Sölf;243609645 said:
So, for those who are already playing, how is it compared to the old version? Is the combat really good now (or at least better than before)? And considering the game is now single player/small group content, how exactly does this differ from before? Do I just see less people outside of the main hub? Any other changes? What about the dungeons, since I am not sure if the Tank/Heal/DPS trinity is still there (especially with the whole weapon revamp).
Combat is sort of better. I think they made some visuals and sound effects snappier but otherwise, it's not too different from the old one. Main improvement is that instead of mapping skills to 1-7, you map to both mouse keys, Q, E and 1,2,3. So at least for me, it's much more comfortable. Old tab targeting is replaced with third person aiming style, which was actually available in TSW as well.
To be honest, the whole small group thing doesn't feel that different from what TSW was, at least at the end of its lifespan. Even in TSW, they limited the number of people on maps, IIRC.
Tank/Heal/DPS trinity is still there. I haven't checked out the Elite dungeons yet, but they should correspond to Elite/Nightmare variations in TSW. The Normal dungeons are VERY easy and require no trinity party composition whatsoever, hell, you can solo Polaris very early on Normal. I think they did it so people could just get a more relaxing attempt at a dungeon before running them for real on Elite difficulties.
Skill tree has been MASSIVELY dumbed down. Most of the passives of a particular weapon boost only specific skills of that weapon to begin with, no interesting ways to combine the passives of, let's say a Sword, to work with an active skill of the Shotgun skill tree. None of that is here. I mean, having two different weapons to begin with is almost pointless now, since the more you use a particular weapon, the better crits and other bonuses you get towards that proficiency.
New content (that was not available in TSW) is promised at the beginning of next year. Presumably, a new continent and the launch of the Season 2 of the storyline. Hopefully.