RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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I played through The Confirmation today with 3 other players, all of us were playing new ACG classes.
I was playing a Hunter, with a small cat animal companion. I enjoyed myself immensely. The Animal Focus ability didn't really come into play much--I ended up using it for the Stealth bonus to sneak up on a creature, but that creature didn't actually want to fight, so it ended up feeling like a waste.
Aside from that if felt pretty much like playing a Druid, although without 9-levels of spells to look forward to I was more willing to let my Wisdom slide during character creation to focus on Str/Con for melee fighting.
My dad played an Arcanist (Revised). He felt the arcane reservoir was a bit too small at 1st level (1 point). He otherwise felt a little underpowered, but I chalk that up to his lack of experience with arcane spellcasters, as he seemed to me to fare about as well as a level 1 wizard or sorcerer.
Our other two players were running a Warpriest and an Investigator. I'll let them share their own thoughts.
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Keeping this to just what I saw from my end of the table, ability-wise. The builds were flavorful but that doesn't affect playtest results, so I'll stick to mostly combat and a bit of their out-of-combat tricks.
Ben's dad, the arcanist, did better than he felt; I don't think he's played a wizard or sorcerer before, and your first time out pretty much always feels underwhelming. He got off a few magic missiles, including one augmented with his arcane reservoir, and the adventure provided a CL 3rd wand of burning hands that he was able to use on a team of undead to excellent effect. He played a smart spellslinger, kept the sturdy dudes between him and the baddies when able, and his knowledge skills definitely aided the otherwise low-brainpower group.
The dwarf investigator suffered in combat from a slew of low rolls, though a well-timed shield extract saved him from a potentially-felling minotaur axe. His skill with Perception definitely felt investigator-y, though the adventure in this playthrough lacked any traps to actually disable. All-in-all, he seemed like a less-offensive, more-defensive rogue, which is totally cool if that's your schtick. But I think a lot of combat-oriented folks will find the class lacking.
Ben's hunter and pet were a definite damage-dealing duo. The small cat's 3 attacks, high Dex, and Weapon Finesse pretty much guaranteed a hit every time, if not much damage, and the two were able to set up flanks rather well with both each other and the rest of the team. I felt bad about Ben's kick-butt Stealth check to sneak up on a non-agressive deaf oracle gillman, but if he'd been a baddie, he woulda been a goner.
The warpriest, run by our new VL Sarah, was deadly with her longspear, but I don't think she used any spell other than a bane whose save I made with a natural 18, and if she had other class features, I didn't notice. Felt like a combat-focused cleric build pulling off a rare two-hander thing I don't usually see in clerics, but if she'd been a regular cleric I don't think I would have seen a difference.
Overall, for an odd group with three 3/4 BAB characters, they fared well in melee combat beyond my expectations, were able to take down a mildly-softened-up CR 4 minotaur with only a few moments of heavy sweating, and were proficient in what you'd expect their classes to be good at (knowledge for the arcanist, perception/clue-finding for the investigator, survival skills for the hunter, and healing for the warpriest). But all in all, it didn't feel much different than if it'd been a combat-focused druid, a wizard, a combat-focused cleric, and a perceptive rogue to me.
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I played the war priest and greatly enjoyed the class. The class played a lot like a fighter with the bonus of being able to cast a couple spells. Due to splitting my point buy between wisdom, charisma, and strength, the Offensive spells seemed to suffer a bit with low dcs. I ran with a long spear as most of the party was front line. Overall i fun class to play. I do think the class would benefit by having the channel ability tied to wisdom instead of charisma so that there are not three stats to split between.