Neverwinter Nights 2

2010-01-13 05:29:53 pm

Hi, I'm a long time viewer of SDA and I really like the work you guys do here, but this is my first actual post. I saw the Neverwinter Nights speedrun, and I was thinking of planning a NWN-2 speedrun, through the normal campaign. I must have played through the game dozens of times so I'm quite familiar with all the neat tips you can do. Unfortunately, NWN-2 has some issues making it harder than NWN-1:

* I don't know any bugs that can give you infinite exp in the first act. Or at all.
* Game is designed for a party of 4 and to leave an area all party members have to be alive and near the exit. You can't just ditch your teammates.
* If a shopkeeper has invisible potions for sale, you can generally only buy 1. This REALLY sucks.
* You're forced to actually fight battles, where you have to stay in an area. In Act 1 alone, there is the initial sequence (easy), back alley / warehouse (not easy), the library, Ember, and Shandra's rescue.

On the plus side:
* You get a whole team of different characters to outfit with whatever spells and skills you see fit.

Challenging, no doubt, but let me know what you guys think. Like the NWN-1 run, a monk (although wood elf) is showing a lot of promise right now: +2 str, +2 dex, no level adjustment, increased move speed, and can stun people.

I'll update with a strategy for act 1.

Thread title:

Hi, I'm a long time viewer of SDA and I really like the work you guys do here, but this is my first actual post. I saw the Neverwinter Nights speedrun, and I was thinking of planning a NWN-2 speedrun, through the normal campaign. I must have played through the game dozens of times so I'm quite familiar with all the neat tips you can do. Unfortunately, NWN-2 has some issues making it harder than NWN-1:

* I don't know any bugs that can give you infinite exp in the first act. Or at all.
* Game is designed for a party of 4 and to leave an area all party members have to be alive and near the exit. You can't just ditch your teammates.
* If a shopkeeper has invisible potions for sale, you can generally only buy 1. This REALLY sucks.
* You're forced to actually fight battles, where you have to stay in an area. In Act 1 alone, there is the initial sequence (easy), back alley / warehouse (not easy), the library, Ember, and Shandra's rescue.

On the plus side:
* You get a whole team of different characters to outfit with whatever spells and skills you see fit.

Challenging, no doubt, but let me know what you guys think. Like the NWN-1 run, a monk (although wood elf) is showing a lot of promise right now: +2 str, +2 dex, no level adjustment, increased move speed, and can stun people.

I'll update with a strategy for act 1.

getter77

2010-01-13 08:01:24 pm

100% runs=great to watch

I know I'd surely love to see runs for this as well...more RPG runs the merrier! Good luck with strategic wranglings...just have to make the most quickly broken/unbalanced party possible in this case I'd reckon since you need a team.

Smilge

2010-01-13 10:37:34 pm

I played a bit of NWN2 a while back. Looking forward to see your progress.

Forceofwill

2010-01-14 12:01:56 pm

OK tried to run through the first act last night and this is what I found out:

* Taking the sling in the beginning helps because the dwarves at the intro tend to run all over West Harbor, and I don't have to run them down.
* It's faster to enter Bevil's house than to help with the militia; you have to do an extra wave iof dwarves if you choose to stay, and again, the damn dwarves run all over the place.
* Between the initial battle and Bevil randomly cutting down lizards and beetles I can usually hit level 4 before shard #1.
* Strip Bevil of equipment before shard #1. Bevil's armor goes to Khelgar, and his longsword goes to Elanee.
* Killing Galen at the beggining of the Fort Locke sequence gives 1600g and a good rapier for Neeshka.
* Neeshka doesn't really need to get her items out of the chest, but while she's picking the lock I can get the main char. almost to the exit and it nets a Dagger +1 which sells for about 600g which I desperately need, and transferring items between characters doesn't really cost much time.
* All the Fort Locke quests can be skipped. I always thought you had to rescue the commander.
* Elanee... rocks. She gets Khelgar's armor right off the bat and Bevil's longsword. Also, really useful spells. Entangle, Bull's Strength, Call Lightning and Flame Weapon are all solid gold. And shapeshifting at level 5 is awesome, since it isn't gear-dependant.
* Getting to Neverwinter before level 5 is necessary, because the game auto-picks a spell for Qara and I need her to take Invisibility at level 5.
* About getting Qara: It seems the docks "resets" itself whenever you leave the Sunken Flagon. This is nice because when I'm doing the sweep of the guardposts, the ship thugs go hostile when I'm running around and I have to kill them. If I enter and leave the Flagon while the battle is going on, the thugs aren't hostile and I complete the quest. If the academy mages try to ambush me because Qara is in my party, the guard starts talking to me and overrides the ambush, so to speak, so the mages just stand there. What's better, is that the thugs are still there and I can still kill them for free exp!
* Dropping Neeshka for Qara is important because it avoids all the Leldon battles.
* I can bypass most of the back street alley with Qara casting Invisibility and some tricky routes which cause the other party members to teleport but one ambush always keeps getting me and I can't bypass it, even while invisible. I keep getting wiped out here and need to come up with a strategy that works.

OK tried to run through the first act last night and this is what I found out:

* Taking the sling in the beginning helps because the dwarves at the intro tend to run all over West Harbor, and I don't have to run them down.
* It's faster to enter Bevil's house than to help with the militia; you have to do an extra wave iof dwarves if you choose to stay, and again, the damn dwarves run all over the place.
* Between the initial battle and Bevil randomly cutting down lizards and beetles I can usually hit level 4 before shard #1.
* Strip Bevil of equipment before shard #1. Bevil's armor goes to Khelgar, and his longsword goes to Elanee.
* Killing Galen at the beggining of the Fort Locke sequence gives 1600g and a good rapier for Neeshka.
* Neeshka doesn't really need to get her items out of the chest, but while she's picking the lock I can get the main char. almost to the exit and it nets a Dagger +1 which sells for about 600g which I desperately need, and transferring items between characters doesn't really cost much time.
* All the Fort Locke quests can be skipped. I always thought you had to rescue the commander.
* Elanee... rocks. She gets Khelgar's armor right off the bat and Bevil's longsword. Also, really useful spells. Entangle, Bull's Strength, Call Lightning and Flame Weapon are all solid gold. And shapeshifting at level 5 is awesome, since it isn't gear-dependant.
* Getting to Neverwinter before level 5 is necessary, because the game auto-picks a spell for Qara and I need her to take Invisibility at level 5.
* About getting Qara: It seems the docks "resets" itself whenever you leave the Sunken Flagon. This is nice because when I'm doing the sweep of the guardposts, the ship thugs go hostile when I'm running around and I have to kill them. If I enter and leave the Flagon while the battle is going on, the thugs aren't hostile and I complete the quest. If the academy mages try to ambush me because Qara is in my party, the guard starts talking to me and overrides the ambush, so to speak, so the mages just stand there. What's better, is that the thugs are still there and I can still kill them for free exp!
* Dropping Neeshka for Qara is important because it avoids all the Leldon battles. 
* I can bypass most of the back street alley with Qara casting Invisibility and some tricky routes which cause the other party members to teleport but one ambush always keeps getting me and I can't bypass it, even while invisible. I keep getting wiped out here and need to come up with a strategy that works.

Smilge

2010-01-14 05:12:48 pm

I haven't played in a while, but I remember being able to cast spells from the quick spell menu while shapeshifted, though not from the action bar. Also, there was some sort of ring of fire spell, Elanee had it I think (did damage to all enemies within X radius for Y seconds). It would damage enemies whenever they entered the ring, even mid-round. A few times I could chase a fleeing enemy (or vice versa) and they would get hit with the damage dozens of times in a few seconds, presumably because the game couldn't decide if they were in or out of the radius.

That's all I can think of for the moment, not sure if it will help though.

Forceofwill

2010-01-14 06:18:37 pm

That fire spell is Body of the Sun, and I'll have to give it a try. That could be really useful, coupled with a fear effect...

Elanee (or any character) can cast spells while shapeshifted through the Natural Spell feat. I can take that at Level 6, it's just getting to 6 that's the problem. I've been trying to do back alley / warehouse as shadow thieves due to placement of quests in the docks district - may have to switch to city watch.

Pros of city watch:

* Free city watch cloak (+1 Diplomacy)
* Don't have to burn down the watch post
* Warehouse is slightly shorter, since I don't need to save the shipments, just collect the documents
* Guard escorts you through Blacklake, saving time from walking to Aldanon's and the library.
* Shifts alignment to Lawful, which is good since I'm using a monk.

Cons:
* Poor placement of quests in Docks district.
* Fihelis the informant quest is hella difficult, but I might be able to invisible-skip it.

Actually I have no idea why I was trying this as shadow thieves. Just the docks, really. Running through Neverwinter as city watch tonight.

That fire spell is Body of the Sun, and I'll have to give it a try. That could be really useful, coupled with a fear effect...

Elanee (or any character) can cast spells while shapeshifted through the Natural Spell feat. I can take that at Level 6, it's just getting to 6 that's the problem. I've been trying to do back alley / warehouse as shadow thieves due to placement of quests in the docks district - may have to switch to city watch.

Pros of city watch:

* Free city watch cloak (+1 Diplomacy)
* Don't have to burn down the watch post
* Warehouse is slightly shorter, since I don't need to save the shipments, just collect the documents
* Guard escorts you through Blacklake, saving time from walking to Aldanon's and the library.
* Shifts alignment to Lawful, which is good since I'm using a monk.

Cons:
* Poor placement of quests in Docks district.
* Fihelis the informant quest is hella difficult, but I might be able to invisible-skip it.

Actually I have no idea why I was trying this as shadow thieves. Just the docks, really. Running through Neverwinter as city watch tonight.

Smilge

2010-01-14 06:35:09 pm

I remember thinking that the feat was dumb, all it did was ungrey your spells on the action bar. You could cast without the feat by (I think) right clicking on the spellbook.

Forceofwill

Edit history:

Forceofwill: 2010-01-14 09:46:48 pm

2010-01-14 09:37:00 pm

Did a little city watch running.

* Although the docks area was a little longer, the city watch post in the merchant quarter is right next to the area exit, making going back and forth from there a snap. Axle's is down by Deekin.
* Back Alley is easier as city watch. I have to do the same stuff, except talk my way out of an additional conversation which isn't hard. The enemies are more spread out and i only have to fight 4-6 at a time as opposed to the 9-10 as a thief. I'll do the rest of the run as city watch.

Also, some useful "features":

* Characters can transfer items regardless of distance and status. So if one character wanders off and gets KO'ed, I can take his/her potions and give it to another character. Also this means I can manage party inventory while in combat and get exp without wasting time.
* If I start a conversation with someone while I'm in the middle of a battle, everyone quits fighting. Since the game revives dead characters when you're not in combat, I can basically get a free raise dead spell just by talking to someone. This makes the docks sweep a lot easier.
* Haven't tried to cast spells shapeshifted yet. Elanee doesn't cast them on her own, and the number keys I set up dimmed out when she shapeshifts. When I shift Elanee, I need her to fight so I generally avoid using spells at those times. Not that I would mind having the free feat. I couldn't get the Body of the Sun trick to work the way Smilge described.

Did a little city watch running.

* Although the docks area was a little longer, the city watch post in the merchant quarter is right next to the area exit, making going back and forth from there a snap. Axle's is down by Deekin. 
* Back Alley is easier as city watch. I have to do the same stuff, except talk my way out of an additional conversation which isn't hard. The enemies are more spread out and i only have to fight 4-6 at a time as opposed to the 9-10 as a thief. I'll do the rest of the run as city watch.

Also, some useful "features":

* Characters can transfer items regardless of distance and status. So if one character wanders off and gets KO'ed, I can take his/her potions and give it to another character.  Also this means I can manage party inventory while in combat and get exp without wasting time.
* If I start a conversation with someone while I'm in the middle of a battle, everyone quits fighting. Since the game revives dead characters when you're not in combat, I can basically get a free raise dead spell just by talking to someone. This makes the docks sweep a lot easier.
* Haven't tried to cast spells shapeshifted yet. Elanee doesn't cast them on her own, and the number keys I set up dimmed out when she shapeshifts. When I shift Elanee, I need her to fight so I generally avoid using spells at those times. Not that I would mind having the free feat. I couldn't get the Body of the Sun trick to work the way Smilge described.

AquaTiger

2010-01-16 07:25:43 pm

Never give up!

Quote from Forceofwill:

* I don't know any bugs that can give you infinite exp in the first act. Or at all.

A quick search of GameFAQs found a couple possibilities. Sadly, these are ones for older versions and not the latest one, but regardless, I'll share the one listed by "Tashanvaliant" (the other was fixed as early as version 1.03) just in case they still haven't fixed it:

Quote:

When in Ammon Jerro's Haven, if the player learns the true name of Zaxis he is able to command the demon to open the gate. After you open the gate you get 1000 exp. If you talk to him again you will have another option to ask him to stop referring to himself in the third person. After that option is selected the player can once again tell Zaxis to open the portal and gain another 1000 exp. This can be done for an infinite amount of times up until the party leaves Ammon Jerro's Haven (Note: Works in 1.03)

Unfortunately, I have not played this game yet, so if they've fixed that one in versions past 1.03 then I can't help you. Although I adamantly refuse to believe this game is without SOME item duplication glitch or similar exploitable bug, thus I encourage you to try EVERYTHING you can.

P.S. According to an FAQ I referenced, Zaxis would be right near the end of the first act..... roughly the same time frame of the similiar glitch in NWN1.

[quote="Forceofwill"]* I don't know any bugs that can give you infinite exp in the first act. Or at all.[/quote]

A quick search of GameFAQs found a couple possibilities.  Sadly, these are ones for older versions and not the latest one, but regardless, I'll share the one listed by "Tashanvaliant" (the other was fixed as early as version 1.03) just in case they still haven't fixed it:

[quote]When in Ammon Jerro's Haven, if the player learns the true name of Zaxis he is able to command the demon to open the gate. After you open the gate you get 1000 exp. If you talk to him again you will have another option to ask him to stop referring to himself in the third person. After that option is selected the player can once again tell Zaxis to open the portal and gain another 1000 exp. This can be done for an infinite amount of times up until the party leaves Ammon Jerro's Haven (Note: Works in 1.03)[/quote]

Unfortunately, I have not played this game yet, so if they've fixed that one in versions past 1.03 then I can't help you.  Although I adamantly refuse to believe this game is without SOME item duplication glitch or similar exploitable bug, thus I encourage you to try EVERYTHING you can.

P.S. According to an FAQ I referenced, Zaxis would be right near the end of the first act..... roughly the same time frame of the similiar glitch in NWN1.

Forceofwill

2010-01-18 11:57:22 am

Zaxis is at the end of the second act. He makes an appearance in the first act, but the part where he opens the portal is at the end of the second, in Jerro's Haven. Still, a really useful exploitable glitch which can level up my characters to 20 before act 3. Act 3 is designed for a party about level 17 or so with decent equipment so having a level 20 party with shoddy equipment shouldn't be too bad. Crafting may be the cheapest option, as pretty much everything there is undead / evil some appropriate bane weapons could be devastating. I can't remember how to learn Zaxis's true name, however; might have to check a guide for it.

Also did some test runs over the weekend. Qara casting haste + invis on my monk accelerates her to ludicrous speed. I was able to completely bypass some levels by just casting haste since the enemies move far too slow to catch up with the monk. For example, Fihelis 1st floor was OK, but the 2nd floor required Invis because there are too many thieves and they get in the way and corner you.

Zaxis is at the end of the second act. He makes an appearance in the first act, but the part where he opens the portal is at the end of the second, in Jerro's Haven. Still, a really useful exploitable glitch which can level up my characters to 20 before act 3. Act 3 is designed for a party about level 17 or so with decent equipment so having a level 20 party with shoddy equipment shouldn't be too bad. Crafting may be the cheapest option, as pretty much everything there is undead / evil some appropriate bane weapons could be devastating. I can't remember how to learn Zaxis's true name, however; might have to check a guide for it.

Also did some test runs over the weekend. Qara casting haste + invis on my monk accelerates her to ludicrous speed. I was able to completely bypass some levels by just casting haste since the enemies move far too slow to catch up with the monk. For example, Fihelis 1st floor was OK, but the 2nd floor required Invis because there are too many thieves and they get in the way and corner you.

Beenman500

2010-01-18 12:34:25 pm

Joke of all trades

can't you/dont you run past most normal enimies anyway, or can you not make a n area transition in combat?

also i look forward to this run, though i won't be able to help much Tongue

Forceofwill

2010-01-18 05:35:22 pm

Initially I can not just run past all the enemies. The initial West Harbor battle requires me to beat up everyone, and while you can leave MOST areas while still in combat, your party has to all be in the general vicinity and they all have to be alive. Else, you get a message that says, "You must gather your party."

Keeping party members alive is easy -- just invis them up and turn on puppet mode so they do nothing unless you tell them to. It's getting them to where they need to be is the tricky part. For example, when I do the back alley in Neverwinter, I get stopped THREE TIMES into a forced conversation, which deactivates invis which alerts every enemy in the area. Also, there are battles that I cannot skip, like the one at the end of the back alley and I can't just bring one character because I get annihilated. Besides, I need to hit level 6 ASAP because:

1) Qara learns Haste (singlehandedly the most important thing)
2) Khelgar gets an extra attack
3) Monk get Improved Knockdown
4) Elanee gets an extra wildshape
5) Extra feat for all characters except Neeshka. Two for Khelgar.

After I learn Haste, monk moves so fast I can run past everyone while NOT invisible that they can't even hit me. Then Qara casts Invisible on the rest of the party and I hope that they make it close enough to the exit that I don't have to "gather the party".

Also some interesting progress from the weekend:

* Mandatory Back Street alley fight is OK if I take the whole party and have Elanee and Qara blast the place with magic.
* The warehouse battle ends when you grab the documents. Regardless of what else is going on. A stupid box is blocking it that I have to bash (Invis down!) and monk is too low level to bash the box and survive while being beat up by thugs, but it's OK if I take Khelgar, too.
* It's amazing how many times while running through this game that your invis gets shut off by a conversation. I swear, talking to someone is more effective than casting Truesight.
* Haste + Monk = Ludicrous Speed. Think Rick Moranis in Spaceballs. It's hard to control.

Initially I can not just run past all the enemies. The initial West Harbor battle requires me to beat up everyone, and while you can leave MOST areas while still in combat, your party has to all be in the general vicinity and they all have to be alive. Else, you get a message that says, "You must gather your party."

Keeping party members alive is easy -- just invis them up and turn on puppet mode so they do nothing unless you tell them to. It's getting them to where they need to be is the tricky part. For example, when I do the back alley in Neverwinter, I get stopped THREE TIMES into a forced conversation, which deactivates invis which alerts every enemy in the area. Also, there are battles that I cannot skip, like the one at the end of the back alley and I can't just bring one character because I get annihilated. Besides, I need to hit level 6 ASAP because:

1) Qara learns Haste (singlehandedly the most important thing)
2) Khelgar gets an extra attack
3) Monk get Improved Knockdown
4) Elanee gets an extra wildshape
5) Extra feat for all characters except Neeshka. Two for Khelgar.

After I learn Haste, monk moves so fast I can run past everyone while NOT invisible that they can't even hit me. Then Qara casts Invisible on the rest of the party and I hope that they make it close enough to the exit that I don't have to "gather the party".

Also some interesting progress from the weekend:

* Mandatory Back Street alley fight is OK if I take the whole party and have Elanee and Qara blast the place with magic.
* The warehouse battle ends when you grab the documents. Regardless of what else is going on. A stupid box is blocking it that I have to bash (Invis down!) and monk is too low level to bash the box and survive while being beat up by thugs, but it's OK if I take Khelgar, too.
* It's amazing how many times while running through this game that your invis gets shut off by a conversation. I swear, talking to someone is more effective than casting Truesight.
* Haste + Monk = Ludicrous Speed. Think Rick Moranis in Spaceballs. It's hard to control.

Smilge

2010-08-13 02:27:58 pm

I've decided I'm going to try to pick this up.

Beenman500

2010-08-13 06:10:22 pm

Joke of all trades

awesome, smilge, you are like the me, but with motivation (and skill) :p , I recon a monk is the way to go with this run, probably a monk mulit classed with a mage and cleric for scroll spells (like the currently unsubmited NWN1 run AQUA TIGER!!!) the running speed stacks with potions of haste and what not, so unless there is a good advantage to more mage levels, then, well, yeah.... I don't recall any particularly tricky battles in this game, so some well timed spells may be enough

Smilge

Edit history:

Smilge: 2010-08-14 11:14:45 am

2010-08-14 11:14:10 am

I'm still getting used to the controls and everything. It's been a while since I've played. From what I remember, the vast majority of the game will be running, so monk will be the way to go.

A few things I've noticed that may be important:

1. You can save the game at what appears to be any time. In combat and everything.

2. Saving and loading causes all party members to teleport next to the group leader, similar to how hitting "follow me" in Dragon Age teleports party members that are too far away. And, just like in Dragon Age, this can be used to hop past small barriers and walls.

3. Having a party member initiate dialog with an NPC usually teleports the group leader to that NPC.

4. Some required fights resolve themselves if you just ignore them and keep running. The guards fighting Neeshka die by themselves if you run into Fort Locke. The undead fighting Slaan (Lizard guy you have to escort outside of Highcliffe) die if you try to enter the castle ruins.

5. Polymorph teleport works similarly to Baldur's Gate, except that the character you have selected will not move (instead all other sprites get pushed away).

The first thing I tried to break was getting into Blacklake District early. I was able to get past the gate no problem (you can run through it with the arrow keys at the right angle), but the area transition didn't seem to be activated.

I was able to keep the girl from West Harbor (can't remember her name) alive by not tripping the cutscene that kills her. I only got as far as killing off the waves of enemies, so I'm not sure if she'll stick with you the whole game or what.

I've got a feeling this game will be pretty broken by the time I'm done with it.

I'm still getting used to the controls and everything. It's been a while since I've played. From what I remember, the vast majority of the game will be running, so monk will be the way to go.

A few things I've noticed that may be important:

1. You can save the game at what appears to be any time. In combat and everything.

2. Saving and loading causes all party members to teleport next to the group leader, similar to how hitting "follow me" in Dragon Age teleports party members that are too far away. And, just like in Dragon Age, this can be used to hop past small barriers and walls.

3. Having a party member initiate dialog with an NPC usually teleports the group leader to that NPC.

4. Some required fights resolve themselves if you just ignore them and keep running. The guards fighting Neeshka die by themselves if you run into Fort Locke. The undead fighting Slaan (Lizard guy you have to escort outside of Highcliffe) die if you try to enter the castle ruins.

5. Polymorph teleport works similarly to Baldur's Gate, except that the character you have selected will not move (instead all other sprites get pushed away).

The first thing I tried to break was getting into Blacklake District early. I was able to get past the gate no problem (you can run through it with the arrow keys at the right angle), but the area transition didn't seem to be activated.

I was able to keep the girl from West Harbor (can't remember her name) alive by not tripping the cutscene that kills her. I only got as far as killing off the waves of enemies, so I'm not sure if she'll stick with you the whole game or what.

I've got a feeling this game will be pretty broken by the time I'm done with it.

Smilge

2010-08-14 07:12:48 pm

Doing an initial playthrough.

West Harbor:
Ran away from all enemies, got the salve from the priest to heal wounded militiamen, and heals the one nearby (1/5). Went to the fence near the river and did the save/load trick to hop over it with Amie (the girl). PC uses diplomacy to convince a guy to fight for the militia (2/5). Bevil helps kill the enemies around the militia leader. Amie helps kill enemies around two militia, and talks to a nearby pig to teleport the PC to finish them off. Bevil talks to the militia leader ASAP, and Amie talks to the two militiamen she was helping ASAP (4/5). Either Amie or the PC talks to the closest wounded militiaman (5/5) then to the militia leader to start the waves of attackers. I found that ignoring Bevil's family was faster, but I can check again. Once the waves are dead, go to the swamp ruins.

Swamp Ruins:
Run to the entrance, ignoring all enemies. Amie is in your party sort of. She isn't nearby, and her portrait looks like a silhouette of a person. Once at the entrance, save/load. Bevil gets revived if need be, and Amie is back to normal. In the ruins, again run past everything and talk to the lizard people. There's a diplomacy option that skips the fight, though I think you could skip it anyways. Loot the shard and the game will take you back to West Harbor. Immediately leave west harbor.

The Inn:
Can't remember the inn's name, but it's where you get Khelgar. You have to kill the three thugs attacking Khelgar. After that, he takes you in the bar and talks to you. The bar gets attacked and you can immediately exit and go to Fort Locke.

Fort Locke:
Run towards Fort Locke. Neeshka joins the party. Exit Fort Locke. When you get waylayed and get Elanee, just run away from the enemies and continue to Highcliffe.

Highcliffe:
Talk to the mayor, go to Shandra's farm. Talk to Shandra, go to the castle ruins. Enter the ruins, run past everything, unlock or teleport through the door with Slaan's men. Have Slaan take you to his leader. Talk to the Lizard people, talk to the mayor, go to Neverwinter.

Neverwinter Docks:
Go to the Inn and talk to Duncan. Leave, drop Neeshka if she's going to cause any cutscenes. Talk to Cormick in the guard house. Go to that guys shop to protect him, and as soon as the thugs show up leave. Go back to Cormick, then talk to the thug Caleb. As soon as he's hostile, run away and talk to Cormick again. Finally talk to the four groups of guards. Party members can split up to accomplish this faster. Three can be resolved without a fight by just ignoring the corruption. The fourth might be fastest to finish by fighting, though Forceofwill mentioned that zoning into the Flagon may skip it. I believe you can go straight to the merchant quarter after this, since the docks guard house gets burned down here.

Neverwinter Merchant Quarter:

Talk to the guard house, go to the back alley. The entire alley can be run through, skipping all fights. Once you leave, return to the guard house. Go to the Warehouse. All the fights can be skipped except for destroying a crate that blocks the path. Look at the documents and all the enemies disappear. Walk back to the guard house.

This is where I left off. The next mission seems to require a fight, and all my guys are barely level 4 (except Amie, who is still level 3). I may need to get a scroll or wand or something to do this next quest.

A few more general notes:

1. Amie cannot die. She goes to a minimum of 1 HP, which makes her ideal to run through groups of enemies or tank bosses.

2. Amie cannot be removed from the party. At least so far. Haven't run into a scenario where this is a bad thing yet.

3. Haste doesn't last very long. Six seconds per level, and I think you get it at level 5. I don't think it will be used much until later in the game, with extend spell or something. Though a monk does move pretty fast with it.

4. Saving the game revives all party members as well as teleporting them to the PC. There should be no issues with getting past area transitions because of this.

I still have a lot of the game to go through, so I'm writing this stuff down for my benefit as much as anyone elses. If you've got any ideas of things for me to try, let me know.

Doing an initial playthrough.

West Harbor:
Ran away from all enemies, got the salve from the priest to heal wounded militiamen, and heals the one nearby (1/5). Went to the fence near the river and did the save/load trick to hop over it with Amie (the girl). PC uses diplomacy to convince a guy to fight for the militia (2/5). Bevil helps kill the enemies around the militia leader. Amie helps kill enemies around two militia, and talks to a nearby pig to teleport the PC to finish them off. Bevil talks to the militia leader ASAP, and Amie talks to the two militiamen she was helping ASAP (4/5). Either Amie or the PC talks to the closest wounded militiaman (5/5) then to the militia leader to start the waves of attackers. I found that ignoring Bevil's family was faster, but I can check again. Once the waves are dead, go to the swamp ruins.

Swamp Ruins:
Run to the entrance, ignoring all enemies. Amie is in your party sort of. She isn't nearby, and her portrait looks like a silhouette of a person. Once at the entrance, save/load. Bevil gets revived if need be, and Amie is back to normal. In the ruins, again run past everything and talk to the lizard people. There's a diplomacy option that skips the fight, though I think you could skip it anyways. Loot the shard and the game will take you back to West Harbor. Immediately leave west harbor.

The Inn:
Can't remember the inn's name, but it's where you get Khelgar. You have to kill the three thugs attacking Khelgar. After that, he takes you in the bar and talks to you. The bar gets attacked and you can immediately exit and go to Fort Locke.

Fort Locke:
Run towards Fort Locke. Neeshka joins the party. Exit Fort Locke. When you get waylayed and get Elanee, just run away from the enemies and continue to Highcliffe.

Highcliffe:
Talk to the mayor, go to Shandra's farm. Talk to Shandra, go to the castle ruins. Enter the ruins, run past everything, unlock or teleport through the door with Slaan's men. Have Slaan take you to his leader. Talk to the Lizard people, talk to the mayor, go to Neverwinter.

Neverwinter Docks:
Go to the Inn and talk to Duncan. Leave, drop Neeshka if she's going to cause any cutscenes. Talk to Cormick in the guard house. Go to that guys shop to protect him, and as soon as the thugs show up leave. Go back to Cormick, then talk to the thug Caleb. As soon as he's hostile, run away and talk to Cormick again. Finally talk to the four groups of guards. Party members can split up to accomplish this faster. Three can be resolved without a fight by just ignoring the corruption. The fourth might be fastest to finish by fighting, though Forceofwill mentioned that zoning into the Flagon may skip it. I believe you can go straight to the merchant quarter after this, since the docks guard house gets burned down here.

Neverwinter Merchant Quarter:

Talk to the guard house, go to the back alley. The entire alley can be run through, skipping all fights. Once you leave, return to the guard house. Go to the Warehouse. All the fights can be skipped except for destroying a crate that blocks the path. Look at the documents and all the enemies disappear. Walk back to the guard house.

This is where I left off. The next mission seems to require a fight, and all my guys are barely level 4 (except Amie, who is still level 3). I may need to get a scroll or wand or something to do this next quest.

A few more general notes:

1. Amie cannot die. She goes to a minimum of 1 HP, which makes her ideal to run through groups of enemies or tank bosses.

2. Amie cannot be removed from the party. At least so far. Haven't run into a scenario where this is a bad thing yet.

3. Haste doesn't last very long. Six seconds per level, and I think you get it at level 5. I don't think it will be used much until later in the game, with extend spell or something. Though a monk does move pretty fast with it.

4. Saving the game revives all party members as well as teleporting them to the PC. There should be no issues with getting past area transitions because of this.

I still have a lot of the game to go through, so I'm writing this stuff down for my benefit as much as anyone elses. If you've got any ideas of things for me to try, let me know.

Beenman500

Edit history:

Beenman500: 2010-08-15 03:09:00 am

2010-08-15 03:07:28 am

Joke of all trades

I'd really like to be of more use, but I can't get NWN2 installed on my PC for no explainable reason, and I only ever played it through once so my knowledge is lacking, so alas I can only "cheerlead" for this run, S-M-I-L-G-E Tongue

just a thought, but if haste the spell is so lacking, what about potions of speed

Smilge

2010-08-16 04:39:00 pm

Potions of speed basically just cast haste (it's AoE and everything). So the durations are the same.

Further updating the route:

After the documents you have to rescue some noble, or more accurately just talk to him. I was able to skip fighting Moire here by just luring her out of sight and talking to the noble. The conversation teleports you back to the guard captain. Memory is a little hazy but I think you get sent to Old Owl Well after this.

Old Owl Well:
Have to pick up Grobnir here I think (that annoying little bard). Haven't checked his skills or anything yet. At Old Owl Well, you talk to the captain. Orcs attack and you have to kill them. As soon as they are all dead, you get pulled into conversation again. After that conversation, you can go to the first orc lair.

Bonegnasher (or something) lair.
All the enemies here can be run past. I couldn't find a good way of hopping over the rocks, though I'm fairly sure it's possible. I ran to the back of the cave, got the blast globes, and returned to the rocks. Blew them up, ran past everything again to the orc lair. Ran past everything in the orc lair. The leader of the orcs initiates a conversation and then runs away. If you catch up to him and talk to him, he'll start a second conversation that normally wouldn't happen till you ran over a trigger further in the cave. When you run over the trigger, it skips ahead to the conversation as if you defeated him. Basically you skip fighting him. After that, ignore the human and exit the cave.

Casavir's waylay:
Have to kill all the Orcs here. Talking to Casavir early doesn't seem to trigger the right dialog. Leaving the area won't unlock the Eyegouger orc lair.

Eyegouger Orcs:
It was partway through this segment that Amie's invulnerability seemed to just wear off. Appeared to be like it was on a timer. Not sure what that's about, but it changes things quite a bit. Anyways, there's two barriers that need to be destroyed to get through. The PC lived most the time with buffs and invisibility to start. Once in the cave, rest might be needed. It's a straight shot ahead to the second floor, but there is a slow trap. I'm sure it can be saved against. Second floor can be run past (invisibility helps). The Orc leader talks some trash but you don't need to kill him. I think there's even a third floor. One the third floor you have to go talk to the emissary. Can skip all the fighting though. After the emissary is saved you can leave. Not sure if you have to report your success to the captain in Old Owl Well.

Neverwinter Again:
Return to the guard captain. She tells you clear out a ship near the docks. Here you actually have to kill 6 Luskan fighters. After they die, a guy appears and talks to you. You have to bring him down to 1hp and he'll talk again. After that, you can return to the guard house.

Next quest is to kill some assassins. You can skip all the enemies except the Blade Golem at the end. If you can lure Githyanki in with him, they'll help fight him. When he dies you can return to the guard house. Finally, you get to enter Blacklake (sort of).

Blacklake: Talk to the guard near the gate. He lets you into Blacklake to talk to Aldanon. After that you can go to the Library. The door to the Vault can be jumped over with save/load, so you basically skip the whole area. Take the option to go to Shandra's Farm.

Shandra's Farm:
Have to kill all the enemies here. Shandra won't talk to you unless you do. Not sure what leaving the area will do, but I imagine the game won't progress until you talk to her.

Sunken Flagon:
Here is the first time the game takes away your party members. As in Dragon Age, it's only thinking about the party members you should have. This means you get to keep Amie. You have to kill all the Gith attacking, then Bishop will join your party and take you towards your next goal. I left off here.

General Notes:

1. Amie isn't invulnerable anymore. Not sure what caused this, but it seemed to be a timer. Going faster may delay this.

2. Amie gets haste at level 5, compared to Qara's level 6.

3. Killing things is becoming required. Spending a little time to level up might be worth it. Run speed increases a lot every third level for the monk, and killing things will be a lot faster too. An infinite EXP exploit would be ideal.

4. Cutscenes can be broken apparently. I haven't tried, but from what I read, casting spells can interrupt a cutscene. I'm not sure if this means queued spells or a hurt party member's AI forcing a heal spell. I really need to check this out. Also, I was able to get Elanee's cutscene (where she rescues you from grey dwarves) to play twice by save/loading. This may help with finding an infinite EXP exploit.

Potions of speed basically just cast haste (it's AoE and everything). So the durations are the same.

Further updating the route:

After the documents you have to rescue some noble, or more accurately just talk to him. I was able to skip fighting Moire here by just luring her out of sight and talking to the noble. The conversation teleports you back to the guard captain. Memory is a little hazy but I think you get sent to Old Owl Well after this.

Old Owl Well:
Have to pick up Grobnir here I think (that annoying little bard). Haven't checked his skills or anything yet. At Old Owl Well, you talk to the captain. Orcs attack and you have to kill them. As soon as they are all dead, you get pulled into conversation again. After that conversation, you can go to the first orc lair.

Bonegnasher (or something) lair.
All the enemies here can be run past. I couldn't find a good way of hopping over the rocks, though I'm fairly sure it's possible. I ran to the back of the cave, got the blast globes, and returned to the rocks. Blew them up, ran past everything again to the orc lair. Ran past everything in the orc lair. The leader of the orcs initiates a conversation and then runs away. If you catch up to him and talk to him, he'll start a second conversation that normally wouldn't happen till you ran over a trigger further in the cave. When you run over the trigger, it skips ahead to the conversation as if you defeated him. Basically you skip fighting him. After that, ignore the human and exit the cave.

Casavir's waylay:
Have to kill all the Orcs here. Talking to Casavir early doesn't seem to trigger the right dialog. Leaving the area won't unlock the Eyegouger orc lair.

Eyegouger Orcs:
It was partway through this segment that Amie's invulnerability seemed to just wear off. Appeared to be like it was on a timer. Not sure what that's about, but it changes things quite a bit. Anyways, there's two barriers that need to be destroyed to get through. The PC lived most the time with buffs and invisibility to start. Once in the cave, rest might be needed. It's a straight shot ahead to the second floor, but there is a slow trap. I'm sure it can be saved against. Second floor can be run past (invisibility helps). The Orc leader talks some trash but you don't need to kill him. I think there's even a third floor. One the third floor you have to go talk to the emissary. Can skip all the fighting though. After the emissary is saved you can leave. Not sure if you have to report your success to the captain in Old Owl Well.

Neverwinter Again:
Return to the guard captain. She tells you clear out a ship near the docks. Here you actually have to kill 6 Luskan fighters. After they die, a guy appears and talks to you. You have to bring him down to 1hp and he'll talk again. After that, you can return to the guard house.

Next quest is to kill some assassins. You can skip all the enemies except the Blade Golem at the end. If you can lure Githyanki in with him, they'll help fight him. When he dies you can return to the guard house. Finally, you get to enter Blacklake (sort of).

Blacklake: Talk to the guard near the gate. He lets you into Blacklake to talk to Aldanon. After that you can go to the Library. The door to the Vault can be jumped over with save/load, so you basically skip the whole area. Take the option to go to Shandra's Farm.

Shandra's Farm: 
Have to kill all the enemies here. Shandra won't talk to you unless you do. Not sure what leaving the area will do, but I imagine the game won't progress until you talk to her.

Sunken Flagon:
Here is the first time the game takes away your party members. As in Dragon Age, it's only thinking about the party members you should have. This means you get to keep Amie. You have to kill all the Gith attacking, then Bishop will join your party and take you towards your next goal. I left off here.

General Notes:

1. Amie isn't invulnerable anymore. Not sure what caused this, but it seemed to be a timer. Going faster may delay this.

2. Amie gets haste at level 5, compared to Qara's level 6.

3. Killing things is becoming required. Spending a little time to level up might be worth it. Run speed increases a lot every third level for the monk, and killing things will be a lot faster too. An infinite EXP exploit would be ideal.

4. Cutscenes can be broken apparently. I haven't tried, but from what I read, casting spells can interrupt a cutscene. I'm not sure if this means queued spells or a hurt party member's AI forcing a heal spell. I really need to check this out. Also, I was able to get Elanee's cutscene (where she rescues you from grey dwarves) to play twice by save/loading. This may help with finding an infinite EXP exploit.

Smilge

2010-09-18 08:08:07 pm

Amie becomes vulnerable when her familiar dies or is unsummoned. When you level her up, her Familiar is unsummoned. So it's a choice between her invulnerability and leveling her up.

I've had no luck with discovering a new infinite EXP exploit. I'll probably run this game in an earlier version after reading the patch notes. The problems with early versions are crashing and a DRM that means I'll have to find my DVD or buy a new one.

Getting Qara isn't required from what I saw. You can just avoid the trigger that starts her cutscene. Not sure what this will do in the long term of the game.

I'm probably going to focus more of my attention on the Baldur's Gate ToB run than this for now, but I've still got it in mind.

Smilge

2013-06-08 02:07:17 pm

I'm looking at this again, not super seriously. I'm running 1.00 to see if there are any other glitches that I can get with it.

Amie's invulnerability isn't on a timer. I think she has a certain amount of damage she can take, and then the next reload she is vulnerable. I'm 80% sure that's what it is. So she can take, say, 200 damage. After that she can still take infinite damage and survive, but if the game gets reloaded her invulnerability is gone. That'll probably lead to a long segment.

I did find a new EXP exploit. It's earlier than any of the other ones and I don't think it's fixed in newer patches, but it's a bit out of the way. When you get into Blacklake, you can go in the crypts. There's one person before the end that you can rescue with a diplomacy check. When you kill all the enemies, she'll talk to you. If you don't piss her off, she'll live and run away and give you 500 exp. But you can keep talking to her after she tries to run away and go through the dialog again. This one is accessible right after you open up Blacklake, but there would be no reason to go down to the crypts aside from it. So it's a bit out of the way, but it's before Ember (I think) so it might be the best bet. Who knows.

Skipping Qara doesn't do anything. The game just assumes you got her to join your party anyways, so when you get into the part screen in Old Owl Well, she's in there. She's level 6 (yay) but didn't get haste on her own (boo). And then also none of her spells work because apparently there aren't enough charges or something and she doesn't level up faster, she's just at like 15,000/100,000 exp. So you get to make up for all the levels you missed before you can choose a spell for her. Those fireballs would be really nice, too. I'll see what I can figure out with that. Maybe it is worth grabbing her when you are supposed to if it makes her less screwy.

Other thing is, while in a polymorphed form, you can cast from the quickcast menu. Not only can you cast the spells while polymorphed, but they don't appear to be spent once you cast them. So there's unlimited spells for Elanee and any mage that learns polymorph.

I'm curious as to whether or not you can hop over gates in castle Neverwinter and skip a huge chunk of the game. Like, all the way up to being knighted. It would probably screw up too much stuff, but maybe not. I wanted to test it but I don't have a good save at the right time.

I'm looking at this again, not super seriously. I'm running 1.00 to see if there are any other glitches that I can get with it.

Amie's invulnerability isn't on a timer. I think she has a certain amount of damage she can take, and then the next reload she is vulnerable. I'm 80% sure that's what it is. So she can take, say, 200 damage. After that she can still take infinite damage and survive, but if the game gets reloaded her invulnerability is gone. That'll probably lead to a long segment.

I did find a new EXP exploit. It's earlier than any of the other ones and I don't think it's fixed in newer patches, but it's a bit out of the way. When you get into Blacklake, you can go in the crypts. There's one person before the end that you can rescue with a diplomacy check. When you kill all the enemies, she'll talk to you. If you don't piss her off, she'll live and run away and give you 500 exp. But you can keep talking to her after she tries to run away and go through the dialog again. This one is accessible right after you open up Blacklake, but there would be no reason to go down to the crypts aside from it. So it's a bit out of the way, but it's before Ember (I think) so it might be the best bet. Who knows.

Skipping Qara doesn't do anything. The game just assumes you got her to join your party anyways, so when you get into the part screen in Old Owl Well, she's in there. She's level 6 (yay) but didn't get haste on her own (boo). And then also none of her spells work because apparently there aren't enough charges or something and she doesn't level up faster, she's just at like 15,000/100,000 exp. So you get to make up for all the levels you missed before you can choose a spell for her. Those fireballs would be really nice, too. I'll see what I can figure out with that. Maybe it is worth grabbing her when you are supposed to if it makes her less screwy.

Other thing is, while in a polymorphed form, you can cast from the quickcast menu. Not only can you cast the spells while polymorphed, but they don't appear to be spent once you cast them. So there's unlimited spells for Elanee and any mage that learns polymorph.

I'm curious as to whether or not you can hop over gates in castle Neverwinter and skip a huge chunk of the game. Like, all the way up to being knighted. It would probably screw up too much stuff, but maybe not. I wanted to test it but I don't have a good save at the right time.

gammadragon

2013-06-08 05:27:38 pm

Might be magic...

I'd be interested in seeing the finished run.

Does the polymorph / infinite spell glitch also work for metamagic? I'm thinking of Quickened (uninterruptable) heal spells or the like, making some battles absolutely trivial.

Also I think in earlier versions the Boots of Speed (from Blacklake?) were actually perma-haste, but in later patches they changed them to 3x per day.

Possibly one of the most versatile classes to play would be some sort of Sorceror/Thief with invisibility + move silently allowing you to skip many of the non-essential fights in the game. Plus it would let you get some awesome speed spells like Expeditious Retreat which has other gameplay implications (check out the wiki page)

Something else I seem to remember is that the svirfneblin (deep gnome) class was able to get huge amounts of AC and can become almost invincible to normal attacks due to this - especially with the shield feat.

Smilge

2013-06-09 07:52:12 pm

Hmm, there are bracers of blinding strike or something that are perma-haste in Blacklake. Later on there are a few weapons that are perma-haste as well.

Metamagic is included in infinite spells. I had forgot about quickened spells to get an extra spell off per round. I'd use it for damage though, because if I'm healing during a fight I'm doing it wrong.

I'll have to check out stacking expeditious retreat with haste items, but I don't remember it working.

For class, I think we're stuck with monk simply because of how fast he moves (monk speed + haste does stack, and it's stupid fast). Plus monk does some pretty good damage to get fights over quickly. I've been skipping the non-essential fights just by running by. If a character talks to you, it's based on a floor trigger rather than "on sight".

Deep gnome is worth looking into, but the speed boost for monk is based on level, so it would have to be worth it.

As for the stuff I looked at earlier, I'm not sure it will work out. Neverwinter castle's gates lead to nowhere, so there's no gigantic skip. I guess this is pretty expected. The infinite exp glitch is actually a bit harder than I thought. You have to save a mage from 5 or 6 of her friends. If she dies, tough shit. Also she makes a little bit of progress towards her despawn point after each talk, so it was limited to a few thousand exp. Probably not worth it unless I can get her talking more.

I'm also working on finding some kind of dialog exploit. On some dialogs I can get control of a character during dialog. On some I can get a party member to talk without teleporting the PC. If I can get two dialogs going at once or something I'm sure I could break something.

Hmm, there are bracers of blinding strike or something that are perma-haste in Blacklake. Later on there are a few weapons that are perma-haste as well.

Metamagic is included in infinite spells. I had forgot about quickened spells to get an extra spell off per round. I'd use it for damage though, because if I'm healing during a fight I'm doing it wrong.

I'll have to check out stacking expeditious retreat with haste items, but I don't remember it working.

For class, I think we're stuck with monk simply because of how fast he moves (monk speed + haste does stack, and it's stupid fast). Plus monk does some pretty good damage to get fights over quickly. I've been skipping the non-essential fights just by running by. If a character talks to you, it's based on a floor trigger rather than "on sight".

Deep gnome is worth looking into, but the speed boost for monk is based on level, so it would have to be worth it.

As for the stuff I looked at earlier, I'm not sure it will work out. Neverwinter castle's gates lead to nowhere, so there's no gigantic skip. I guess this is pretty expected. The infinite exp glitch is actually a bit harder than I thought. You have to save a mage from 5 or 6 of her friends. If she dies, tough shit. Also she makes a little bit of progress towards her despawn point after each talk, so it was limited to a few thousand exp. Probably not worth it unless I can get her talking more.

I'm also working on finding some kind of dialog exploit. On some dialogs I can get control of a character during dialog. On some I can get a party member to talk without teleporting the PC. If I can get two dialogs going at once or something I'm sure I could break something.

gammadragon

Edit history:

gammadragon: 2013-06-10 03:10:30 am

gammadragon: 2013-06-10 02:25:35 am

2013-06-10 02:14:40 am

Might be magic...

Monk sounds like a solid choice. Also doesn't rely on random equipment.

I might try to fire up the game to try and find some useful things. Is there a specific glitch you're targeting from version 1.00? I don't think I actually have that version because I have the Steam release.

Edit: the deep gnome Monk is probably not a great combination, because one of the features of that race is magic resistance which is not cumulative with the Monk ability

Edit 2: This "Warrior Monk" build looks like it could be good, but limited to level 20 in the official campaign
http://nwn2db.com/build/?35345

Smilge

2013-06-10 09:47:07 am

Not really a specific glitch in 1.00 other than the infinite exp after the trial. I actually remember a glitch with the Elanee's body of the sun spell. It's the one that damages anyone who gets too close. I remember pausing just as the enemy entered the range of the spell, and it ended up taking a ton of instant damage until it died. I think they fixed it with the later versions, but 1.00 doesn't have the spell as it was added in 1.03. So somewhere in there.

I'm figuring that if a bug exists, it's more likely to be in 1.00. I looked at the patch notes and couldn't find much other than monks being able to wear armor with no penalties. But again, fighting is going to be a limited part of the game. It'll mostly be running and skipping.

Garryl

Edit history:

Garryl: 2013-06-14 01:27:11 am

2013-06-12 01:30:38 am

For pure movement speed boosts, Cleric with the Plant domain gets 10% in wilderness (same as Druid 2) and Travel domain gets 10% in medium/light armor (same as Barbarian 1), Grey Orc race gets 10% all the time, and the Dash feat gives 5%. Grey Orc requires Storm of Zehir, which may limit what bugs you can exploit if you want to use it. I'm pretty sure they all stack with each other and the Monk speed bonus, although I don't have any good way of testing.

Cleric 1/Monk X maximizes your movement speed. I wouldn't be surprised if you find a use for the low-level spells, too. You can even take levels in Sacred Fist (MotB only) if you want to add some serious spellcasting without losing the movement speed boost.

Edit: Tangentially related, here are a few other speed boosting options that exist, though they're probably not too practical.
Warlock 6 for Flee the Scene gives you Haste at will. Fixed, short duration, unfortunately, which requires constant recasting.
The 8th level Druid spell Storm Avatar gives 200% movement speed, although it doesn't stack with Haste and other spells.

For pure movement speed boosts, Cleric with the Plant domain gets 10% in wilderness (same as Druid 2) and Travel domain gets 10% in medium/light armor (same as Barbarian 1), Grey Orc race gets 10% all the time, and the Dash feat gives 5%. Grey Orc requires Storm of Zehir, which may limit what bugs you can exploit if you want to use it. I'm pretty sure they all stack with each other and the Monk speed bonus, although I don't have any good way of testing.

Cleric 1/Monk X maximizes your movement speed. I wouldn't be surprised if you find a use for the low-level spells, too. You can even take levels in Sacred Fist (MotB only) if you want to add some serious spellcasting without losing the movement speed boost.

Edit: Tangentially related, here are a few other speed boosting options that exist, though they're probably not too practical.
Warlock 6 for Flee the Scene gives you Haste at will. Fixed, short duration, unfortunately, which requires constant recasting.
The 8th level Druid spell Storm Avatar gives 200% movement speed, although it doesn't stack with Haste and other spells.