Hey,
First of all, thx, i’ve played ~20h this w-e as a Forgeguard (FG) and i enjoyed it a lot.
The gameplay feels a bit rought (not many overlapping mechanics with the FG skills).
So i don’t know if you guys can still read review with all these new players but i spotted a couple things i think would make the mastery more attractive.
So first thing : the passives. Many (too many?) passives points are only related to throwing skills, even though the FG doesn’t have a single mastery specific throwing skill. If you decide to play Forge Strike, Molten Blade, Ring of shield and/or Manifest armor, half the skill points are useless early-on. Also, the FG is “sold” as a “smith”, wielding molten steel and blades, but there are no real passives interracting with fire damages (just some borring (i should say less intersting) flat stats changes, but no mechanics).
Second thing : I really love the mastery identity. Playing with animated weapons and armors, shiny fire skills and all, it’s really great. My only complain would be on the visuals : it would be cool if a couple sentinel “main” skills could get a new effect (even a simple recolor) to match the class fantasy (warmer colors on stances / dash skills).
More importantly, it’s too bad Manifest Armor has blue energy when the whole class revolve around fire/steel fantasy, just a recolor of its light would make the skill 100% more attractive. I also noted that the Manifest Armor animation is a little stiff. I could be a little biased since i love this skill but i think it’s very close from behing at the same level of polishedness as Forge Strike for example x)
Overall i liked the mastery, a little hard in the beggining with the mana management but still, great. Keep the good work and good luck !