That’s because PowerShell cmdlets have terrible names
Been playing the midnight isles DLC.
I guess I can appreciate Owlcat leaning into the things they do well, or arguably don’t do well, or really I’m not sure there’s any difference between these things at all where Owlcat is concerned. There is only the gonzo.
Is any of the DLC integrated into the campaign or is it seperate? Kingmaker had that super bland dungeon integrated. Beneath The Stolen Lands. Not sure what they were thinking with that one. It was as if someone used Neverwinter Nights module toolkit to make it, and they just made the same square rooms connected by the same hallways over and over again for dozens of levels.
My understand is that it depends; some of it integrates, but in some cases it’s awkward.
Take Treasure: it’s a standalone faintly rogue-lite (I wish they had leaned into this more, tbh) dlc. But you can also access it from the main campaign and do an abbreviated version (this is important; the standalone takes dozens of hours and eventually allows one to take a party from level 1 to 20, full mythic levels inclusive). But apparently it’s sort of an odd fit that will break the game somewhat since it makes you filthy rich for the time you can access in the campaign (given Owlcat’s “approach” to everything, this arguably a “there is no cheese in wrath, actually” scenario, but nevermind).
The first DLC pops up at the end of the campaign I think. Or it is not fully accessible in the campaign (albeit if you beat it separately you can get benefits in a campaign playthrough), I am unsure.
I am unsure about the other DLC.
DLC1 - Inevitable Excess - post main campaign level 20 content. Competing it unlocks a trivial buff on your next Main Story playthrough. Defeating the secret boss in Inevitable Excess unlocks powerful loot in the Main Story. The more difficulty you beat the secret boss, the better the loot. You can even play Inevitable Excess on, say, Core difficulty, reach the secret boss and change the difficulty to Unfair, kill it, then set the difficulty back to Core.
Competing Inevitable Excess as a Lich unlocks a Lich-only item in the Main Story. I don’t know why they only did this for Lich.
DLC2 - Through the Ashes - low level separate adventure adjacent to Act 1 in the Main Story. Completing it adds a few non-interactive NPCs to Defender’s Heart from the DLC and a completely worthless item. Ends on a cliffhanger and DLC5 will continue this story and holy shit I couldn’t possibly care less wtf were they even thinking with this shit.
DLC3 - Treasure of the Midnight Isles - In the Main Story it’s a completely optional dungeon romp that rewards some good loot and another demon lord to get his thingy for the super sekret ending. If you’re into that. I always skip it, it’s a slog. In the Main Story the rooms are often setup as kill zones with enemy melee in the front, traps behind them, and archers in the rear.
DLC4 - New companion and class, Shifter. Adds three new locations and new quests to the Main Story. The best DLC by far.
DLC5 - Through the Ashes Part 2. I only care about what completing it may add to the Main Story.
DLC6 -
Most of the DLC sounds awful. Thanks for the detailed explanation.
I’m taking my sweet time in Act 3. Feels like the middle meat of the game. BG2 Chapter 2 with Kingmaker council events/cards and poor mans HoMM.
Should I explore and wipe out all the demon armies before progressing to the next chapter? I also feel like there are some forts I can’t reach yet. No path to it.
The Azata mythic path is turning out to be the Station Eleven for the zany arts frolicing candy raving happy fun free love spiritual 420 blaze it vision quest dream magic hippie commune route. It’s a pretty big tonal shift away from the rest of the game.
I mean I guess I should have known when the cutesy overly chipper miniature purple faerie dragon showed up talking about eating sweets.
I had fun with the stand-alone rogue-like component of DLC3.
You will not be able to clear the map in Act 3.
Yeah, I have played hundreds of hours of just that mode. Way more than the base game.
So DLC3…fucking Midnight Isle, is integrated into the main campaign but is better as standalone?
Yes. Standalone it is all about experimenting with builds in an accelerated fashion. You unlock tailwinds, which are basically a party-wide perk that will encourage you to build your characters in a certain theme, like the more Dwarves you have you get an increasing Constitution bonus, then you can choose classes, like Kineticist, which synergize with a high Con score.
I guess that means it’s shit in the campaign.
Watch me!
Oh, ugh. I played through the first full path of Midnight Isles and didn’t even bother with it again. When I do play WotR again, I’ll probably avoid it entirely.
Yep, it’s great for those that want to play with builds because it’s all just room after room of fighting with effects on each island that changes things up a bit.
For those that like main game content, DLC1 and 4 are where it’s at.
To me it’s only useful to gain a few levels to maybe get a little bit ahead of the power curve.
I quite enjoyed Midnight Isle as a change of pace compared to the story-heavy main game.
I only had two issues with it. It was pretty buggy initially and it messed with the balance of the game.
So should I skip Midnight Isle and save it as a standalone DLC after the campaign?
I’ve cleared most of the map in Act 3 of demon armies. Just a couple left. I still see forts but there isn’t a path to reach them? I noticed though that demon armies will occasionally pop-in out of nowhere and move along the path towards your forts. I think there are two spots where they spawn in. Northwest and Southwest. Does this continue to happen indefinitely?
Yes, the demon army spawns continue throughout the game. They are generally weaker than the ones that are stationary, it’s more about being able to get to them to wipe them out before they cause any harm to a fort they have under siege.
There may or may not be paths available at your point in the game to some places on the map. Without seeing the specific areas, it’s hard to say if you just missed something or if it’s blocked until Act V.
If you are a player that is more focused on the battle tactics and developing different builds, Midnight Isle is going to be something you want regardless of whether you play it during the main campaign or as something separate. It’s definitely very much a side adventure that doesn’t mesh well with the main story. If you are a story focused player who doesn’t care about trying out tactics against different groups (like me), you can safely skip it without it impacting anything negatively. It definitely overpowers your crew, though, if you decide to do it.
So I guess I’ll plant two armies in the north and south to spawn kill the demon armies that appear out of nowhere. Also since getting my party to these far flung locations takes weeks allowing ample time for them to spawn. Like Blackwater, where I encountered a large enemy mob with armor class of 48. All my attacks miss outside of nat 20. I noped out.
Don’t forget that it’s insanely long.
I think there are like 13 islands in the first part alone.
Good ol’ Blackwater. You can thank Cohh Carnage for that abomination.
There are many strats for dealing with those MFers, but the easiest is Improved Invis.
So ahh…one of my core companions of my party makeup is now dead. Permanently. For completely valid story reasons.
This creates a problem because I’m now down a extremely high AC frontline melee. The highest in the party in fact by like a good 5 AC over the next guy, and the only one with a high Nature lore skill. Definitely leaving a large hole that needs to be filled. Guess I’ll be respecting and trying out other candidates. Probably the Tiefling. Also makes a ring I bought for 9K now basically worthless.