The more and more I play with this mod, the more and more I dislike the hybrid classes in this mod. Sigh. I love this mod a lot - its so much more smoother and doesn't screw with things/cause conflicts or instability issues with other mods, and I love the idea of killing bosses to gain arbitrary levels to reflect personal growth. Seriously, despite this post being a complaint, I love this mod, and im only complaining because I do love it, you know?
So yeah. The hybrid classes. I just can't figure them out - the idea is quite simple. I get every class is suppose to have its niche/theme/focus: You got your "Biome" classes; Merfolk (Water), Pirate (Ocean), Dwarf (Cavern), Pharaoh (Desert), Blood Knight (Crimson), Tainted Elf (Corruption), so on. Even a time-based one in the Werewolf (Night). And you got your traditional Sage/etc classes to excel at 1 field solely. Now, call me crazy, with the themes of the classes being "to make you better in your chosen element" or specialization or biome or expertise; why is it the hybrid classes don't deliver on this? Here, let me explain;
Spirit Mage for example gets +magic, +summon, -all other, etc. Its whole theme is wielding magic and blowing their load while being backed up my minions while "recharging". The problem is however, the active power -discourages- going 50/50 with this build. You can either go full on summoner for as many minions as possible, then hit Q to -temporarily- act like a proper magic-damage dealer (say 10 minions sacrificed for +100% magic damage for a few seconds). Or, you can go full on magic damage, and grab a few summons from the alter, potions, maybe a single accessory. Sure, your only sacrificing 2-4 minions for +20-40% damage, but your magic damage is already high, so its just sprinkles on your icing on your cake, you know? Basically, there is no incentive in this kit to actually be a proper hybrid: your either going full summoner and "pretending" to be another role temporarily (which will often go badly for you; sense your pets staying alive will likely do more damage then you could even with 60-100% magic damage), or your a mage just using summons for a little tiny boost that could have been replicated by giving the sage a +25% damage buff for X seconds at the cost of +25% mana costs or something.
Ok, that was a bit over complicated; so heres another one with a bit more simple of a issue;
Arcane Archer is suppose to be +magic, +ranged, -all other, etc. Its whole theme is burning mana to empower ranged attacks with magical force. Except from what im reading, the active isnt scaled with magic. Its literally eating your mana to -only buff- your ranged attacks for a few attacks. There is literally 0 reason to use any magic, at all, as an Arcane Archer. Your active doesnt support magic attacks apparently (at least not that my testing shows), and it doesnt scale from having magic damage mixed with your ranged damage. So you basically just go 100% normal ranged attacker, and pop the active to burn the mana you never planned to use to begin with. Which begs the question: Why even bother putting a +% magic damage buff in the class at all?
What im trying to say is; these mechanics are not hybrid playstyles. In fact, they outright oppose it and are a bit misleading, at least to me.
What I would love to see? If you would ever consider it (and I would be forever thankful if you even thought about it - let alone actually did it); would be to make ALL of the hybrid classes actually -benefit- from using both stats. What I mean is; if you got +40% ranged damage from gear, and +40% magic damage from gear, a hybrid class would have a passive that gives them 50-100% of their "other stat" to determine their total bonus damage with what they are using. Aka, if you used ranged, +60% total, or magic, +60% total. I dunno. This is just wishful thinking/theorycrafting.
Anyway, thanks for listening - sorry for bugging/ranting. Keep up the good work! Im just a nitpicker, so don't mind me to much. xD