So what new fire and ice content have you seen?

[camelotcrusade]

Cool, I will check out that Russian site soon and thanks for those highlights, Matt.

I hadn't seen the bear stunning thing come up yet, so I went back and read an ancient bear and sure enough, there was a 25% stun chance (no icon, just ability text for 'stun').

I also can report that combat experience levels can offer different rewards, though I don't know the details of how that works. My Gorgon got to level 3 and he got +10% more summon power instead of +1% crit. So far, he's the only one of my units not to get crit% (the rest all are vikings faction, maybe that's relevant...).

Edit - just had another unit reach level 4. I have three level 4's now and they are all different. Axe Thrower has +6 attack, 1 defense and +2% crit. Mystic (also a viking) has +4 attack, 3 defense, +1% resistance and +1 runes (which still says zero on the info screen, could be a bug as the popup said +1 runes), Jarl has +4 attack, +3 defense and +1% crit and resistance. I have also noticed it has some randomness. Upon loading and experimenting, I saw my Jarl get +5% health and +1 runes. Note - if you get +1 it doesn't update the display. Not sure if you get one or not.

I'm quite glad to hear about the flying, really. The biggest killjoy of WoTN for me was lack of combat pacing once I had wings. Flying allowed me to pick and choose my fights, so naturally I went for the biggest challenges I could win. But the downside was after I'd had my fun the maps were only left with easy fights that made combat boring. Hopefully that won't happen this time.

[Mandea]

One question: are the fights more varied or are they the same as WotN? I mean in AP and CW the enemy troops were a mix, a different and interesting mix every time so you had to fight accordingly. But this didn't happen in WotN, you had to fight undeads and then orcs and vikings and so on. are they different here, more like CW?

If they were mixed from the beginning it might get interesting to play the game again.

[Zhuangzi]

Okay, you guys have convinced me. I'll get it

[sethmage]

Hi there
I see the regulars are back.

I for one am in support of later flying access, reminds me more of AP/CW, just finished the starting 4 islands. Getting higher end units on the beginning makes easier start without question.

So far, Book of Evil didn’t find worthy adversary.

[Zhuangzi]

The problem with WoTN early on is that you are stuck on those first islands (similar to AP, I know) but more importantly you are more or less forced to use Viking units and most of the enemy stacks are undead based. The good news is that they've definitely improved the Vikings, especially with the addition of the Mystics who can cause havoc in enemy ranks. I'm playing Impossible Mage and I'm finding it quite easy to defeat Very Hard stacks with a combination of Level 3 Trap, Christa's Gift, Mystic and Soothsayer abilities and finally Berserkers, Vikings and Warrior Maidens to mop up.

That second island, Vestlig, is still quite boring though.

[sethmage]

Quick question, since the gold now is not in the millions; did anybody get to the point of buying fights in the inn? How much are they now?

[camelotcrusade]

I haven't gotten to the fight buying part yet, but I did want to share a new unit: The Contemplator. It's a beholder-type unit that is level 4 and has strange new abilities. It accumulates energy each turn, and when it has enough energy its abilities do extra things. Normally it's an archer with magic damage.

The abilities: First it can shoot a beam of fire that hits everything through a straight line. If he has enough energy, it does 50% more damage and can cause burning. Second, it can cause an energy pulse that does damage out to three squares from his body. If he has enough energy it can also push back and stun weaker and it does 50% more damage. Finally, it can enter a fighting trance to do 50% more damage with its regular attack, but it can't use skills if it does that. If he has max energy when he uses the trance, his shot gains a 60% chance to hypnotize () units it hits for 1 turns (levels 1-4 only).

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

The problem with WoTN early on is that you are stuck on those first islands (similar to AP, I know) but more importantly you are more or less forced to use Viking units and most of the enemy stacks are undead based. The good news is that they've definitely improved the Vikings, especially with the addition of the Mystics who can cause havoc in enemy ranks. I'm playing Impossible Mage and I'm finding it quite easy to defeat Very Hard stacks with a combination of Level 3 Trap, Christa's Gift, Mystic and Soothsayer abilities and finally Berserkers, Vikings and Warrior Maidens to mop up.

That second island, Vestlig, is still quite boring though.

And what, Christa's gift actually works this time? For me, it only ever attracted Pirate Ghosts, every other enemy left the gold piles intact.

[camelotcrusade]

Originally Posted by BB Shockwave

And what, Christa's gift actually works this time? For me, it only ever attracted Pirate Ghosts, every other enemy left the gold piles intact.

Ha, Christa's gift it has worked for me every time, including that strange occurrence where occasionally it nabs a level 3 even though it says it won't.

Also, I don't know if it did this before, but now it will put "Greed's Curse" as a debuff on the mob that is likely to pick it up.

[Zhuangzi]

Originally Posted by BB Shockwave

And what, Christa's gift actually works this time? For me, it only ever attracted Pirate Ghosts, every other enemy left the gold piles intact.

Christa's Gift is working fine and it is very useful.