Androdion

Sure, I guess it's a matter of expectations. I "expected" it to be an added challenge all the way from 1-200, but given your point of view I can say that maybe it's not at all like that. I'd very much enjoy something like a "very hard mode" that would allow for the usual gameplay but with enough balancing that would make you still be able to progress and try to get ahead of the curve of the mobs' power, and I thought that Challenge Mode would be something like that. I've seen that it isn't and your point is so right on the money that maybe I should just let it go and see it for what it is. The drawback of the slightly added difficulty on EE is that I can still just storm the main quest with a decent build, even with Supperspawn active. The difficulty curve is not that more pronounced (at least so far).

That's actually an excellent point you made right there.

Ah, Christmas. The time of the year where I work twice as much and gain very much the same. Love it! Working in retail during "retail attack week" has taken a toll on my sanity over the years, but new year new house and some added calm may make for a smoother Christmas this time. We'll see. For the rest of you folks, happy holidays.

I played for a few hours last night, standard EE with Superspawn, and I made the same exact build with the same exact progression. Ice elf with the focus on both Ice skills and everything else down to one point, apart from Delphic Focus at 9 for GI gold mod. I went up to level 19 and I can say that both Bronze and Silver aren't that much harder than the regular game. Sure an elite can take a better dent at your HP, but after a few levels I could get ganged up by Bronze mobs without fearing for my death, whereas with Challenge Mode even that was a nightmare. By Silver, which I started around level 10, I couldn't really care if enemies would hit me or not since the time between two or three hits and Glacial Thorns/Raging Nimbus killing them wasn't really enough to be hit for more than 15-25% of my total HP. Apart from elite skellies and the occasional elite boar nothing made my blood rush. Over the course of 19 levels I was readlined maybe twice, and if you want to put health potion numbers to the equation then I can say that its quantity never went down, and I actually went over 100 early on in Silver, all from loot. You see, I don't really have an issue with Challenge Mode being insane. The problem I see in it is that its only purpose is to do trial runs on "can I kill these fast enough?", because it rejects any kind of character progression. It just punishes you no matter what. So grab your best ultimate toon, activate Challenge Mode and see how well it goes basically equates to having enough firepower or not. Defensive skills don't count for squat, character build doesn't either since all you need is firepower, and actual gaming skill is nowhere to be found since all you'll do is mash your ultimate CAs in order to kill everything on screen before they can hit you. Because if you're hit you're dead. So yeah, insane is quite adequate. I just thought that Challenge Mode would be more of a "challenge mode" to veteran players who know their way around the game. Because if you've played this game for long enough you'll know how to build a toon, and that is enough to stay alive in Standard EE right now. I mean, I run an Ice elf and I have 3 points in Armor Lore and 1 point in Constitution plus all attribute points in Intelligence, and mobs just don't hit that hard. With Challenge Mode on I was running that build backwards with several skill points in Armor Lore/Constitution/Toughness and still I'd be constantly readlining. What's the point of Challenge Mode then if you can't play it from level 1, other than (like I said above) test your ultimate firepower?

Thanks for replying, I know I can be a bit of a nag sometimes. Blame Christmas music everyday at work for the last 35 days (and counting!). Yeah, Challenge Mode is anything but easy. But the thing that I've noticed is that you always get kicked hard regardless of your choices, and therein lies the problem. I can live with the expectancy of elites and bosses being much harder and super tough, but when regular Kobolds in Bronze can actually kill you... The one time I was actually killed by a Kobold was when I was trying one of my level 75 blank toons in Niob, so they were almost 40 levels above. But being killed in Bronze, and in Silver in the same way since I progressed a few toons there from scratch, is too much. Oh another thing I noticed is that Kobold mages also hit way too hard, as well as any DOT for that matter. A regular Kobold mage also hits nearly as hard an Elite one in terms of HP, and getting hit by toxic elementals or rats outside Thylisium makes you redline very very easily due to poison DOT. Just an added thought.

So I've been going at EE with Original Spells, Challenge Mode and Superspawn together for a few days. While I enjoy the added challenge, the added blood rush that I feel from the always present danger and the possibility of impending death, I can't seem but feel like something is off with the balancing. Yes it has been explained that Challenge Mode is a though one in terms of added difficulty and that softer toons will be mowed down, and yes Superspawn will only make things worse since more enemies will spawn with added capabilities. So in short I should be getting my toon's tush handed out to me in a Bronze or Silver platter any way you look at it. So here's what I don't get. Gahanka can't kill me in seconds but a single non-elite Kobold can? That boss causes little more damage than a non-elite Kobold from the last opponent's window, but it's the little one that kills me? I mean, Gahanka being a boss (even though an easy one) should be a bit harder than a regular Kobold no?! And yet if I stop for a second I get two criticals from a tiny Kobold and bye bye, whereas I can stand in front of Gahanka and be hit without half the hassle and without spamming my space bar constantly. I'm not even going to say how ridiculously tough the Elite mobs are because they always hit for 50% or more of my HP. Have you ever ran out of healing potions in early game when you're carrying like 30 or so? I have, I actually needed to buy more because with each critical from mobs I needed to gobble one down because the next hit would be lethal. But that doesn't happen with a boss, strangely enough. I've tried several variations of the same build, starting out with a few defensive skills to keep myself alive and then start working around my Ice magic. I could stay alive for a while, but as soon as I thought I had the necessary survival skills a simple Kobold goes bam bam, bye bye. OK let's try it the other way around and start off with pumping Ice magic for extra killing power and then start improving the defensive capabilities. And yet again as soon as I get towards higher density bam bam, bye bye. The hilarious thing about it is that I can get redlined by a single Kobold at the doorstep of Sloeford, in seconds. Yet a boss doesn't do it. So imagine the route from Sloeford to Gahanka! It's like I'm walking in the Swamp getting aggroed from all directions! And more often than not it feels like regular mobs hit almost as badly as Elite units. And the problem with that is that no matter how you play a build and how you act towards mobs they'll still mow you down in the same inconspicuous way, like you loose one second of attention and bam bam, bye bye. I get it, it's supposed to be hard. But isn't it also supposed to be playable from level 1? Because Challenge Mode feels more and more like a creepfest made for full-blown toons with mastered skills and top gear. It really doesn't feel like a "challenge" for starting at level 1 and going from there, it feels more like you're constantly pulling mobs and trying to pick them apart piece by piece because they're always incredibly strong. And that's because they are, always incredibly strong, no matter how your skills are and at what level of difficulty you are and what gear you're carrying and what level your toon is. I mean come on, this isn't feasible when you need to be constantly pulling mobs and getting to choke points just to stay alive... If Kobolds are this deadly everything else in the game should be pretty much as lethal as a Swamp Demon. Oh wait, Swamp Demons should be as though as Nameless Guardians. Oh wait, Nameless Guardians... This is my oficial feedback, I want to like it but at the end of the day it's just incredibly frustrating to see no evolution in the gameplay regardless of build, skill choice, toon level and difficulty level. You're always outnumbered and outgunned no matter what you do.

OK so now that I'm able to play it I can say, holy smokes Challenge Mode is punishing as hell on early game! I mean, I died to Kobolds. In Bronze. Kobolds! Sure, I was asking for it running around with a fragile High Elf getting criticals from Kobold elites but still, wow. I guess that Flix made this optional module with heavy questing in mind instead of just jumping the gun on power grinding the Kobold Chieftan. But then again I can feel my blood rushing because I can't just smash everything without consequences, which is cool. But then again I died to freakin Kobolds in Bronze, and who dies in Bronze to begin with?! Any advice on early game big chief? Keep it safe, quest a lot, stay away from bad companies until you're geared up and skilled up? I dread the thought of Niobium with this mode... It's kill (quickly) or be killed I guess.

I ran a full system scan with both Avast and Malwarebytes, nothing out of the ordinary to be found, so I just added the whole Steam directory as an exception and it loads without an issue. Still, it's bloody weird! Even more so because I checked the Mods' folders and none of them has a different sacred2.exe file, they just change s2gs.exe and s2logic.dll. So yeah, it's super weird!

Hey guys. So I finally got some spare time on my hands and as such I decided to download this mod. Thing is after activating Original Spells/Challenge Mode/Superspawn once I start the game I get the game back to Windows and sacred2.exe moved to quaratine due to IDP.ALEXA.51, as so Avast likes to say. I move it back to where it belongs, but then if I want to start the game again Steam will auto-update it and I then need to reinstall CM Patch 1.60 because otherwise it'll start with the vanilla 2.65 version. So what gives? Is the download infected/corrupted, is my AV software tripping, what?! PS: Yeah, I can't even get the game to start with just Original Spells active via JSGME. The file sacred2.exe goes to quarantine each and every time I try to run the game.

It's a hidden system file, try in C:\Users\user name\AppData\Local\Ascaron Entertainment\Sacred 2.

He's not "level locked", but he will still be level 20 if you get to it right now since you died and your Survival Bonus went down to zero. If by any chance you grind a bit and your SB goes up again so do the enemy levels climb up. It's just how the game works.

Like Flix said there's some tweaking you can do. Your CAs are very low in level, you should bump your buffs' levels while keeping an eye on the regen times for other CAs. Then with the aid of regen per hit gear you can easily have 0.5 seconds RPH by level 20, and since you're using weapon-based CAs it'll work nicely. You see that coloured bar next to the sigma icon? It's your regen time way too high because you only have one point in Armor Lore. That can also be bettered. Socketing stuff to boost your defensive abilities will make you last longer, and at low levels even a Silver blacksmith art can do wonders.

He's not telling you to level two characters, but rather to pick up on blank level 75 toons and experiment with the skill set. You just need to allocate the skill points on the blank toons and then you can try different builds without raising them 75 levels. It's immediate trial and error.

I think double hits are only valid for left click attacks, but someone else please confirm if weapon-based CAs are affected as well. As for your second question, I think it's like the Resilience mod on the HE's Grand Invigoration buff. So yeah, only detrimental effects.

I answered on mobile during work hours, and gave my response based on the purported problem given the error message. But looking at it with a bit more calm, yeah, clean reinstall is in order.

The patch doesn't have Spanish translations, so you need to change the game's core language in order for everything to work correctly.

Quit to main menu and reload the save game, sometimes quests stop working like that but that usually does the trick.

I don't think so, Expulse Magic is very OP! I'm thinking that depending on CA level you might have trouble against the mummy boss in the swamps since it also casts it, but other than that in terms of spells you're pretty much covered.

Haven't been able to try out EE, but I reckon it changes things a little bit yes. In my view the use of each defensive skill or not depends on how well protected you are without it, which is why I told you about Spell Resistance vs Expulse Magic. But basically Armor Lore is indispensable, Constitution depends on your gameplay and other defensive measures - same is valid for Toughness - but it's a priority, Spell Resistance and Combat Reflexes depend more on your planning of the build. Using SR skill with a Shadow Warrior that runs Grim Resilience or a High Elf that uses Expulse Magic a lot is a waste of a skill, but not using it on an Inquisitor which doesn't take Toughness is quite the risk. It all comes down to how your build is planned and how you play it.

Yes, sort of. Toughness adds all armour types to your char and provides damage mitigation as well, which can be read as "damage mitigation +x% = damage -x%". So it can directly reduce spell damage (all damage actually), but its base property is to increase your resistance to damage of all types by increasing your armour values for all types since the damage mitigation is really small at lower levels of the skill. When you cast a spell-based CA on an enemy the chance for the CA to hit it depends on your spell intensity vs the enemy's spell resistance, same is valid the other way around. So what the Spell Resistance skill does is increase your defensive stat when you're targeted by a spell-based CA, thus reducing the chance for an enemy's spell to hit you. All of this happens before damage calculation, so armour values aren't yet being accounted for. Once the spell is resolved as hitting home then the damage calculations begin and armour and damage mitigation values come into play. But if you can't be hit via SR skill then having 30 million armour isn't really necessary. Alas the poor Dryad has no Toughness skill... Warning: This reply was written with only one eye opened.

It depends on how well protected she is against magical damage. Don't underestimate the power of the Spell Resistance skill, it's kind of a backwards Ancient Magic so it covers a lot of ground defensively.

If your idea is to proc regen per hit and have a weapon skill for it you can easily bypass it by taking Delphic Lore and using a level 1 Magic Coup with a mage staff. You don't really need a weapon skill since MC counts as a weapon hit and the Lore skill increases its execution speed. In case you have a spare skill you can also take Delphic Focus for faster regen and higher level of Grand Invigoration, which will maximize the effect of having Constitution exponentially. I'd take Armor Lore much sooner though as it's very important for a caster to be able to wear (and have) proper armour, plus it also reduces the regen penalty from the gear you're using. But it all depends on how you intend to distribute skill points. If you take 6 and 7 out you can replace them with the Delphic skills, and as for 10 I'd say that it depends on how much you'll use Expulse Magic. If you give it proper use and drop skill points to fully modify it then Spell Resistance is out of the question since EM does the same trick, but if you don't want to use it or spread your skill points that far then you can use Shield Lore for extra defense. You can also replace the three skills in a different way. Instead of going for Delphic Lore+Focus pick only the Focus skill, Magic Staffs skill for extra attack speed and proc regen per hit with left click attacks, then choose Speed Lore as your third skill of those that you're replacing. Get a single-handed staff, use a shield and proc regen per hit from a distance, since with CM 1.60 they shoot projectiles in mid-range. So you can cast a spell-based CA, drop a projectile with the staff and proc regen per hit, then rinse repeat. Why Speed Lore you ask? It increases both attack and defense values which make you hit enemies more easily, thus proccing regen per hit more easily. Just a few ideas.

Yeah I reckon there's a lot of ground to cover, which is exactly why I'm not installing it right now (even though I want to!) since it'll consume my sleep hours which are already way behind schedule.

Oh I was reading through the v2.1 changelog but those numbers are on the changelog for v2.0, oki doki. Man I wish I had time to try EE... I was trying to rebalance it myself but I can't find the time to do proper testing. Maybe next year I can find some time to play again and go through EE or Diablo Mod. My house will kill me!

Finally had some time to update my profile pic. Whoever makes out where it comes from without reverse Google search gets an award.