Shapeshifting should have been tied to a druid ascendancy not weapons.

Making shapeshifting require taking a certain class or especially ascendency would be a terrible idea. It would also break what seems to be a pretty common thing in POE2... the ability to play any class the way you want within limits of passive skill tree and what you can manage to travel to and spec into there.

So now I can have the option to weapon swap into using a form or whatever I choose. It's such a better idea than the one you presented.

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Antarious#5648 wrote:

Making shapeshifting require taking a certain class or especially ascendency would be a terrible idea. It would also break what seems to be a pretty common thing in POE2... the ability to play any class the way you want within limits of passive skill tree and what you can manage to travel to and spec into there.

So now I can have the option to weapon swap into using a form or whatever I choose. It's such a better idea than the one you presented.

Exactly!

And if anyone wants to hear it from Jonathan himself, here you go:

https://youtu.be/zvpIEFXE5cQ?si=mqtBermug5QN724O&t=3981

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FipsDieGrille#2655 wrote:

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Antarious#5648 wrote:

Making shapeshifting require taking a certain class or especially ascendency would be a terrible idea. It would also break what seems to be a pretty common thing in POE2... the ability to play any class the way you want within limits of passive skill tree and what you can manage to travel to and spec into there.

So now I can have the option to weapon swap into using a form or whatever I choose. It's such a better idea than the one you presented.

Exactly!

And if anyone wants to hear it from Jonathan himself, here you go:

https://youtu.be/zvpIEFXE5cQ?si=mqtBermug5QN724O&t=3981

Basically if you only cared about shapeshifting then Druid is pointless.

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StrykerxS77x#8221 wrote:

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FipsDieGrille#2655 wrote:

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Antarious#5648 wrote:

Making shapeshifting require taking a certain class or especially ascendency would be a terrible idea. It would also break what seems to be a pretty common thing in POE2... the ability to play any class the way you want within limits of passive skill tree and what you can manage to travel to and spec into there.

So now I can have the option to weapon swap into using a form or whatever I choose. It's such a better idea than the one you presented.

Exactly!

And if anyone wants to hear it from Jonathan himself, here you go:

https://youtu.be/zvpIEFXE5cQ?si=mqtBermug5QN724O&t=3981

Basically if you only cared about shapeshifting then Druid is pointless.

Well that's an interesting take if you don't look at any information about the ascendancies.

What you actually have is a situation where you can try to be creative and look at various classes if you think something about them fits your style better or you just want to be different. I can certainly see how Shaman has some big plusses and some of the other ascendancies offer various twists that may or may not work out better or the same or worse. It's harder to say with Oracle for me until I can see the actual data/skills that are going into the game.

*edit to clarify* At least from my view Furious Wellspring is pretty good in the Shaman tree. No inherent loss of Rage, 6% of your maximum rage regenerates per second. Every single form can benefit from rage and with this node you can increase that rage regen by increasing mana regen. If you decide to play bear for example there is a skill that if you cap your rage will allow you to turn rage beyond that cap into glory which you can also use for one of the bear skills. Yes there is no reason to play Druid at all... but anyway..

I never said there were no good nodes. I said Druid is pointless because it's not at all necessary for shapeshifting. Sure that Rage node is useful but there are plenty of other class ascendancies that provide just as good or better assistance to the shapeshifting gameplay.

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StrykerxS77x#8221 wrote:

I never said there were no good nodes. I said Druid is pointless because it's not at all necessary for shapeshifting. Sure that Rage node is useful but there are plenty of other class ascendancies that provide just as good or better assistance to the shapeshifting gameplay.

No ascendancy is necessary for anything, that is the whole point. PoE is not your usual class based system. PoE2 has the same approach as PoE, they only tie skill gems to specific weapons and these have like a default user, like talisman for druid and that is creating the confusion. Actually all skill gems and weapons are free to use for anyone as in PoE1 and the ascendancies just add some benefits. The main core about choosing your "class" is the starting point in the skilltree.

So druid is not "pointless", it has its pros and cons like all other characters have and that is great design.

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StrykerxS77x#8221 wrote:

I never said there were no good nodes. I said Druid is pointless because it's not at all necessary for shapeshifting. Sure that Rage node is useful but there are plenty of other class ascendancies that provide just as good or better assistance to the shapeshifting gameplay.

That's an interesting back pedal.

Have you never played POE2 before?

Every single mechanic you could say it tied to a class has plenty of other ascendancies that provide good or better options. You literally described the entire game and then tried to claim druid was pointless because it is in the same exact position every class has been in since EA launch.

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Ispita#4020 wrote:

Nobody plays sorc with quarterstaffs

Are you SURE?

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FipsDieGrille#2655 wrote:

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StrykerxS77x#8221 wrote:

I never said there were no good nodes. I said Druid is pointless because it's not at all necessary for shapeshifting. Sure that Rage node is useful but there are plenty of other class ascendancies that provide just as good or better assistance to the shapeshifting gameplay.

No ascendancy is necessary for anything, that is the whole point. PoE is not your usual class based system. PoE2 has the same approach as PoE, they only tie skill gems to specific weapons and these have like a default user, like talisman for druid and that is creating the confusion. Actually all skill gems and weapons are free to use for anyone as in PoE1 and the ascendancies just add some benefits. The main core about choosing your "class" is the starting point in the skilltree.

So druid is not "pointless", it has its pros and cons like all other characters have and that is great design.

I get the flexibilities of this game but what you said about ascendancies is not true. There are abilities locked behind ascendancies such as demon form. Even in this game you are required to be a specific class to access the ability.

Again im not saying Druid isnt usable. I called it pointless in relation to shapeshifting. They could have given us shapeshifting without Druid and it would have worked just as well.

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Antarious#5648 wrote:

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StrykerxS77x#8221 wrote:

I never said there were no good nodes. I said Druid is pointless because it's not at all necessary for shapeshifting. Sure that Rage node is useful but there are plenty of other class ascendancies that provide just as good or better assistance to the shapeshifting gameplay.

That's an interesting back pedal.

Have you never played POE2 before?

Every single mechanic you could say it tied to a class has plenty of other ascendancies that provide good or better options. You literally described the entire game and then tried to claim druid was pointless because it is in the same exact position every class has been in since EA launch.

Never backpedaled.

Druid is unnecessary for shapeshifting which it was advertised with. The witch IS necessary for demon form. See the difference.