I really don't know what class to play

[emitfudd]

I started out as a wizard build with a wand and a staff. Discovered that having the staff equipped as my ranged weapon in the character menu caused my wand to use mana. This isn't supposed to happen.

Then I switched to a melee sword build with bow as ranged weapon. I read that the wand is way more powerful than the melee weapons and now I see why. I have a legendary sword and am having to hit enemies 10x as much as with the wand. Those orange flowers that spit at you take over 10 hits to kill whereas the wand would kill them in 2 to 3 hits. I also noticed with this build that when you raise your shield to block, as soon as you swing the sword the shield lowers. With the wand build, my shield stays raised while I am firing the wand.

I read a recent post about the full on bow build sucking. It also states that most of the loot you find is magic based. That has been my experience so far to.

I guess for now I am going back to my wand with skills in the wizard tree. Don't know what else to do at this point.

[Fryskar]

Wand vs 1h should be closer to 1.5x times the dmg. If you need 5x the attacks as melee, you likely hit with something they resist.

I haven't really played ranger, but with both, melee and mage you'll want to bring multiple weapons. I'll assume ranger does the same.
Melee suffers heavily in the durability part and for that alone you want multiple weapons already. Then there's the resistances.
Mage fills even more slots. Usually i filled 1 hotbar as warrior (melee +wands, not bows) and mage added the eternal spells ontop of a full hotbar.

In very short form:
Melee just works. Its not pretty, neither quick. 2h has no use besides ability use (stuff like jump attack, evade attack). Even with maxed out tank/warrior skills you're not really tanky.

Mage works great if you can manage not to get ambushed. You do massive dmg, got long range, can opt in for healing, infinite ammo but you're quiet allergic to getting hits in your face.

Ranger is ammo farm simulator. Dmg appears decent as long as you can manage to hit the head. Durability is fairly low, recovery also.

[Silent Warrior]

I have played the whole game using the wand ( without any melee weapon). I think that's the easiest class to play. But it got boring at the end, was way too strong and didn't feel challenging.
Now playing a melee. Thats more difficult, but imo also more fun to play. Sadly a pure melee doesn't work when playing solo, you need also a ranged option against this flying enemies, especially in late game areas.
I would say: When you have a hard time in your game, go for the wand. But keep in mind, that's not a long range weapon. It's most useful in mid range and also in close combat. And yes, I liked this mechanic as well how you can block during combat. You can also use it in a melee style, parry, then shot.
The good thing about wand is also, you don't need any gears for mana regeneration or a higher amount of mana. So you can focus on melee armor pieces to increase your hp and stamina. ( I mixed it for both effects). I found stamina recovery pretty useful, can dodge for days.

[emitfudd]

I equipped the bow as my long range weapon and put my staff in my hotbar. That solved the issue of my wand using mana (still think that's a bug). Now I just have to stay out of the areas that are above my level. I am trying to clean up the map markers in the vicinity of the starter base. I wish the map showed locations that have already been cleared. I know everything resets but I just spent the last hour trying to get to a stash and realized I had already been there much earlier in the game.

[finalfantasy]

Mage is the only "class" that can be played from start to end without becoming either weak or anoying to play.

Fighter in later game deals far to less damage, fighting flying creatures is nearly impossible (or at least anying as hell) or you need to carry a bow or staff/wand to fight them, because he does melee he gets hit much more then ranged classes, melee weapons have way to low durability, so you have to repair them often (return to base unless you find an anvil), whole melee fighting system is something in between too simple and broken.

With archer you spend half your playtime grinding for ressources you need to craft arrows, because the (better) arrows need ressources that are anoying to farm (twigs) or even rare (feathers) or they need a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of different ressources (exploding arrows).

[Sgt.JESUS]

Archer in my opinion is the most fun to play, although the arrow making should be changed by the devs, its annoying and boring to hunt for twigs, even mining wolf dens is boring.
But the archer is the only class that is not button mashing at close range, its amazing to get a headshot and dodge all the time, fighter just button mash and mage just backpedal using wand attack.
Btw im playing 3 chars, all classes, all of them got to the capital, no highlands yet so the game could changed a lot from now on.

[william_es]

Play what's fun for you.

Wands just clicked for me. Bow are just too slow to target things. But even though I was mainly wands, I still had melee weapons on slots 1 and 2 of my hotbar. Both hotbars. When I got overwhelmed in the first 1/4 of the game I switched to melee. That was my go to panic button. I also used melee weapon to smash crates, bookcases, etc.

I wear a mix of melee and mage armor. Chest, legs, and feet from melee sets, just for the extra health, armor, and regeneration. I wear mage hats and gloves for the +magic damage. There are no set bonuses for armor, so wear whatever combination works for you.

I'm basically playing a bethesda daggerfall/skyrim style "battle mage". Those are mages who wear super heavy armor, not dresses. They fight from the frontlines, right in the thick of it.

As I moved farther into the game, I stopped relying on melee more and more. I didn't even use a staff until the very very very end of my playing. Staff was just too slow and too clunky.
I use it as an opening salvo, or to shoot annoying ranged enemies up on platforms. Oh, and to hunt turkey in the nomad hills. They can outrun wand projectiles, they're so slow. I hate the turkey.

[Sgt.JESUS]

Oh melee weapons are essencial for bow users too, those pesky bugs will eat through your arrows if you kill them one by one. Staves have a skill that cuts in half the time to release the spell though, and infinite spell uses plus that ring that regenerates mana at 20, its very good.

[Grimalken]

Originally posted by Silent Warrior:

I have played the whole game using the wand ( without any melee weapon). I think that's the easiest class to play. But it got boring at the end, was way too strong and didn't feel challenging.

I've been playing the exact opposite. I've been using nothing but bow and melee on my level 25 character. I only have 80 skill points ATM, but I'm currently split between Warrior and Ranger, with enough points into Athlete for 20% dbl jump damage and Draft for the glider.

I can kill most things with the bow, and then dbl-jump smash them with my hammer.

I've seen the videos where the wizard just hits the boss with their staff's acid and they die. Yeah, I can see how that would get boring.

I have not tried a pure melee or range build, where I maxed out my strength or dex, health and weapon damage. But I have heard it still does not match the utter destruction that magic dealers do with their staff

[Silent Warrior]

Originally posted by Grimalken:

Originally posted by Silent Warrior:

I have played the whole game using the wand ( without any melee weapon). I think that's the easiest class to play. But it got boring at the end, was way too strong and didn't feel challenging.

I've been playing the exact opposite. I've been using nothing but bow and melee on my level 25 character. I only have 80 skill points ATM, but I'm currently split between Warrior and Ranger, with enough points into Athlete for 20% dbl jump damage and Draft for the glider.

I can kill most things with the bow, and then dbl-jump smash them with my hammer.

I've seen the videos where the wizard just hits the boss with their staff's acid and they die. Yeah, I can see how that would get boring.

I have not tried a pure melee or range build, where I maxed out my strength or dex, health and weapon damage. But I have heard it still does not match the utter destruction that magic dealers do with their staff

Here is the thing, I didn't use a staff, therefore no Acid spell. Played with wand only. I ttried to avoid every OP strategies.

[finalfantasy]

Originally posted by Grimalken:

I've seen the videos where the wizard just hits the boss with their staff's acid and they die. Yeah, I can see how that would get boring.

Let me guess: they (lvl25) killed the wyvern boss (lvl 14? and additional weak to acid) with eternal acid... which you afaik can't obtain without killing this boss first.
So basically a high level char went back to an earlier lower level boss and... surprise... killed it easily.

like i started a new (archer) character, equipped it with items (level 16-25) from my unused-equipment-chest, went to the first fell thunderbrute in the first elixir well and was surprised it was killed with just 2,5 copper arrows, although my character was still level 1. *lol*

[Skywalker]

Just try all classes - respec is cheap - and then decide which "class" you enjoy most? No one can give you an advice what YOU enjoy most?

[emitfudd]

Thanks for all the info. I think wand and bow is good for now. I don't really use the staff. I never seem to hit anyone with it or it does little damage. The only eternal spell I had disappeared from my inventory (sent bug report). The bow doesn't seem to do much damage either and I am using copper arrows. I need to progress to get better gear but I am also trying to make sure I don't finish the game too soon. I already have a quest to go to the capital (which I think is the end from what I keep seeing). I am not really geared at this point to go beyond Revelwood I don't think.

I'm about 60 hrs in but I have spent a lot of time base building and crafting. I am at level 12 I believe. Currently the best wand I have is the infernal wand. I am still in the apprentice gear from the alchemist since I haven't found a place to mine amber yet. That is my next goal.

[HOUSE_D]

Right now I have really only used the staff to heal when I run out of bandages or potions. I still carry it with me for that reason but my primary is wands and bow. I keep a melee weapon to bust stuff up to loot.

[The Big Brzezinski]

What is this "class" thing you speak of? I've been building loadouts based on skill specs and itemization.

[emitfudd]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

What is this "class" thing you speak of? I've been building loadouts based on skill specs and itemization.

Referring to the names all around the skill tree.