[Memnoch]

Today's update from Bioware. They've got a solar (a type of celestial) which is really cool!



Kevin Martens (Lead Designer)
Thieves progression in the expansion: Thieves can gain 17 levels in the mission pack - from 23rd to 40th. They gain numerous high level special abilities. They have numerous unique items. This is as much as any class and more than many.

Thieves, yes I am saying that the thieves don't cap out at 6.1 million. I changed the thieves XP chart so that they hit 40th level at exactly 8 million. This means that they gain 17 levels, in addition to all of the things that I mentioned previously, like abilities and items.

Dual wielding and thieves: I played through all of BGII:Shadows of Amn with a straight-class, dual-wielding thief. He used short swords and daggers. Combat remained fun through to the end.

In my experience, the thief was fun to play, even when he dual wields. This was echoed by QA and by other fans who enjoyed the game with a straight-class thief. I will continue to play this character through Throne of Bhaal. If it is ever not fun, it will be tweaked. QA, both in-house at BioWare, and at Interplay will do the same.
Dave Gaider (Senior Designer)
Continuing romances: Right now, in order to continue a romance plot from where it was left off, you need to import a saved game or final save from BG2 and have reached at least a certain point along that character's romance track in that game.

We haven't finalized this decision, yet, although it would seem strange to start a romance 3/4 of the way through it when there's been no lead up.

You needn't have gone completely through the romances in order to continue with them in the expansion (as if you had completed them). You just need to have gone through a good portion of it.

We recognize that a lot of people had problems with Jaheira's romance...so her requirement for the expansion romance will be pretty light (before the point that some encountered the Dermin bug, in fact).

Retuning to old areas and strongholds: The 'other Holds' addressed? Addressed how? Each of the strongholds is a series of extra quests specific to a class. Once you've completed them, there's very little else to do there (which is something to consider for the future, giving something like the strongholds more functionality...but that's beside the point, currently).

The same applies to BG2, itself. It's about story and character progression. As your character's story progressed, you left Baldur's Gate and now you're leaving Amn. Nostalgia may lead you to want to return to these places...perhaps you didn't complete all the quests your first time through...but doing so would be quite anticlimactic, I'm sure.

As for the abyssal stronghold, it's a bit hard to explain. It's not a stronghold in the sense of the class-specific strongholds/quests of BG2, if that's what you mean...it's much more integral to the plot. It will make sense once you go there.

New monsters: Well, we've revealed that we have a solar, at least. We have a fair number of new creatures to battle, for sure.

An arcane selling magic items: Personally I've never liked having merchants replete with magic items. I could see an arcane having quite a selection, though...but to many people who don't know what an arcane is, the difference is negligible.

Scrolls showing up in a different color if you already have it learned: You know, that's a really good idea. I've had the same problem, myself, and I always seem to end up buying a few scrolls I already have in my spellbook. I'll pass that on.

Dual wielding and thieves: OK since you feel the need to drag out the poor dead horse for yet another beating, I'll give you the short answer.

1) Dual wielding is a class ability for rangers. They are the only class we feel the need must be able to dual wield well.

2) Yes, I understand according to the dual-wielding rules in the 2nd edition rulebook, a high dexterity allows for lesser negatives when dual-wielding. We attempted to implement this rule...and it ended up being pointless to do anything but dual wield. So we used our judgment to come up with a different system.

Do regular-class thieves come out with the short end of the dual-wielding stick? Probably. Fighter-thieves and Swashbucklers can still dual wield well, however, so we feel the option is still available to those who want a dual-wielding rogue. And that is why we won't give any special abilities to the regular class thief...why should they get the same bonuses as a ranger?

There are a number of rules that we haven't been able to implement, for a variety of classes. Damage vs. large, paladin warhorses, ranger tracking, etc etc. Some of these things are very important to some people just like dual wielding is to you. It's too bad that you feel that thieves are completely worthless and/or the lack of their dual wielding ability is the end of role-playing as we know it because it is not going to change in the expansion...even if you can find in the optional Fighter's Handbook that it says thieves can specialize in dual wielding.

But we favor thieves no more than any other class in the expansion...they'll get their extra stuff just like the others, but I truly doubt that giving them extra dual wielding ability will be in.

Blink spell: That would be something pretty implementable, for sure...although I'm not sure how the blinking could be done without getting some new spell animation (not that it would be that complicated).

Druids: We've got some stuff planned for druids to replace the hierophant stuff and keep them relevant in the higher levels.

Better AC for Kensai and Monks: Well...I could see giving some minor stuff to monks and kensai, but their disadvantage in AC is there to make up for their massive (and I mean really massive) offensive advantage. I personally would like to see if we could get ioun stones useable by everyone.

------------------
Memnoch - Custodian of the Order of the Holy Flame