Wolcen’s release was like a storm, one I wasn’t really prepared for. I heard people talking about it, sure. But I don’t pay much attention to early access games, or games in beta. So I heard people mentioning it, saying it was promising. That doesn’t always mean the end product will live up to the expectations.
I read Belghast‘s early impressions and decided to watch Rhykker’s sponsored videos, which consisted of an overview, short guide, and a build video. It was enough to convince me to try it.
Since the servers still have issues, I played offline. I usually play aRPGs solo, so I don’t mind much. That said, my husband and I bought copies with the intention to play together. And we will, as soon as things are fixed. For now, I’m just hobbling along in single player. I’m trying out different things, skills from Rhykker’s build (I love the turret, ok? Heimerdinger is one of my favourite champions).
I’m level 13 now with ranged/magic character. She’s using a pistol and a catalyst which allows her to pew pew really fast while still using spell to blast enemies away. Using a willpower skill will also speed up the process of gaining rage, the main resource for ranged characters. This also allows me to always have a damage skill available to me.
I was honestly pleasantly surprised that you can create your own class/build regardless of what you pick at the beginning of the game. Your character’s progression doesn’t even depend on which weapons you use, like in Dungeon Siege II. You can pick your weapons, pick skills associated with the weapons you have, and change your passives if you want (and have enough currency to do so).
So even if you have max leveled your character, you can still switch builds if you want. The only thing you might have to do is train your new skills.
Saying Wolcen is a love child between Diablo and Path of Exile is pretty accurate. Especially when you look at the passive skill tree, the gate of fates. It’s filled with nodes interconnecting with each other within a ‘class’ and another ‘class’, but you’re free to branch out. One thing Wolcen does differently is that each ring (three layers in total) can rotate, even after you’ve picked skills. So you can change up your build whenever you want with your available skill points.
I’ve only played a few hours but I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s filling the hole after I’d completed the Diablo 3 season 19 and Path of Exile (nor Torchlight 3 Alpha) couldn’t fill it. The combat is much more dynamic than Diablo since you have to dodge skills. You also get a fair chance to do so with the telegraphs on the ground. It reminds me more of Guild Wars 2’s combat which I also really like. Rhykker said the Act 1 boss is pretty hard to beat if you don’t pay attention. I’m not the best player, but I do have experience with tough, multi phase bosses, so who knows. I’ll report back when I’ve passed that point.
