Now that you've explained your frustration in further depth, I do understand it. I don't normally play as a warrior (not just BD or DD - any game). So, of course, I can see why your gameplay is frustrating. You're right, there are no special or combination moves the avatar makes other than whirlwind or sneak.
Bingo. This as opposed to DD, which had a pretty fun assortment of fun warrior skills (boomerang, that move where you throw a bunch of clones of yourself in a straight line, poison weapons, multishot, elemental arrows, etc etc etc). I actually felt like I was doing something in DD; if I could set both of my party members to aggressive AI, I wouldn't need to do anything but order them to move to another location and kill more monsters <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" />
As for playing as 2 wizards, I thought it would be a pain in the butt and I'd be on an intravenous drip of mana but surprisingly the way I've created my spells, that hasn't happened yet. Yes, I do jump back and forth between battlefields and the dungeon. Every time I jump out, the merchant restocks and it takes only a couple of minutes before I have enough potions to go on for another few hours. But I think I have a bug in my game. LOL
Got the same bug, if indeed it is a bug; money, good charms, and of course, sweet sweet arrows are super plentiful. And the equipment, if you're shopping for rings or nice bows, isn't that hard to come by as it was in DD. That I appreciate.
As for arrows > gold, yeah. That's an incredibly unbalancing thing, particularly for as damaging as Splitting Arrows are (if you're about 2 inches from your target, they shatter right on your foe, doing all 5 hits -- that and splinter arrows seem to ignore target defense partially or totally). That's what initially attracted me to bow wielding, toggled with a sword and shield once enemies were sufficiently whittled down.
But your point is well taken. If the game is no longer fun for you, it's time to move on to another one. As I've stated previously, I'm not 100% sure I understand the skillpoints system all that well. And certainly not well enough to offer suggestions for changes. But, so far, it's worked for me. I'm glad that you jumped into the discussion, Bif! It's been great talking with you. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
You haven't seen the last of me yet, Faralas! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I still *do* intend to play, I'm just waiting for some balance before I invest any more play time. I'm to the point where I'm sure I don't want to continue playing the game [color:"red"]as it is now[/color], but I would like to play it if the skill boredom for non-mages (and the mana woes for mages, if the costs and inefficiency are an accurate indicator) can be reversed.
But yeah, disagree though we might, it's fun talking to you -- try a warrior for a little while, and you'll get the hang of what act 1 was like for me; point-click-chop. I'd like to try a mage (maybe leave the warrior on constant AI) -- what skills should I focus on?
