Thank you for playing and reviewing this latest version. I am very pleased knowing that you are enjoying playing through a second time all the way through. Visuals are by far my weakest aspect, and I will take all your suggestions into consideration.
To address your points:
You are right that it's a pain to decide on a build, only to not get the appropriate gear for it. While the Goblin was a good starting point, I'm looking into adding more player agency when it comes to gear and other character deciding aspects. It is certainly something I would like to improve upon for the next build.
The harshness of the heal/manaheal spells will see some rebalance, but the way I would like them to be used is as a last resort mechanic, for when the player is in a tough spot and is low (or out of) potions. I've noticed many players who do not have experience with this genre of games would get stuck and run out of potions, while others will have full inventories of just potions! It's a design battle to give players some sort of bail out in case things get tricky, while experienced players can't abuse them to steamroll through everything. Regardless, I will try all approaches and see what sticks.
Again, thanks for dedicating the time to play and review this version. Hoping your project is also going well - it's about time for me to give the colony another go!