I don't see how that will make him OP. Just balance the stuff really.
Obviously if you put skill points in summons and range attacks/spells, none of them will be as strong as boosting only one of them.
So it will even out eventually.
I really cannot understand the reasoning behind that OP argument.
Blowdart as weapon = OP no matter how you spin it.
Rubbish. Lol. It's just a ranged weapon with faster speed and slower damage. It wasn't OP in Sacred II, even (most disbalanced game ever), and Diablo doesn't even rely on basic weapon damage that much, it's mostly skills, skills, skills, and mods items give you. In case of WD, most skills will not work with the blowpipe, so how is it even remotely OP? It's just something to accompany his dagger, something something that favors a long range build vs a more short range build (necros with poison daggers vs necros with wands if you want to go there).
Giving him a skill that makes him play like an amazon makes him OP simply because it allows him to do too much different things.
So WD using a bow somehow makes him an amazon? The pipe will merely be a placeholder that has potential for cool mods on uniques. Otherwise, it's like an orb - yeah, it deals damage but it's so minor it becomes irrelevant.
Having a blowdart that stuns or slows a single enemy, dealing no damage at all, as a skill instead of a weapon, is okay. In fact, it even fits his playing style, so I'm all for it.
If you ask me, a skill that generates a non-droppable non-usable weapon magically disappearing after use is really weird. I'd rather have a skill attached to the weapon. Such as, for instance, poison/stun effects on-weapon that have effect X if you use a melee weapon and effect X/2 if you use a ranged weapon.
Besides, the range attack that the WD has, Fireball, is a slow spell which is clunky and kinda hard to aim. Not like a missile that flies straight toward an enemy. The other ranged attack, locust swarm, is at the perfect range for a WD, close enough that you need to run around alot, guerilla combat style, but far enough that you don't get killed immediately trying to perform it. Can't you see how blowdarts would completely destroy the Witch Doctor's playing style?
Hmm...this now sounds like the Witchdoctor NEEDS these blow darts.
But I do get what you are getting at. It's just I don' want to decide on the WD's playing style before having actually played him.
How would the blowdart be visually, though? A single shot seems boring so I'd imagine it'd be like a rapid-fire blowdart spell. It should have a DoT as well. I don't know about poison because the spells we've seen from the WD have already been poison like the Plague of Toads and that Spider Totem. Maybe like a "decay" DoT.
i would think it would be like a sniper bullet. like, all you see is a streak that would kill a line of monsters
Rapid fire, and maybe have stacking weakening stats so that you don't really deal much damage with it but you can debuff the hell out of monsters...
I don't see how that will make him OP. Just balance the stuff really.
Obviously if you put skill points in summons and range attacks/spells, none of them will be as strong as boosting only one of them.
So it will even out eventually.
I really cannot understand the reasoning behind that OP argument.
So WD using a bow somehow makes him an amazon? The pipe will merely be a placeholder that has potential for cool mods on uniques. Otherwise, it's like an orb - yeah, it deals damage but it's so minor it becomes irrelevant.
If you ask me, a skill that generates a non-droppable non-usable weapon magically disappearing after use is really weird. I'd rather have a skill attached to the weapon. Such as, for instance, poison/stun effects on-weapon that have effect X if you use a melee weapon and effect X/2 if you use a ranged weapon.
Hmm...this now sounds like the Witchdoctor NEEDS these blow darts.
But I do get what you are getting at. It's just I don' want to decide on the WD's playing style before having actually played him.
i would think it would be like a sniper bullet. like, all you see is a streak that would kill a line of monsters
Anyway, it may work both as a weapon or a skill. I think it's easier to visualise it as a skill. The rune would even add crazy richochet effects.