I’m really loving the game. I’ve spent far too much time on it. Two things that have occurred to me.
(1) Single Class characters
They’re really tough to make well right now in part, I think, because they usually trade off attributes. Why not add an option at level 10 to focus on only one class and, as a benefit, get the opportunity to turn skill points into a further boosting of attributes?
(2) The inventor
This is relatively minor and I think I see why you made the choice you did, but if we’ve unlocked removing a component in veteran difficulty, making us wait to do it in Elite until that quest pops up is more annoying than challenging. I feel like there’s limited downside to having the inventors skills carry through difficulties much like the blacksmith’s do.
Yes, i’ve wanted to try a pure build myself, but as you say, you have to rely on the stats gained from mastery points to get end-game equipment on you. and that makes it pretty much impossible to go a pure class build.
(2) The inventor
This is relatively minor and I think I see why you made the choice you did, but if we’ve unlocked removing a component in veteran difficulty, making us wait to do it in Elite until that quest pops up is more annoying than challenging. I feel like there’s limited downside to having the inventors skills carry through difficulties much like the blacksmith’s do.
I also agree here, when you get upgrades to equipment in Elite/Ultimate and want to change, you often have to transfer the component too, but sometimes you might not have unlocked it yet.
But then again, you do unlock it pretty fast though, it’s only a problem in the very beginning of either of the difficulties.
Even if I too find it a bit annoying to not have all the services available from the start when entering a new difficulty, I don’t know how Crate would be able to work around that.
The only chance I see would be to scrap the respective quests in elite and ultimate difficulty and make the respective NPCs stand there in Devil’s Crossing right away.
But this would not only break the implicit continuity that every difficulty has basically the same quests that normal difficulty has, it would also pose a problem when it comes to the blacksmith as you are supposed to be able to choose what blacksmith to pick for each difficulty.
Regarding single class builds I have to say that I don’t really see the problem.
What keeps you from simply taking a second class and just putting some points in its mastery bar, even if you have no use for the second classes skills?
Pretty much always there also is at least one skill in that second class that might be useful to your current build, like e.g. “Military Conditioning” when you are looking for some more physique and/or health.
I’m not talking about her standing there when you start. I’m saying if you unlocked the quest to separate items and enhancements in the Normal/Veteran difficulty, then that ability should be there when you rescue her in Elite/Ultimate.
All the Bars have different benefits to upping the points. I don’t believe any have the physique boost that soldier gets. (A pure defensive solider is really what I’m thinking about here.)
Yes, and that would mean that the quest for rescuing the apprentice would have to be omitted for elite and ultimate difficulty as the access to those abilities comes through interacting with the respective NPC.
That’s true but I do not see this as a big problem. If we just take that soldier as an example then the class itself offers a skill to boost your physique plus a skill to lower physique requirements for armor, and then you still got your attribute points and all sorts of attribute bonuses and lowered attribute requirements from devotions; and of course your gear.
Having played a pure soldier for about 50 levels before taking in another class I can say that I have never had any problems with having to low physique. The stat I had problems with was spirit and even that was quickly solved via a few points in the demolitionist mastery and attribute points in spirit. Now that this character is level 80 I still got 40+ unspent attribute points available and generally doing quite fine.
So even though I see what you perceive as an issue here, I can’t think of an easy solution to it and I do not think that it is a big enough issue to warrant a substantial overhaul to how character classes work in Grim Dawn; and I think that this would be necessary to implement such a feature.