I wanted to clear the entire map before giving up, but the events of the Angel main quest just encapsulated everything wrong with the Mod. Specifically: The railroading. For a work that seems to champion freeform exploration, it’s insanely rigid about quest progression to the point that items or enemies tied to quests simply don’t exist until the proper queststate is triggered.
Still, I did clear ~most~ of the map (everything except Thalgard and the locations in the north-northeast part of Frostcliff Mountains) and got to level 55 so can say a few things for sure.
- – Marksmanship is basically worthless without Stealth, and even then you’re going to need a backup plan for the fights you can’t sneak in.
- – Phasmalism is a mixed bag. It helped keep enemies off me as an archer, but seems like it would better support a melee character since the souls are pretty fragile.
- – I suggest not bothering to explore any area quests don’t send you to, unless they contain a specific item you need or you’re a completionist. And if you are one, then you’ll absolutely want to install the Tracking Tool Mod.
- – If you do want to explore everything the general area order is:
Suncoast/Heartland/Farmer Coast -> West Cliff -> King’s Pass -> Fogville/Whisperwood ->
Goldenforst -> Dark Valley/Crystal Forest -> Desert -> Frostcliff -> Thalgard. - – Plan to max out 3 Memory trees, 3 Combat Skills, and 2-3 Crafting Skills.
- – For Combat Skills there’s not much point in raising the Magic ones over 90 (including the Knowledge bonus).
- – Some Crafting Skills have an optimal point to stop raising them (assuming no racial bonus):
25 Lockpick, 47-65 Rhetoric & 61-70 Sleight of Hand (depending on if you can craft the Venturer gear or not), and 56-75-100 Handicraft (depending on if you care about enhancement and find the ring) - – Talk to every named NPC, as several of them have quests or Knowledge prompts.
- – Don’t bother looting anything with a Value/Weight Ratio under 20 unless you need it for a crafting recipe.