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.
Yeah, it’s one of the things I love about WotR: it doesn’t shy away from consequences.
Regarding the character you’re talking about, I never used them as melee, so that’s an interesting choice. Their range capabilities are so OP that I never considered it. That will be something to try for a future play, I think.
I was almost about to roll up a merc with the same build but that felt dumb.
The incredible AC was from a batch of abilities from one of the mythic feats + a multiclass that gave me AC from my Wisdom bonus + a bunch of buffs. 40 AC without even wearing armor. If I equipped armor or even a shield my AC would actually go down.
Yeah, but that didn’t bother me. I just did a few islands at a time.
So I finally surmounted Blackwater.
As a dungeon, it blows. I super hate it.
It also requires real-time combat because playing it turn-base would take a million-billion years.
Really? I do not mind blackwater at all. The first time I did it, it kicked my ass, but after that, every other game it was a walk in the park. I just made sure to keep lighting bows and weapons I found earlier just for blackwater.
I am sure it’s fine on a replay with prior knowledge but rolling to hit 48 AC is not what I consider a walk in the park. Fights are overly long because of all the misses which makes turn base unplayable…unless you have a few hours.
It’s mostly just the middle room with three demons and two mirror imaged succubi.
You fight more of them after but always in smaller more manageable numbers. The dungeon boss was laughably easy.
I did discover after clearing nearly the entire dungeon on like the last 48 AC demon fight that the spell vine trap completely destroys them. It locks them in place, does a little bit of damage, but most importantly it allows all your attacks to automatically hit. The last two exploded into gibbets the second after I casted vine trap…(still playing in real-time.)
It was a real slap in the face. (I suppose any spell that causes paralysis ought to work. Vine trap just worked with my build because I had spell focus and greater spell focus in Conjuration)
For some reason I largely ignored teamwork feats in Kingmaker but in this I grabbed Outflank for all my melee classes and Allied Spellcaster for all my…spellcasters.
More attacks of opportunity and spell penetration feels needed.
So I’ve cleared out every last demon army on the Act 3 map including the Balor army. Still forts I can’t reach.
Should I stay in Act 3 and complete the fat stack of relic cards I’ve accumulated before progressing?
Only if they give you something you want.