ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Or is it hard to understand, or has only one single specific build that works? what's wrong with it?

Yesterday I was trying to make one, and damn it was frustrating. I was theorycrafting a build that I thought would be amazing but, turned out completely unsucessful It was more than 3 in a row... but these are the ones that got into my profile, I had to delete them all after out of shame... so much red...
but anyways... the thing is... it was so frustrating, and I loved the concept and was sad I just keep dying at the level one zone... 3 times at actually lvl 1.
And I came for help at the forums on how to actually play it, and all I saw was how he was badly designed. But my question here is not how poorly designed it is, or simply cookiecutter guides... which I don't find very informative.
As I love the concept so much I'm willing to let bad design slide. My question is... Is it just to weak to be worth playing? Or does it scale well later?

Dying at level 1 repeatedly isn't a problem with the class, sorry to say. Yes wyrmic has problem but they don't have the worst early by far and everyone can go through trollmire at level 1.
Maybe you have issue with dwarf start? Then try another race. If you don't want to play another race, just let your dwarf buddy do everything. Inscribe the insc that starts in your inventory. Use your inscs.
Don't rush toward the archers, go behind a corner, they'll come. Hide behind your friend. Again, use your inscs (inscriptions are one of the major things new player don't realise are important).
Take a stun at level 1, it will reduce the damage you take. Swallow hits like a truck and gives regen on kill. Wing buffet gives some more accuracy (useful very early) and knockback lets you run more easily.

Wyrmic has some pretty insane weapon talents so you can deal good damage with them later on. They've also got some very useful utility abilities, which sort of compensates for their near-absolute lack of defense. They're by no means top tier but they can hold their own, especially on lower difficulties.

Super early though vitriolic spray is quite helpful. I wouldn't permanently invest more then one point in it though.

And yeah the dwarf start is somewhat harder then usual. I'd play halfling instead.

I'm now playing ogre berserker with your guide tho, realized maybe wirmyc isn't really for me. and having the inscription talents makes me more conscius about using inscriptions. Got the furthest I've gone in over 3 years of going in and out of the game cause I kept dying ridiculously early, or frustatingly late but never finishing.
Hope to at least unlock something cool in this run :'3