by Allison » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:03 pm
OK, I tried the new enchantress, got up to somewhere in the mid-teens. C&C time. There are a lot of things I like, and also some concerns I have.
I like the new high magic/dark magic theme, but...
...She seems like she might be a bit overly elemental in her current incarnation. I know that's hard to avoid in this game, with only four magical damage types (all elemental, effectively) and then just "magic" damage, but for instance, she has two lightning powers: Lightning Orb at 5th (which I admittedly used as my bread-and-butter for quite a few levels due to its reasonable damage and low mana cost, in spite of its unwieldiness), and then Lightning Rage later (and I shudder to think of what I'd be doing with Lightning Rage if I saved points for that rather than spending them all on Lightning Orb). That said, it may have been your intention.
...I wanted to summon Nether Imps. Needs more Nether Imps. The class's theme practically screams Nether Imps.
...Smite was pretty cool; it has a very convenient area of effect, unlike Lightning Orb, which is a real PITA to aim.
...Shadow Chains seems to work better as an ouchie dispenser than a debuff, but it is very expensive, especially considering that it's available at second level. If you intended it as an ouchie dispenser and not as a debuff (which seems likely), I'm inclined to suggest raising it to a higher tier where the mana cost will be less heart-attack-inducing, but it also occurs to me that the raw damage at the start wouldn't be that great at a higher tier, either, so I dunno.
...Fiery Breath is really weak, especially when you compare it to the other stuff enchantresses get at level ten.
The voice is excellent, especially with the voice patch (which I installed right off the bat).
Mangle is a nice touch, and definitely keeps a magical feel despite being a melee attack (aside from Magic not strengthening it), and I like that you actually gave it a different (and more magical-looking) particle effect than Slash. I like it, it's clever and I couldn't resist playing with it, and it still has a certain charm. I just don't know what I want to do with it, really. I mean, I'm aware you're supposed to, like, go into melee combat with it, but but but...
...I can't use it with staves. I know it's a melee attack and thus not being able to use it with wands makes sense, but staves? It's not unusual for me to have a wand on one weapon set and a staff on the other, but this requires me to actually dedicate one of my weapon sets to a Mangling tool.
...It's 100% Strength when I've been pumping Magic like a powdered ember fiend, on top of the fact that I have to wade into the danger zone to play with it.
...The above two points might be me missing its point: they're things I'd definitely suggest addressing if Mangle is being marketed to enchantresses in general, but your intention might actually be to throw a bone to enchantresses specifically aiming at melee builds as opposed to ranged nuke builds. That's actually fine, and I'm not knocking it. Even if it's the case, though, I have further concerns, which apply whether it's intended for enchantresses in general or just the oddball melee build.
...The mana cost is awfully high, don't you think?
...My kingdom for a spell to help me not die while I am mounting this confused suicide. You know, something along the lines of the alchemist's Ember Shield or the destroyer's Frost Shield. Even something like the destroyer's Spectral Echo or Shadow Armour.
...And, if it's intended specifically for melee enchantresses, level ten isn't horrible, but would level five fly? It occurs to me that alchemists get Ember Shock at level one.
The skill tree is a bit of a mess, though I imagine you're already aware of it. It occurs to me that you might just be waiting until you've finalized her skills to bother sorting it out, though.
And lastly now that you've diverted the enchantress from her original female alchemist objective, I'm actually going to have to get off my ass and make an actual breakout of the female alchemist. asdflkjsad;flkajfg;oa w8
Help 
so it seems your guess is right - you can equip a summoned monster, but you cannot equip a pet.