Maybe Midgame toons to squishy

[HiddenNshadows]

SInce Im new to the game(& late to playing) as well as overwhelmed by the options I seek advice..

Im playing a ranger, watched several build videos & read alot of forums but still not happy with how quick he can die, slow in combat but hes great against "bosses"

Eder is built like a tank and hardly ever needs healing & can one hit quit most enemys

Aloth WAS doing great but all of a sudden is trying to tank instead of casting & its causing him to die alot more

Basically I feel Ive either "geared" my characters wrong or Im going down the wrong path in the spell/abilities section. Ive tried searching this but nothing was really helpful in understanding how to best build them. What stats to put with each character short of the DUH, intellect should be with wizards & healers. 

What stats should I prioritize for said roles. Example of where I got lost.. after making my ranger, I saw a couple videos where they made might a higher stat than others, I didnt, kept it kind of even..

Anyone able to explain in a World of warcraft type terms? LIke Eder is the tank, xoti healer, aloth, Sev or Tau DPS.. Is there a basics guild thats simple enough to get me started I may have overlooked? 

My goal was to play through once with the basics, learning as I go then once a good understanding is there, start over & do an epic build..I could play this for days but Im a week into it and Im getting more lost the more I research. Again Gear, stat/spell priority is what seems to be killing me the most.

Thanks to any help. I know its an extremely noob post but after 6 hours & TONS of reading Im on the struggle bus

[NotDumbEnough]

This game, like oldschool CRPGs and certain other games like new XCOM, does not have clearly defined roles for classes. Most classes often have multiple roles, and it's easier to list what a given class CAN'T do than what it can, e.g. Wizards can't buff their teammates in any way with their usual spells. But pretty much everything else they can do.

[Boeroer]

What do you mean with "Aloth is trying to tank"? You can just order him to do whatever you wish him to do, right?

Or do you mean that he is mostly running on AI and that AI is now suddenly trying to tank enemies? Then you can alter the AI settings so that he won't try that anymore. There is a whole "scripting" tool for building behavioral blocks for the AI, maybe that's interesting and fun to play around with for a bit until the companions behave like you wish on their own (mostly). 

As @NotDumbEnoughsaid: classes don't have very fixed roles. Since there are so many different abilities and subclasses and also multiclassing most class combos can fulfill a lot of different roles. There are some tendencies like Priest = great support, Druid = good healer, Fighter = good tank and so on - but you can achieve that with other classes and some creativity as well. 

The attributes don't have a ton of impact. They do change other values a bit and are influencing your defenses - but you always have 78 base points so the sum of the defenses is always the same (without counting abilities). In general a pure buffer only needs INT and DEX, a damage dealer mostly PER, DEX and MIG, some also INT, defensive characters usually want high RES because it helps against most conventional attacks (deflection), pure healers want high MIG, INT and DEX and so on. But a few points here and ther don't make a noticable difference. 

 

[thelee]

10 hours ago, HiddenNshadows said:

Aloth WAS doing great but all of a sudden is trying to tank instead of casting & its causing him to die alot more

like others said, what does this mean that "all of a sudden [aloth] is trying to tank"? are you running off AI scripts? did you give him a melee weapon and no spells for the AI to cast? 

[masterty66]

One of the simplest things you can do to be effective is to have a tanking character and load that character up with abilities/items that improve their defenses and grant engagement. So with Eder for example if you have him as a Fighter or Fighter/Rogue and have him use Defender stance and wear a shield and the best armor you can give him, then he can keep opponents on him via engagement and he won't easily die.

What you then want to do is open combats with everybody except Eder stealthed. It doesn't matter if your characters have points in stealth or not. Then, when the enemies mob Eder (who is the only one they see to start combat), he will engage them. At that point you can unstealth your party members and begin combat.

Why is this an advantage? Because enemies will not be able to easily disengage Eder to attack your squishier party members. And if they do, Eder will get a free disengagement attack on them. But a lot of times the AI doesn't like to disengage so they will stay on him. This leaves your other party members free to position themselves to do damage/buff/etc without worrying as much about getting mobbed by enemies and cut to pieces.

This strategy isn't bullet proof. Rogue NPCs will use escape to target your backline. Ranged attackers will still switch and shoot your squishier party members. But this strategy will at least ensure that a lot of the initial melee enemies in a combat will be on Eder instead of your backline. And if he has enough engagement slots (from defender stance + shield + any other gear/talents that improve that) then he will keep them there.

Imo this strategy is so effective that it's one of the number one things I'd recommend to a new or veteran player alike to have an easier time with combat.

[dgray62]

It may be that Aloth had a spell that must be cast in melee, like Shocking Grasp, and the AI was making him approach mobs to cast it. If so, you might want to remove spells like that from his AI, and then equip him with a wand or scepter and shield, so that he keeps his distance.