I'm aware it isn't Skyrim (A game I didn't enjoy, btw).

However, when the game itself offers you multiple paths (psy/hacker/marine) with further perks/specialities within the classes and the game at large, and then the game is infinitely more challenging on some of those paths, that is a design flaw that impacts how fun the game is. It's pretty clear that Marine=warrior, psy=mage, hacker=thief/rogue or whatever. However, where the game fails is that each of those paths does not offer a remotely comparable gaming experience. The game isn't balanced around class choice. It's clear that there is a definitive "best" path. While this might be fun for people who REALLY like the game and have played it through numerous times, this is terrible design for new players who don't want to spoil the experience by reading up on how to best design the character/choose skills/spend modules.

I didn't read up on what "the best" strategy was for playing the game. I chose my character based on what sounded fun, and I was punished for this decision with an incredibly hard SS2 experience. Reloading the game dozens of times, lowering the difficulty setting, and then finding out that, yes, you are really expected to run around bashing enemies/monkeys/robots with a WRENCH was something that isn't apparent if you don't come in with prior knowledge of the game.

I've just never played a game that offers character classes and then doesn't offer an equal gameplay experience for the character classes it offers. It's not balanced and that's poor game design that affected my enjoyment of the game.

Well to be fair you really should have expected to do that in a game where you need to conserve ammo as much as possible :P

But if you choose Marine, and you haven't read anything about how to play the game, this isn't obvious. If I'm a solider there is an assumption that weapons are going to be a part of the deal. Needing repair to fix the terrible quality weapons early in the game is also an issue that player's aren't prepared for.

Also, using the wrench the way you have to use it really breaks the immersion of the game. Killing multiple hybrids with shotguns/giant robots with a wrench is just not realistic. It didn't really even make sense to do that until I started reading support forums after dying so much. It's just not intuitive that a wrench is the best option for fighting massive robots/hybrids enemies that have depopulated the entire ship, but for some reason the player character can kill dozens of them with only a wrench.

unless you went for something really crazy (like energy weapons only + no hacking), I don't really see how the game could punish you hard. as long as you keep the pistol+wrench, and be smart with your attacks just a little bit, you shouldn't have any major problems.

it's like that guy complaining about the game being hard and stupid, and then it turned out he was trying to fight off the camera alarms - that being the only thing you are NOT supposed to do (you can run away, hide, turn the alarm off, or not trigger it in the first place). he changed his approach and voila, an enjoyable game experience.

but I do agree that some weapons/paths are overpowered/unbalanced, something we will tweak in the next ADaoB release (I think I should start to use the new name - SCP, the Shock Community Patch).

And to be fair you don't really have to do that at all, for the most part it suffices to kill the early meele hybrids using the wrench and not waste weapon quality / ammo on them. And before you say that it doesn't make sense for a marine to do so when he's got a working gun, I think once the marine figures out he can kill the meele hybrids quite easily without wasting ammo, he would do so, as he possesses common sense (and an endless well of stamina apparently)
Are you? Awesome! Looking glass should hir... Oh wait, nevermind.

You don't have to use the wrench forever. But the first time you come across the better crystal shard, Shodan tells you you will need it, and that you should upgrade to first level of exotic.

Honestly I conserved ammo on lowly hybrids by using melee, and only saved ammo for the larger hybrids. I had more than enough extra ammo by the end.

To be honest, I enjoyed the game very much, but only up to the final boss. The last fight is poorly designed and punishes melee players severely. I was doing well conserving ammo throughout the entire game. But the final battle inside the Many depleted all my ammo. I started the final level with nothing but the wrench and the crystal shard. I searched the area thorougly, but there wasn't a single bullet to be found, only some hypos. The final boss turned out to be invulnerable to melee weapons (I'm not sure about the rapier, as I didn't have it). I had to consult the walkthrough to learn that there are a few ammo clips at the top of that spiral "staircase", but only if you're fast enough. It was easy after that.