Having now 60 hours in the game, I felt like giving some feedback on the mage, which feels really nice in combat when you have focus, but there are two issues that still need improvements.
First, there is no incentive to buy light armor; having the light dash isn’t worth the difference when you actually get hit wearing medium/heavy armor. Without even talking about the blink that is available for very cheap and without cooldown.
Second, since the focus regeneration is kind of a garbage stat, you kind of end up playing a potion drinking simulator. Or you already have a nice late-game build where you can really get back lots of focus on focus use, but I still think the gameplay should be enjoyable from the start.
I played mostly dagger for my 60 hours, and now playing mage feels like we are more dependent on consumables. And having an overall poorer gameplay experience.
There are multiple solutions that could solve both problems:
Make focus regeneration or intelligence-based stats available on light armor.
Reduce their damage and actually fix the focus regeneration stat.
Rework the channel ability.
It is maybe just me, but I would like the mage to really feel like a glass cannon build and not a heavily armored staff character that dumps all focus generated in damages.
I agree somewhat on the light dash. The enemy tracking is so good that the light dash in many instances still gets you hit. It does come in handy sometimes but could be better I think. It was so poor against the Echo Knight that I just went to Blink.
I think the Focus Regeneration is bugged? I thought I heard it is not working as intended. I for one haven’t noticed it working.
My second weapon set is a shield/rapier set-up for my focus generation and conserving focus when I know I can melee safely. That way I am not downing focus pots all day. Plus, I use focus heavy food.
Until the 2nd weapon slot is opened I found using a staff for melee worked well enough when needed for most content. This gave me a feeling of progression when I was able to get stronger and use magic more often as I leveled/geared up.
Some solutions: Increasing the range of the light dash (this being a platformer might be a bad idea though), fixing the focus generation bug/issue and fixing the wool problem where most of us light armor wearers can’t upgrade our gear due to the scarcity of this mat. Increasing the stats on the focus and stamina gems when applied to light armor. Rebalancing the go-to Blink could also be considered.
I think the potion chugging is intentional, I mean the crafting system is a huge part of the game.
Even as a str melee build, I chug through focus pots to rip through the crucible as fast a possible.
I do agree that light weight builds definitely need buffed in some way. The most difficult build type to maintain, shouldn’t also be the one with the least benefits.
Idea: putting points into Focus should increase your focus (but less than currently) and add passive focus regen.
That way, your focus bar stays smaller and you can’t spam unlimited spells, but you recuperate it when kiting / evading / traveling.
Effectively, the more you invest in it, the more it works like a stamina bar instead. That means, once you’ve invested enough, you won’t need potions anymore unless you really wanna blast a tonne of spells in a short time, which is probably only the case when you’re doing dedicated farming runs