[SixOfSpades]

I just beat Imp. Ilyich version 20, but it took dozens of Reloads, and that was with a Dwarven Kensai with powergamed stats. I've written up a short walkthrough--I've avoided most details, because I abhor walkthroughs; I only wrote it to try to reduce the number of times other players have to Reload.

Cerek, you say the "Duergar Duo" kept appearing wherever you went? That sounds quite odd--in my game, they were NOT in groups of two (as claimed by the Tactics-README), or three (as claimed by the README-SixOfSpades), but four. Also, they did not usually appear right in front of me, but were placed at specific points (where the Shadow Thieves formerly spawned, or the 6-Goblin parties in the original game), and they were already placed at those points before any party member could get within their visual range. The only Duergar that "appear" are the ones that wake you up after you Rest (only to be expected when sleeping in enemy territory) and also that appear every 8 hours--personally, I really hate the way these appear right in front of you. It would be more realistic to have them appear in the Cambion Room and have them patrol the level randomly, or something of that nature.

As for fighting the Duergar at all, in my walkthrough I point out that if all one desires is to escape the dungeon, one only has to pass a single Duergar spawn point--which, in my game, contained only a sole Duergar Party Member. If one wishes to defeat Ilyich, of course, you'll have to take out more of them, as well as the Otyugh.

As for the issue of closing doors: Weimer said, "We'll make all the doors on level 1 stick open once opened and see what people think," and I replied with, "I think it's stupid and unrealistic--but it's a slight improvement over somebody forgetting about you because you've slammed a door in their face."
Personally, I am against the Cheesy Door Tricks used in Imp. Ilyich and Imp. TorGal. My rationale for the enemies' being unable to open the doors is based not on locks, but on using my own party members to hold the doors shut. For example, I should be able to lock Karamazov away in Rielev's room, because Minsc is more than strong enough to hold the door against her, especially after wedging it shut with an old sword blade or two. (The same rationale, however, would not apply with Imoen and the Jailkeep Golem.)
I agree with Weimer in that if closing the doors were allowed, a lot of players would use unrealistic tactics (like closing a door, not guarding it at all, and pretending that Zhivago isn't smart enough to open it), but I strongly disagree with not being able to close the doors at all.

Ilyich and his pals can still be isolated--at least the ones who use melee attacks (Ilyich, Golem, Rasputin, Glabrezu) can. But they're too difficult to isolate, now--in a couple of days I'll send Weimer my big, fat Email with all my suggested improvements.