Here we go:
Ultimately, I think 2.0 is vastly superior to 1.3, though it lacks 1.3's polish. I genuinely believe that once playtesting is completed, a completely independent group of Marshals are allowed to comb through the compiled book for discussion and forward concerns to ARC for editing. The RAW needs to reflect the RAI as much as possible, and I believe leveraging experienced Marshals is the most advantageous way of ensuring that the finished product is as high-quality as our players deserve.
I did a 10-column/5 Formal caster for this event (341 build). I originally wasn't going to get Enhanced Meditate 3, but man am I glad I shelled out for it. I memorized 1 Cure/Cause spell per level above 3rd for Counterspell (I had Flex Casting, but I suspect that Counterspell wouldn't work with FC). I really liked the Meditate and Enhanced Meditate skills, though the pacing of the event was pretty quick. If I had more downtime on the regular, I'd feel like EM 3 would be wasted build.
Flex Casting was pretty dope, because I specifically did not memorize as a healer. Being able to Swap to a Lesser Earth Storm or Earth Storm to heal fighters (or even my mod group) felt really good.
I did not memorize more than 4 Life spells (1 locked away for Rebirth). That felt good for the event, but I also did not see any Doom spells thrown. In 1.3, I see plenty of Death spells thrown. Ergo, while we felt like we had enough Life spells to cover those who died, I suspect that this was actually coincidence and not because 2.0 is better. Plenty of people stored Friday mem'd Life spells into Saturday in order to have more available. I suspect this will be highly common. The Life mechanic is going to be problematic.
Channeling - I bought one pick of Channel, and I used 10 points for the first Logistics period and never used it the second. I'd probably still buy a pick for live play, but it's a waste beyond a single purchase, regardless of how useful the Elemental qualifier is. This playtest seemed to confirm that spell defenses aren't so numerous as to spend significant build on insufficient volume. The fact that it provides multiple packets is great and all, but the value of that is mostly gone the moment you can memorize a Storm spell. Once you can Augment and/or Potency that Storm, the value of Channeling no longer exists, outside of as an NPC ability.
"Block": I like it. I much prefer Spell/Poison/etc Block over Resist <whatever>. Against lower level characters, it needs to be carefully statted, but against higher-level characters, it gives a purpose for niche spells (burning dem Blocks!) while allowing us to still enjoy our more potent follow-ups, which usually just hit Resists in 1.3. I did fight a Big Bad that had numerous Resists, and THAAAT sucked...but that was the exception, not the rule, and I’m okay with Big Bosses not dying hella fast.
Doom- I really liked it. It feels like a 9th level spell. Which leads me to
Paralysis- Still useless against most monsters. Since Cleanse is a low-level thing, now, I’d like to backpeddle on my earlier stance and recommend that Paralysis gets the Doom treatment. It’s competing with Purify and I think it’s losing pretty handily. I dropped Paralysis except for 1 to feed Counterspell on Saturday night and swapped to Purify. I considered up-memming Destruction until I remembered we were going to be fighting a ton of Undead. Without that knowledge, I would have gone Destruction or Confines. If I’m choosing 7ths over Paralysis, I think that warrants a concern.
Slow/Repel: These need to be non-rippable. Otherwise, they’re less useful than Pin. Alternatively, make them 1st level spells, because that aligns them with their degree of power.
Slayers/Reavers: These need to go away and stay gone. There’s no reason to keep them and we don’t need to invent new effects at this stage of implementation.
Natural Armor on NPCs - Solid! Also, as a minion skeleton with 10/10 Body/NA, it was cool to just drop to the ground and roleplay “fixing my bones” in front of PCs. They immediately were confused and it was fun. I think strategic NPCs will use refitting NA as a way to sustain their presence without need for respawns, and I love that.
Defenses deleting: I actually hate this. Production is getting a serious bump in power and I worry that getting rid of these is going to make the IG economy tooo expensive for people. I don’t think carryover defenses really bloat anything, so I’m not a big fan of getting rid of them. Plus, it gives people with the funds to Gobbie pre-casts an edge that feels....unfair to those without. As a staff member, I can afford this, but I also know that plenty can’t.
Spell Stores deleting: No issues here with it.
Damage: Felt good!
Trap Avoidance: I hate it. It has no requirements and gives player a cheap out to avoid traps, which take a fair amount of resources and effort to set up. I think it needs to require an expended Dodge to keep it Stealth-focused.