Silverfall: Earth's Awakening ineffectiveness

[Beebo the Gob]

Hello, before getting the EA expansion, my character was blazingly fast at shooting arrows and killing. Beebo the Goblin, my 15th level character, would have no problem getting through areas. After installing the expansion, I feel he's incredibly weak and terrible at fending for himself. I understand that there must be some form of balancing amiss because it was admittedly too easy, but it shouldn't be to such a point that every mob potentially murders me.

Any clues?

[DaveO_MM]

I found that the speed shooting skills were far more effective than the aimed stance ones were. Go down the rapid fire tree for some good results, and I'd put a single put into the poison skills as well. Your choice of companions will determine your survivability as well. For anybody using ranged weapons, you're going to need at least one tank if not two. Personally, I found that Morka and Danselame complimented my Elven Archer but this may not be a viable choice on difficulties higher than normal. One thing that I almost neglected to mention: Put points into Glimpse so that you can find better equipment.

[Beebo the Gob]

I found that the speed shooting skills were far more effective than the aimed stance ones were. Go down the rapid fire tree for some good results, and I'd put a single put into the poison skills as well. Your choice of companions will determine your survivability as well. For anybody using ranged weapons, you're going to need at least one tank if not two. Personally, I found that Morka and Danselame complimented my Elven Archer but this may not be a viable choice on difficulties higher than normal. One thing that I almost neglected to mention: Put points into Glimpse so that you can find better equipment.


Well the thing is, when using that same character spec'd around speed shooting, his actual shooting speed changed from amazing before installing the expansion to dismal after installing. I had filled out the ranks for several of the skills pertaining to weapon speed and reloading speed.

[Brewmaster]

Your observation is (almost) correct. There are indeed a few balance changes between SF and EA. Here's an example:

Rapid Fire (@Lvl10):

SF 1.17

- Damage: -20%
- Speed: +100%
- Hitchance: -20%

EA 1.50

- Speed: +80%
- Hitchance: -20%

A 20% speed decrease is compensated by the fact that there's no DAM penalty anymore. So, my first suggestion is to adjust your weapons:

Don't buy your bows & guns, build them (concentrate on speed/(range) first and on damage later in the game). Goblins are very good hunters, so check their special skills, too. The bow of a hunter goblin is more important than a fighter's weapons in close combat, so take great care over it (i.e. choose its properties/magical enhancements wisely).

My second proposal is an addition to what Dave said above: if 1 or 2 tanks are not enough and you keep dying then play with 3 or 4 tanks (you can still have 1 or 2 "friends" in addition - e.g. from the dark magic menu - who support you with ranged weapons). No one kills "Beebo the Goblin" when he gathers so many tanks around himself. ;)


Personally, I think that the question of "balance" is not the only tricky thing here. The hunter-class is simply the most difficult class to play with in SFEA - and between levels ~15 to ~30 it gets even harder. That is why I prefer to play as a fighter until I'm at least at level 20-25, then I go to the skillmaster to build my hunter. A hunter at level ~40-50 will become quite deadly (provided that you have found enough materials to build good weapons).

[Beebo the Gob]

Your observation is (almost) correct. There are indeed a few balance changes between SF and EA. Here's an example:

Rapid Fire (@Lvl10):

SF 1.17

- Damage: -20%
- Speed: +100%
- Hitchance: -20%

EA 1.50

- Speed: +80%
- Hitchance: -20%

A 20% speed decrease is compensated by the fact that there's no DAM penalty anymore. So, my first suggestion is to adjust your weapons:

Don't buy your bows & guns, build them (concentrate on speed/(range) first and on damage later in the game). Goblins are very good hunters, so check their special skills, too. The bow of a hunter goblin is more important than a fighter's weapons in close combat, so take great care over it (i.e. choose its properties/magical enhancements wisely).

My second proposal is an addition to what Dave said above: if 1 or 2 tanks are not enough and you keep dying then play with 3 or 4 tanks (you can still have 1 or 2 "friends" in addition - e.g. from the dark magic menu - who support you with ranged weapons). No one kills "Beebo the Goblin" when he gathers so many tanks around himself. ;)


Personally, I think that the question of "balance" is not the only tricky thing here. The hunter-class is simply the most difficult class to play with in SFEA - and between levels ~15 to ~30 it gets even harder. That is why I prefer to play as a fighter until I'm at least at level 20-25, then I go to the skillmaster to build my hunter. A hunter at level ~40-50 will become quite deadly (provided that you have found enough materials to build good weapons).

Thank you a great deal!