Maybe not, but then at least offer it as the second option.
Make all skills available at lvl 2 (or 3, whatever it is).
And of course, do have the option to use a default attack! Are we certain the game does not allow that? Even D3 does. It just isn’t useful. Which if of course should be.
I think they mentioned somewhere that there is a default attack but not always based on your weapon (e.g. Sorc will cast some spell and is not hitting with the weapon).
Still, even if Default attack is a stupid version of default attack, it would nonetheless be a default attack. Which means it would work (if not necessarily work well) to pick a non-dmg skill as your first skill.
Assuming you’re talking about the blog where they were showing the sorceress attack speed difference between the wand and staff, that was a skill she was using rather than a default attack (sadly).
As for the question itself, we’ll likely have to wait until the open beta.
I can’t remember where I read or heared this. So maybe I’m wrong.
No matter if the game has a default attack, and the answer appears to be no… (or close enough to not matter), it wouldn’t really change much here. Okay, you MUST choose an attack/dmg skill as your first skill; so all dmg dealing skills are available as the first skill choice. And as your second skill choice all skills are available.
*note, something like a Reflect dmg aura, would also be a dmging skill in this context.
Agreed. I see why the “skill progression” is useful for new players as a tutorial, it will be limiting when you have played the game a lot.
Does anyone know if you can remove all skill points from a previous cluster as soon as you have unlocked the next cluster?
For new players we can just have the, uh, “beloved” “non-elective mode” like in D3. Just make sure to ask the player about it first, and not confuse them like D3 did. Too many people got a bad first impression (as deserved as that might have been) on that game because it seemed like you could not pick multiple skills from the same category.
Interesting question, I sure assumed it would work as a prerequisite. That kinda is the concept of a skill tree. But interesting if it does not!
Normal = all in that case ?
Imo there sure is a huge difference between a basic skill and a powerful CD-based attack.
Now a player that takes Rupture for instance would wait to deal decent damage once every 15 secondes. I can’t imagine someone wanting that. But well, as long as respec cost is low, why not ?
They’re not because some have CD, some cost resource and some are free. Skill design.
Ranks for a skill are a very good thing to create this feeling for a few levels but they won’t last 25 levels.
It would be nice if modifiers had level requirements, but I still like this idea of unlocking more skills during leveling instead of being submerged by 23 options right at the begining of the game and nothing new after that.
According to Maxroll, Renown Tiers provide XP and gold too. Maybe this was changed before/after the beta.
I can support Osiris’ claim, there IS a weapon default attack ^^ according to the press tests. And I think it is based on weapon type, I saw a dual axe Barbarian at the very begining of the game.
There is, but not in the context of being able to kill enemies.
Indeed. Dont stop anyone from waiting 15 sec between dealing dmg, if that is what they want.
Respec isnt even needed for this, as the skill should of course clearly state that it has a 15 second cooldown.
Heck, for the “first play” experience, the game could even popup a warning asking if you are really really certain you want to pick a cooldown skill as your first skill.
Well, you are the one that said they were stronger? Which is what I replied to.
Maxroll also heavily implies that things are stronger further into the tree:
23 points: Ultimate Cluster. Here you get your Ultimate skill with its upgrades and more passives. Ultimate skills are extremely powerful skills with very long (45s+) cooldowns. Unlike all other skills, you can only have one Ultimate.
33 points: The final cluster only has several big passives. These passives are a lot stronger than all the others, but similar to Ultimate skills you can only pick one.
But I sure hope they are not.
I dont see any reason they would not be able to. Even in a game like D2, adding points to skill ranks could last quite a few lvls.
When you are doing your 10th, or 100th sorceress, it just seems unlikely you will be submerged by options.
That is at least something 
Hopefully it survives Blizzards dumbing down process until release 
This also means that it could work to pick a utility skill as your first skill.
look at this footage here it looks like a normal attack
I’m under nda, so I can’t confirm nor deny anything that could be found strictly within the beta (at least not until maybe the open beta or the game’s launch). So I’ll say nothing more on that.
well rhykker was able to freely talk about everything he did and show the second hand footage xD
I know very little about Rhykker, but I believe he revealed the reason for that early in the video.
By “stronger” I meant they do more damage at once, so the attack itself is stronger. Which is part of the progression feeling. Of course this is mitigated by CD.
I suppose this is what Maxroll means too, or this would be a problem indeed. ^^ Though Ultimate Talents probably are more powerful indeed since they require only one point and their numbers are quite high.
Because you have already spent them of course. ^^ 5 ranks per skill + 2 modifiers don’t last 25 levels.
Pretty sure I won’t make 10 rerolls of the same class. ^^
As for default weapon attack, they added this recently instead of the arbitrary Basic skill they used to start the game with, mainly because players tended to stick with it instead of trying other skills. So I doubt they will change back again.
I hope you are right. But the concept of an Ultimate skill in gaming generally is that it is supposed to be stronger, so I sadly dont think it will be like that.
Could easily make it 10 or 20 ranks, or make it so you cant just max the skill at lvl 5 (or 20 if the ranking was increased).
And yeah, that too
Change that to 20+ modifiers, and it would be a decent start.
Maybe not, but many people who play seasons likely will.
And likely also quite a few who dont play seasons.
I sure have made way more than 10 of multiple classes in D2 over the years. Despite not even playing D2 that much.
That is very positive at least. Default attacks should be based on the weapon used.
With the risk to make numbers huge at rank 20, or have very insignificant rank upgrade.
Ranks could be gated by char levels, like in TL2, but that won’t replace the feeling of unlocking a new skill category.
Yeah… well 20 is a lot, but 10 definitely seems possible. It would also open builds if there were a modifier for each type of build (Vulnerable, Bleeding, Berserk etc.) instead of dedicated skills for just one or two playstyles. 
I’ll play seasons too but that’s once every 3 months, and there’s 5 classes, plus those they will add later.
If some small indie team can handle it, Blizzard sure should be able to.
23 modifiers or so?
https://lastepoch.com/_nuxt/img/skill-tree.826d59d.jpg
You can likely make more than 1 character per season too.
Also, while I am one of those people who tend to switch between playing all available classes in a game, lots and lots of people on this forum express how they pretty much only play one class ever.
In any case, when making your 3rd or 5th sorc, you likely also wouldn’t be overwhelmed anymore 