u/Efficient_Object2819

1000 hour longsword fighter who came back to the game for season 9 after not touching for ~1.5 years. Thought I’d share my opinions and experiences to give perspective to any other older players thinking about returning. This will be pretty encompassing and I welcome challenging opinions below.

Game Modes

Squire Royale
I see it time and time again on here, but what an amazing addition to the game. The only criticism I see about squire Royale commonly is that is a poor place for beginners to get their footing and that is somewhat true. For skill development, Royale fits in the gap between PvE mode and Normals, giving players who have gotten the mob fundamentals down a no-risk playlist to start getting some team fight experience against some of the 3000+ hour demons with the most equal footing you are likely to find in the game.

Yes, Timmy will be stomped at first, but there’s no way to improve faster than playing against strong competition. Great loot, crazy multi-team fights. My only request for an improvement would be to bring back rotations for maps. Royale made me love Ruins where before I wasn’t the biggest fan.

PvE
Excellent addition to the game despite the goldflation it adds to. No better tool for onboarding new players as the learning curve for fighting even basic mobs is steep. I used it to learn new bosses but ended up going back to normals because of the PvE mobs that swarm the boss and make it difficult to learn the mechanics. Also, presents a risk free way to take your arena kits in to test on the dummies which is amazing.

Normals
They recently adjusted Normals to limit your gear by tier for each map. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this change at first but it has grown on me a little. Provides specific spaces for players wanting to run kits of similar value and makes fights more equal footed. I would suggest rotating the gear limits around the maps daily or weekly (maybe hourly?) so the boss farmers that want to run a real kit can do so on their map of choice.

High Roller
Back in the day, I used to run a ton of high roller, getting demigod (we will address demigod changes later on) on fighter and sorc. They made a minimum gear score requirement and entry fee of 500 gold to eliminate the rats coming in naked and stealing the loot/picking fights with 1/3hp kitted opponents. I get the change, and if you love PvP for risk I think high rollers probably the best it’s ever been. It’s made for the true high rollers now though and you are very likely to get gear diffed if you spend any less than 20k on a kit (I run into 100k+ kits >50% of runs). Maybe okay changes considering demigod no longer being tied to high roller. I will continue to run it because I want to learn high roller bosses to earn artis.

Arena
I love arena, some of my friends like it some hate it. Apex of combat in the game in my opinion. Limited space, 3v3 where tactics and mega kits shine. If you want to build your team fight IQ there’s no better place in the game. I don’t have the time to aim for warlord but even with what felt like a short wipe Vanquisher was attainable.

Game Changes

QoL
They have made some amazing QoL changes since I last played; pings, vertical priority for inventory, etc that make this game just better. I’m sure I’m missing some off the top of my head but really great stuff here.

Demigod
Demigod is no longer tied to high roller and AP can be earned in any game mode. I get it, but don’t really love it. They have taken the seasonal rewards that used to carry a little prestige and turned it into the seasonal battle pass for the game. Only saving grace is that Arena rewards somewhat fill that prestige reward space but I’d like to see stronger rewards in that area rather than the same campfire and different color borders.

Gold Farming
Gold has never been easier to get. You can farm it in any mode and for the most part you are rewarded with more gold for riskier game modes. I mostly played normals and squire Royale this season and made well over 1 million gold. It was enough for a BIS Arena kit and a near BIS arena kit. I also was able to fund some artifact arena kits for the boys and help with their religion donations. Got to use fulgor and pesti in arena for the first time and that was really fun. I have a spare fulgor and around 50k gold left if anyone is still reaching for their religion skin.

Balancing
I do feel the game is in a much better place balance wise than it’s ever been. The devs really do seem like they have been taking the feedback into account. Early this season there was a dominant halberd meta and they adjusted it to the point where it was still viable but you didn’t see 2 of them on every single team you fought. Solos is very rock paper scissors and knowing when to try and avoid a fight.

Classes

Including threat level when I fought them as a fighter in all modes this season.

Fighter
Fighter is still the Jack of all trades and master of melee. I always felt weak at range, couldn’t chase anyone down, but would win almost all melee brawls unless I misplay. One of the best classes for beginners and most forgiving. The gap between skill floor and ceiling isn’t huge for this glass unless you play sword and board.

Threat level: 8/10

Sorc
My other favorite class. Instant cast is gone but cast speed feels okay. Lowest win rate class statistically but very fun to play. Casting sorc is a worse version of wizard but with unlimited casts. Melee sorc is a worse version of fighter. This class does have a high range of skill expression and feels bad until you get muscle memory built and the chain of combos you like to run. A great fluid sorc can pump an incredible amount of damage while never letting you get close. Zirkzis lighting goes crazy.

Threat level: 4/10 don’t chase

Rogue
Getting reworked next season but felt incredibly weak in squire and viable with high tier kits. One of the highest skill expression classes in the arena despite what all the hide haters will tell you. An average rogue is a nonfactor in team fights but a high skill rogue is a total game changer. High mobility, burst damage and then escape play style required to be effective. Squishies have to be careful but better off hitting them with melee if they get on you even as a wizard/sorc.

Threat level: 3/10 this is much higher threat for squishies, don’t get caught lacking and keep track of rogue and they can’t do much

Ranger
Rangers have one requirement to be a top 3 class in the game, hit your shots. Longbow got nerfed but seemed still viable for ranger while being pretty undesirable on fighter. It’s high skill expression when it comes to landing headshots and having high accuracy but it really is the class that gets it all. Crazy range dps and really high melee dps as well. Squishy but move speed/back step let’s them whittle you down enough to finish you in melee when you push in open space. Strongly considering maining this one next season. What would you change for ranger without removing the classes identity? Animal husbandry seems interesting but unsure how much it will change gameplay.

Threat level: 10/10 no explanation needed

Warlock
This season I saw warlocks be a nonfactor and I saw them dominate, incredibly high skill expression class with variable builds of either high burst damage or infinite sustain. I’d like to see warlock get some reworks to add some necromancy and tweak some of their existing skills.

BoC threat level: 8/10 might one tap you
Caster threat level: 5/10 skill expression is huge here but don’t chase
Demonlock threat level: 2/10

Wizard
Holy damage. Wiz was top damage in almost every arena game I played this season. Glass cannon, does have skill expression but not as high as some other classes.

Bonk wiz threat: 3/10
Pure spell wiz threat: 9/10 close the gap preferably where they can’t see you coming

Druid
Coming back to the game it was honestly nice to see Druid finally put into their place. No longer the most dominant busted class in the game with insane mobility and quick resets. Healer Druid is a nice to have but with very little burst healing it can’t hold a candle to cleric. Good range of skill expression allows for cracked druids to still be competitive. Bear Druid seems somewhat viable but a bottom tier class in general.

Shapeshifter threat: 5/10
Caster druid threat: 2/10

Barb
Barb seems to be in a good place balance wise. I know on the leaderboards they’re over represented but not sure if it’s from popularity or if the class is that good. As a fighter, I’d win most melee engagements with barbs. Spin to win is a really strong ability.

Threat: 7/10 bait the shouts if you can

Cleric
Best class for team fights in the game. Saw 2k+ healing multiple times from clerics in arena completely negating any damage my team could pump. Those guys usually were pure caster builds but the hybrids are dangerous. If I fought a cleric with smite up I’d lose 7/10 times. Cracked shield clerics are a problem. Hard to chip clerics at range or their teammates because cleric just heals it all.

Threat: 10/10

Bard
People are swearing up and down that bard isn’t good anymore but I lost a TON of 1v1 fights against bard this season. Never played it so don’t know much about abilities and perks. Try not to get shrieked before you fight them or it’s probably GGs.

Threat: 6/10