My biggest issue (excluding bugs) is the combat at the beginning. It really feels sluggish until you unlock a couple abilities. Also, I stand by having only 3 abilities (per weapon) is way too little. However, there's no way they're going to increase that number now.
There's not much variety in builds, and that is going to be an issue especially for those that want to pvp.
Yeah the combat is dull for a while - probably until near level 20 - because it's so reliant in unlocking better skills and passives through weapon use and that process is not fast.
Don't agree with your lack of variety comment though. They've done a good job of making each weapon feel distinctive. They play very differently from each other and have unique multi-purpose skills.
Using one pair of weapons instead of another pair makes more a difference here than playing 2 different classes in some MMOs that homogenize classes to make them all functional in any given content.
I have to agree with that, maybe especially for the mana weapons, where the light/heavy only can get to be really boring. I didn't try those out until the last night, because I didn't like the light/heavy combat. When I finally spent a little bit of time using them, and getting some more skills, I started to find them really enjoyable. I regret not putting the time in to them sooner, and getting a better feel for them.
Early on, when I didn't have the skills with the other weapons, my combat was slower, in that I was trying to learn what kind of attacks NPC's were using, what those animations were, and when I needed to block/dodge. That definitely made a difference down the road for me when I had skills.
100% agree with how the weapon pairs here make a real difference. I still wish I could find a way to make better use of the rapier....lol, if I could land all my hits with it, that would so be my favorite melee weapon.
I haven't used the Rapier much either but from watching others play and reading the "Rapier is OP! Please nerf" posts on reddit from PvPers I gather that Evade is the key ability.
It gives you iframes just like dodge, you can light attack really fast while you're evading and has a passive that reduces its already short CD (6 seconds)with each light attack. Apparently you can get in a groove where you evade, LA 3 times and then evade again.
IDK anything about the other skills because that's the one everyone talks about lol.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Definitely good to hear some more about things that I didn't try.
I like the idea of the bow, and the musket, and I felt like the musket hit harder, but I'd read that the min/max types didn't care for either because they lack much in the way of AOE like the fire staff and Ice Gauntlet. (I have no idea because I really didn't try either of those.)
I'll have to spend some more time with rapier, since that's what I really wanted to like. What I ended up using more often than not was spear. I really liked some of the animations, and felt like it was pretty useful. It didn't keep mobs away as much as I would have liked, but I also mostly soloed.
100% agree on Warhammer, just looks silly to me. Great Axe could be fun, but didn't get enough time with it. Like you said, sword and shield felt really good, but unless I'm tanking, I'm not sure I'd use it, and it did get shuffled aside fairly early for me as well, and I didn't come back to it much.
Mana management wasn't something that I got into. I tried the life staff a few times, and I think I got one point into Ice Gauntlet, but neither really excited me. The fact that life staff uses focus, and nothing else did is kind of a bummer, and made it that much harder for me to want to heal, because it has no natural synergy.
My biggest issue (excluding bugs) is the combat at the beginning. It really feels sluggish until you unlock a couple abilities. Also, I stand by having only 3 abilities (per weapon) is way too little. However, there's no way they're going to increase that number now.
There's not much variety in builds, and that is going to be an issue especially for those that want to pvp.
Yeah the combat is dull for a while - probably until near level 20 - because it's so reliant in unlocking better skills and passives through weapon use and that process is not fast.
Don't agree with your lack of variety comment though. They've done a good job of making each weapon feel distinctive. They play very differently from each other and have unique multi-purpose skills.
Using one pair of weapons instead of another pair makes more a difference here than playing 2 different classes in some MMOs that homogenize classes to make them all functional in any given content.
I have to agree with that, maybe especially for the mana weapons, where the light/heavy only can get to be really boring. I didn't try those out until the last night, because I didn't like the light/heavy combat. When I finally spent a little bit of time using them, and getting some more skills, I started to find them really enjoyable. I regret not putting the time in to them sooner, and getting a better feel for them.
Early on, when I didn't have the skills with the other weapons, my combat was slower, in that I was trying to learn what kind of attacks NPC's were using, what those animations were, and when I needed to block/dodge. That definitely made a difference down the road for me when I had skills.
100% agree with how the weapon pairs here make a real difference. I still wish I could find a way to make better use of the rapier....lol, if I could land all my hits with it, that would so be my favorite melee weapon.
I haven't used the Rapier much either but from watching others play and reading the "Rapier is OP! Please nerf" posts on reddit from PvPers I gather that Evade is the key ability.
It gives you iframes just like dodge, you can light attack really fast while you're evading and has a passive that reduces its already short CD (6 seconds)with each light attack. Apparently you can get in a groove where you evade, LA 3 times and then evade again.
IDK anything about the other skills because that's the one everyone talks about lol.
Lol, someone is always screaming for the nerf bat, and yeah, I heard hatchet the most, but rapier just behind it. My biggest issue with some of the skills was that I might hit the mob 1/2 of the time, if I could manage to land the entire attack, it was great. Had me feeling like it would be great in group content, but maybe I wasn't good enough to make it work for me...and that's definitely a possibility.
... The fact that life staff uses focus, and nothing else did is kind of a bummer, and made it that much harder for me to want to heal, because it has no natural synergy.
I wouldn't worry too much about that. The most likely next weapon is the Void Gauntlet. It and the skill tree has been data mined and I wouldn't be shocked if they actually have it available on the 28th. It's more likely that it's still a month or 2 away but it's definitely coming very soon.
It will be a 2 stat weapon scaling off Int and Focus. (see the video I'm linking below for everything currently known about it.)
Even before that, I played this last beta stacking focus and using either the hatchet or Ice gauntlet as my secondary. I only leveled up to 28 and in those low levels my off-hand weapon with absolutely zero stat min/maxing still performed well. I soloed just fine with the hatchet or Ice Gauntlet.
I'm sure at higher levels I'd want to use the right gems to convert some of the hatchet or ice gauntlet damage to nature but there's no need to sweat the lack of synergy early on.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
For those that went farther in the beta, did you have any experience using the hatchet as a ranged weapon? I really love throwing weapons, but they're never given justice in mmorpgs.
... The fact that life staff uses focus, and nothing else did is kind of a bummer, and made it that much harder for me to want to heal, because it has no natural synergy.
I wouldn't worry too much about that. The most likely next weapon is the Void Gauntlet. It and the skill tree has been data mined and I wouldn't be shocked if they actually have it available on the 28th. It's more likely that it's still a month or 2 away but it's definitely coming very soon.
It will be a 2 stat weapon scaling off Int and Focus. (see the video I'm linking below for everything currently known about it.)
Even before that, I played this last beta stacking focus and using either the hatchet or Ice gauntlet as my secondary. I only leveled up to 28 and in those low levels my off-hand weapon with absolutely zero stat min/maxing still performed well. I soloed just fine with the hatchet or Ice Gauntlet.
I'm sure at higher levels I'd want to use the right gems to convert some of the hatchet or ice gauntlet damage to nature but there's no need to sweat the lack of synergy early on.
Good video, and thanks for the info!
Be interesting to see what kind of surprises are in store for launch, and beyond.
Comments
It gives you iframes just like dodge, you can light attack really fast while you're evading and has a passive that reduces its already short CD (6 seconds)with each light attack. Apparently you can get in a groove where you evade, LA 3 times and then evade again.
IDK anything about the other skills because that's the one everyone talks about lol.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Definitely good to hear some more about things that I didn't try.
I like the idea of the bow, and the musket, and I felt like the musket hit harder, but I'd read that the min/max types didn't care for either because they lack much in the way of AOE like the fire staff and Ice Gauntlet. (I have no idea because I really didn't try either of those.)
I'll have to spend some more time with rapier, since that's what I really wanted to like. What I ended up using more often than not was spear. I really liked some of the animations, and felt like it was pretty useful. It didn't keep mobs away as much as I would have liked, but I also mostly soloed.
100% agree on Warhammer, just looks silly to me. Great Axe could be fun, but didn't get enough time with it. Like you said, sword and shield felt really good, but unless I'm tanking, I'm not sure I'd use it, and it did get shuffled aside fairly early for me as well, and I didn't come back to it much.
Mana management wasn't something that I got into. I tried the life staff a few times, and I think I got one point into Ice Gauntlet, but neither really excited me. The fact that life staff uses focus, and nothing else did is kind of a bummer, and made it that much harder for me to want to heal, because it has no natural synergy.
Thanks for sharing!
Lol, someone is always screaming for the nerf bat, and yeah, I heard hatchet the most, but rapier just behind it. My biggest issue with some of the skills was that I might hit the mob 1/2 of the time, if I could manage to land the entire attack, it was great. Had me feeling like it would be great in group content, but maybe I wasn't good enough to make it work for me...and that's definitely a possibility.
It will be a 2 stat weapon scaling off Int and Focus. (see the video I'm linking below for everything currently known about it.)
Even before that, I played this last beta stacking focus and using either the hatchet or Ice gauntlet as my secondary. I only leveled up to 28 and in those low levels my off-hand weapon with absolutely zero stat min/maxing still performed well. I soloed just fine with the hatchet or Ice Gauntlet.
I'm sure at higher levels I'd want to use the right gems to convert some of the hatchet or ice gauntlet damage to nature but there's no need to sweat the lack of synergy early on.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Good video, and thanks for the info!
Be interesting to see what kind of surprises are in store for launch, and beyond.