The Reverend

I also like the build screens ... lets us speculate on abilities/classes/etc.

Funny you should ask - I basically stopped playing A:EFTP in late January, because real life got way too hectic ... It's still fairly hectic, but has finally mellowed out a bit to the point where just yesterday I was finally able to open this up again for the first time in months. I'm trying to reacquaint myself with these builds and where I was in the playthrough. The characters are all level 9, and I think they just completed rescuing the Formello mayor's necklace and clearing out the rest of that fort. So not much further than I was in the 1/25 update ....

It was interesting that those rebel lands also bordered on The Corruption, and "The Corruption" is the subtitle of Avadon 2 - makes me speculate that some elements from the corruption may be fomenting rebellion in the pact.

I found the map screenshot interesting - it shows a change from the original map, namely the area now marked as "Rebel Lands". Also, what the heck is that creature guarding the gate by the lava??

This thread was recently linked to in another thread (the Avadon 2 thread), so it's not completely out of the blue.

On torment difficulty I actually prefer to do a bit higher investment in endurance, because of the hidden 30% resistance penalty - it means your resistance is effectively capped at 60% rather than 90% on torment. Having more endurance (and thus more hit points) helps here, since the penalty means you will be taking damage (except maybe for high-dodge rate characters like archers - but they will still take cold damage as noted above). I typically go for about 25% endurance-75% primary attack stat for non-tanks, and 33% endurance-66% primary attack stat for tanks.

As long as you are careful to avoid getting swarmed, I found the Giant's castle and Pyrog's lair to be easier than Drath.

This, except I was at level 36. And yes, invulnerability potions makes it much easier to survive long enough for Hawthorne to waste all his shields.

The key for making it through the royal spire on torment (or any level, really, but especially torment) is to not get bogged down - new guards continually spawn, so if you don't keep moving, you'll get overwhelmed. Speed helps (e.g., battle frenzy), so you can make more progress before additional guards catch up with you. They are tough on torment, but by this point you should be able to clear out enough of them fast enough to make progress - high powered AOE spells help (you may want a good stock of energy elixirs if you think you might run out of spell points), as does being able to attack multiple times per round (AP boosting items and adrenaline rush). The trickiest part for me was when you get to Garzhad (or however you spell his name). You need to take him out as fast as possible before too many guards catch up with you. Once you actually get to Hawthorne, it's just a waiting game - he'll eventually use up his shield trying to fight you, and at that point you should be able to kill him in one shot. You just need to survive the mob that attacks you long enough. I found divine retribution at level 2 to be helpful here - it gives the slow status, which the sentinels seem particularly vulnerable to. And it also does a lot of damage to the guards that arrive while you are waiting.

Regardless of how you handle Drath, I'd recommend getting Cave Lore up to 10 or 11 - it does pay off in the long run: http://spiderwebforu...e-of-cave-lore/

"To spam, or not to spam: that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the forums to post The congrats and accolades of outrageous milestones, Or to take arms against a sea of spammers, And by opposing filter them?" - Apologies to The Bard of Avon Congrats, 3000. That's a REALLY big number, as my 3-year old would say.

You can also adjust the difficulty level, which makes a dramatic difference - casual is easier than normal, which is easier than hard, which is easier than torment. You can even switch difficulty part way through the game if you decide it is too easy or too hard.

Yes, that is annoying - it makes status-inflicting attacks much less useful. Which is a bummer. It sounds like having all four melee/bow fighters with adrenaline rush can partially serve the same purpose as magic users with AOE attacks, in that it allows you to thin out large groups of enemies quickly? Thanks for posting the update - I look forward to hearing more about your progress!

Go To Statement Considered Harmful Look Ma, I can inflate my post count too!

How did a thread about alcohol get sidetracked into a discussion about credit card policies? I thought all other conversations were supposed to get sidetracked into discussions of alcohol, not the other way around!

Yeah, if you want to avoid combat with Giants, you have to take the alternate route that Jerakeen mentions. If you try to reach Bargha by land via the Giant Lands, there is a mandatory giant encounter that you can't bypass (IIRC).

I think a lot of those issues were already ironed out in Avadon 1 and A:EFTP. I'm sure he will be reusing a lot of the instructions, so things like "right-click" will have already been changed. That said, it would not surprise me if the Mac and Windows versions came out simultaneously, and the iPad version came out a couple (or a few) weeks later. This could still easily satisfy the "Fall 2013" target date he listed for all three.

Some of my favorites: Good craft brews, of pretty much any style. I've recently started to dabble in brewing my own. Not nearly up to the standards of the microbrews I frequent, but much better than the aforementioned PBR. And I'm hoping to improve with practice. Pisco (a grape brandy made in Peru and Chile) - Pisco Biondi is my personal favorite, but I'm a bit partial because the first taste I had of pisco was in Moquegua, Peru, home of Pisco Biondi. Calvados (French Apple Brandy) - my French father-in-law gave me what he calls a "Wuudy Wuudpeckaire" (my attempt to write Woody Woodpecker with a French accent) the first time I visited by pouring me a few too many servings of this ... Eau de vie de Poire William (pear brandy, also French). I prefer the bottles with a whole pear inside - much more appetizing than the tequila bottles with the worm inside.

Keep us posted on how it goes ... I for one am very curious.

I may be misremember-ating, but I don't think there were many physical resistant foes. A few yes, but not a lot ... Seems like you could save up the most powerful wands for those battles.

And a priest casting multiple divine retributions in a round can quickly do some serious damage to a lot of enemies... Grah-Hoth's summons drop like flies.

Since you won't have to buy any spells, you'll probably have a surplus of cash, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Stores that only have a limited stock of every item they carry (in other words, every item for sale has a quantity next to it) will restock, but only if you completely buy them out of everything. For example, the Slith Village right by the entrance to the Waterfall warren that sells piercing crystals among other things will restock. If you happen to run out of piercing crystals and need more (see below), this is an (expensive) option. Yes, there are enough to open every barrier that you need to open, however there are not enough that you can just open every level 1 and 2 barrier you encounter (unless you resort to the expensive trick above). You need to plan ahead and figure out which barriers you need/want to open, and make sure you save enough crystals for those. Since you are not using any spells, you can skip all of the barriers that just have spell books behind them. One thing to note is that these only give level 1 of the ward/cloak. Certainly better than nothing, but level 3 gives a nice bonus over level 1. I don't think there is, no ... If I was trying this, I'd go with one or two archers, and two or three dual-wielding sword fighters. I know there are enough swords to equip 4 good ones, having done it, and there might be enough for three. I'd choose an archer over a pole fighter ... But I've always been a defender of archers, and not everyone shares my assessment of them.

I haven't tried anything like this before, but I'll be interested to follow your progress. Did you mean to limit your fighter/mage and fighter/priest to 10 levels of mage and 10 levels of priest spells? If so you miss out on Dispel Barrier (save up on piercing crystals - there's enough in the game to finish, but it can get a bit tight at times - if you run out, I have some tips I picked up doing the Anama playthrough). You also miss Fireblast and Arcane Blow, as well as Raise Dead (save those scrolls!) and Divine Retribution for the priest. The lack of both the most damaging mage and the most damaging priest spells seems like it could make this quite difficult, but it'll be a good chance to explore what can really be done with melee in this game. Out of curiosity, is there a reason you only have 3 characters in your parties? Or just personal preference?

You can steal with open doors and not get seen, you just have to be very careful, and often wait until people wander out of sight. It can take a while, and your positioning matters a lot - try to position yourself so that as small of an area as possible outside the door can see you. Many shopkeepers will eventually wander out of their store, so you can get some decent loot from a few stores if you're really patient.