Some thoughts about Melee and the EA status of the game

Hi,

I wanted to share some opinions regarding the state of melee on Strength based characters.

I think that the effectiveness of dual wielding will sky rocket in this game, once we gain the ability to pair one handed maces with either swords or axes because, as a Strength based dual wielder, you will have access to a wide array of skills with which to build a play style you are happy with.

This also makes me wish that GGG would prioritize Marauder and Duelist versus Druid and the rest simply because they are needed to help consolidate melee gameplay.

While the game has been aching for a Str-Int character, I am starting to think that it is too early in the game development of this cycle to introduce Druid to the game, because he is meant to rely on shapeshifting magic instead of weapons, making his interactions with the melee system unique compared to what Marauders, Warriors, Duelists and Templars can expect to experience while playing around with swords, axes and hammers.

Sadly, I've heard that Flails might be similar to spears in that they can't be dual wielded and will represent their own echo system, similar to spears.

What do you guys think? Do you think it would be better if we were to get Marauder instead of Druid next patch, so we can playtest more melee or are you content with the state of melee?

I think this is bullshit that maces or sword will change anything. Everything seems be on rails, it will be not difference with other weapon types.

I remain hopeful since this is an EA with microtranscations enabled.

And if they don't pull it off then, it's no biggie because I can uninstall this game and walk away.

Secondly, of the three melee weapons we have, only hammer is designed not to be part of a self-sufficient system, which means it has a lot of room to grow as time goes on.

And if we are talking about the game as a whole...I'd argue it's success is highly dependent on GGG's ability to provide both end game and class balance a glow-up that will make it resurge in the market.

So, in this stage of development, it would be beneficial to get Marauder with Axes and Duelist with Sword asap, so we can start determining the important things, like what is a good design for melee skills and what other weapon skills from the trifecta of hammer-sword-axes should be elevated to the level of Lightning Spear.