Gameplay-Mechanics and GGG-Vision

what i was able to gather by now is, so GGG tries to make this game more skill-based and less spam-based (or even 1-button based).
to me, that's great. that's the reason i'm here (in addition to WASD), else i wouldn't.

the issue however is, so you ask from us to do stuff the game itself does deny us from doing so. you want us to combo skills? well then you MUST priorize fixing core-mechanics of the gameplay. ASAP. what use is "game balancing" and "nerfing" and everything, when core-mechanics are horrible. and if you ever make changes to it, which is desperately needed, it will automatically throw a big portion of your effort to balance stuff, out of the window.

example 1: if i use a Glacial Cascade to explode the Frozen Locus, chances are quite high so the targeting system will instead aim at the enemy next to it. do you expect us to enjoy this horrible gameplay mechanics? how can you ask from us to do "combo-y shenanigans" when the game itself prevents us because you GGG have put noob-helper mechanics in place, that we can't even disable, or adjust the size of "snap to target next to cursor" or anything, at all. heck not even the "attack without moving" works properly. and yet you guys expect us to be more combo-y? are you freaking kidding me? get the fundamentals worked out properly before doing anything like that. you just make the bad gameplay worse.

example 2: Killing Palm, Staggering Palm and likely also Siphoning Strike (wasn't able to test that one yet) are DASH abilities that you are not supposed to use as a mere "repositioning/get out of harms way without loosing much dps for doing so"-tool. why? because whenever there is just one enemy that is cullable/stunnable/?siphonable?, you run the high risk so the game will make you attack that target instead of your selected target, even when they're not right next/behind each other, and thus, will get you killed. <-- highly restrictive mechanic

example 3: not every melee-skill must move you to your target. positioning, in a combat situation, is key gameplay mechanic. don't strip this away from us, that's boring and, quite frankly, hindering. you wan't us to have more engaging combat? well then maybe don't make the game do everything for us? let us position ourselfs please. there could be fun to be had, i clearly can see it. and it certainly works with basic attacks, it's awesome. start swing early "out of reach" so the enemy walks into your swing? heck yea, that's rewarding and engaging gameplay! but we can't do that when even skills like Ice Strike, that do not have any movement inherently tied into the animation, will dash you to your target anyway. it's not possible. you literally deny us flexibility by restricting us with such crap. in the very least, make it not move you when you use "attack without moving" <-- self explanatory i hope.

example 4: namelocking. how clueless does one guy have to be, let alone a dev-team that has team-meetings (at least i hope you guys do have that), to think "priorize last hovered-over target > cursor" would be a good idea when you are targeting with a mouse? seriously i can not fathom how this came to exist, other than being utter clueless. and yes, i noticed, you guys made some number-changes hoping it would solve it. because yes, it's not as bad as it was in the past as can be very clearly seen in videos, nonetheless, it shouldn't be a thing in the first place. at all. and i do not care wether that's because "controllers exist". so what? i bought a PC-GAME, i select WASD movement. i do not wanna deal with controller bs when using a mouse, obviously. maybe, just maybe, a fast-paced game where you may wanna target enemies in the backrow just isn't made for controllers in the first place? think about that for a moment.

i could go on with examples, but this would end in an even bigger wall of text so i cut myself short here.

some ideas: - we need different targeting systems for different control-shemes. heck we need different game-balancing for different control-shemes. even old-school m+kb click-to-move can't compete with wasd, and a controller? hah. funny thought

- with mouse (can't speak for controller cuz i stay away from that) we need a tight targeting system. ofc it's a must have to have some form of priorizing system in place. 100% raw input won't work when the screen is full of enemies and you try to aim at one that is hidden behind other enemies. <-- but that must be it. there must not be any reason for "snap to target your cursor is not hovering over". if i fail my skill because i can't get my mouse over my target, THIS IS MY ISSUE. !stop babying us! if i wanna leap slam to the side of the boss for a 2for1 move (reposition + dmg in one), then allow us doing so! don't make us jump directly at the boss when we have a huge aoe. maybe we try to line up hitting multiple mobs + boss at once, and thus we may wanna target the ground between enemies, where there is non to "snap to". so allow us doing so, that's engaging and rewarding gameplay you literally deny us from doing so. yet you wanna make it more engaging. well here you go! give us more flexibility and it automatically will be more engaging. very simple solution, right? just get the core mechanics worked out properly please. this isn't even a "make the game better", but a "make it good in the first place" because as of now, it's needlessly frustrating to fight your character not doing what you want. that's a bad game.

- we need the option to disable noob-helper mechanics. you made a great attempt with the "always attack without moving" in the detailed skill-menu (tho it is flawed and needs work). also that "use with weapon set 1/2 or both" is great! KUDOS! so please keep at it and give us more flexibility along those lines, it's desperately needed. please!

!FLEXIBILITY FTW!

addendum because i really am bothered by these crappy core mechanics:

Ice Strike SCREAMS to not have movement built into it. generally the quarterstaff basic attack has big range and a huge arc. it's perfect to mow down rows of enemies. well Ice Strike drives this to the extreme. Especially, but not only, the 3rd strike really does require manual positioning so you can hit as many people as possible. if there are 3 enemies, but the middle one is just slightly further back, you simply can not mow down all 3 of em when the skill dashes you closer.

what you wanna do, but can't, is to start swinging at only the outer 2 guys (while aiming at the middle guy), so that you either manage to hit the middle guy anyway because he will walk into your swing, or else it doesn't matter because you wanna reposition after striking once anyway, or maybe twice depending on circumstances. unless you try to burst ofc <-- active gameplay decision. that's engaging combat! however if you do wanna burst, it is even THAT MUCH MORE crucial to hit all 3 at once, and not being moved when you don't want to be moved!

but because Ice Strike (and other skills, this one is just by far the best example) makes you gap-close, even when using "attack without moving", you either will dash to the middle guy, and thus can't hit all 3 of them because your arc isn't >180°, or you must forgo the plan of hitting all 3 at once altogether, which really goes strictly against the idea of a "big range huge arc and fast swinging weapon". like it's the exact opposite of what it actually would be great at --> herding.
it's no dagger "killing one guy after another asap" like a "backstab build" you'd imagine in a different game. it's exactly the opposite, but we can't use it because again, freaking core mechanics are utter garbage atm.