I think we need to drop the mentality that these games are made for serious gamers, and subsequently 'dumbed down' for a wider audience. These games are made for the wider audience from the get-go, because that's what sells. Detailed class balance, end-game difficulty, etc., are then added on to this base layer for the more serious gamers.
Yes, that was my reaction as well. Some things they seem to take forever on, worrying quite a bit about getting it just right, and then other seemingly major (to us) bits they just plan on throwing together right before launch.
The skills for each follower have been released. The level 30 skills for the Scoundrel (named Lyndon) are buffs. The options are [1]:
1) 10% precision, for everyone in your party, with 100% uptime,
or
2) 10% attack, for you and the scoundrel, with max 50% uptime.
In order for these skills to be equal in power, we would need attack to be at least twice as valuable as precision.
Yet I understood that attack and precision are balanced to be approximately equal in value (as stated by Bashiok [2]). Precision may lead to more overkill, but also more procs. So, for most, attack would be preferable, not not by a factor of two to three.
Which means that hopefully these numbers switch before launch. Or you think it's fine? Or am I missing something? Attack can increase to the high heavens, while crit chance is capped at 100. Since precision needs diminishing returns, it will become less valuable after all...
Of course Diablo will use fear as his primary tool! it is scary to think that we have been played for fools all along, and that everything we've done out of fear of Hell has ended up playing right into their hands. And now we have to be afraid to act on our own fear, or else we're just helping Hell, but that's just another thing we're afraid of, and... oh my...
I've read second hand accounts of the lore panel, where it is stated that the Worldstone was used by both Heaven and Hell to create worlds. Yet, in my understanding, the Worldstone was unique to Sanctuary. At the least, Sanctuary was initially hidden from Heaven and Hell (hence the name), so if it ALSO contained the Worldstone, Heaven and Hell should have noticed it missing.
Is this a retcon, or is there any explanation for this?
Also, I always thought Baal was trying to corrupt the Worldstone to allow Hell to invade Sanctuary. I guess Phrozen's article points out all these inconsistencies. Hopefully D3 clears this all up.
I like it... the beams heave predictably, yet are thrown around in a randomish cluster. So technically they're avoidable, but it will be difficult with lots of them out. Look at how the monk is weaving in and out of range in the vid. Couple this with a champion with lots of health, etc. and you've got a nice fight.
Also, the range goes all the way off the screen, so I don't see how this makes it even easier for ranged classes.
Sorry this is sourceless... but I recall a developer being asked about this, and they said no to it. Personally, I don't like the idea of having to worry about two extra gear slots to fill, or of having to micromanage which weapon is out for which skill to maximize damage output. Besides a shield / no shield setup, I don't see the point. In what situations in D3 would a weapon swap help?
The 15 sec cooldown on Spirit Walk might sound short, but I bet it seems like forever if that's your primary damage source. Also, 10 yards sounds pretty short, and how about bosses?
Unless I am missing something, there seems to be some discontinuity in your build. You have two skills (grasp and zombie wall) and one rune stone (golden on zombie wall) devoted to keeping enemies at bay but your main damage spell only works on 'nearby' enemies (reading the alabaster rune stone on the bats). So you're going to CC mobs to prevent them from getting to you..and then move close to them and use bats? Soul harvest's damage component doesn't help either since it's short ranged too (15 yards).
I'd swap the bats' alabaster rune stone for the crimson one (reading the text, it seems like dire bats are more of a ranged nuke). I would then replace soul harvest or zombie wall with one of the other 'vermin' (just because taking a passive that benefits only one skill seems like a waste).
Using spirit walk to pick up globes feels kind of awkward. I mean, spirit walk seems like it's supposed to be used in an 'oh sh!t' situation not for mobility. If you want to preserve this playstyle I'd swap spirit walk with horrify with the alabaster rune stone. That way you can horrify, run in, get the health globes, and go back to nuking.
I would think any Witch Doctor that is going to be spamming short range spells on the front lines will still want a slow such as Grasp, so they can stay right on that edge between the oncoming masses and freedom, and not get overwhelmed.
Heads up, the linked build doesn't include Blood Ritual, but Spiritual Attunement instead.
I don't think this build will work well (though I can't be positive). But I can't see a build using only one main damage skill, and rune-ing that for survivability (if you go life-leech). Bats would really have to eat up everything in sight for this to work, which means it would have to be balanced by a huge mana cost to keep it in check. Then your build tries to get around that, with lots of life steal. But right now Firebats mana cost is not that out of line with other skills (two other damagers cost as much, one more), and 15% mana as health is not much. Also, taking Zombie Wall, Grasp, and Spirit Walk seems like much overkill.
In conclusion, either Firebats is unbalanced and overpowered, or the build is unbalanced and underpowered.
So much runeword hate! It seems no one can separate the concept of runewords from the horrible implementation in D2.
Right now in D3, there are 4 gems, each of which (helm excluded) adds to a primary stat. Wouldn't it be nice to give up a couple gem slots in order to get more specialized bonus or effect? It doesn't have to be a complicated system, and there need not be 33 different runes clogging your inventory. With just 8 runes you can get 64 combinations. Make half of those runewords - a few general, a few class specific, and blam. Customization. Enchanting has mostly taken over this function, but maybe you really need some cold resist, and runewords could fill that niche.
Anyways, I really like the flavor of runewords. It just need be done in a way that adds richness to the skill and stat system, not just complication, and needs to not throw the whole itemization game off-balance.
1) 10% precision, for everyone in your party, with 100% uptime,
or
2) 10% attack, for you and the scoundrel, with max 50% uptime.
In order for these skills to be equal in power, we would need attack to be at least twice as valuable as precision.
Yet I understood that attack and precision are balanced to be approximately equal in value (as stated by Bashiok [2]). Precision may lead to more overkill, but also more procs. So, for most, attack would be preferable, not not by a factor of two to three.
Which means that hopefully these numbers switch before launch. Or you think it's fine? Or am I missing something? Attack can increase to the high heavens, while crit chance is capped at 100. Since precision needs diminishing returns, it will become less valuable after all...
[1] http://us.battle.net/d3/en/follower/scoundrel/skill/
[2] http://www.diablowiki.net/Precision
EDIT: damn sunglasses smiley
Is this a retcon, or is there any explanation for this?
Also, I always thought Baal was trying to corrupt the Worldstone to allow Hell to invade Sanctuary. I guess Phrozen's article points out all these inconsistencies. Hopefully D3 clears this all up.
Also, the range goes all the way off the screen, so I don't see how this makes it even easier for ranged classes.
I would think any Witch Doctor that is going to be spamming short range spells on the front lines will still want a slow such as Grasp, so they can stay right on that edge between the oncoming masses and freedom, and not get overwhelmed.
I don't think this build will work well (though I can't be positive). But I can't see a build using only one main damage skill, and rune-ing that for survivability (if you go life-leech). Bats would really have to eat up everything in sight for this to work, which means it would have to be balanced by a huge mana cost to keep it in check. Then your build tries to get around that, with lots of life steal. But right now Firebats mana cost is not that out of line with other skills (two other damagers cost as much, one more), and 15% mana as health is not much. Also, taking Zombie Wall, Grasp, and Spirit Walk seems like much overkill.
In conclusion, either Firebats is unbalanced and overpowered, or the build is unbalanced and underpowered.
Right now in D3, there are 4 gems, each of which (helm excluded) adds to a primary stat. Wouldn't it be nice to give up a couple gem slots in order to get more specialized bonus or effect? It doesn't have to be a complicated system, and there need not be 33 different runes clogging your inventory. With just 8 runes you can get 64 combinations. Make half of those runewords - a few general, a few class specific, and blam. Customization. Enchanting has mostly taken over this function, but maybe you really need some cold resist, and runewords could fill that niche.
Anyways, I really like the flavor of runewords. It just need be done in a way that adds richness to the skill and stat system, not just complication, and needs to not throw the whole itemization game off-balance.
Also, won't happen.
2) Interesting lore
3) Angels
4) The ability to get along somewhat well with a theme build
5) Epic and involved boss fights