Polymorph (in EA) is all about utility. Need to reposition and attack - Bull Rush. Need mobility, avoid surfaces, AND gain height advantage - Wings. Need to attack at a distance and weaken an enemy - Tentacle Lash. And the mother of all abilities refresh all your cool downs FOR 0 FUCKING AP - Skin graft.
No, just no. Polymorph is overpowered because of the amount of utility it provides for 1(!) skill point. All most all of the skills gained from polymorph are either 0 or 1 AP. In any of my runs it is almost mandatory to get this skill set.
I have not spent much time with the summoner other than just a trial with the totems. What I can say is that it has a lot of potential, but I haven't spent much time with it to really gauge its viability. However, if you have a melee heavy group the earth totem is great for chunking out physical armor.
Mages IMO are more powerful than rogues. Because they can bust out a done of damage from distance, bring in great utility, and they can still have access to other schools power utility spells like AR. An Elf Mage with AR is probably the most powerful combo in the game currently.
To your point with melee in general - no player character should be entirely devoted to one skill set. Yes surfaces in this game are much more involved than they were in DOS (EE). I think someone counted and I believe it was 32, or 64 (something like that). For new and experienced players this is a lot to think about and to understand. I have 150 hours in EA and I still cant remember all the interactions between surfaces. However, DOS 2 has significantly more utility and movement than DOS 1 ever head. AND each character has access to that mobility by level 4. A knight can use phoenix dive (one of the best mobility/utility spells in the game) to jump to safety or to get next to a group of mobs, do damage. Then run away with bull rush, or equip a shield and refresh your armor. Also remember you can delay your turn to know how to position your party with greater effectiveness. This is particularly potent because then you can get two full turns in a row (3 if you use the source ability) which would devastate any enemy party.
Theft is a game mechanic that is not perfect IMO, but it is not overpowered nor is it completely useless. I think it sits right in the middle which is where it should be. I do not agree with the one pickpocket per NPC. I think it should be like one pickpocket per player character, or maybe once every level or something that limits the frequency to more than just 1 time. However, I understand the reason behind the choice because if you just had free reign to pickpocket everyone that would be absolutely game breaking.
Also early game gold is a bit difficult to find. But you can still develop a crafting economy like you could in DOS, each merchant refreshes their inventory either every 1-2 hours and also every time you level. so each time you level or you have been playing for awhile go visit your merchants buy all the crafting stuff. Sell everything you crafted but wont use and make your profits.
This game is much more complex in terms of positioning, surfaces, and fights in general (we asked for that) but party composition is much more forgiving because of the ease of skill access ability. Mnemonic is not mandatory a lot of gear past level 3 has +1-3 memory on it.
I am rambling so much i am going to stop.
