Could you help describe each class' playstyle? I'm not asking which class is best. I'm not asking to describe the stated "goal" of how each class plays. Rather, what does each class FEEL like to play?
I'm trying to decide which class would fit me best without having to level them all to 70, research best specs, and then play for 5+ hours on each to get a feel for how they play. Your descriptions would do a great job of pointing me in the right direction.
For example, a recent thread called the Wizard class a "cowardly pyromancer that kills exclusively off-screen". That kind of gives me a good feel of what the playstyle is like, though I'd like a little more concrete ideas. "Class necessitates 100% ranged attacking. Class is locked into fire element for build purposes. Can never get hit."
As another example, watching some monk videos - it appears that they can move quickly but are gated by mobility cooldowns. Furthermore, the diversity in their skills doesn't look amazing because it seems they need to take several necessary ones.
Yet another example would be the DH - looks like a lot of their gameplay is spent around Hatred management.
Anyway, feel free to expand on all of the classes! Your help would be huge!
Dude, awesome reply! You did a great job describing the feel of the DH playstyle right now. Thank you.
I have about 400 hours played (when D3 first released) so I don't need the run down on how hatred/discipline works. But an update on how much the item sets affect playstyle was really helpful.
What's weird is that it seems like item set bonuses can drastically change your playstyle. Making the most optimal build be something that doesn't feel like a class you would want to play. This seems really critical to game design. The classes instead could be "item set bonus" playstyles instead of governed by class playstyles. Is that accurate?
I think it depends on the build that you are aiming at and eventually running, rather than the class itself. Sure, on wizard there's only one build (with some variations) but on other classes like the WD for an example, there are at least 2 viable builds that can get you over GR 40. One is the Jade doctor which is arguably the hardest build to play in the game because you need to time your abilities in a way that you always use them efficiently, and if you fuck up it could mean that you just wasted a cooldown and would have to wait for a few seconds before you can do anything again. Then there's the Carnevil build which is totally different - kind of resembles the DH in playstyle but your sentries are mobile and shoot at the exact spot of where you are aiming. It also involves less resource management but more focus on positioning and knowing how to "play" with the fetishes in the right way.
On barb there's basically one end game build which is the FC barb (using the Raekor set). Raekor barbs move very rapidly and can clear rifts really fast. You will be basically jumping from pack to pack, watching everythign explode infront of you or die from dots behind you. It's quite an easy playstyle but does require some accuracy with the charges. Raekor barb lacks single target damage though so it can take minutes to kill an RG over 40. Last night it took me 7 minutes to kill Perendi on GR 45 (with a few deaths mind you) but i still got the clear. It's just funny to spawn the RG after like 7 minutes and then fight him fro another 7 minutes. There is also the lightning ww build but that's really just for solo T6 and lower GR.
On crusaders there are a few viable builds; Condemn crusader, Stampede, Shotgun, and zdps. Condemn is awesome for T6 speed farming, stampede can be good for solo GR, Shotgun is kind of outdated but still works for t6 and mid gr, zdps is an awesome spec where you play a support crusader in groups for doing trials or greatier rifts.
Monk is at a good position at the moment where you can experiment with wave of light, cyclone strike and tempest rush. All viable specs in T6 but in solo GR you would probably only go for the WOL build with the lightning pillar rune. If you use Tzo krin's gaze you are like a ranged caster that only goes close to monsters when he wants to apply the exploding palm debuff. You can cast your pillars from afar and it really plays like some sort of a wizard imo just with awesome monk skills like dashing strike, exploding palm, mantras, etc... Without the Tzo krin you can go for the melee variation which is really nice imo. tempest rush monk is a very fast playstyle, you can run the "conduit build" and basically melt T6 solo while on the move. Cyclone strike is very useful for groups that want efficiency; the most noteable use of it atm is in groups running low level gr (~36) where the monk pulls everything for the barb to explode.
Even on demon hunters there is an alternative for Marauder's with a completely different playstyle that involves vaulting around like a maniac using the Danetta's set and casting rain of vengance on everything. It's a good change of pace from the standard M6 setup but it doesn't compete with it on high gr or antyhing, It's mainly for T6 and mainly for solo.
well as my fellow posters wrote earlier, Wizard really has only one build. But thats correct for the other classes too if you focus on min/maxing - there is always a best build.
The difference with wizard is, that you also only have one gear choice..
While DH and Monk e.g can make a good Marauders/SunWuko build around almost any elemental damage type (cold, fire, lightning, etc) Wizard can only do fire ...
Because the wizard set - firebird - requires you to do fire damage ..
This is greatly limiting your gear choices.
However there is still some variance there but its marginally small in comparison to other classes -> and even other classes dont have real build diversity (real meaning - they have different competing builds that also "FEEL" different)
ok, now the the feeling of a wizard.
Basically its kiting and running around in circles - depending on the map and mob density.
You cast blizard, hydra, blackwhole - a fire icon starts glowing above the mobs health bar indicating that the set bonus is active.
Once you have done that you take those mobs with you to engange more mobs and get more "fire icons" on all the mob heads..
Although the set bonus states the mobs burn until they die, they dont really do - because if you go to far away the dot will just stop.
This forces you to actually stay near the mobs - which results in a high skill cap for firebird players.
If you need to be near the mobs .. you need to dodge and generally stay alive.
So Wizard is all about balancing between "i wanna stay alive and i need to pull more mobs".
The nearer you get to the "limit" the more effective you are.
I find that kind of gameplay really appealing in higher grifts -> 43+ (solo of course)
but before that , its ultra boring.. because if you are not in danger you could potentially pull the complete rift.. But you cannot because the mobs stop following you when there are too many.. - because each mob needs space ...
In group play wizard is totally useless compared to other classes.. There are some niche builds, but they are still not comparable.
Because the 3000% weapon damage dot just scales badly.. really badly...
For example, a recent thread called the Wizard class a "cowardly pyromancer that kills exclusively off-screen".
That would be me
As a bit of background, I've played all classes on all levels - T6 farming, solo GRs (just completed solo GRs between 37-42 on all of them on the last day before the leaderboard reset), and high GRs in groups (55+ with Crusader/WD, 50+ with monk/DH, 45+ with barb/wiz). My main character in all RPGs ever was a wizard/mage/sorcerer, but the current wizard in D3 is just the opposite playstyle of what I personally like, which led me to make such a strong statement. Of course totally biased. Since Blizzard "butchered" my favorite class so much I'm basically switching all the time, though at the moment my favorite class in groups is the support WD. Anyways... I basically don't need to write anything because Jamoose described everything perfectly the way I would've done it.
There's only one thing to add; when choosing a class I'd ask you what your ambitions are. Basically all classes are fun and work on T6, they're all fun (though on different levels, subjectively :P) in solo GRs, and they're all okay in groups. But if you 1) want to play in groups a lot AND 2) want to climb the leaderboards, there are only three classes right now: DH (as damage source), WD (to stun all mobs), Crusader (to pull everything together). Keep in mind - if you don't care about group play and are fine with focusing on solo play OR if you are fine with staying a bit below the highest Greater Rift levels, all 6 classes are fine; but for GR55+ at least at the moment only those three classes are viable, unfortunately.
Could you help describe each class' playstyle? I'm not asking which class is best. I'm not asking to describe the stated "goal" of how each class plays. Rather, what does each class FEEL like to play?
I'm trying to decide which class would fit me best without having to level them all to 70, research best specs, and then play for 5+ hours on each to get a feel for how they play. Your descriptions would do a great job of pointing me in the right direction.
For example, a recent thread called the Wizard class a "cowardly pyromancer that kills exclusively off-screen". That kind of gives me a good feel of what the playstyle is like, though I'd like a little more concrete ideas. "Class necessitates 100% ranged attacking. Class is locked into fire element for build purposes. Can never get hit."
As another example, watching some monk videos - it appears that they can move quickly but are gated by mobility cooldowns. Furthermore, the diversity in their skills doesn't look amazing because it seems they need to take several necessary ones.
Yet another example would be the DH - looks like a lot of their gameplay is spent around Hatred management.
Anyway, feel free to expand on all of the classes! Your help would be huge!
I have about 400 hours played (when D3 first released) so I don't need the run down on how hatred/discipline works. But an update on how much the item sets affect playstyle was really helpful.
What's weird is that it seems like item set bonuses can drastically change your playstyle. Making the most optimal build be something that doesn't feel like a class you would want to play. This seems really critical to game design. The classes instead could be "item set bonus" playstyles instead of governed by class playstyles. Is that accurate?
On barb there's basically one end game build which is the FC barb (using the Raekor set). Raekor barbs move very rapidly and can clear rifts really fast. You will be basically jumping from pack to pack, watching everythign explode infront of you or die from dots behind you. It's quite an easy playstyle but does require some accuracy with the charges. Raekor barb lacks single target damage though so it can take minutes to kill an RG over 40. Last night it took me 7 minutes to kill Perendi on GR 45 (with a few deaths mind you) but i still got the clear. It's just funny to spawn the RG after like 7 minutes and then fight him fro another 7 minutes. There is also the lightning ww build but that's really just for solo T6 and lower GR.
On crusaders there are a few viable builds; Condemn crusader, Stampede, Shotgun, and zdps. Condemn is awesome for T6 speed farming, stampede can be good for solo GR, Shotgun is kind of outdated but still works for t6 and mid gr, zdps is an awesome spec where you play a support crusader in groups for doing trials or greatier rifts.
Monk is at a good position at the moment where you can experiment with wave of light, cyclone strike and tempest rush. All viable specs in T6 but in solo GR you would probably only go for the WOL build with the lightning pillar rune. If you use Tzo krin's gaze you are like a ranged caster that only goes close to monsters when he wants to apply the exploding palm debuff. You can cast your pillars from afar and it really plays like some sort of a wizard imo just with awesome monk skills like dashing strike, exploding palm, mantras, etc... Without the Tzo krin you can go for the melee variation which is really nice imo. tempest rush monk is a very fast playstyle, you can run the "conduit build" and basically melt T6 solo while on the move. Cyclone strike is very useful for groups that want efficiency; the most noteable use of it atm is in groups running low level gr (~36) where the monk pulls everything for the barb to explode.
Even on demon hunters there is an alternative for Marauder's with a completely different playstyle that involves vaulting around like a maniac using the Danetta's set and casting rain of vengance on everything. It's a good change of pace from the standard M6 setup but it doesn't compete with it on high gr or antyhing, It's mainly for T6 and mainly for solo.
well as my fellow posters wrote earlier, Wizard really has only one build. But thats correct for the other classes too if you focus on min/maxing - there is always a best build.
The difference with wizard is, that you also only have one gear choice..
While DH and Monk e.g can make a good Marauders/SunWuko build around almost any elemental damage type (cold, fire, lightning, etc) Wizard can only do fire ...
Because the wizard set - firebird - requires you to do fire damage ..
This is greatly limiting your gear choices.
However there is still some variance there but its marginally small in comparison to other classes -> and even other classes dont have real build diversity (real meaning - they have different competing builds that also "FEEL" different)
ok, now the the feeling of a wizard.
Basically its kiting and running around in circles - depending on the map and mob density.
You cast blizard, hydra, blackwhole - a fire icon starts glowing above the mobs health bar indicating that the set bonus is active.
Once you have done that you take those mobs with you to engange more mobs and get more "fire icons" on all the mob heads..
Although the set bonus states the mobs burn until they die, they dont really do - because if you go to far away the dot will just stop.
This forces you to actually stay near the mobs - which results in a high skill cap for firebird players.
If you need to be near the mobs .. you need to dodge and generally stay alive.
So Wizard is all about balancing between "i wanna stay alive and i need to pull more mobs".
The nearer you get to the "limit" the more effective you are.
I find that kind of gameplay really appealing in higher grifts -> 43+ (solo of course)
but before that , its ultra boring.. because if you are not in danger you could potentially pull the complete rift.. But you cannot because the mobs stop following you when there are too many.. - because each mob needs space ...
In group play wizard is totally useless compared to other classes.. There are some niche builds, but they are still not comparable.
Because the 3000% weapon damage dot just scales badly.. really badly...
As a bit of background, I've played all classes on all levels - T6 farming, solo GRs (just completed solo GRs between 37-42 on all of them on the last day before the leaderboard reset), and high GRs in groups (55+ with Crusader/WD, 50+ with monk/DH, 45+ with barb/wiz). My main character in all RPGs ever was a wizard/mage/sorcerer, but the current wizard in D3 is just the opposite playstyle of what I personally like, which led me to make such a strong statement. Of course totally biased. Since Blizzard "butchered" my favorite class so much I'm basically switching all the time, though at the moment my favorite class in groups is the support WD. Anyways... I basically don't need to write anything because Jamoose described everything perfectly the way I would've done it.
There's only one thing to add; when choosing a class I'd ask you what your ambitions are. Basically all classes are fun and work on T6, they're all fun (though on different levels, subjectively :P) in solo GRs, and they're all okay in groups. But if you 1) want to play in groups a lot AND 2) want to climb the leaderboards, there are only three classes right now: DH (as damage source), WD (to stun all mobs), Crusader (to pull everything together). Keep in mind - if you don't care about group play and are fine with focusing on solo play OR if you are fine with staying a bit below the highest Greater Rift levels, all 6 classes are fine; but for GR55+ at least at the moment only those three classes are viable, unfortunately.