I would also chip in with above poster and echo that it's much that people don't understand the mechanics (they could/should be more clear, eg tooltip showing damage estimation instead of % weapon damage for instance - or show both). BUT also yes the whole extra gem on an offhand weapon is a big deal too.
All those e.g. 200% of weapon damage type skills go off just 1 weapon in your hand. Same skill might do 170k with 1hander, and 260k with a 2hander. A lot of classes have passive energy regeneration too... and it lasts a lot longer (or unlimitedly) with a slow 2hander allowing you to use higher damage attacks more often. It definitely depends on the class though, and yes 1-handers have many more useful legendary procs.
PS: crusader is a perfect example. People get very obsessed with getting darklights (ultra spammy and annoying), and even with 6set akhan they do occasionally run out of wrath and often slot at least one wrath generator (like provoke). and often they'll need to slot paragon points into 10% resource reduction. In their favor, 1-hand weapons generate life on hit faster.
On the other hand a slow 2hander (esp 1.0 weapons) may give you unlimited resources, even if you have some akhan downtime, to the point of allowing you to drop provoke for a damage talent... and drop the 10% resource reduction for area damage or life on hit. All of the cooldown abilties will also tick for more with the 2hander, such as consecrate, rays of heavens, falling sword, and firestarter. The one-hander attempts to make up for this by spamming the main attack to stack weaker firestarter faster.
Of course it generally comes down to your best available item.
I think the easiest solution is just give a 20% damage bonus to the 2-handed weapon as long as nothing is equipped in the offhand slot, similar to the 15% attack speed bonus for dual wield.
This would have no impact on the Crusader passive, and it could also open the pathway for other choices. Allow Barbs to dual wield 2-Handers like the good old days, but without any bonuses kicking in for doing so (no bonus damage or 15% IAS). While the number is arbitrary, and certainly should be researched to find something perhaps more appropriate, I think this type of solution fits well with how things are currently handled.
The bonus should be able to compensate for reduced Crit Damage, fewer opportunities to proc due to slower speed, loss of mainstat gain compared to dual wield, less LPH, one less Legendary affix, slower Resource gain, etc. But I think a number could be found that at the very least would make them a compelling choice, at least for some players.
Honestly, I always felt double was too much. Gems should just have an extra listing for 2 handers. Set the value at about 150% That's what they do now for some stats. Other statsshould also scale to 150% (i.e. CDR) like base stats on weapons currently do.
Just add Bucklers that can be used in the off hand slot like what Demon Hunters have with Quivers. And they can only be used by Barbarians, which solves the Crusader issue. You can have +Str, +IAS, Socket, etc.. Since most of Might items are mighty crappy this would give us something else to look forward too.
So would making two handers generate more make them more viable. I think with a flat double generation rate they could make gearing choices a lot more difficult. For example; do I go for a big elemental damage boost to do more damage or do I go for a harder hitting faster generator that let's me use my spenders more often but ultimately for less damage per tick?
They kind of hit on this with Fury of the Vanished Peak and many people say that's the only two gander worth mentioning. It would make sense to me (lore wise and mechanics wise) that a bigger harder hitting weapon would yeild twice the benefit per swing.
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The crusader balance thing could be solved with the might passive making it reduce your overall damage by a certain percent.
No need to limit the crit dmg because monks, barbs and dh can dual weild 1handers with 260% CHD.
But yeah it does not seem that this is how Blizzard intends to solve this issue.
All those e.g. 200% of weapon damage type skills go off just 1 weapon in your hand. Same skill might do 170k with 1hander, and 260k with a 2hander. A lot of classes have passive energy regeneration too... and it lasts a lot longer (or unlimitedly) with a slow 2hander allowing you to use higher damage attacks more often. It definitely depends on the class though, and yes 1-handers have many more useful legendary procs.
PS: crusader is a perfect example. People get very obsessed with getting darklights (ultra spammy and annoying), and even with 6set akhan they do occasionally run out of wrath and often slot at least one wrath generator (like provoke). and often they'll need to slot paragon points into 10% resource reduction. In their favor, 1-hand weapons generate life on hit faster.
On the other hand a slow 2hander (esp 1.0 weapons) may give you unlimited resources, even if you have some akhan downtime, to the point of allowing you to drop provoke for a damage talent... and drop the 10% resource reduction for area damage or life on hit. All of the cooldown abilties will also tick for more with the 2hander, such as consecrate, rays of heavens, falling sword, and firestarter. The one-hander attempts to make up for this by spamming the main attack to stack weaker firestarter faster.
Of course it generally comes down to your best available item.
This would have no impact on the Crusader passive, and it could also open the pathway for other choices. Allow Barbs to dual wield 2-Handers like the good old days, but without any bonuses kicking in for doing so (no bonus damage or 15% IAS). While the number is arbitrary, and certainly should be researched to find something perhaps more appropriate, I think this type of solution fits well with how things are currently handled.
The bonus should be able to compensate for reduced Crit Damage, fewer opportunities to proc due to slower speed, loss of mainstat gain compared to dual wield, less LPH, one less Legendary affix, slower Resource gain, etc. But I think a number could be found that at the very least would make them a compelling choice, at least for some players.
They kind of hit on this with Fury of the Vanished Peak and many people say that's the only two gander worth mentioning. It would make sense to me (lore wise and mechanics wise) that a bigger harder hitting weapon would yeild twice the benefit per swing.