It feels like Magic got the Bulk of the Dev Time in Avowed.

[Nyaria]

I have to say my biggest complaint is that it seems the game is really focused around you being a mage. It has the most support, the widest variety of abilities and specials to get ahold of.

I believe the Dex tree has some good benefits as well, but the Strength tree is.. really really lackluster.

not only are you the only class of the three to really actually regularly take damage in combat, but there's very little support for it, shields feel about as effective as bloodborn shields, and there's next to no active abilities really available to warriors.

All of it's passive dedicated to like.. negating the massive penalties you get saddled with for daring to be a warrior in heavy armor, and managing to survive the immense amount of damage you are going to weather because you have to basically eat every hit.

I have to say I am really disappointed in the Stat/Ability trees in Avowed the more I play it.

[Miro Fox]

Strength is weapon orientated, there are a tonne of enchants, and different builds. ect.

you just need to learn the system, its more diverse than magic.

[Nyaria]

I have my weapon and armor completely upgraded to nearly the bring of Teir 3 (Just haven't found the Arda) at the start of the 2nd area. I am using the upgrade system, I am using the perk systems.

It certainly does not feel remotely more diverse than magic in the slightest, just watching gameplay comparisons of people doing melee against being archers or magic is pretty obvious.

In other games you'd balance this by Melee strength being the only thing that was "Endless" but Avowed you basically have endless spell casting and archery, so there's nothing holding them back.

[Naamtar]

Strength tree is definitely if you want to take the role of tank in your trio or be a bruiser type player.

Ranger is really strong.

Wizard has the most variation in abilities, but isn't as strong as Ranger overall if you're min/maxxing for damage and survivability.

The only perks I can think of in warrior that you'd want to take if you intend to do a ranged class would be regenerating a portion of the damage you take and the boost to overall health.

I feel like Ranger and Wizard have a lot of good synergy in them, and Wizard and Warrior have good synergy but not as much as Ranger and Wizard due to Warrior not being a ranged class.

With how the actual stats are weighted I feel like they intended you to dip into multiple trees, +% crit instead of +% spell crit, for example.

I wish the uniques were more build defining, I think that would have offset how simplified the skill trees are. Although there is a rifle that does knockback if you're at close range so there may be more stuff out there I haven't seen yet that you could do in an unconventional build.

I haven't tried a melee build yet so I can't really say if it's good or bad, undoubtedly ranged is stronger/easier though with the way mobs leash.

[Miro Fox]

Originally posted by Nyaria:

I have my weapon and armor completely upgraded to nearly the bring of Teir 3 (Just haven't found the Arda) at the start of the 2nd area. I am using the upgrade system, I am using the perk systems.

It certainly does not feel remotely more diverse than magic in the slightest, just watching gameplay comparisons of people doing melee against being archers or magic is pretty obvious.

In other games you'd balance this by Melee strength being the only thing that was "Endless" but Avowed you basically have endless spell casting and archery, so there's nothing holding them back.

unlock points into the Crowd control areas, mix and match. ect.

Parry i think is in the ranger stuff, but you arn';t forced to go pure warrior.
Parry is really good for making melee strong, Enchants aswell.

Charge, Stomp, ect. you can have some real fun with it.

[Silarn =| +P |=]

I went into it somewhat contrarianly to do a melee-focused build because I'd heard magic was better. I'm not that far into it yet but am still finding melee builds perfectly viable. It doesn't take long to start picking up talents that boost survivability - and there are talents to focus on stacking debuffs, augmenting different weapon types and so forth.

I may eventually throw some magic into the mix, but so far I haven't found it necessary. You can also replace the fire / frost / electric environmental mechanics via the grenades and companion abilities.

I do think it's a good idea to dip into ranger and pick up parry, though. That really adds some extra dynamism to a fighter-focused build.

You should definitely investigate the various unique enchant upgrades, though. That definitely lets you customize your builds a bit beyond just what the skill tree provides.

Right now I've got a fire-oriented sword and dagger that provide health regen on kills and stacking AoE fire debuffs. That can be further boosted by other gear bonuses. Maybe a dip into the wizard talents to pick up Scion of Flame later?

[Weird Potato]

At first for a while I thought the game was 90% magic, and superior to everything else. But Melee is reeaaaaaaally strong. I one shot everything in Shatterscarp with the Lodestone mace. Just about every single attack fills up mobs stun bar which causes the 3 strike super animation. Super fun, very tanky with the Deathknight unique heavy armor and Natures Ward shield + Fighter Retribution .... I feel like I broke the game. And no reliance on essence or mucking around swapping and muilti casting.

I will probably kick it up to god tier and take Blood Magic + high tier spells at 20+ to make it even more ridiculous but 1h mace and shield is crazy good. You can also go 2h and Shadowing Beyond + Divine Thorn is really strong.

There is a lot more to the game than magic, if you felt put off by this at first keep at it and try other things.

Originally posted by Silarn =| +P |=:

I do think it's a good idea to dip into ranger and pick up parry, though. That really adds some extra dynamism to a fighter-focused build.

Goes without saying.

[Miro Fox]

Originally posted by Weird Potato:

At first for a while I thought the game was 90% magic, and superior to everything else. But Melee is reeaaaaaaally strong. I one shot everything in Shatterscarp with the Lodestone mace. Just about every single attack fills up mobs stun bar which causes the 3 strike super animation. Super fun, very tanky with the Deathknight unique heavy armor and Natures Ward shield + Fighter Retribution .... I feel like I broke the game. And no reliance on essence or mucking around swapping and muilti casting.

I will probably kick it up to god tier and take Blood Magic + high tier spells at 20+ to make it even more ridiculous but 1h mace and shield is crazy good. You can also go 2h and Shadowing Beyond + Divine Thorn is really strong.

There is a lot more to the game than magic, if you felt put off by this at first keep at it and try other things.

exactly what im talking about, did you fully enchant the lodestone mace too?

its bonkers.... Litterally.

[Nyaria]

I don't have the skill points to "Dip" into other trees though.

Literally spending all my damn skill points to survive and make myself able to function in heavy armor.

I have a unique 2h Sword that gives me 25% attack speed (With the enchantment) and Applies Poison and Bleed on Hit, I know about the unique crafting systems. I know about the gernades. Against weaker foes sure melee feels like a stomp fest if your paying attention, but if your doing anything that slightly is stronger than you, you're gonna get your ass handed to you and you don't have the ability to just avoid being hit like Ranged or Casters.

Not to mention charge is a buggy mess and if your not on flat ground it gets caught, cut short and doesn't aim properly most of the time.

[Weird Potato]

Originally posted by Miro Fox:

Originally posted by Weird Potato:

At first for a while I thought the game was 90% magic, and superior to everything else. But Melee is reeaaaaaaally strong. I one shot everything in Shatterscarp with the Lodestone mace. Just about every single attack fills up mobs stun bar which causes the 3 strike super animation. Super fun, very tanky with the Deathknight unique heavy armor and Natures Ward shield + Fighter Retribution .... I feel like I broke the game. And no reliance on essence or mucking around swapping and muilti casting.

I will probably kick it up to god tier and take Blood Magic + high tier spells at 20+ to make it even more ridiculous but 1h mace and shield is crazy good. You can also go 2h and Shadowing Beyond + Divine Thorn is really strong.

There is a lot more to the game than magic, if you felt put off by this at first keep at it and try other things.

exactly what im talking about, did you fully enchant the lodestone mace too?

its bonkers.... Litterally.

Yup! for moderate stun? hell ya its amazing.

[Nyaria]

So, apparently being a good Melee character is linked to a unique mace I haven't found yet.

Good to know I guess, pity I hate two handed hammers.

[Silarn =| +P |=]

Originally posted by Nyaria:

I don't have the skill points to "Dip" into other trees though.

Literally spending all my damn skill points to survive and make myself able to function in heavy armor.

I have a unique 2h Sword that gives me 25% attack speed (With the enchantment) and Applies Poison and Bleed on Hit, I know about the unique crafting systems. I know about the gernades. Against weaker foes sure melee feels like a stomp fest if your paying attention, but if your doing anything that slightly is stronger than you, you're gonna get your ass handed to you and you don't have the ability to just avoid being hit like Ranged or Casters.

Not to mention charge is a buggy mess and if your not on flat ground it gets caught, cut short and doesn't aim properly most of the time.

It only takes one point. You still need to make liberal use of dodging and try not to completely exhaust your stamina. I'm feeling fairly tanky with my current armor but you can still take a lot of damage if there's lots of enemies hitting you - especially ranged enemies.

I try to make sure I use my companion abilities as a form of crowd control to distract at least part of the crowd. (The game does seem to try to have at least one enemy engage you if you aren't actively being targeted.) Staying pretty mobile helps a lot, but if you try to just run away they will often close the distance with a lunge - so it really does take active dodging a lot of the time.

[Weird Potato]

Originally posted by Nyaria:

So, apparently being a good Melee character is linked to a unique mace I haven't found yet.

Good to know I guess, pity I hate two handed hammers.

Vender in second zone. Get your stuff to fine ASAP so every unique you find is fine, dont talk to him without having a fine unique weapon.

Edit: take tier two of Scavenger in the Ranger tree asap!

[Nyaria]

My weapons are Fine Rank 3, again.. I have been engaging with these systems. I have upgraded my enchantments.

I have been playing the game, it simply does not feel rewarding, and it feels lackluster compared to what other classes very clearly get.

[Weird Potato]

Originally posted by Nyaria:

My weapons are Fine Rank 3, again.. I have been engaging with these systems. I have upgraded my enchantments.

I have been playing the game, it simply does not feel rewarding, and it feels lackluster compared to what other classes very clearly get.

Fine rank 3 may as well be rank 1 for the purposes of the loot system but sounds like you understand. The Lodestone is fun for a mace build, or pick something else. The tools are there for you to use. Its a rather easy game. I won't bother with path of the damned though, just sounds masochistic to me and tedious.

[Hybernian]

And it's the most painful to use and forces you to be a voracious bastard.
And it's not well thought out. Everyone is gonna use top tier mana restoring spell between fights once they get their hands on it, so not auto restoring mana at least between fights is really dumb.