Ugh, I finally caved and bought the Openclaw base game because I have a week off work starting tomorrow and I really want to dive deep into a new MMO. Problem is, I am already totally indecisive about my build. I have been staring at the skill tree for like two hours tonight and I am struggling to map out my early leveling path. I am torn between putting everything into the Kinetic Surge path for pure DPS or focusing on the Aegis Shield node to help with survivability, though I am also semi-considering going full utility with the Data Siphon if that helps mid-level grind. Honestly, I only have about 30 bucks left in my hobby budget this month so I cant afford to waste points and have to pay for a respec later. I am playing from my cramped desk setup in Seattle and just want to get through the main quest line before my vacation ends on Sunday. If you had to pick one path for a solo player just starting, what should I actually prioritize so I dont end up bricking my character halfway through?
Just catching up on this thread. If you are soloing the main quest, you really need to look at the Kinetic Surge path, specifically the crit multipliers. Forget utility trees for now, they just slow your clear speed too much. Be careful with your point allocation though, as the early scaling on the Surge tree is deceptive. You might want to consider dumping your points into the first three nodes of Kinetic Surge because the raw damage increase saves you more time than passive survival ever will. Also, make sure you are running a decent sensor config for your latency, maybe check out a Logitech G Pro X Superlight 25K DPI Sensor to keep your tracking tight during those boss encounters. Dont overthink the respec cost yet, just push for DPS and you will clear the content before Sunday easy.
Honestly, skip the utility trees for now. If you want to finish the main quest by Sunday, you need to stay alive without burning through all your healing items. I would suggest putting your first fifteen points straight into the Aegis Shield node. It makes soloing way less stressful when you inevitably pull too many mobs at once. Dealing damage is nice, but if you keep dying, your progress is gonna crawl. Just make sure you pick up some decent gear along the way, like maybe pairing it with the Logitech G502 HERO High Performance Wired Gaming Mouse so you can actually hit your cooldowns reliably. You really dont want to have to respec later, so prioritize defense first and worry about your dps spikes once you have a solid health pool. Good luck with the grind.
Adding my two cents here, you might want to consider the Overclocked Frequency path instead of dumping everything into raw damage or defense. If you are soloing, that node actually scales your base stats based on how much uptime your cooldowns have, which is basically free power. Honestly, relying on just one tree makes leveling feel like a slog since you end up hitting a wall when mobs get tankier around level 20. Here is how I would split those points to avoid needing a respec before Sunday: