Re-Returning player here.
And Casual binger on top of it. (meaning that I dont play much, except sometimes I can play looong sessions).
What I didnt like on the first run was the grind. Grind for everything to progress. I hate grind, crafting, collecting things that don’t dropp. And It was agains what was for me the fun part of the game : you craft your own gameplay loop through class selection. But for that, you needed to be at least mid level, and worst needed to have the corresponding gear/… or it wouldnt work.
I left after trying for 2 weeks to get a lacluster gear that would allow me somehow to barely do things.
Then I returned around Re: Build, loved the updates, but left again for unrelated reasons.
Then, I’m returning since one week. Now, it’s quite the opposite, I progress so fast… I don’t have time to try things… Gear is near non relevent until it suddenly is. Dungeon are… well, I joined my first dungeon a bit afraid that I wouldnt be able to follow and be of use… and suddenly people dispatched themselves in different rooms and less than 5 min later the boss was dead.
Difficulty is gone. I crafted my dream build (warlock featherfoot + shadowmancer for the RP aspect) and can’t seem to be able to play my full rotation before everything is dead. Only CM are a challenge… But more because I’m overwhelm with monster, my DPS not being able to follow rather than a flaw in my build… (and It could be because i’m not equiped with state of the art stuff, mostly blue/purple). I could limit myself to 3 spells it would be the same. As someone pointed out, the only thing that matter is AOE… Which mean you can craft your gameplay loop, but only one matter : big insta overkill aoe. And that part is sad.
What they should do : Lower the stat ratio of gear/damage. More mini boss were Aoe aren’t usefull (or at least less than mono target ones). To give you an idea : Mastema should be a AOE debuff spell, it’s my overkill machine. It does more damage than any single target spell i’ve got, each time I launch it the debuff are useless (even on boss, since they lost half theyr HP which by itself would be a rewarding enough spell). The only limitation is SP. Insta launched, manageable cooldown, etc…
There are 2 other spell more interesting IMO : Demon scratch : fully skilled, it does less damage (no overkill) AND as a casting time that let me be vulnerable for a few seconds.
Evil sacrifice : need a set up, which mean specific gameplay loop. But a bit undewhelming damage wise (most certainly because the 3 skill needed to make it work properly are lvl 1, and so need ALL the class point to make it work).
I ended up just putting one point in Mastema, lowering it’s damage and center it around debuff, it suboptimal gameplay wise, but lot more fun (and it still insta kill most of the target). I kept pole of agony because potential ARTS synergy with evil sacrifice. And demon scratch, because it’s cool. Since, i’ve got way more fun!
BUT, consequently, I can’t fully upgrade invocation, dark theurge, and ghastly trail, which need all 45 skill point to be ok, and are still undewhelming if you do so… and sadly, it’s all the fun of this class…
How could you improve the class?
Move skill around : there is 2 possible root
Level 1 : Dark theurge, evil sacrifice, Mastema (wich mean either you have to invest a lot to do the AOE damage, or you keep it low with attribute for the multiple debuff. Sp consumption should be connected to the level of the skill), demon scratch
Level 2, Ghastly trail, pole of agony,
Level 3, Invocation
So that you have 2 main build :
- AOE dps (30 mastema & demon scratch, 10 pole of agony, 4 invoc+1 evil sacrifice),
- spirit invocation as DPS and debuff (17-20 Dark theurge, evil sacrifice, mastema(1-3point), 20 ghastly trail&pole of agony, 5 invocation)
and the possibility to mix is open
OR, Lower Mastema damage and point investment, so that the AOE is a debuff not a damage one & Add debuff to it (like, blind, curse improving dark damage rather than only holy damage and work with other curse build). with a tree like this :
Level 1 : Dark theurge, evil sacrifice, pole of agony + 1 new skill
Level 2, Ghastly trail, Invocation, Mastema (as a 1 point skill, low dps but lot of attribute& debuff)
Level 3, Demon scratch
here again 2 main gameplay also AOE dps or invoc dps, bif with strong debuff and synergy.
The same can be done with a lot of class. BUT, it need :
Better IA, more difficulty not through more monster (or neither hp pool monster) but with more tough miniboss monster wich are more fast do more direct damage and that need more direct targeted damage. And make AOE that are not equivalent to single target damage spell with just the cost of more SP (could be more casting time, less damage, more debuff, need of set up,…).
That way, more gameplay approach can be build (depending on set up, debuff, buff, etc) rather than SP popo + strong overkill aoe.
Also, why i love this game isn’t for the end game. But the new possibility to easily change your class set up. Being to much gear dependent can drag that, being a little gear dependent would mean more people grinding end gear to try new builds.