The man responsible for the state Monk and Wizard, these classes have been a complete cluster frick for a long long time. This dev is so out of touch that many don't even know where to begin. So much valuable feedback has been given by several MVP's who know both classes in and out and the opposite has been addressed.
In regards to channeling, I have no idea why they even bothered with it. I was running T5 ray of frost build with light of grace. Now this isn't the best build, but it was something different than the norm. The spells should have been made to be viable on T6, now he's really borked the entire mechanics behind channeling as of build 2 of 2.1 PTR. Monks are in such a ridiculously bad place, the synergy of both classes are no where close to where they should be.
Witch Doctors are so good because there is perfectly synergy between items and abilities. The person responsible for Witch Doctor actually plays the class and understands the mechanics. There are strong pets, there is a strong synergy to turn dots into a powerful nuke using a 6 piece endgame set. The philosophy is solid, clear and concise behind the Witch Doctor class. Wizard and monk philosophy is all over the place, it is a complete incoherent mess.
For whatever reason, Don Vu just doesn't get it. I think if both of these classes don't have a clear direction by the time the games official competitive mode goes live then he needs to fall on the sword. I could understand these problems with a new game and you're still kinda figuring things out with your philosophy behind classes but its been over two years now, you should have a clear vision of what a class should be by now.
Monk and Wizard have been all over the place since release.
Barb, you get the whole master of melee feel, even though they also need some buffs, but their role is pretty much defined.
Witch Doctor is pretty much dots and pets, it is defined.
Demon Hunter is pretty much shoot shit/beast master, its role is defined.
Crusader, a tanky class that can be melee or ranged, its role is now defined after several RoS patches, ironically, Don Vu is also responsible for Crusader.
Wizard, supposed to be the master of elements but really never has been, undefined role. Wizards throwing their hands up in confusion.
Monk, supposed to be an agile melee with healing added, undefined role. Dex now retconned from dodge into armor
I hope it's taking a bit more time actually, so we can have a proper "balance" between the classes.
I wouldn't count on it. No RPG with multiple classes is ever perfectly balanced, but as WoW and now D3 have amply demonstrated over the years, Blizzard in particular is pretty terrible at balancing classes. It will always be the case that at least one class is terrible, at least one is overpowered, and at least a few buffs/nerfs/general changes to skills, items, stats, etc. will defy all reason and logic. It's kind of something you just have to get used to when it comes to a Blizzard RPG.
I hope it's taking a bit more time actually, so we can have a proper "balance" between the classes.
I wouldn't count on it. No RPG with multiple classes is ever perfectly balanced, but as WoW and now D3 have amply demonstrated over the years, Blizzard in particular is pretty terrible at balancing classes. It will always be the case that at least one class is terrible, at least one is overpowered, and at least a few buffs/nerfs/general changes to skills, items, stats, etc. will defy all reason and logic. It's kind of something you just have to get used to when it comes to a Blizzard RPG.
Overbuffing would be acceptable considering how long Monks have sucked.
I hope it's taking a bit more time actually, so we can have a proper "balance" between the classes.
I wouldn't count on it. No RPG with multiple classes is ever perfectly balanced, but as WoW and now D3 have amply demonstrated over the years, Blizzard in particular is pretty terrible at balancing classes. It will always be the case that at least one class is terrible, at least one is overpowered, and at least a few buffs/nerfs/general changes to skills, items, stats, etc. will defy all reason and logic. It's kind of something you just have to get used to when it comes to a Blizzard RPG.
Overbuffing would be acceptable considering how long Monks have sucked.
It's probably going to happen. Warlocks in WoW sucked for quite awhile after release, and when Blizzard finally got around to doing something about it, they became absolute beasts. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if all of sudden Monks receive some massive buffs that make them amazing (probably too amazing, but that's just the way of it).
Wizard, supposed to be the master of elements but really never has been, undefined role. Wizards throwing their hands up in confusion.
When it comes to the philosophy of the wizard, it seems like they were envisioning them flitting around the battlefield while blasting monsters from range. Key word: range. The channeling spells seem to directly contradict that image. Standing still leads to monsters getting in your face, which means you're now face-tanking like one of the melee classes. The skills that do lend themselves to this ranged playing style are incredibly weak in comparison to the nukes that DH's and WD's can dish out (the other two "ranged" classes).
Wizards just play clunky right now. Honestly, I feel like Teleport needs to have its cooldown removed and then given a paltry AP cost per cast. Wizards should be the most mobile class. A big part of their flavor is their control over "time and space", and yet they seem do a pretty poor job of dealing with both in-game.
Wizard, supposed to be the master of elements but really never has been, undefined role. Wizards throwing their hands up in confusion.
When it comes to the philosophy of the wizard, it seems like they were envisioning them flitting around the battlefield while blasting monsters from range. Key word: range. The channeling spells seem to directly contradict that image. Standing still leads to monsters getting in your face, which means you're now face-tanking like one of the melee classes. The skills that do lend themselves to this ranged playing style are incredibly weak in comparison to the nukes that DH's and WD's can dish out (the other two "ranged" classes).
Wizards just play clunky right now. Honestly, I feel like Teleport needs to have its cooldown removed and then given a paltry AP cost per cast. Wizards should be the most mobile class. A big part of their flavor is their control over "time and space", and yet they seem do a pretty poor job of dealing with both in-game.
Turn teleport into vault? I like that. Making it like Monk's dashing strike would be better than current iteration as well.
If Don Vu alone isn't responsible for the current state of Monks and Wiz, why would he list that as his responsibilities? That would be like telling everyone you're the head coach of the worst team in the league. Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.
Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.
You must not follow sports much.
EDIT
Also, bad analogy is bad. There is only one "head coach" position on a sports team. If you think there is only one person at Blizzard responsible for monks and wizards then you're beyond reason.
Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.
You must not follow sports much.
EDIT
Also, bad analogy is bad. There is only one "head coach" position on a sports team. If you think there is only one person at Blizzard responsible for monks and wizards then you're beyond reason.
If Don Vu alone isn't responsible for the current state of Monks and Wiz, why would he list that as his responsibilities? That would be like telling everyone you're the head coach of the worst team in the league. Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.
Because it IS part of his job description, even if it is part of the entire dev-team.
Whoa, whoa. Slow down there... you're saying that just because he works on the class dev team, he's not in charge of class design. But... that could mean all sorts of crazy things... that devs aren't designers... that software development is collaborative... that design is an inexact process... my head is swimming...
Look, you know what... we know this guy's name. We have a vague idea of what he does. That's all we need to blame him for everything. It worked for Jay. It worked for Josh. Why change a winning formula? DOWN WITH DON!
In the last stream, it was actually stated there is no sole person responsible for a class. It's a collaboration between all. The devs that was on the earlier streams pre-RoS-release were the ones that were available that night. They may have done a bit more than other devs, but calling them out on a name basis is just not-done.
#1 Doesn't matter if its a team wide job, you always have a team lead.
#2 You do call people out on their shit especially when they are the ones designing or changing anything with a product you purchase. Not calling someone out would be like saying you don't call out the engineer that designed new seat belts for vehicles, seat belts that don't work. People like that need to be called out so they don't get another job in the sector or if they do so those that pay attention know to avoid said company and its products.
The idea that anyone would think or believe that the entire developer team equally handles all aspects of all classes is ludicrous. If you believe that I have ocean front property for sell in North Dakota for a fair price.
I hope it's taking a bit more time actually, so we can have a proper "balance" between the classes.
I wouldn't count on it. No RPG with multiple classes is ever perfectly balanced, but as WoW and now D3 have amply demonstrated over the years, Blizzard in particular is pretty terrible at balancing classes. It will always be the case that at least one class is terrible, at least one is overpowered, and at least a few buffs/nerfs/general changes to skills, items, stats, etc. will defy all reason and logic. It's kind of something you just have to get used to when it comes to a Blizzard RPG.
I thought Blizzard was terrible at balancing classes too, until I played other games. Compared to the other companies out there Blizzard isn't even close to the worst at balancing their classes. I played FFXI for over 7 years and I played FFXIV when it was released, if you want to rant about terrible class balancing take a look at those classes. Atleast Wizard can still do T6. I can't say the same for monk since I haven't played it much in RoS but, atleast Blizzard is trying to remedy the issues at hand.
Blizzard is a pretty big company by this point with thousands of people working for them. If the decisions of a class were up to only 1 person we would have an Indie game. Multiple groups need to approve an idea before its even set in motion. I really hope Blizzard takes its time with this patch and doesn't rush it through.
Not calling someone out would be like saying you don't call out the engineer that designed new seat belts for vehicles, seat belts that don't work. People like that need to be called out so they don't get another job in the sector or if they do so those that pay attention know to avoid said company and its products.
I can totally see the connection between government-mandated safety standards that help prevent traffic fatalities and class balance in an RPG.
You really need to take a chill pill. You're acting like the typical torch-carrying b.net reactionary.
The idea that anyone would think or believe that the entire developer team equally handles all aspects of all classes is ludicrous. If you believe that I have ocean front property for sell in North Dakota for a fair price.
No one believes that EVERYONE is responsible for EVERYTHING. It's just that most of us aren't stupid enough, or so eager to rage, that we believe that this one singular guy is responsible for every last thing regarding monks.
Also the "fire X" bullshit is stupid. It was dumb when it was directed at Jay, it's even dumber when it's directed at what would amount to Jay's underlings.
Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.
You must not follow sports much.
EDIT
Also, bad analogy is bad. There is only one "head coach" position on a sports team. If you think there is only one person at Blizzard responsible for monks and wizards then you're beyond reason.
I think the fact that he posted a screed personally abusing a Blizzard employee, by name, because he think his class isn't powerful enough pretty much proves that he's beyond reason.
I hope it's taking a bit more time actually, so we can have a proper "balance" between the classes.
I wouldn't count on it. No RPG with multiple classes is ever perfectly balanced, but as WoW and now D3 have amply demonstrated over the years, Blizzard in particular is pretty terrible at balancing classes. It will always be the case that at least one class is terrible, at least one is overpowered, and at least a few buffs/nerfs/general changes to skills, items, stats, etc. will defy all reason and logic. It's kind of something you just have to get used to when it comes to a Blizzard RPG.
I thought Blizzard was terrible at balancing classes too, until I played other games. Compared to the other companies out there Blizzard isn't even close to the worst at balancing their classes. I played FFXI for over 7 years and I played FFXIV when it was released, if you want to rant about terrible class balancing take a look at those classes. Atleast Wizard can still do T6. I can't say the same for monk since I haven't played it much in RoS but, atleast Blizzard is trying to remedy the issues at hand.
Blizzard is a pretty big company by this point with thousands of people working for them. If the decisions of a class were up to only 1 person we would have an Indie game. Multiple groups need to approve an idea before its even set in motion. I really hope Blizzard takes its time with this patch and doesn't rush it through.
With regards to FF online: good point; class balance in both FF online games wwas terrible. This is generally true of most Japanese and Korean MMO's, sadly.
As for the second paragraph, I have no doubt that decisions are not left to one person and are not made lightly. This is why it's all the more perplexing and frustrating when they make some very obviously bad decisions.
Something that comes to mind for me was playing a WD at release and discovering very quickly that no competent play tester ever laid a hand on the class. You had things like Zombie Dogs being completely worthless once you reached Hell (and forget about Inferno)... and I don't just mean underpowered, but completely, glaringly, obviously useless. They did effectively no damage and they would all be dead in a couple of seconds. Same with the Garg.
Then there were runes like Wave of Zombies: 3 Zombie Chargers that rushed forward and dealt 71% weapon damage each... compared to 3 Zombie Bears that functioned in the exact same way (and cost the same amount of mana), but dealt 236% weapon damage instead of 71%, had a larger AoE radius, and could hit targets behind you. It was so obvious that Wave of Zombies was a useless piece of garbage and that Zombie Bears was hands-down better in every way.
It still confuses me today how a group of people working for a company like Blizzard (with all it's resources and experience) could have tested these (and many other) things and collectively thought after (presumably) careful consideration "yep, all good here."
Thankfully Blizzard has gotten better, but there's still a long ways to go...
Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.
You must not follow sports much.
EDIT
Also, bad analogy is bad. There is only one "head coach" position on a sports team. If you think there is only one person at Blizzard responsible for monks and wizards then you're beyond reason.
And head coaches don't have assistants and coordinators, right...
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In regards to channeling, I have no idea why they even bothered with it. I was running T5 ray of frost build with light of grace. Now this isn't the best build, but it was something different than the norm. The spells should have been made to be viable on T6, now he's really borked the entire mechanics behind channeling as of build 2 of 2.1 PTR. Monks are in such a ridiculously bad place, the synergy of both classes are no where close to where they should be.
Witch Doctors are so good because there is perfectly synergy between items and abilities. The person responsible for Witch Doctor actually plays the class and understands the mechanics. There are strong pets, there is a strong synergy to turn dots into a powerful nuke using a 6 piece endgame set. The philosophy is solid, clear and concise behind the Witch Doctor class. Wizard and monk philosophy is all over the place, it is a complete incoherent mess.
For whatever reason, Don Vu just doesn't get it. I think if both of these classes don't have a clear direction by the time the games official competitive mode goes live then he needs to fall on the sword. I could understand these problems with a new game and you're still kinda figuring things out with your philosophy behind classes but its been over two years now, you should have a clear vision of what a class should be by now.
Monk and Wizard have been all over the place since release.
Barb, you get the whole master of melee feel, even though they also need some buffs, but their role is pretty much defined.
Witch Doctor is pretty much dots and pets, it is defined.
Demon Hunter is pretty much shoot shit/beast master, its role is defined.
Crusader, a tanky class that can be melee or ranged, its role is now defined after several RoS patches, ironically, Don Vu is also responsible for Crusader.
Wizard, supposed to be the master of elements but really never has been, undefined role. Wizards throwing their hands up in confusion.
Monk, supposed to be an agile melee with healing added, undefined role. Dex now retconned from dodge into armor
Wizards just play clunky right now. Honestly, I feel like Teleport needs to have its cooldown removed and then given a paltry AP cost per cast. Wizards should be the most mobile class. A big part of their flavor is their control over "time and space", and yet they seem do a pretty poor job of dealing with both in-game.
EDIT
Also, bad analogy is bad. There is only one "head coach" position on a sports team. If you think there is only one person at Blizzard responsible for monks and wizards then you're beyond reason.
Look, you know what... we know this guy's name. We have a vague idea of what he does. That's all we need to blame him for everything. It worked for Jay. It worked for Josh. Why change a winning formula? DOWN WITH DON!
#2 You do call people out on their shit especially when they are the ones designing or changing anything with a product you purchase. Not calling someone out would be like saying you don't call out the engineer that designed new seat belts for vehicles, seat belts that don't work. People like that need to be called out so they don't get another job in the sector or if they do so those that pay attention know to avoid said company and its products.
The idea that anyone would think or believe that the entire developer team equally handles all aspects of all classes is ludicrous. If you believe that I have ocean front property for sell in North Dakota for a fair price.
Blizzard is a pretty big company by this point with thousands of people working for them. If the decisions of a class were up to only 1 person we would have an Indie game. Multiple groups need to approve an idea before its even set in motion. I really hope Blizzard takes its time with this patch and doesn't rush it through.
You really need to take a chill pill. You're acting like the typical torch-carrying b.net reactionary.
No one believes that EVERYONE is responsible for EVERYTHING. It's just that most of us aren't stupid enough, or so eager to rage, that we believe that this one singular guy is responsible for every last thing regarding monks.
Also the "fire X" bullshit is stupid. It was dumb when it was directed at Jay, it's even dumber when it's directed at what would amount to Jay's underlings.
As for the second paragraph, I have no doubt that decisions are not left to one person and are not made lightly. This is why it's all the more perplexing and frustrating when they make some very obviously bad decisions.
Something that comes to mind for me was playing a WD at release and discovering very quickly that no competent play tester ever laid a hand on the class. You had things like Zombie Dogs being completely worthless once you reached Hell (and forget about Inferno)... and I don't just mean underpowered, but completely, glaringly, obviously useless. They did effectively no damage and they would all be dead in a couple of seconds. Same with the Garg.
Then there were runes like Wave of Zombies: 3 Zombie Chargers that rushed forward and dealt 71% weapon damage each... compared to 3 Zombie Bears that functioned in the exact same way (and cost the same amount of mana), but dealt 236% weapon damage instead of 71%, had a larger AoE radius, and could hit targets behind you. It was so obvious that Wave of Zombies was a useless piece of garbage and that Zombie Bears was hands-down better in every way.
It still confuses me today how a group of people working for a company like Blizzard (with all it's resources and experience) could have tested these (and many other) things and collectively thought after (presumably) careful consideration "yep, all good here."
Thankfully Blizzard has gotten better, but there's still a long ways to go...