Anyone currently or planning to playtest Artificer/Barb?

[Rechan]

[sblock=On the topic of what we'd like to play]
Rogue (I want to be both Riddick, and Michael Weston/Jason Bourne)
SwordMage, Warlock, Barbarian, Cleric (I do so dig the devoted cleric)
Paladin, Wizard, Warlord (doubly so if we can get a back-of-the-line warlord)
Fighter
Ranger

Ranked in importance. But really the only I'd not be exquisite about playing is the ranger, for some reason, but I'd still be up to running it were it my only option.

I think the Warlock is the most fun, from a roleplaying perspective. I love the idea of a librarian dragonborn starpack, affable or jovial about the DOOM that is coming, or the same character, but overly dramatic, like Dr Orpheus. A Warforged warlock, whose creat had the deal, and passed it on to the warforged ala "endentured servitude", or who 'programmed' the WF as a vessel for the devil. Even a Feylock who is played like a REAL fey ("Sure, I will give you my healing potion. In exchange for your first born.").

But the munchkin in me chants "Bugbear Rogue! Dwarven or Half-Elf Lock! Warforged or Minotaur Barbarian! Warforged or Genasi Swordmage!"

And mechanically, I'd love to play around with a tiefling paladin or warlord, for the sole purpose of tricking out Infernal Wrath, or a Dragonborn Infernal Lock (for the tricked out breath and massive HP). Not to mention some Eladrin spear-wielding melee guy.

Ahem. Like I said, never get to play. [/sblock]

 

[dystmesis]

I'm currently making a half-elf warlord with a barbarian power for the dilettante ability

 

[Plane Sailing]

Not me. I really don't like what I see of the barbarian here. Too much Slaine, not enough Conan for my liking.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'm trying to talk someone who is going to be guesting in my campaign into playing a Barbarian. So far, he's not biting.

I'll keep trying.

 

[Timeboxer]

Yes, I played an Artificer in a few sessions -- she's a Warforged Artificer from 3.5 that I recreated as a 4E Artificer, but I eventually ended up changing her into a 4E Swordmage because the 4E Artificer didn't fit the feel I envisioned. In 3.5, she was basically a high-preparation self-buffing Scary Tank of Doom, and her main weapon was a Battlefist; unfortunately this didn't fit the all-ranged feel of the Artificer.

That said, if you want to play a leader with some controllerish qualities, the Artificer is a lot of fun. My favorite power: probably the utility power that lets you create a staircase in the middle of combat, suitable for reaching just-out-of-reach dragons.

 

[ppaladin123]

The artificer is definitely my next character class. I love the idea of placing pouches filled with reagents in a sling and hurling them at enemies. I also love that it is a leader and a skill-monkey rolled into one. I'll be taking jack of all trades, linguist, the alchemy feat, and skill training in religion to round out my knowledge. I also think that blood mage fits as a thematically appropriate and mechanically powerful paragon path....add blood to your admixtures to increase their potency...neat.

 

[Shroomy]

I'm currently playing an eladrin artificer (multi-classed with thief, both for the concept and because they didn't release any artificer specific paragon paths in the playtest article). Overall, I enjoy my class and I'm playing it at written in Dragon 365. That said, anyone interested in how the class is changing should go over to the Dragon/Dungeon Article discussion thread over on the WotC board and check out Logan Bonner's comments (healing is going to be changing, looks like the ranged power restriction is going to be mitigated, etc).

Currently, there are only three players in our campaign (a dragonborn fighter and human star pact warlock), so some of my experiences are unique to my situation. But here are some comments:

1. The artificer healing infusion has kept up very well with our needs. However, I've never used the restorative infusion to gain temp hit points (too few for those precious surges).

2. It sucks not having any melee attack powers.

3. The buffing is nice and I especially get use out of my thundering armor at-will.

4. I have to switch between my crossbow, wand, and sword constantly. It can be a pain.

5. Arcane Springboard is not a very useful daily utility power. It basically gives you a free +2 bonus to your speed, which is not very evocative of jumping. I think it needs to be changed to a shift or somehow work with Athletics.

6. Caustic Ramparts is pretty cool; its nice having a wall ability at 1st level. However, it needs to be changed so that anyone passing through it takes damage (we house ruled that).

7. I really can't do a lot of damage, even with an 18 Int, which is problematic in our part due to our low DPS.

 

[DerekSTheRed]

I've been playing an artificer in LFR and I've been enjoying it (just got to 3rd last session). My only complaint is restorative infusion which I've had other players ask me not to use. They would rather use their healing surges for real healing. I think it would be better if the artificer had to use one of his surges to give everyone in the burst temp hit points.

The weapon based artificer encounter powers are awfully good. You get a burst 1 that targets a non-ac defense and has the weapon keyword so you get your weapon prof bonus. On top of that they will buff your teammates in someway. Comparing the artificer to the bard is pretty accurate in terms of reminding your team mates about your buffs.

I like the class so far but I'm worried that a weapon based artificer won't be able to multiclass well unless you did a lot of switching between implement and weapon. An implement artificer could go warlock, wizard or even swordmage and not worry about switching. Also, consider a swordmage who multiclassed into an artificer. All the artificer powers would work very well as swordmage powers, but the same isn't necessarily true going the other way. (I don't see many artificers using melee weapons).

 

[Shroomy]

I've been playing an artificer in LFR and I've been enjoying it (just got to 3rd last session). My only complaint is restorative infusion which I've had other players ask me not to use. They would rather use their healing surges for real healing. I think it would be better if the artificer had to use one of his surges to give everyone in the burst temp hit points.

The weapon based artificer encounter powers are awfully good. You get a burst 1 that targets a non-ac defense and has the weapon keyword so you get your weapon prof bonus. On top of that they will buff your teammates in someway. Comparing the artificer to the bard is pretty accurate in terms of reminding your team mates about your buffs.

I like the class so far but I'm worried that a weapon based artificer won't be able to multiclass well unless you did a lot of switching between implement and weapon. An implement artificer could go warlock, wizard or even swordmage and not worry about switching. Also, consider a swordmage who multiclassed into an artificer. All the artificer powers would work very well as swordmage powers, but the same isn't necessarily true going the other way. (I don't see many artificers using melee weapons).

Yeah, the burst powers that target alternate defenses are good, I forgot about them. That said, based on what's been said over on the WotC boards, the healing infusions are getting a major overhaul and some of the weapon-based powers are losing their ranged only description.

 

[Shroomy]

I posted this to the wrong thread.