Only one of Evil alignment would choose to wait longer than necessary to rescue his sister
I always go as soon as possible, which is often right after doing the Slaver Quests (also gets you a +3 Weapon for Minsc), not only because it makes Chapter 4 and 5 somewhat challenging, but also because I usually want either Imoen and/or Solaufein in my party as fast as possible.
Just about every single quest available in Chapter 2 & 3 is still available in Chapter 6.
About Mazzy vs Valygar, if you got the GM Patch (included in the Baldurash Fixpack), there's no question. Mazzy can be a grand master in any weapon she pleases and that alone makes her far superior to Valygar. You don't have to give her a bow or a short sword to be effective just because she has those proficiencies, she can almost work her way up to five stars in a whole new weapon before the XP cap of SoA.
If you don't have the patch however, Mazzy has no noticeable advantages over Valygar, except a slightly more interesting personality. Valygar is mind-numbingly boring most of the times, but he has a higher strength and his spell selection is better than Mazzy's special abilities. Overall, they're quite equal. Can use the same weapons with almost the same efficiency, they both have 18 DEX which makes them equally good tanks, they're equally durable, and both of them are going to require a strength-enhancing item of some form in the near future to be effective fighters.
[ 03-09-2003, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]