Level 10 and getting incredibly frustrated

[Chucklehead]

I have like 20 quests in my log and 90% of them send me to areas of the map where enemies are all level 13-15 and I get absolutely wrecked. I can't kill the bridge trolls, can't get to the blackpits, can't kill the woman's demons in the basement. WTF do people do at this point? It seems inconceivable that I have to gain enough EXP for 3 additional levels before doing all this stuff.

There is so much I love about this game but Larian seem like absentee DMs. With level gating this strong there needs to be stronger indicators of what order to do things in. At least POE2 had the decency to "rate" each quest in difficulty in the quest log.

[Yojo0o]

Head west out of Driftwood, there's stuff for your level there. Doing the full Mordus questline gets you tons of XP and other increases to your power.

POE2 may apparently rate quests based on power, but DOS2 still clearly shows you what sort of level enemies and NPCs are in new areas when you hover over them, so you can easily see if you're underleveled for your spot. Personally, I like having the freedom to wander into areas I'm not necessarily equipped to handle yet.

[Chaoslink]

Go West into the canyons and find the cave Mordus is hiding in. That’s all level 10 and 11. The graveyard is also mostly level 11. Anything before that is in the area you first land in, like the bridge fight, the chickens quest for Peeper, saving the Meistr and anything physically inside Driftwood. There’s a lot of stuff in Droftwood itself and all of it can be done at level 10. Level 12 is really the only one that’s sort of missing as there aren’t too many level 12 things.

[Chucklehead]

I did the chicken stuff and most of the stuff in Driftwood itself, but I still seem pretty far from level 11. I did a little bit in the graveyard but Ryker gives you a quest out in the blackpits so that seemed like a dead end. I guess I will try more of the stuff out west, although I had thought I'd hit a dead end with the bridge trolls there too.

I'm all for being allowed to go anywhere, and I agree you can see the enemy levels which gives you some indication of what NOT to do, but I really wish they were more proactive about telling you what TO do. It's so time consuming running around all corners of the map hovering over enemies doing trial and error, especially in a game like this where fights are really time consuming.

[Chaoslink]

You might’ve missed the cave at the end of the path along the cliffs in that castle with the possessed dwarves. That’s the level 10 area. Note that one of the first fights in there is the kind you’re expected to lose, so don’t worry too much if the enemy you see in there is OP.

Also, to be fair, any party that is well built and synergizes well can typically handle areas outside their level pretty fine. I do things like Bloodmoon Isle at level 10 despite the enemies there being level 15. You don’t necessarily need to be the same level as the enemies to succeed. It’s just harder.

[Chucklehead]

The level-gating seems pretty damn strong. Even Murga in the arena can 2-hit kill my party members and she's only level 12.

[Chaoslink]

She’s also technically a “lone wolf” with extra AP and stats. There are some characters like this in the world who seem cheaty because of their increased abilities.

[Nibbie]

The beginning of this hundred hour game is level 1, and the end is level 20. Every single level matters a lot. As you get better you can punch above your weight, and it matters a bit less later on when you are already quite strong, but you should never have to fight underleveled.

[Razorblade]

Originally posted by Chucklehead:

The level-gating seems pretty damn strong. Even Murga in the arena can 2-hit kill my party members and she's only level 12.

You can bypass it with enough game knowledge, but the general best strategy for new players in D:OS2 is to fight on-level enemies, wear on-level (or higher) armor, and use on-level weapons if you're a melee attacker or archer.

[Chucklehead]

Yea I get that with enough foreknowledge you can oversome some of these obstacles, but that's not so great from a pure RPGing perspective.

[gregfromthepeg]

This map details what Chaoslink is letting you know, as it shows areas by enemy level.

https://divinityoriginalsin2.vidyawiki.com/Areas+By+Level

Act 2 is the most "open world" of the game, in that you can end up running into enemies as much as 6 levels above you. It is rare, but it can happen if you like exploring. And level 9 - 12 is probably the biggest jump in power/capability in the game and it happens in a relatively condensed part of the act. I found the game evened out a lot once I was level 12/13. Fighting an enemy one or two levels above wasn't quite as brutal as it was if I was at level 9/10, running into 11/12 enemies.

So your frustration is common for first time players. I found I was still getting the hang of the game for the first half of Act 2 and so beating enemies more than a level above me was almost impossible. But if you generally follow the most common storylines and don't plunge ahead too crazily, it will even out quickly.

[Chucklehead]

I think I might have to go to explorer mode. I don't understand how they balanced this game compared to DOS1. In DOS1 there were maybe a handful of fights that were really difficult and took several tries to find a successful gameplan to beat. In DOS2 damn near every fight is like this. Even when facing enemies of equal level, you're frequently way outnumbered and every fight is a lengthy war of attrition. It practically necessitates save-spamming and slows the whole game down to a snail's pace.

[surreptitious]

Originally posted by Chucklehead:

I think I might have to go to explorer mode. I don't understand how they balanced this game compared to DOS1. In DOS1 there were maybe a handful of fights that were really difficult and took several tries to find a successful gameplan to beat. In DOS2 damn near every fight is like this. Even when facing enemies of equal level, you're frequently way outnumbered and every fight is a lengthy war of attrition. It practically necessitates save-spamming and slows the whole game down to a snail's pace.

Not really

Ill list an example

Fight starts = > 1ap backstab to close distance to target A => Neter Swap positions with Target B so now target AB are beside each other => Teleport in 3rd target C so now A,B,C are standing in a ball and teleported target hits A and B for armour damage to all 3. Cast worm tremor on A,B,C they are now rooted for 3 turns , you are positioned away from the ball and can still end the turn invis if you had adrenaline..

You can now stay invis one round and defer your move to be the last turn of the next round so you break invis and get to attack with no opportunity of counter attack that turn, with a full AP bar. And because each round is round robin there is a good chance the turn order will be You <end turn> You or You <end Turn> Enemy , YOU. you attacking 2 out of the next 3 turns.. if you know what i mean <<< its important to understand this to win on hardest levels , who is going when matters more and more, and believe it ot not sometimes you dont want to go first :)

AOE destroy the ball of mobs or pick them off one by one ... dead by the end of round 3 with 0 opportunity to be attacked.
Is that what you do ?

or do you run at them and mash all the buttons till they are on cool down and die ?

The 2 most powerful spells in the game are teleport and nether swap :).
When you start incorporating them into your fights with the use of invis and a BIG AOE the game and fights all change in possibility, because they allow you to restructure the battle field. They are the only spells that do that... well terrain teleport also ... but that is for ultra advanced attack mode 9000 unless using lava

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Chucklehead:

I think I might have to go to explorer mode. I don't understand how they balanced this game compared to DOS1. In DOS1 there were maybe a handful of fights that were really difficult and took several tries to find a successful gameplan to beat. In DOS2 damn near every fight is like this. Even when facing enemies of equal level, you're frequently way outnumbered and every fight is a lengthy war of attrition. It practically necessitates save-spamming and slows the whole game down to a snail's pace.

Eh, more like it necessitates a high damage team that focuses on CC and lockdown after high bursts of damage. If you're running any tank, healer or other low damage characters you're just making things harder on yourself. 90% of this game's difficulty comes from your team and how you build them. Chances are, you just have too many inefficiencies dragging you down. Fix those and you'll probably have no problems no matter where you go.

[gregfromthepeg]

Originally posted by Chucklehead:

I think I might have to go to explorer mode. I don't understand how they balanced this game compared to DOS1. In DOS1 there were maybe a handful of fights that were really difficult and took several tries to find a successful gameplan to beat. In DOS2 damn near every fight is like this. Even when facing enemies of equal level, you're frequently way outnumbered and every fight is a lengthy war of attrition. It practically necessitates save-spamming and slows the whole game down to a snail's pace.

Long post incoming.......

I have played the first one A LOT (and love it). So I can give some key things to get used to. I actually generally found the first game harder initially (Radagoth and Evelyn still give me nightmares), but way easier later in the game. Whereas in 2, I found that each area had a couple of really unusual fights, but otherwise it was mostly a steady progression.

1. In the first, rings and amulets don't have armour values on them, so if you find one with perfect stats for your character, you can keep them forever. I have had rings that were level 5 or 6 when I was at level 13. In this one, the armour value matters a lot, so even with great stats, the armour value may be better to have. A good rule of thumb for me is half of my gear should be my current level, some one level lower, and maybe one or two pieces of armour that are amazing lower than that. Your first goal on the island is to get a piece of equipment on every body part, even if they are just plain with no bonuses. 2 rings on everyone might be too expensive to do early, but everything else can be equipped.

2. Spacing mattered in the first game, but it is even more important in this one - almost no fights force you to start with your whole group in the same spot, and you should take the hint and keep your party regularly spread out. Height also matters in some cases.

3. Hybrids are great in the first, but pretty much suck in this one - for damage purposes anyway. You can put all sorts of great magic skills on a fighter, but they should be utility/setup spells. The STR/INT/FIN attributes add legit damage for every point, whereas in the first one, it just helped your AP economy and cooldowns. So you should be loading up one stat, sprinkling in some memory when needed, and wits on one character to make sure you go first in battle. In the first, CON increases your max AP and also helped your defense a lot, but not so much in this one. Only use it if you are using a shield. Building your armour with your gear is the better defense.

4. Your AP max stays at 4 (6 for lone wolf), unlike the first, so skills that take 3 AP should be used only when needed. 2 standard attacks are often better than a 3 AP skill early in the game. Hydro is the main skill tree this affects.

5. Jump skills are useful for almost anyone - in the first, you only had cloak and dagger and it took too much AP early on to be much use. In this one, there are 3 jump skills, and for first time players, I would say every character should have one.

That was way too long but I love the first one, so always like to help new players who have played it first.

[Chucklehead]

I mean maybe part of the problem is underpowered gear. I still think I'm using several pieces of level 4-6 gear including my tank's weapon. My characters feel extremely squishy, aside from my tank (who uses a shield) everyone seems close to death after a few hits.

Do people just use the gear they find, or do you really need to be regularly buying a lot of gear too?