Worth repeating (for the 56th time): if and when you git gud, the "trash fights take 20 minutes" claim is utter bullshit. There are encounters that take a significant amount of time (though 1hour is still a huuuuge overstatement, unless someone is really inept or has to repeat an encounter many times), but these mostly come in the form of some very difficult hand placed opponents or the Rapax stacks of doom. Most of those come very late into the game, at a point that most "this is boooring, give me back my Viconia romance" dissenters probably don't even reach.
Another thing worth repeating (for the 56th time): contrary to many other (older) blobbers, Wiz8 offers the option to avoid combat by running through, sneaking through or teleporting, which is actually viable in quite a few places. After unlocking both teleport hubs and having two air casters capable enough to cast their own portals on those hubs (which is not a big problem for a vast majority of parties) travelling through the world and reaching the most important places (and avoiding majority of random encounters) becomes pretty straightforward. And both of those hubs become naturally available pretty early.
I get that people can become fed up with the amount and pace of combat in Wiz8, it's not a game for your typical storyfag, that's for sure. But its combat is better than all retail PC crpgs that came after it and better than a majority of codex-revered games that came before. The game could use some options to speed up the combat (though they are obviously available through mods) and making some zones combat free, but I always thought that actually learning the ropes and building a party that has a variety of skills, spells and weapons that can chop things up quickly and cleanly is one of the most fun things in Wiz8.
