Hey there, devs! I have been playing a lot of this game so far (since i love deckbuilding games and dice rolling games) and I must say that so far this game has been quite the blast! So many mechanics are introduced and mixed together to make the most builds possible with such a simple premise and ruleset and some very elegant answers were found to make the game very snappy and fun. for example the issue that you cannot customize 4 dice as you can customize a deck of cards and the whole game being made around this issue by making games quicker and giving you a literal stream of potential upgrades to your dice. It does make the game more "mobile-y" and less full-fledged like slay the spire and its ilk but since it is fashioned around board games in a vein similar to One Deck Dungeon. 

I do think some things could have been done differently to make it more rpg-y such as events and other out-of-combat things but you would lose from the hyper-distilled gameplay you have so far of picking a handful of relics, a class, buying shit and busting heads until the death of you or the boss ensues. After all, Card Quest is very similar in that it is a continuous beatdown extravaganza though this one does include different paths you can take with different but similarly themed enemies.  You dont know their special abilities but you can see things like their health, armor and position and such allowing you to make a call on which batch of assholes you think you can take on better. I make the comparison since its structure of picking a theme beforehand and then going into smackdown central until death ensues is similar. Also like card quest this feels like a game where the complexity and fun comes from the variety and complexity of enemies you have to face being wrangled by the RNG of what you have at your disposal.

As for criticisms I think the bag of gold is an item that feels almost essential to have equipped no matter what as it is one of the only way of getting a constant, predictable stream of economy going in order to upgrade dice which can be very difficult sometimes with only two faces with coins on them. This is greatly alleviated by phantom coins and Link spam but i think the problem is not that its too good, but maybe that its too essential atm im not certain. 

Also it kind of feels like the elementalist is a bit weak. His whole shtick is that he's the active ability guy however since they are all in limited quantities it feels really bad to have to rely on them. Unlike with every other mechanic there is no way of increasing the amount of active skills using dice (except with very specific captures) Which makes him really not super fun. I havent had great runs with him but i think the problem is less that he's weak but more that since he's all about spamming limited ressources he's not great feeling. Elemental attacks are cool but im not certain it really fixes it in all honesty. 

Overall great work you guys and keep up the good work! Hope the game just keeps improving! 

Heyhey! Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment! You've pretty much hit a lot of the points that has been subject to a lot of thought and compromises, so as you said - the RPG elements are severely toned down in favour of a more rapid focused experience that mainly focuses around the core dice mechanics. Also, there's certainly always some kinks that need ironing out. In any case, I hope you keep experimenting with different relic builds - some of them alleviate some of the difficult parts you brought up (which are all completely valid - some classes are less suited for some situations, and some just feel less fun/rewarding than others depending on your playstyle). It's been a constant issue of giving classes power, without making them overpowered with the right relic combinations - and given the possible combinations that's been quite a challenge :). A class that felt weak with some combos, often turned out to be absolutely broken with others. So, in some cases I am sure some classes just feel downright worse - but we've tried to minimize those situations as much as possible.

Regarding the elementalist - if you want some spoilers: tethermage's helm and tome of wisdom can be pretty potent and carry you through most scenarios. Not to mention some of the end-game things (Wand of Inspiration) that keep refreshing abilities and gives you more longevity for longer scenarios (or Chaos Realm) :). That allows you to almost exclusively focus on gems, gold, and shields too so it has the benefit of stream-lining the dice a bit.

Money generation is also something that can be played around with in various builds (Necro has the sacrificial ritual, Chest Plate gives more chest reliability, Tithing and similar abilities - while semi-randomly accessed - gives lots of cash, Tethermage's Helm gives you protection so you can just "hide" and focus on gold, and some classes in general need to focus less on shields/gems so they can focus more on gold faces, etc.). Another way to alleviate it a bit is to actually stall out some waves to make use of more turns (increasing your opportunities to stack up on resources and pick up more gold upgrades as the store keeps getting renewed), and proactively use stun or defensive abilities to focus on coins rather than worrying about attacking.

But again - if those styles and strategies don't feel good, they just don't feel good. So your mileage may certainly vary!