Greater Chosen Arcanists, you can face three or four of these in a room.

They can cast; I think a cone of acid that does roughly 30 damage about two or three times in a row. Even with some good buffs up, it'll eat through them and still probably kill you when you get hit by three or four at once.

I'm not sure what exactly is helpful to balance this a little, turn down the number of castings of this spell, try to ensure fewer spawns of the Arcanists, or what...but I think some balancing is in issue.

The other thing, in the room with a large bridge, it can spawn perhaps upwards of 30 zombies. This isn't necessarily TOO many to beat, but 30+ monsters of any kind causes so much lag it can kill.

These suggestions come after a run through this quest, that Metropakt watched in which everyone except me died twice. So I am coming from what is likely a jaded angle and would love to hear his 2 cents on what he saw or others in the quest.

The rewards are GREAT and the quest is meant for 5th to 11th level. So its possible had we had a higher level party and a better skilled priest (we only had one druid to heal and he ran off half way through after dying once) we may have done better. But I'm thinking even with a GREAT priest, the Greater Arcanists would still be laying people so that is my major concern on balance.

The quest is a bit hard to do if people don't understand that they should focus on the Greater Chosen Arcanists first and foremost. Luckily, EfU has custom descriptions for all the monsters (Greater Chosen Arcanists feature component pouches and such around their waists) so they can be identified IC even before they cast a spell. Also, they never open with Acid Breath -- I think it's third or fourth in their line. A good frontliner with the proper Weapon Enhancements will lay them to waste with KD or just your usual damage smackdown. Their concentration isn't high enough that they normally save through 15, 16 HP worth of damage on an AoO.

The quest -is- hard, but I find it to be one of the most awesome ones, too. With the right party it's definitely doable, and really sweet.

- Kia

This quest, like a lot on EfU seem to cater to 3-man super parties of the like myself and others more than likely created.

That means to say, One awesome fighter, a priest and a rogue. This also means that each member is competant because there is only a need for one of each neccesary class. This isn't often the case as parties go into this quest with upwards of six people who have no knowledge of game mechanics and often just end up butchering the entire party because they never realized hitting the mage that can kill you in a few spells -might- be a good thing.

In conclusion! It's probably in need of more "Balance", but then the 3-man elite parties would tear through it all the more easily. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be balanced because of this, I'm just offering another argument as I used to spam quests like this with 3-man parties ;P

Warning: Spoilers!

This quest is a whole new beast after the increased DR on the Greaters. I used to do this quest before the addition of the increased DR, and it was hard, challenging, fun, and rewarding. It was probably my favourite quest! Now? :S

Since the DR has come in, it got damn harder. It might not seem like an extra 5 DR on each Greater would make it harder by too much, but it definetly does. I did this quest with a 'super ultimate' party after the DR came in; Three level 8s; fighter, rogue, sorc with buffs. All players knew the mechanics, and we got mauled, using some insane amount in supplies to just keep alive. Did it with another high-level, mechanic-proficient group a few weeks back, and every single one of us died, some twice over.

Now- don't get me wrong. I love hard quests. Nothing like knowing one or two mistakes can mean your dead. Its fast paced and fun. But I do think this quest is too hard now, with the increased DR. I'm not whining, but damn, its hard.

The problem is the last room. With the new DR on Greaters, it doesn't matter what you do, your going to get seriously pumped by some Acid Breaths. The extra time it takes to kill a GSA with an additional 5 damage reduction each hit means all the remaining GSAs get to their Acid Breath's down their spell lines that much quicker. Which means, everyone without high relfex saves and evasion dies absurdly quickly.

If you don't have GMW for this quest, chances of surviving are almost none, IMO. I don't think victory should hinge on a single spell's availability.

I like the quest, and know the DR was done for a reason, but I think overall the quest has become a little overpoweringly difficult for any party who doesn't have that single spell. I've asked others' thoughts about this before posting, and have yet to find anyone who has done it after the increased DR addtion has kicked in who said that they'd be trying it again anytime soon.

As for silver weapons, the best one I've seen is a handaxe, the damage significantly lower than your regular bastard sword or greataxe, which again creates a damage disparity which enables the GSAs to unleash their Acid Breaths alot quicker.

My suggestion is to keep the quest exactly the same, but maybe place a few less GCAs in the last room, with maybe a few more Warriors/Rogues instead? I can't see any party which doesn't have GMW not dying horribly in this last room.

This quest is a tough one, that is for sure. While I'm tempted to agree it may be too difficult at some points, I've been a part of groups that have steamrolled through it in roughly 15-20 minutes with a tank I'd far from consider ideal, and a wizard who couldn't cast one of the best spells available to arcane spellcasters who are level 7 or higher.

If you are without a well equipped fighter (Lots of Blur, Healing, Barkskins... etc.) and a crack support team of Cleric and/or Wizard, well.. I don't think you'll be completing this one. I suppose Inquisitor has hit the nail on the head in saying it really requires a super party to do. It definitely requires a lot of mechanical knowledge in comparison to the other quests.

All things said and done, the rewards make it worth it. I think the balance is pretty much exactly where it needs to be.

MadCaddies

As for silver weapons, the best one I've seen is a handaxe, the damage significantly lower than your regular bastard sword or greataxe, which again creates a damage disparity which enables the GSAs to unleash their Acid Breaths alot quicker.

This is actually the whole reason for the change in greater chosen. Be on the lookout for newer silver weapons that are more efficient. The idea was to make a silver dagger better than a greataxe when used against chosen.

This quest has been changed dramatically. I think in some ways it is actually more difficult now, but in other ways there's less of an instant death component (particularly at the end).

And Thrawn, I'm pretty sure MadCaddies has a pure silverhandaxe, his point was just that the base damage on the pure silver weapons is lower than the bastard-sword/etc. which is true, and a factor in making the quest more difficult.