This is the first time I have played the Revenant before. Here are my initial impressions. Also, I’ve read these forums enough to know they can be a toxic wasteland, so I’m really not looking for community feedback, I’m just trying to get my impressions to the devs, in case it helps them at all. Of course, if you other forum denizens feel the need to comment, I wouldn’t dream of trying to stop you. :P If I have any more to add by the end of the weekend, I will add them to this post.
First, and this isn’t at all important from a game play/balance/mechanics standpoint, I did find myself a little frustrated with how the blindfolds all had long tassels/strips of cloth which clipped awkwardly with almost every female hairstyle I tried. I found a few that worked, for me, which ended up being shorter hairstyles or styles that didn’t have any hair falling down the back, but having the cloth sometimes sticking out (especially when running forward) and sometimes hidden by long hair options was something that I didn’t prefer. I do, however, really like the look of the blindfolds, and I did find hairstyles that didn’t bother me. But, if maybe we could have some blindfold options that don’t come with the long streamers, it would be nice. Definitely not necessary, just nice.
As to the playstyle, I started out with the staff + Ventari and really enjoyed those two together. I had a lot of fun on the Claw of Jormag and a few other WBs playing a strong support role. I was able to send the tablet along with NPCs to keep them healed up, which helped me feel like I was contributing. I also really enjoyed helping out people who were rezzing people strewn across the battlefield by sending the tablet to them and keeping the rezzer healed. It felt like I was really helping, more than I could have by running towards them and possibly not making it. The downside was that I only ever got a Bronze for participation, though I was there for the duration of each WB, probably because I was focusing so much on healing. Still, it was such a fun and engaging experience for me to use the Tablet to help out that I would totally do it again, I just wish there were some way to get credit for the very active healing role that I felt I was playing, since it honestly felt like I made a greater impact playing this way than it normally does when I am just one of a couple hundred people shooting rockets at the Claw. :P
When playing with the staff, I found it to be really fun against just about any enemy except a WB. I know that I customarily use ranged weapons against WBs, so this might just be due to that habit, but I found that playing a lot with the Tablet kept me further back from the frontline fighting so that I could see where it would be most strategically useful. This meant that all I really used from the staff was the 3 skill, or whichever number has the spinning shield. That was handy, but aside from that when I was using the Tablet I completely ignored the staff. However, when I was fighting normal enemies individually, I definitely found that the random health drops from the staff encouraged me to do a lot of movement and I found that if I used all the skills together, I was quite durable and would wear enemies down. It wasn’t quick, but it was reliable and engaging.
After that I started experimenting with the hammer, which I absolutely fell in love with as a ranged weapon. I have found that hammer/Ventari works much better from my play style, because it allows me to stay at a range where I can see where my tablet is needed while also contributing to the fight. I used hammer and Ventari/Jalis for the SB and another WB I don’t remember and found that was my favorite combination so far. It let me switch from helping my allies do their own things better (using Jalis’ road and other such combo fields) to healing them when they needed it all while staying at a range where I could actually see what was happening.
I haven’t yet been very successful with the Mallyx line. I’ve tried it but can’t seem to get the hang of it yet. I’m going to try the staff with Mallyx to see if that helps me survive longer. I also haven’t spent much quality time with the axe/mace weapon set, so I’m hoping that either the staff or the axe/mace will help me figure out Mallyx.
Over all, I’m really enjoying the Revenant. I like the direction it’s going and I can’t wait to make one that I get to keep!
Thanks for all your hard work. It’s looking great!