I was looking at the skills for my wizard the other day and realized that I didn't have a lot of options to choose from if I wanted a lightning or fire build. So I took a quick look at the talent calculator and found these numbers.
Signature Spells (# of runes with damage type)
Fire: 3 (12.5% of total runes)
Arcane: 9 (37.5%)
Cold: 3 (12.5%)
Lightning: 9 (37.5%)
So, just looking at it, I'm fine if I'm a lightning build but kind if sucks if I'm cold or fire based. What about all the other spells that deal damage?
Other Spells (# of runes that cause a damage type)
Fire: 14 (15.1% of total runes)
Arcane: 44 (47.3%)
Cold: 22 (23.7%)
Lightning: 13 (14.0%)
AlmostHALFof the damage is arcane based. Further more, there are some skills that totally fall into one family. Blizzard, for example, is all cold damage. Thus, if wanted a persistent AoE skill for a lightning build, then my options are...oh, right...there isn't one.
Proposed Fix
My proposed solution to this problem is to ensure that each elemental class is represented within each skill at least once. Taking Blizzard for example,
Fire Rune: Ash Cloud: Your blizzard is replaced with a cloud of volcanic ash that does X% weapon damage as fire over X seconds. Enemies also burn for X% weapon damage over X seconds. (slow effect no longer applies)
Arcane Rune: Cosmic Rays: Cosmic energy rains down upon your enemies dealing X% weapon damage as arcane over X seconds. (slow effect no longer applies).
Lightning Rune: Thunderstorm: You summon a thunderstorm that does X% weapon damage as lightning over X seconds. It also has a chance to stun enemies for 1 second (slow effect no longer applies).
All other runes are cold runes.
If I apply that recommendation to the skills (assuming my maths aren't off and my coffee has kicked in) then this is how it changes.
I’m sure more can be done to balance the signature spells and pull a few more of the arcane spells out to other element classes. I’m surprised how much more even the rune percentages are if everything that did damage just had 1 rune in each ele class.
Proposed Fix
My proposed solution to this problem is to ensure that each elemental class is represented within each skill at least once. Taking Blizzard for example,
Fire Rune: Ash Cloud: Your blizzard is replaced with a cloud of volcanic ash that does X% weapon damage as fire over X seconds. Enemies also burn for X% weapon damage over X seconds. (slow effect no longer applies)
Arcane Rune: Cosmic Rays: Cosmic energy rains down upon your enemies dealing X% weapon damage as arcane over X seconds. (slow effect no longer applies).
Lightning Rune: Thunderstorm: You summon a thunderstorm that does X% weapon damage as lightning over X seconds. It also has a chance to stun enemies for 1 second (slow effect no longer applies).
All other runes are cold runes.
Oh man I would love this change so much, currently Blizzard is pretty weak. Perhaps the only thing I would do is have the arcane rune have a chance to slow enemies and change all the cold runes to have a chance to slow/freeze enemies
For an Arcane Blizzard, I'd probably prefer some form of Sandstorm. Sortof Act2 based, like something Zolton Kulle might cast. Or maybe could even be physical. I dunno, I just like the idea of being able to cast a Sandstorm.
But yeah, I think Wizard does need more elemental diversity. There are just too many arcane skills. And if Arcane Orb, which is named Arcane, can be Fire, Cold and Lightning, then so too can Ray of Frost, Blizzard, Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, etc. etc..
I agree that more runes should change damage types for skills, but this problem isn't limited to just Wizards -- it really needs to be examined for all classes. I mainly play Monk, and right now (assuming the patch didn't change anything) Monks have 0 spirit generating skills that are Holy damage. The only one the comes close is WotHF + Fists of Fury, but only the 60% DoT of the skill is Holy damage, and not the 192% damage which is still physical.
So yeah, all the classes need to have their skills examined, and be given a nice array of choices for damage types from with runes.
jesus the class is fine theres plently of stuff to do.
Stop wanting everything for a class thats already one of the stronger ones.
Needy.
Nice troll attempt.
The reason I'm making this recommendation is that the class already has a lot of diversity into other elemental classes, compared to the other playable characters.
Barb is overwhelmingly physical damage.
WD is, roughly, 50% physical, 15% fire, 25% poison.
DH is about 80% physical, 15% fire.
Monk is about 45% physical, 40% holy
Crusader is about 50% physical, 30% holy, 10% fire, 10% lightning
Wizard is about 50% arcane, 15% lightning, 10% fire, 25% cold
The next closest class in terms of damage type balance is the Crusader.
From the Blizzard Game Guide:
"Wizards are renegade spellcasters who use their bodies as vessels for arcane energy, forsaking the more careful path favored by other magic users. They manipulate all manner of forces to disintegrate, burn, and freeze their foes, and they can control time and light to teleport, create powerful illusions, and deflect oncoming attacks."
I just think that they need a slightre-balancing, if they are supposed to be using multiple families of damage. I do think their primary family should be arcane though.
I agree that more runes should change damage types for skills, but this problem isn't limited to just Wizards -- it really needs to be examined for all classes. I mainly play Monk, and right now (assuming the patch didn't change anything) Monks have 0 spirit generating skills that are Holy damage. The only one the comes close is WotHF + Fists of Fury, but only the 60% DoT of the skill is Holy damage, and not the 192% damage which is still physical.
So yeah, all the classes need to have their skills examined, and be given a nice array of choices for damage types from with runes.
Yeah, if I could re-tool the runes I would probably do something like this:
Signature Spells (# of runes with damage type)
Fire: 3 (12.5% of total runes)
Arcane: 9 (37.5%)
Cold: 3 (12.5%)
Lightning: 9 (37.5%)
So, just looking at it, I'm fine if I'm a lightning build but kind if sucks if I'm cold or fire based. What about all the other spells that deal damage?
Other Spells (# of runes that cause a damage type)
Fire: 14 (15.1% of total runes)
Arcane: 44 (47.3%)
Cold: 22 (23.7%)
Lightning: 13 (14.0%)
AlmostHALFof the damage is arcane based. Further more, there are some skills that totally fall into one family. Blizzard, for example, is all cold damage. Thus, if wanted a persistent AoE skill for a lightning build, then my options are...oh, right...there isn't one.
Proposed Fix
My proposed solution to this problem is to ensure that each elemental class is represented within each skill at least once. Taking Blizzard for example,
Fire Rune: Ash Cloud: Your blizzard is replaced with a cloud of volcanic ash that does X% weapon damage as fire over X seconds. Enemies also burn for X% weapon damage over X seconds. (slow effect no longer applies)
Arcane Rune: Cosmic Rays: Cosmic energy rains down upon your enemies dealing X% weapon damage as arcane over X seconds. (slow effect no longer applies).
Lightning Rune: Thunderstorm: You summon a thunderstorm that does X% weapon damage as lightning over X seconds. It also has a chance to stun enemies for 1 second (slow effect no longer applies).
All other runes are cold runes.
If I apply that recommendation to the skills (assuming my maths aren't off and my coffee has kicked in) then this is how it changes.
Signature Spells (# of runes with damage type)
Fire: 3 (12.5% of total runes) --> 4 skills (16.7%)
Arcane: 9 (37.5%) --> 8 skills (33.3%)
Cold: 3 (12.5%) --> 4 skills (16.7%)
Lightning: 9 (37.5%) --> 8 skills (33.3%)
Other Spells (# of runes that cause a damage type)
Fire: 14 (15.1% of total runes) --> 20 skills (21.5%)
Arcane: 44 (47.3%) --> 34 skills (36.6%)
Cold: 22 (23.7%) --> 22 skills (23.7%)
Lightning: 13 (14.0%) à 17 skills (18.3%)
I’m sure more can be done to balance the signature spells and pull a few more of the arcane spells out to other element classes. I’m surprised how much more even the rune percentages are if everything that did damage just had 1 rune in each ele class.
Your thoughts?
Stop wanting everything for a class thats already one of the stronger ones.
Needy.
But yeah, I think Wizard does need more elemental diversity. There are just too many arcane skills. And if Arcane Orb, which is named Arcane, can be Fire, Cold and Lightning, then so too can Ray of Frost, Blizzard, Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, etc. etc..
And may the odds be ever in your favour.
Emmo#2406
So yeah, all the classes need to have their skills examined, and be given a nice array of choices for damage types from with runes.
The reason I'm making this recommendation is that the class already has a lot of diversity into other elemental classes, compared to the other playable characters.
Barb is overwhelmingly physical damage.
WD is, roughly, 50% physical, 15% fire, 25% poison.
DH is about 80% physical, 15% fire.
Monk is about 45% physical, 40% holy
Crusader is about 50% physical, 30% holy, 10% fire, 10% lightning
Wizard is about 50% arcane, 15% lightning, 10% fire, 25% cold
The next closest class in terms of damage type balance is the Crusader.
From the Blizzard Game Guide:
"Wizards are renegade spellcasters who use their bodies as vessels for arcane energy, forsaking the more careful path favored by other magic users. They manipulate all manner of forces to disintegrate, burn, and freeze their foes, and they can control time and light to teleport, create powerful illusions, and deflect oncoming attacks."
I just think that they need a slightre-balancing, if they are supposed to be using multiple families of damage. I do think their primary family should be arcane though.
Barb = 60% Physical, 20% fire, 20% cold
WD = 40% Physical, 40% poison, 20% fire
DH = 30% physical, 25% lightning, 15% poison, 30% fire
Monk = 40% physical, 40% holy, 10% fire, 10% lightning
Crusader = 40% physical, 30% holy, 20% cold, 10% lightning
Wizard = 40% arcane, 20% cold, 20% fire, 20% lightning
Who knows...ask me again tomorrow and those percentages could be different.