Ashes of Malmouth brought some new gameplay concepts (a squad of random skeletons, traps etc.) to Grim Dawn and the next expansion will definitely enhance the way the gameplay work and look. Here is a bit of ideas that might enrich the game.
Pet behaviour control. There are some temporary pet buffs, but what about skills that change pet behaviour too? For example, focus pets on one target and increase their damage against that target. Or order the ranged pets to disperse/swarm out and increase protection of all the pets. Or prioritize attacking the enemies that attack you and buff… something.
Off-hands and caster armor for cunning damage type group (physical, pierce, internal trauma, bleeding). Such items for some of these damage types are very poorly represented and for some of them they are non-existent at all.
Active blocking/evasion. A skill that can grant very high block chance and recovery or evasion or damage absorption for a very short time (up to 1 second) but with a quick cooldown.
In broader terms, more active/passive skills for shields. At the moment, Soldier is the only one to have them. And the half-naked bearded guy hints at a possible violation of the monopoly. I would personally prefer separating the shield proficiency from masteries at all, but other solutions are welcome as well.
Summoning humans. I understand that it’s the Apocalypse, but maybe someone is willing to help me? After all, I killed a thousand bad guys, there should be some brave good ones too! It might be interesting to have such a summoning skill linked to the factions you have a good reputation with.
Skills with delayed activation. They might come in a form of buffs or nukes.
Shape-shifting. Do you remember the main character was possessed by an Aetherial? What if opening rifts is not the only ability he/she got from this experience? I will not be surprised if the main character finds out he/she can turn into an Aetherial abomination in the name of justice. At least partially.
More use for swapping weapons. Weapon swap needs some tweaks, of course (items 6.1-6.3), but also has a potential for new ways of application. For instance, a ranged/two-handed skill that would buff melee/one-handed and vice versa working like Savagery. Or buffing the character in general but with potential of getting twice more charges if used with 2 different weapon types (ranged/melee or one-handed/two-handed).
Brought up before. A Clairvoyant/Cataclysm/Dark One like set focused around Physical, Pierce and Bleed is something I’d like
Interesting, I think a few underused items do have these. I’d like to see them on some new stuff if possible
Don’t really mind Shield being a soldier thing tbh. I think every mastery should have its own specialty
It doesn’t sound like mercenaries but yeah it’s not half bad. I’d like a consumable allowing me to summon some allies. Unlike Kasparov’s Crystal this consumable should get destroyed.
We have those and they’re not popular. So no
The engine doesn’t support it. It’s trickier than most people think. To code Shapeshifting in would require a lot of effort. So I won’t keep my hopes up.
Considering the devs have specifically said that it’s technically not doable or technically not feasible; I think your second sentence says it all.
Also, the second expansion is already well under way, so unless these ideas (stated in the OP) were already on the list and others that get suggested; don’t expect them to be in the expansion.
As I recall most (or all) of these are passive skills, often some sort of circuit breaker. See for example the Harbinger set proc. There is room for active versions of them although they would probably have to be either not very strong or have tiny durations. And be distinctive from shadow dance.
Maybe a Phaserunner as a mastery for anyone who wants evasion and mobility skill set, able to use both melee, ranged and shield, and both one handed and two handed, but not gaining dual wielding.
Oh, wait! I’ve seen someone suggesting a similar thing on forum, before Ashes of Malmoth release.
By evasion it means something that rewards defensive play by not being hit, but don’t allow for facetank bosses, so buffs to movement speed and defensive ability, but nothing for armor, resists, neither health. And mostĺy his actives are for movement, without teleport, to be used with any weapon, and without being attack skills.
This mastery has few resources for attack, mostly are for aether damage type. If you want a more offensive mastery, picks another mastery such as Nightblade or Soldier.
I would like to see some items that modify pets to be more helpfull to the player than just being a part of the pack for petmasters.
For example Summon Familiar and its modifier Storm spirit are rarely picked to buff the player, but everyone and their dad grabs Blood of Dreeg when picking up Occultist. And barely anyone picks up Briarthorn for its tanking abilities, because without pet stats from items it dies directly anyway
The change in making single pets attractive for players could be made by slamming pet modifiers on items, that are otherwise unbeneficial for pure Petmasters.
Just a note: We already have a “Pet attack” skill you can add to the qbar, which focused pets on one target. Including mortar traps etc for Demo.
Delayed bombs. The Inquisitor have some of these affixes already that hits very hard but indeed are delayed before charging.
Harder content would be nice and maybe a stage after gladiator for Crucible, for those that enjoy being thrown back, since Gladiator Crucible is not that tough once you assembled top notch gear and with certain builds.
A level increase to 110 or 120 perhaps, and the introduction of lvl 100 and above gear level.
For longevity of a game you need to just up the curve but that said the geer in already is solid with nice variety just make them enhanced versions, I dont know.
