Volothamp's Comeuppance wants your input

[SixOfSpades]

Just a quick little survey to help me make the site look better & include a "player feedback" section when choosing a class/kit.

Question 1: What screen resolution is your monitor at when browsing the Web? (800x600, 1024x768, etc.)

Question 2: Please rate the following classes/kits from 1 (worst) to 10 (best), as to how "fun" they are. I'm not exactly looking for "powerful," although by all means factor that into your opinion, I'm just looking for "fun." No Dual- or Multi-classes, and no mod alterations, please, I'm trying to get player opinion on the unmodded individual classes themselves.
a) Fighter:
b) Barbarian:
c) Berserker:
d) Kensai:
e) Paladin:
f) Cavalier:
g) Inquisitor:
h) Undead Hunter:
i) Ranger:
j) Archer:
k) Stalker:
l) Monk:
m) Cleric:
n) Priest of Helm:
o) Priest of Lathander:
p) Priest of Talos:
q) Druid:
r) Avenger:
s) Shapeshifter:
t) Totemic Druid:
u) Bard:
v) Blade:
w) Jester:
x) Skald:
y) Thief:
z) Assassin:
aa) Bounty Hunter:
ab) Swashbuckler:
ac) Mage:
ad) Specialist Mage:
ae) Wild Mage:
af) Sorcerer:
If you don't feel like giving a rating for ALL of the kits, by all means, don't feel obligated to do so. Only rate those that you feel like rating. Thank you.

[Armen]

looking forward to seeing the new site

Q1
1280x800

Q2
for me, out of the single classes i've played significantly (pretty much all magic users have been multis / duals i realise), a very partial view:


j) Archer: 10 - love the sneaky sniper game play - good solo

z) Assassin: 9 - love the sneaky backstabber game play - good solo

k) Stalker: 8 - see both of the above

d) Kensai: 8 - funnest melee character, best with support (unless 'meta-gaming')

g) Inquisitor: 7 - if you just want melee has abilities that can blast through (annoyingly) magic enemies without much thought

x) Skald: 6 - only single-class magic user i've played - fun but summons heavy unless disciplined

l) Monk: 5 - half marks - fun but annoying to nurture, rewarding when comes up to speed melee-wise, getting tedious when with superb melee and MR you can leave him/her on auto and go and make a cup of tea . . .

c) Berserker: 4 - like inquisitor, a good melee PC to avoid reloads but otherwise so so

[ElfBane]

Q1- 1680x1050

Q2- Here goes!

t) Totemic Druid: 3 - The few times I've tried to play this PC I gave up in Ch.1 because the summon is either too powerfull (unmoded TUTU) or no summon at all (TD summon balancing Mod. Everytime I've tried the TD Summon Rebalancing component, I get no summon at all. The animation occurs...but no summon appears.)

y) Thief: 8 - Like them, but I'd rather have them Multi with Mage.

z) Assassin: 8 - I like the poison weapon and increased backstab, but the tradeoff in fewer skill points (only 15 per level) makes it hard to pick locks early in the game. This build REALLY needs to multi with mage, so you can get the Knock spell, but that's against the rules.

ac) Mage: 7 - Played a straight mage once. Really need the Ring of Wizardry to make this build enjoyable,,,and not just an exercise in avoiding death.

ae) Wild Mage: 10 - This is what I almost always play. A WM build with the Ring of Wizardry and a Familiar makes playing a mage actually enjoyable. And not just a constant fear of your mage being taken out by a dart.

af) Sorcerer: 2 - Tried a Sorcerer once in TuTu. I used Dundee Slaytern's Party Sorcerer spell list (go here..http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/ds_skane/index.html ). It is REALLY HARD to grow a sorcerer without using the Armor spell. I died a lot, gave up, and went back to the standby....a WM.

[Kazilan]

Question 1: 1280x800

Question 2:

a) Fighter: 8 - My favorite base class.
b) Barbarian: 6 - Too easy, but fun for a little while.
c) Berserker: 6 - same as barbarian.
d) Kensai: 4 - tried once, was disappointed.
e) Paladin: 4 - Too goody-goody.

h) Undead Hunter: 6 - cool char concept, even if they have to be lawful good.
i) Ranger: 6

k) Stalker: 6

q) Druid: 6

s) Shapeshifter: 2 - cool idea, but not implemented well.

u) Bard: 6
v) Blade: 7 - I love 'jack of all trades' concepts

x) Skald: 3 - I had high hopes, but my skald wasn't much of a melee success.
y) Thief: 7 - my second base favorite class.

ab) Swashbuckler: 10 - my favorite kit. Best combo of fun skills/melee power.
ac) Mage: 4 - I get bored with mages quickly and hate being powerless after casting spells.
ad) Specialist Mage: 4 - see above.

I deleted the classes I have not played but where's the wizard slayer (gets a 9)? My second favorite kit, I'm just waiting for a revamped version of it before I load bg 2 again.

[Xanthul]

Question 1: 1440x900 widescreen

Question 2: Only those that I have played enough to rate. 5-6 is I don't like it but I can manage to play if needed, 7-8 is pretty entertaining, 9-10 are a blast. Below 5 I'd rather stare at a blank wall than play.
a) Fighter: 6
b) Barbarian: 7
c) Berserker: 7
e) Paladin: 6
f) Cavalier: 7
g) Inquisitor: 9
h) Undead Hunter: 7
i) Ranger: 5
j) Archer: 9
k) Stalker: 9
l) Monk: 9
m) Cleric: 5
n) Priest of Helm: 6
o) Priest of Lathander: 6
p) Priest of Talos: 6
q) Druid: 3
y) Thief: 6
z) Assassin: 8
aa) Bounty Hunter: 5
ab) Swashbuckler: 8
ac) Mage: 9
ad) Specialist Mage: 9
af) Sorcerer: 10

[SixOfSpades]

Originally Posted by Kazilan Question 1: 1280x800 I deleted the classes I have not played but where's the wizard slayer (gets a 9)?

I chose not to even include the Wizard Slayer and Beast Master because their restrictions are so crippling and so nonsensical that they're almost unplayable, especially by newbies--the kind of people most likely to be reading a Guide to BG whose most notable feature is that it doesn't include any spoilers. If you really think the unmodded Wizard Slayer rates a 9, okay, I'll include that in my calculations, but I really don't think anyone else is going to share that opinion.

[Mahokenshi]

Question 1: What screen resolution is your monitor at when browsing the Web? (800x600, 1024x768, etc.)

1280 x 800

Question 2: Please rate the following classes/kits from 1 (worst) to 10 (best), as to how "fun" they are. I'm not exactly looking for "powerful," although by all means factor that into your opinion, I'm just looking for "fun." No Dual- or Multi-classes, and no mod alterations, please, I'm trying to get player opinion on the unmodded individual classes themselves.

a) Fighter: 5 - without the old bg1/PnP grandmastery rules, they've got nothing special. They're easy to keep alive, but they don't have any special abilities. The very definition of average.

b) Barbarian: 6 - A more interesting take on the warrior, with a nice rage, and permanent resistances.

c) Berserker: 7 - A fighter with a nice "win the battle" ability. If you like to fight - and win against spellcasters or magical beings - then this is for you.

d) Kensai: 5 - The opposite of a fighter. They have some interesting abilities, and are a chore to keep alive. A late level dual class just means you don't have the character you want for most of the game (especially if you're starting from BG1.)

e) Paladin: 7 - A fighter that gets some cleric abilities without the cleric's not so fun weapon restrictions or the need to dual/multi class.

f) Cavalier: 8 - An inquisitor is "better" in terms of power, but the Cavalier is the most "paladinish" of the paladin kits; retaining all the paladin abilities, and adding a few more.

g) Inquisitor: 7 - What the wizard slayer should have been. A fighter who dispels magic. Like the berserker, this is a fighter with a nice "win the fight" button.

h) Undead Hunter: 6 - Like the paladin, but exchanges one feature (lay on hands) for another (negative plane protection.) NPP is not really needed after chapter 3, and the lay on hands will eventually be the best heal spell avialable short of Heal - and it casts fast. A good choice for new players, but if you know where a certain necklace and a certain mace are, it's too easy to duplicate their one nice feature.

i) Ranger: 6 - More versatile and fun than a fighter, but infinity engine rangers are not particularly special - your party will never get lost in the woods, you can't track without a high level ability, etc.

j) Archer: 6 - Completely trade away you ability to melee like a warrior to fire a bow. In BG1 (tutu) this makes you an unstoppable death machine. But by BG2, things are different, especially for longbow users - it can be awfully hard to find ammo to hit creatues that need plus 3 weapons. And bows in general are lesser weapons - otherwise Mazzy would be far more popular than she is.

k) Stalker: 8 - Use the Ranger's stealth for something worthwhile. The backstab and extra spells are easily worth the armor restrictions. If backstabbing is your play style, this gives you a warrior's thaco, and the ability to stand and fight after an initial backstab.

l) Monk: 6 - Super fun once you hit high levels. Effective as Boo before then. At low and even mid levels, monks need a lot of buffing help from spellcasters (esp spirit armour or barkskin.) Can not be improve hasted; so stuck with at most 4 attacks per round. But the paitient will see a payoff; later on this character will really tear it up.

m) Cleric: 5 - Clerics are essential to a good adventuring party, but a single class cleric is a character that I'm not overly zelous about. They require a lot of work to buff up for melee fighting, and they're not as good at casting combat spells as a mage. Buffing everying up with spells before a fight, and then healing them after is a necessary job; but it might not the most fun PC to play.

n) Priest of Helm: 6 - They fight a little better than a base Cleric, and without the need to multi/dual class.

o) Priest of Lathander: 7 - I'm not above casting Boon of Lathander more than once. There are NO Cleric weapons that improve attacks per round, and this kit can buff itself into a fun melee presence; at no extra XP cost.

p) Priest of Talos: 6 - A nice any - elemental damage buff from the start of the game. It will take mages a while to duplicate this ability - but they will eventually dupilcate it. If you often do the "buff your fire resistance to over 100% and send one person to fight while everone else fireballs like mad" strategy, this is a key kit.

q) Druid: 4 - They get a half dozen nice spells, at the trade off of being good at nothing else. They can't melee as well as even a cleric because of armour issues, and they are missing a few key priest spells that no party should do without.

r) Avenger: 5 - The extra forms are nice early on, and the extra mage spells double their list of useful spells. If you like single class druids, this is your best choice.

s) Shapeshifter: 2 - Having what amounts to a plus 2 short sword as your endgame weapon. Shapeshifters are unusably underpowered. The famous "rebalancing" mod makes them unusably overpowered.

t) Totemic Druid: 3 - They might be fun until you reach the point in the game where the animals really aren't useful anymore. They your PC becomes your party's biggest liability.

u) Bard: 6 - An aquired taste. Their song doesn't do anything; but the high lore, pocket picking, and mage spells are all great support abilities which will prove useful. They don't shile the way most specialized characters do, though.

v) Blade: 8 - This character is a specialist. The useless song is a nonissue. They fight surprisingly well - if buffed up. Reduce the score by 1 or 2 if you don't like contantly recasting spells for every big fight, though.

w) Jester: 6 - Not much different from a normal bard. Their song is an interesting feature, but not so useful as to improve this kit's score over a basic bard.

x) Skald: 7 - A nice sort of "officer" character, for players who feel like using their PC as a leader who commands and augments their "troops." Their song, I believe, actually works. They have a high lore and make good backup casters. Not as big a "star" as a blade, though.

y) Thief: 7 - Unless you like swan diving onto disintegrate traps and the like, you need a thief. They are hard to keep alive, but their abilities make them useful in all sorts of situations. The generalist thief is good at everything thiefly, which is a strong selling point.

z) Assassin: 5 - The assassin gets, after a couple of million xp, a backstab comparable to a low level dual classed fighter/thief would get for a fraction of the cost. At the expense of not being good at much else.

aa) Bounty Hunter: 7 - The traps are nice. But the reduced theif points means that this is not a clearly better choice than a thief.

ab) Swashbuckler: 7 - A very different character from a regular thief. In my view, the loss of a backstab means that for all this kit's combat abilities, they don't rate higher than a thief.

ac) Mage: 8 - Oh yeah. Sure you start out weak. That's part of the attraction. Your party's mages are going to end up winning most of the later fights before your fighters can cross the floor. It may as well be your PC having all the fun. Building up a character from "house cat fodder" to "trash Irencius and his hell deamons before they can act" is a fun trip.

ad) Specialist Mage: Enchanter - 5 They lose all the "cheat" spells - sequencers, spell triggers, etc. Also they lose magic missle. I hate the cheat spells, but everyone else has them. The other damage spells (fireball, etc) are a loss, but magic missile leaves your level 1 spell slots with nothing nearly as useful late game.

Invoker - 8 They lose some disabling spells and Greater Malaision, but later on they'll have more damaging spells to throw during timestop. They CAN learn conjuration spells without mods; at least in BG2 or tutu.

Illusionist - 7 No skull traps and horrid wiltings; and no real alternative as to what to cast instead.

Transmuter - 3 No abjuration spells. Why be a mage at all, then? In the infinity engine games, this is the beast master of the mage specialists.

Conjurer - 9 An extra spell slot per level, and you lose exactly one spell that any other mage, cleric, bard, or inquisitor can cast for you. Like a mage, only more fun. In PnP this specialist wasn't quite so unbalanced, as there are a number of nice divination spells not in the BG series.

Abjurer - 7 There are a number of good alteration spells. Endgame power is the same, but this character is less versitile than a mage.

Diviner - 7 Better than you think. They can still summon skeleton warriors, M swords and planetars. However, due to game engine limitations, they can't cast wish. (In PnP they can.) If you don't really use the other summon spells, power words and wish, though, then they're better than a straight mage. It's a matter of taste, though, and I rate them lower.

Necromancer - 8 They can't cast Xerox Spellbook/Project image, or mirror image. If you don't Xerox Spellbook though, then they're better than a general mage. Losing one protection spell, no matter how good, doesn't reduce their rank.

ae) Wild Mage: 5 - Some of the warriors have a "win the fight" button. Wild Mages have a nice "lose the fight" button. I fail to see the fun in potentially finger of deathing yourself, or gating a pit fiend by accident at a singe digit level. You can sort of kind of maybe reduce the chance I guess a little at higher levels. Great. How do we play a spellcaster afraid of his own spells until then?


af) Sorcerer: 7 Yes a 7. Fun but oh so hard to plan for. Taking spell picks that will help you at the endgame makes early going not as fun. If there is a spell combo that might be useful in one or two cases in the game, than your sorcerer probably won't be able to use them; while a mage could just rest and re-memorize. Sure s sorcerer can blow anyone else away for POWER, but I say my mages were more fun than my sorcerer playthough.

By the way, most of my 9s and 10s would be the multi and dual class combos, not on the list.