Ahhh I never played the Legend! That's probably why it feels less recycled, but if this stuff was in The Legend, ugh.
I found the valkyrie/hero 'rage' skills somewhat useful and if tiered properly you can alternate usage fairly well. Again, since I never played The Legend, I don't know what I'm missing out on.
Yeah the rune mages are clearly broken which is what bugs me. How could they let something like that go into the release.