran away as soon as I talked with them after the war ended. You do get a chance to attack the humans for additional XP after the war if you don't speak with them, but I didn't bother reloading and killing them. After the war, the only NPCs remaining in town are the cat, Michaelis (the mayor/skeleton) the bartender and Grutilda's imp.

The fights are fairly easy since the humans outnumber the orcs. I took more friendly fire than damage from enemies, since the human bowmen try to shoot straight through you, so positioning is important.

The XP was good, I gained almost a full level (at level 17) and there is plenty of loot.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=292529558

This is just a part of the loot, I couldn't get it all in one screenshot. It's defenitely worth triggering the war if you're a completionist, just make sure to keep saves between battles.

[Apocalypse]

While we are at Spoilers: If you kill everyone in the town just yourself, because you want straight to the two leaders and told them that you are a source hunters and there to clean the city the game will still count that as successful triggering the war and clearing the city. Though in that case the prisoners most likely end up dead, so its not wise to do.