Hjollder not allowing my party to start Heart of Winter even though they are level 11

[MosinMoses91]

I beat the game but felt cheap because I had to set the difficulty to easy to beat the final boss. I want to try Heart of Winter so I reloaded my savegame and tried to start the campaign. However I can't because he tells me "although I am certain you are the heroes of my vision you are not currently strong enough" According to the wiki you need to be level 9 or above to start HoW, my party is level 11 or more. What is going on here? Is this a glitch? is there a way around it?

[Black Sheep Inc]

I've always been curious where that level 9 number came from; in my experience, the trigger is actually tied to the number of experience points you have. He should let you pass the moment one of your characters crosses the 250,000xp threshold, regardless of their actual level. This can cause the actual level your characters need to be to vary quite a bit: thieves actually need to progress a bit past level 11 before they can start, whereas a paladin could theoretically do it towards the back end of level 8.

Out of curiosity, what's your party comp?

[Black Sheep Inc]

Also, the game exports your entire party just before starting the final fight. You should be able to just start Heart of Winter from the title screen and then import your old party during character creation.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Black Sheep Inc:

I've always been curious where that level 9 number came from

It's been in FAQs about IWD for ages. Such as but not limited to:
--> https://sorcerers.net/Games/IWD/howfaq.php

That page also comments on the requirement for dual-class characters.

And I guess, it has been confirmed by many players before, who had returned to Hjollder at level 9. When he rejected my party as "not strong enough", I took notes about levels 4-5 and 7-8 before being accepted at level 9.

Maybe it has been changed to 250,000 XP indeed, which is level 9 for fighter/barbarian, but a druid reaches level 11 at 200,000 XP:
--> https://icewinddale.fandom.com/wiki/Experience

[MosinMoses91]

Originally posted by Black Sheep Inc:

I've always been curious where that level 9 number came from; in my experience, the trigger is actually tied to the number of experience points you have. He should let you pass the moment one of your characters crosses the 250,000xp threshold, regardless of their actual level. This can cause the actual level your characters need to be to vary quite a bit: thieves actually need to progress a bit past level 11 before they can start, whereas a paladin could theoretically do it towards the back end of level 8.

Out of curiosity, what's your party comp?

This ended up being the issue. All my party members are at about 210,000XP. Exactly where was I supposed to find this extra 300,000 XP? I've done all the main quests and most of the side quests, and the few I haven't completed aren't going to add up to that much. Is there an actual legitimate way to earn this XP other than using a savegame editor (which I did) or grinding on mycovids in Dorns Deep?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by MosinMoses91:

Exactly where was I supposed to find this extra 300,000 XP? I've done all the main quests and most of the side quests, and the few I haven't completed aren't going to add up to that much.

Uh, come on, Kuldahar will remain your major quest hub for a very long time. It's not as if you lose access to the village so soon. Just continue with the main story stuff and level up some more.