I was surprised recently to see a thread where shapeshifter was rated as one of the 3 worst classes in the game, right alongside wizard slayer and beastmaster. I then looked back over some archived threads, and I saw that this is actually a widely-held opinion.
I've meddled around with shapeshifter characters a bit, but I've never done an earnest playthrough. Still, I don't see what jumps out as being so terrible about them, unlike beastmaster or wizard slayer. I know that they can't wear armor, but that just means that the character (when not in werewolf form) needs to be treated with the same care as a typical mage. When in werewolf form (which they can maintain for an indefinite amount of time), they seem to be a surprisingly handy tank, or at least a flanker, especially in BG1. It seems to me that a werewolf is one of the very best shapeshifting forms available to a druid, perhaps rivaled only by the avenger's spider form, and (unlike the other druid shapeshifts) is available from level 1 onward. It also seems to make a single class druid much more useful in the early stages of BG1, where they don't really have any powerful spells other than healing.
On the flipside, I have read a number of comments about the werewolf form being "bugged," but I couldn't quite understand what the issue there is.
So what am I missing here? What makes the shapeshifter considered so bad by so many people? And what are the supposedly "buggy" issues with the werewolf form, and is it still bugged?
I've meddled around with shapeshifter characters a bit, but I've never done an earnest playthrough. Still, I don't see what jumps out as being so terrible about them, unlike beastmaster or wizard slayer. I know that they can't wear armor, but that just means that the character (when not in werewolf form) needs to be treated with the same care as a typical mage. When in werewolf form (which they can maintain for an indefinite amount of time), they seem to be a surprisingly handy tank, or at least a flanker, especially in BG1. It seems to me that a werewolf is one of the very best shapeshifting forms available to a druid, perhaps rivaled only by the avenger's spider form, and (unlike the other druid shapeshifts) is available from level 1 onward. It also seems to make a single class druid much more useful in the early stages of BG1, where they don't really have any powerful spells other than healing.
On the flipside, I have read a number of comments about the werewolf form being "bugged," but I couldn't quite understand what the issue there is.
So what am I missing here? What makes the shapeshifter considered so bad by so many people? And what are the supposedly "buggy" issues with the werewolf form, and is it still bugged?