MINIMIZING Experience in Preparation for TOB

two · Post by **two** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 10:00 am

Is this stupid or what?

Would it make sense to do the following, if you are planning on hitting TOB solo or with a 2-3 person group that reached the experience cap early in BGII:

1) Start BGII over again, and run through only those quests needed to get the main story line going.

2) DO NOT do Trademeet, Umar Hills, Windspear Hills, Troll Castle.

3) Get to underdark, elvish city, etc. Try to "time" your experience gathering so that your solo character / small group hits the experience limit during the final battle with JonI.

The master plan is to hit the Experience Cap during the battle with JonI (or right before) in order to insure there is no "lost" experience.

What next? You got TOB in your HotLittleHands?

Now, as soon as you install TOB and the experience cap is gone, you can go back and do all the extra quests (see 2 above). This should be good for a level or two if soloing.

The point is that if you hit the experience cap early in BGII, all the experience you get after that is "wasted." You want to keep this stuff for when it counts, post-TOB.

So if you legitimately want to enter into TOB with a character ABOVE the BGII exp. limit, I think you can do it this way. Wait until you clean out the "old" parts of BGII totally before hitting the Watcher's Keep and the rest of TOB.

Note this theory is bust if:
a) You can't go back and re-do side quests after TOB is installed, but I suspect you will be able to.
b) if the experience cap isn't lifted until you get to Watcher's Keep or some official TOB place. And even then you might be able to activate the new experience cap and then go back later.

If not cheesy, at least strongly reeking of curd.

Yours in Maximization:

Two

Angelus · Post by **Angelus** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 10:43 am

Actually I think you don't lose any XP when you finish a quest after you reach the cap. It just doesn't count, and you get it back once the cap is removed. At least that was the case with the cap remover IIRC.

Depending on whether the quests/dungeons from ToB will be available only after you finish Irenicus or already before that, (like in the BG1 expansion) it might be a good idea to start a new game after you install ToB, that way you'll be able to get the new items or the new NPC early in the game.

two · Post by **two** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 10:49 am

Originally posted by Angelus:
<STRONG>Actually I think you don't lose any XP when you finish a quest after you reach the cap. It just doesn't count, and you get it back once the cap is removed. At least that was the case with the cap remover IIRC.

Depending on whether the quests/dungeons from ToB will be available only after you finish Irenicus or already before that, (like in the BG1 expansion) it might be a good idea to start a new game after you install ToB, that way you'll be able to get the new items or the new NPC early in the game.</STRONG>

I read somewhere that a BioWare developer simply stated that experience accrued after the cap is reached, while still kept track of by BGII, will simply be discarded as soon as TOB comes along.

When the cap is removed you simply get your exp. cap removed, no experience is restored to you at all. The one exception is Druids I think, that will immediately be given a new level and possibly some free xp's.

Kane · Post by **Kane** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 12:38 pm

Speaking as a similarly anal BG player.
I sugest you do all of the above.
and make sure u allow for any other eventualities.

aVENGER2k · Post by **aVENGER2k** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 1:59 pm

The master plan is to hit the Experience Cap during the battle with JonI (or right before) in order to insure there is no "lost" experience.

Err,wouldn't it be easier to wait until ToB comes out and then go through the whole game again?That way you would have much more exp when you reach Irenicus in Hell.

Savarius · Post by **Savarius** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 2:52 pm

Originally posted by aVENGER2k:
<STRONG>Err,wouldn't it be easier to wait until ToB comes out and then go through the whole game again?That way you would have much more exp when you reach Irenicus in Hell.</STRONG>

That was my plan. I want to be able to get all the items and what not from throughout Shadows of Amn before heading into the expansion. My impression is that you won't have the opportunity to access the Amnish areas once you've started the Saradush portion of the expansion.

Promise · Post by **Promise** » Sat Jun 02, 2001 12:09 am

If u have exp cap removed, you will not only get "a level or two" when solo in SoA. My solo F/M/T has over 9M exp! (no cheats)

MegaToerist · Post by **MegaToerist** » Sat Jun 02, 2001 5:37 am

Originally posted by Savarius:
My impression is that you won't have the opportunity to access the Amnish areas once you've started the Saradush portion of the expansion.

I thought Watcher's Keep could be accessed throughout the whole game...

Lorenoth · Post by **Lorenoth** » Sat Jun 02, 2001 7:40 am

SPOILER

Is beating Irenicus still the end of the game? I certainly hope not.
A few Hakeashars, and well you know the rest.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » Sat Jun 02, 2001 7:43 am

Isn't ToB expansion meant to be after you beat Irenicus? Oh there's the dungeon that is available before that, but the main of ToB is after you beat Irenicus, right?