My feed back about 0.2

My Statistics:
0.1:
- Monk (Ice Strike; my own build – started following guides at T15 maps): 476h 18m, 499 deaths
- Sorceress (Spark; my own build – stopped at Cruel Act 2): 27h 52m, 66 deaths

0.2:
- Amazon (Bleed; my own build – stopped at Cruel Act 3): 39h 57m, 185 deaths

I am quitting the season and plan to return next season because I feel miserable playing the game.

Defenses:

- Evasion + Health: This combination now feels extremely weak. In the mitigation layer, we have both armor and evasion. My gut feeling is that major area-of-effect attacks do not interact evasion. Moreover, unless I invest in Energy Shield, I cannot build an effective health pool.

Suggestions:
Evasion should mitigate half the damage from area attacks (with an accuracy roll still occurring; if the monster fails the roll, the player takes only half damage).

The skill tree should include nodes allowing players to choose between health or Energy Shield.

Energy Shield works as an effective health pool—modified by resistances and other forms of mitigation. Both health and Energy Shield should be viable choices, similar to how we have exclusive attribute nodes. However, adding more nodes must be balanced carefully to avoid stretching the number of available skill points too thin.

Skills:
- Basic Skill Swap: When I played as the Monk, I swapped my basic attack for Ice Strike, which seems to be a natural player behavior. With the Amazon, I tried a similar approach by swapping to Rake and Fangs of Frost.

- Skill Balance: While Fangs of Frost interacts with Frenzy Charges for extra power (a problem GGG is addressing), Rake does not interact with Frenzy Charges and deals roughly four times less damage than the basic attack. This may be intentional for endgame balance, but in the campaign, it feels like a trap.

- Bleed Node Placement: If the spear is the Amazon’s basic weapon, why isn’t there a bleed node closer to the start of the skill tree? There are many elemental nodes, yet those affecting blood are placed far away—the nearest being on the Mercenary tree and another on the outer layer of the main tree.

- Additional Considerations: Although Stomping Ground makes Rake more powerful, the fact that the only way to use the skill is by taking damage through a support gem seems like poor design. I believe most classes should have the option to swap their basic attack for an alternative skill (as with the Monk’s Ice Strike). These alternate skills should have lower mana costs (for being spawnable by players, as the basic attack is a skill spawnable by players) and their damage growth should surpass that of the basic attack—while still remaining balanced with non-spawnable skills.

- Multi-Stage Skills: Extend the concept of multi-stage skills to abilities like Rake and Fangs of Frost, making them function more like Ice Strike or Tempest Flurry with multiple stages and animations.

- Additional Chaos Skills: Introduce additional chaos skills that use the multi-stage approach seen in Ice Strike. For example, a Tier 5 staff skill dealing chaos damage to the Acolyte of Chayula could greatly expand gameplay options.

- More Nodes for Build Diversity: Add more nodes to incentivize build diversity—specifically, include extra chaos nodes to support the Acolyte of Chayula and more bleeding nodes tailored for the Amazon. This ensures that each class has more unique and effective build pathways.

Light Stun:
Many skills have a windup animation, and monsters are often faster than the player. This can result in cancelled animations and even stun locks when fighting hordes—a significant oversight. Even a limitation such as allowing light stuns only once every five seconds would help mitigate this issue. Additionally, the mitigation for stun effects seems insufficient, and stun charms are very limited in uses and duration.

Player Power Level During the Campaign:
I am uncertain how player power progression should be structured in the campaign. As I invested skill points, the gains in power were marginal. I died many more times in the campaign with the Amazon than with the Monk or Sorceress. Even when I played the Monk—despite being unfamiliar with the map layout and pausing to absorb the storyline—the experience was faster and easier compared to the Amazon. The skills felt more like a burden than a boost, and the only significant improvements came from items. However, item drops and crafting have been inconsistent. If player power is meant to come from items—and that power is locked behind Magic Find—then the disparity between the gains from items and skills is too great. Perhaps rebalancing item drops and restricting Magic Find to items above level 60 would help.

Ascendancy:
The Ascendancy tree often feels like it offers only a temporary boost—or even a drawback—until a minor power spike is achieved. It appears designed for players with eight points, rather than accommodating those with two or four points. Some nodes create power fantasies that are either inaccessible early on or completely absent.

- I appreciate the Phylactery concept in the Lich Ascendancy and the Smith of Kitava; however, the initial Lich nodes—which require Energy Shield for casting and impose a constant mana reduction—feel overly punitive.

- Additionally, when I tried using Penetrate on the Amazon by reallocating a point from Predatory Instinct, my damage decreased. This skill might be intended for endgame play only, but it seems odd for an Ascendancy skill to function in this manner.

Map Size:
The forest in Act Three is excessively large. You must find the teleporter near the Waterworks, the entrance to the Bog, and the entrance to Chimera Lands. If you explore one area without fully activating all waypoints, the map resets, forcing you to re-explore the entire area. This issue also occurs in the city below the camp in Act Three.

Build Balance:
While 0.1 featured some overpowered builds, in 0.2 it feels as though underpowered builds were neglected while monsters became stronger. I might be biased since I primarily play the Amazon, but it seems GGG did not sufficiently empower new builds.

Final Thoughts:
I hope to see improvements in 0.3. I am burned out and frustrated by my experience, but I remain hopeful that future patches will address these issues and offer a better league.

Screenshot showing the basic attack dealing 4x the damage of Rake at the start of Act 2.