Mercenary Full Feedback

Hi there,
I'm Rodrigo, and I’m a dev in real life. I’ve logged more than 879 hours of gameplay, which I’ve spent experimenting with off-meta builds. I’d like to share some issues and propose solutions for GGG.
Today, I want to highlight some problems with the Mercenary class and Crossbow weapon, specifically with the new Tactician specialization.

First Point: Crossbow Mechanics
The class feels disadvantaged compared to others, as crossbows are the only weapons that make you lose an equipment slot. Let me explain:
- Warrior: Dual-wield weapons or weapon and shield.
- Ranger: Bow and quiver.
- Hunter: Spear and shield.
- Casters (Mages/Witches): Wand and focus, or staves, which can buff other skills (up to three weapons).
- Mercenary: Crossbows.

While it’s possible to use other weapons with different classes, the issue lies in the scaling of crossbows. They rely on a single item. Even though they allow for +7 skills, the reload mechanic requires sacrificing passive gems to address reload time. This results in losing the effectiveness of one weapon slot, without providing sufficient base damage to compensate for the drawback.
Second Point: Tactician Mechanics
Other subclasses, like Gemelins and Witchhunters, benefit from passives such as culling strike or gem buffs. However, the Tactician feels lacking:
- Banners: These require Valor to place. In boss fights, if you don’t kill anything, you spend 30 Spirit Points just to see the spell on the bar without being able to use it. While there are gems to bypass this limitation, their effectiveness pales in comparison to buffs with similar costs.
- Pinned Monsters: This mechanic works well for heavy stun builds, but it’s situational.
- Ballistics: While excellent for map clearing due to minimal defensive needs, Ballistics struggle in boss fights. I run a 100% ballistic-focused build, and while clearing maps is smooth, bosses are nearly impossible to handle.

Grenades
Grenades provide a great way to deal damage at a low cost. Certain crossbows increase the quantity of grenades launched, but their limited storage capacity constrains their potential for sustained damage (DPS) in this class.

Solutions for Class

Problem
Grenades are ineffective as a main source of damage.

Solution
To make grenades more viable:
- Decrease the reload time through passive abilities.
- Increase the base damage of grenade-related skills.
- Enhance the amount of grenades that can be used per skill activation, making them more impactful.
Grenades currently have only 13 points on the passive tree to improve their skills, focusing mainly on damage or areas of effect. However, there are no support points to increase the number of grenades, reduce cooldowns for skills, or adjust the downtime between activations. These additions would greatly improve the gameplay experience for this class.


Problem
Ballistics is treated as a weapon, but its weak base makes it unsuitable for survival in challenging encounters (bosses, elites, walkers).
Ballistics has issues:
- When used with other classes like Gemelin or Witchhunter, it deals more damage than when used with Tactician.
- The Tactician class is designed for positional battles, placing Ballistics on the ground, pinning mobs, and using explosions triggered by Ballistics. While this mechanic works well, Ballistics lacks life or defense, making it unsustainable in boss fights. Even if you allocate points to increase life and resistances, it still functions more like a weapon than a mob or companion. Its design as a "totem-like skill" doesn't align with current mechanics.


Solution 1
Make Ballistics untargetable by enemies. While this would nerf defensive aspects (monsters would focus solely on the Tactician), it would effectively improve its role as a weapon. This change would allow Ballistics to become more viable for Tactician gameplay, keeping its attack functionality intact.
Solution 2
Treat Ballistics as a totem. All totems in the game currently utilize main skills by sacrificing a support gem for additional functionality.
- Introduce Ripwire Ballistics, which can use projectile skills. Think about combos like Permafrost Ballistics + Fragmented Round, enabling creative combinations.
- Adjust Artillery Ballistics to launch grenades (3x, as it currently does), allowing more synergy with other skills.

These changes are feasible because Ballistics would be nerfed first, requiring the sacrifice of one support gem. This modification creates the possibility for numerous build options across all classes.

Bump

Just move on play something else. Tactician is not where it's at. Comeback when they are ready to change the class to it's true vision

In Truth i have prefence to switch the game and never more play like a diablo , this class and the game need a chance , but really the unique class in game with loose a equipament slot and dont have any payback is frustrating

In Truth i have prefence to switch the game and never more play like a diablo , this class and the game need a chance , but really the unique class in game with loose a equipament slot and dont have any payback is frustrating