Taction Act 2 - How important is it to complete quests so you retain LVL ratio vs mobs?

[danbjp]

Hi,

So I just scraped to lvl 11 after really struggling to find mobs to fight. Some of the quests in act 2 are very cryptic; how important is it to complete quests in Tac; on my classic run, I just killed everything and it was fine as I could kill things 2 lvls above me. On Tac, I can only fight mobs my level or below.

In order to get to lvl 11 - I had to kill everyone in driftwood just to pick up some stray exp and don't want to ' fall behind ' as it were.

Money is no issue, it's exp. Some of the quests are too tough to beat as well; and as Tac is so hard, it's difficult for me to know if its the absurd Tac mob bloat or my own team comp/ items that are making fighting guys 1 lvl higher than me so hard.

But on the whole Tac has been doable, and fights like Heroes Rest in Stonegarden were fun; If I'm in a tough fight with mobs my lvl I can usually win.

TLDR - how many quests do I need to complete in-game not to fall behind with EXP and leveling?

TYVM

Turnip

[LaserGuy]

IMHO, you basically need to complete every quest in Tactician to stay competitive unless you're a very strong player with very optimized builds. Falling behind in level will only lead to further issues as you progress. Massacring everyone in the town is probably going to set you back a lot farther than doing normal progression (and killing everyone at the end of the Act if you want).

[danbjp]

Thx for that - every quest? There's about a hundred on reapers coast. I'm wondering that if you have to do that many that your tac build isn't cutting it. But you could be right.

I've also been lazy when it comes to origin chars quests; will that grant me xp that I'm missing out on?

I do find that you get a lot of xp for starting a quest without needing to finish it.
Some quests are too hard for me to finish, like the Terracota Army quest was too tough for me to complete, but I can go back to it and pick up the xp later.
I hope this makes sense.

And ty for your reply

[LaserGuy]

Цитата допису danbjp:

Thx for that - every quest? There's about a hundred on reapers coast. I'm wondering that if you have to do that many that your tac build isn't cutting it. But you could be right.

I've also been lazy when it comes to origin chars quests; will that grant me xp that I'm missing out on?

I do find that you get a lot of xp for starting a quest without needing to finish it.
Some quests are too hard for me to finish, like the Terracota Army quest was too tough for me to complete, but I can go back to it and pick up the xp later.
I hope this makes sense.

And ty for your reply

My experience has been that for a typical player, you need to do, if not everything, at least very close to it. I know that there are some insanely strong builds that will allow you to power through the game at much lower level but if you aren't playing an a very optimized manner, if you want to finish a Tactician or Honor mode difficulty game, you need to maintain level parity with the enemies that you're fighting against. That means, among other things, that you should ideally be level 8 before finishing Act I, level 16 before finishing Act II, and 18 before finishing Act III, since those are the minimum enemy levels you'll encounter in the subsequent areas. Hitting those milestones requires you to complete the vast majority of the major quests in each area. If you miss a few minor ones I'm sure it's okay, but you want to avoid dropping any major lines.

[Chaoslink]

You generally should only be fighting things your level. It is possible there are areas you haven’t visited that are of your own level somewhere. You don’t have to complete everything, but you also don’t want to skip too much either. Not too much reason to kill random people as anything that has no armor value yields no experience. Though killing the magisters (I suggest doing so by casting source in town) can help bump you a bit. Level is very significant, so you don’t want to be behind, both in level AND gear. You are level 11 but still have gear that averages level 8, you’re basically an over glorified level 8. You need to keep gear your level as best you can, especially weapons (save wands for mages if you never use them offensively.).

Though if you have the right build, taking on stuff waaay high level can be a great boost. (I take on a level 15 boss at level 10 as soon as I hit act two). Generally though, avoid anything over your level, especially if it is more than just one level.

You might be surprised how much experience you get from just exploring and finding hidden stuff. Might be worth running around and finding waypoints and areas while avoiding fights. Just save often while doing so lest you find a surprise ambush.

[Edstyles]

Go to bloodmoon Isle gives a massive exp chunk. I do this almost instantly when starting act 2 . Then I get lv 15 legendary loot in bloodmoon.
Worth mentioning the dwarf in bloodmoon sells lv 15 chest piece.
You can also get there a free source slot by letting the advocate infuse you with power.

[danbjp]

Цитата допису Edstyles:

Go to bloodmoon Isle gives a massive exp chunk. I do this almost instantly when starting act 2 . Then I get lv 15 legendary loot in bloodmoon.
Worth mentioning the dwarf in bloodmoon sells lv 15 chest piece.
You can also get there a free source slot by letting the advocate infuse you with power.

This is really great info - I agree gear is all; atm i have 80,000 gold and lvl items all rare+ are 9-12, so I'll pop down to bloodmoon. (can I get to the dwarf with no combat, as I'd instagib there atm?)

I think i've done more quests than i realised and quests that were too hard for me I can return to; I've done a lot of content. I was just worried that I had to do everything which is very hard unless i google quests constantly.

Цитата допису Chaoslink:

You generally should only be fighting things your level. It is possible there are areas you haven’t visited that are of your own level somewhere. You don’t have to complete everything, but you also don’t want to skip too much either. Not too much reason to kill random people as anything that has no armor value yields no experience. Though killing the magisters (I suggest doing so by casting source in town) can help bump you a bit. Level is very significant, so you don’t want to be behind, both in level AND gear. You are level 11 but still have gear that averages level 8, you’re basically an over glorified level 8. You need to keep gear your level as best you can, especially weapons (save wands for mages if you never use them offensively.).

Though if you have the right build, taking on stuff waaay high level can be a great boost. (I take on a level 15 boss at level 10 as soon as I hit act two). Generally though, avoid anything over your level, especially if it is more than just one level.

You might be surprised how much experience you get from just exploring and finding hidden stuff. Might be worth running around and finding waypoints and areas while avoiding fights. Just save often while doing so lest you find a surprise ambush.

I totally agree with this and its true of almost all rpgs that I've played, so I'm stealing loads and have a guy with bartering 7 and 100+ att with some vendors. You're so right, gear as in most games is paramount; and then there's skills. I'm doing a slightly quirky build of a 1h polymorph. 2H necromancer, Shadowblade and support summoner with soul mate who's heavily armoured and can do shields up for chars with no shields.

But def not builds I've taken from vids. I've seen some, but like to make my own builds which is tough on Tac. Gonna post a build-detail and ask you guys where I'm lacking skillwise.

Thanks again for your thoughtful and very constructive feedback.

Kudos

[LaserGuy]

Цитата допису danbjp:

This is really great info - I agree gear is all; atm i have 80,000 gold and lvl items all rare+ are 9-12, so I'll pop down to bloodmoon. (can I get to the dwarf with no combat, as I'd instagib there atm?)

If you take the hidden bridge, just follow the path left and you'll see the Advocate and his buddies, including the dwarf. You won't run into any encounters. I don't recommend asking the Advocate for the name of the enemy, though, since that will immediately summon some level 15 voidwoken (the Advocate's party will help you kill them, but unless you can hide very effectively, the voidwoken will probably target your much weaker characters over them).

[Chaoslink]

Yeah, you don't really have to do all the quests, but most of the ones you get after mid act two I'd suggest doing. The lower level ones like finding the murderer of teh magisters or helping the tinkerer won't hold you back too much given the lower amount of experience they offer. But you want to be somewhat careful skipping too many as it can lead to some issues in act four. I can't say for certain since I've yet to stick to a game lasting into act 3 of the DE, but before the DE, act 3 was pretty much all the same level. You would often be a higher level leaving act two and any levels the enemy in act 3 gained, you'd generally also gain and consistently be a level ahead. But in act four, things jumped and eenmies were your level or slightly higher again. So if you felt complacent, you might skip too much and reach act four underleveled and things got really hard really fast. You want to walk into act four strong. So getting experience becomes very important.

[Qiox]

Цитата допису danbjp:

Some quests are too hard for me to finish, like the Terracota Army quest was too tough for me to complete, but I can go back to it and pick up the xp later.

You don't have to kill them to get the quest xp.

Just have 1 character go down the ladder into the room. They grab the item, and trigger the fight. On their turn, just use a pyramid to warp out to the rest of your party.

Easy as that.

[Edstyles]

Get lucky charm to at least lv 6. This will give you a chance to find legendary gear and the level of the gear that you find depends on what place you have looted it. So if you loot a legendary in bloodmoon it's going to be a lv 15 item.

The dwarf is next to advocate and they wont attack you .

[danbjp]

Цитата допису Qiox:

Цитата допису danbjp:

Some quests are too hard for me to finish, like the Terracota Army quest was too tough for me to complete, but I can go back to it and pick up the xp later.

You don't have to kill them to get the quest xp.

Just have 1 character go down the ladder into the room. They grab the item, and trigger the fight. On their turn, just use a pyramid to warp out to the rest of your party.

Easy as that.

Yea, I figured that out; do you get xp if you kill the clay army?

Цитата допису Edstyles:

Get lucky charm to at least lv 6. This will give you a chance to find legendary gear and the level of the gear that you find depends on what place you have looted it. So if you loot a legendary in bloodmoon it's going to be a lv 15 item.

The dwarf is next to advocate and they wont attack you .

Cheers for this. I do have a 6 lucky charm char so I'm looking forward to opening every container I can without a conflict.

Is the Dwarf a trader? And if so can I steal from him? Or any other NPCs in bloodmoon. It would be great if i could buy or steal some lvl 15 gear!

I could massacre a ton of lvl 12 mobs with hot 15 loot! Ha! Can't wait if I can pull that off.


The reason why I love Tactician is that you have to use everything at your disposal to progress, to get the best gear, good synergies; everything needs to work for you to get anywhere in Tactician. I love obsessing over characters and experimenting with different skills. The game forces you to make the very best of your build.

In my classic game, I could use any old skill and I'd do well. You don't need source skills in Classic, but in tac they are very important. I know some people complain about the difficulty in Tac, but I love a challenge and also enjoy trying a fight again, if things go badly the first time.
Sometimes, you can play a fight and get hammered, then comeback with a different strategy and win without a death.

I've heard of players that have different skills for different conflicts. Do many tac players do this?
It seems to me that having two sets of gear would be optimal, but I'm too lazy to do that.

I think many players could fail at Tactician if they don't steal enough. If you get low on cash it would be impossible to kit your chars out. Pickpocketing is a whole sub-game in itself, and I LOVE stealing from merchants and have a set of thievery items that I use on all of my chars.

I've only done one playthrough on Classic and am dreading the On the ropes battle.



The steam community is awesome.

[Chaoslink]

Eh, beyond my thievery gear, I never have multiple sets. I pretty much never use the respec mirror either, but my builds are well planned anyway.

Thieving is indeed important, but knowing when to wait and when to do it can be just as important. I try to maximize it per act to avoid abusing it too much. As long as you wait until the right moment, you can get enough with just one character to get you by.

When it comes to gear higher than you, armor is fine, but weapons reduce your accuracy based on how many levels above you the item is. A level 15 crossbow on a level 11 has only like 30% base accuracy. However, using the venom rune in a necklace (I think it works on the act one ring with a slot too, I forget if rings use amulet rune effects) as well as peace of mind and dodge debuffs on your enemy can help bring your accuracy to a somewhat tolerable level. Having something like double base damage is often worth it.

A good armor to go get can be found in Paradise Downs, the broken land in the northeast of act two. There is a big boss, The Harbinger, over there. If you go to where he is then follow the road away from him, jumping onto the broken lower section you’ll see a chest on a ledge. To the side of the road is a small green island where you can discover another buried chest. THAT chest on the side island contains a STR armor with like 300 physical armor and some pretty good stats like +3 memory. It also sets grounded, an effect that makes you immune to teleport effects. I suggest heading out there early if only to drop a teleport pyramid at the dwarfs there. They’re useful merchants to have ready access to early on.

[danbjp]

OMG guys!
Bloodmoon island was a bloody success! Holy S***!!!!

Firstly I stole the lvl 15 unique armour from the dwarf.

Went there with 7 lucky charm and scored a lvl 15 100mgc epic amulet
Unique lvl 15 gloves with 116 phys armour and reactive armour skill.
A legendary lvl 15 belt with 100 phys armour and some con
Onslaught source skillbook.
a lvl 14 60 phys armour unique belt
Rare lvl 15 rare leg armour,
And i stole loads of lvl 12 rares+


And to top it off a s***
ton of experience without killing anyone.
I couldn't find a lvl 15 guy who would trade apart from the dwarf dude and another pyramid.

My two hander now has more armour than if he wore a leg shield!!

FFS Awesome

I'm now only 132000 xp needed out of 808625
So those lvl 12 mobbies are in for a bit of a shock when they think:

'Oh look, a lvl 12 char on Tac, poor loser.' And then: 'Oh, I'm dead - and fast'

I'll try and go to the chest with the 300 armour item as it sounds sweet.
At the start of this thread I was struggling to get to lvl 12
and now I'm almost 13 LOL.

So thanks for giving me the heads up, and in all my tac runs I can go there if I miss out on some quests.

KUUUUUDOOOOOOSSSS!

[Chaoslink]

Yeah, there are two camps of vendors that you should drop a pyramid at, the elf camp somewhat north of the Paladin Bridgehead (pretty central on the map) and the dwarf camp just west of the northeast corner (where that armor is buried). The elves have a very concentrated source of skillbooks with some crafting materials and a small amount of gear. The Dwarves have two decent gear options as well as scrolls and runes. Great merchants to visit when you level up for some upgrades. There is also a chest behind a waterfall near the dwarves as well as a buried one right near the water before that waterfall. The buried one should have a decent FIN belt.

All that high level gear should help keep you going. If you can kill the high level troll on the bridge between wreckers cave and cloisterwood, he should also drop a ring that is pretty high level (random stats though). Trolls are tough, but they have a weakness.

[Edstyles]

Цитата допису danbjp:

OMG guys!
Bloodmoon island was a bloody success! Holy S***!!!!

Firstly I stole the lvl 15 unique armour from the dwarf.

Went there with 7 lucky charm and scored a lvl 15 100mgc epic amulet
Unique lvl 15 gloves with 116 phys armour and reactive armour skill.
A legendary lvl 15 belt with 100 phys armour and some con
Onslaught source skillbook.
a lvl 14 60 phys armour unique belt
Rare lvl 15 rare leg armour,
And i stole loads of lvl 12 rares+


And to top it off a s***
ton of experience without killing anyone.
I couldn't find a lvl 15 guy who would trade apart from the dwarf dude and another pyramid.

My two hander now has more armour than if he wore a leg shield!!

FFS Awesome

I'm now only 132000 xp needed out of 808625
So those lvl 12 mobbies are in for a bit of a shock when they think:

'Oh look, a lvl 12 char on Tac, poor loser.' And then: 'Oh, I'm dead - and fast'

I'll try and go to the chest with the 300 armour item as it sounds sweet.
At the start of this thread I was struggling to get to lvl 12
and now I'm almost 13 LOL.

So thanks for giving me the heads up, and in all my tac runs I can go there if I miss out on some quests.

KUUUUUDOOOOOOSSSS!

Np man. Shout if you need help again and I'll try to help as best i can. Worth mentioning there are blood cocoons there as well that are lootable but that are abit hard to see