Hrm, that's not all that encouraging; having only 16 more levels to go basically tells me that I won't ever have a lot of skill points to play with or stats to afford the mana for those spells. By the end of the game, if I'm 30th, that's only 36 skill points to invest, and 150 stat points, as opposed to finishing DD at ~56 level. I realize that these are different games, but feeling let down about the comparatively pathetic characters I'm making is becoming hard to avoid.
I have access to better spells now that I've found the level 2 battlefields, but I *still* can't afford the mana to cast them. Sure, I can swill potions and abuse merchants for more, but I'd have to guzzle 2 small mana potions to even cast one Hammer. Since a point in Intelligence only seems to net you 10 mana (right?), it'd take me 2 levels worth of investing in nothing BUT intelligence to be able to cast the spell twice. Ugh.
I wouldn't be so annoyed if weapon masteries weren't completely draining. The whole 1-handed weapon/1 handed weapon with shield proficiency goof is aggravating -- what's the difference? And why can't there just be Slashing/Crushing/Piercing masteries and call it a day? The gain from points invested in masteries is puny for its cost, and couple that with non-overlapping skill trees... ugh.
