Ladder = accomplishment? That's a concept I'll never understand.
Do people really need that virtual mean to keep their self esteem high? In this day and age?
Being able to do as much within a game, enjoy absolutely every part of it (cinematics, story, lore, art, soundtrack, effects, all gameplay possibilities in all classes and different builds as I level up, different end-game builds), have fun with friends while laughing at dumb things, and make it all as time-efficient as possible (considering I don't have 80 hours+ a week anymore for games) is my idea of an accomplishment. And it's saddening to me how "hardcore gamers" nowadays are moving away from that.
I wish people would just let go of the need to show how good and unique they are within a media that's supposed to be a time out from the serious stuff that's real life (where you actually have to prove to others how important you are, specially in your profession).
It's really weird. I read your post and found myself agreeing with you on all of your points, yet at the same time I do find myself sympathising with some of Kripp's points as well.
I have a bit of a dilemma at the moment. On one hand, it's a very fun game to play with friends, particularly very casual gamers. I've had a lot of friends who would never touch a game like league of legends or starcraft pick up this game, and that's exciting. At the same time, I find myself looking enviously at my OTHER more hardcore friends who've raced to finish the game. I find myself hating the fact that they've had an easy time in the game because they picked the 'right' class from the start and don't have to grind for gear. So I find myself rushing forward to complete the game as quickly as possible as well. Only thing is that means I sacrifice the time I could spend playing with my more casual friends, because lets face it, it's not very fun for anyone when a lvl 60 Inferno Act 2 Barbarian joins a nightmare level game.
Maybe I too have become a victim of this move by 'hardcore gamers' towards playing just so that I can show off to other people, and I've lsot the ability to simply a game, the way I once enjoyed Diablo 2. I don't know. But I think my own gamer soul-searching reflects a lot of the soul-searching that the D3 community is going through now and will be going through for a while.
I believe monks, like barbarians, have a flat damage reduction due to being a melee class. 30% if the tip on the loading screen is right.
I've been playing Monk, and I'm currently lvl 22. And even with a 30% reduction in dmg, situations when I'm surrounded by lots of mobs is still very dangerous. If I let myself get surrounded and don't do something quickly, I usually find my life dropping VERY rapidly. But yeah, the difference with you I guess is that I can usually do something about it like knockback the mobs with Lashing Tail Kick, or use Breath of Heaven to heal up etc etc...I haven't played DH very much, but in my experience in the beta, it seems the DH's method of dealing with this is to slow enemies and re-position themselves so that they're never in that situation where they get surrounded?
I don't know if any class, other than the barb, is supposed to be able to tank groups of mobs that well. Seems to me that if you let yourself be surrounded by monsters, or don't do something to get out of that situation quickly, you SHOULD expect to get killed pretty quickly,
I had the exact same debate. Started off thinking I'd go monk, then tried Wizard in beta and found him pretty fun to play. Ultimately however I've decided to stick with monk, because he seems to be a more useful partner for a witch doctor.
Maybe you should think about who you're going to play D3 with, or if you're gonna solo, and which class would be better suited for your purposes?
Hmm thanks a lot for the comments guys. I was hoping there'd be more arguments in support of the Wizard, but it does seem like the monk really is too good to pass up on.
Idk if you played open beta, but using the Monks combos is boss. Also you mention that the wizard looks cooler than the monk I couldn't disagree more. My friend tried wizard during beta while I was monk and he and I both kept laughing at how much of a dork he looked like. The Monk looks like a serious kung fu sensei dude you don't want to mess with.
I was referring more to armour sets, particularly at the highest tiers.Much prefer the wizard armour sets compared to the monk ones.
Hmm thanks a lot for the comments guys. I was hoping there'd be more arguments in support of the Wizard, but it does seem like the monk really is too good to pass up on.
Hey guys, I plan to play D3 mostly with my sister who will be going Witch Doctor. She's not a great gamer or anything, so the plan is that she'll use a build focused on summons. These will hopefully tank most of the dmg for us while I provide the dmg output.
So my question is, would a Wizard or Monk go better with a summons-based WD? Here's a couple of reasons I've though of in support of each class.
Wizard Pros:
Lots of AoE dmg. Coupled with some of the WD's spells, we could do a lot of dmg in small areas.
Because WD is going summons, can be built more offensively.
Male Wizard looks cooler than the male monk =D
Wizard Cons:
Primary attribute is also INT, which means it's possible we might fight for the same gear. But this might be offset-ted by the fact that each player gets their own item drops. Also, I might focus more on items that increase my chance to crit, and she might focus more on items that increase the health of her summons
Once pets die, our ability to tank drops off dramatically (unless I use Diamond skin, but that means my build will need to be focused more on defence rather than offence). This is especially a problem for boss fights.
Monk Pros:
Good support class. Can heal and keep summons alive a bit longer hopefully. Also, can utilise mantras to help out summons and whole team.
High mobility: can zip around the battlefield and take out key targets like tomb guardians while WD summons engage the rest.
Can also help tank boss fights
Monk Cons:
Not as cool looking as the wizard lol
Everyone will be rolling a monk (if polls are anything to judge from).
May not have as high dmg output as the Wizard? Although if the beta is any indication of class strength, that won't be a problem.
I actually went into the beta thinking I would play Monk, but was discouraged by how popular the Monk seemed. So I decided to try the Wizard and I was pleasantly surprised.
Although we didn't get to see much of the Wizard in beta, I found the class to be very powerful. It felt really good to use Shock Pulse runed with explosive bolts and see clusters of skeletons and zombies melt. It also reminded me a lot of the Necromancer's Corpse Explosion in D2, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I eventually replaced that with spectral blades and really liked how the blades do 3 hits in quick succession.
Arcane barrage as other people have said felt really strong as well. I love how I can kill those tomb guardian things that summon skeletons from far away before they've had the chance to summon skeletons. I used it as my main dmg dealer on the Skeleton King as well because I loved how I could hit the SK even if there were skeletons standing in between me and the SK.
Unfortunately, in a game that is repeatedly described as an item hunt, gear IS everything. It will be the primary motivation for players to go through all difficulties, and will be one of Blizz's key focus, hence their repeated statements on how rare the best gear is going to be.
And when gear gets devalued because of bots, the game begins to lose value. Previously people devoted hours of their time to farm the best gear. If bots exist, there will be a smaller incentive for players to grind for their own gear: why spend hours farming something which bots can farm for you in less time? There isn't even an incentive to sell the items for money on RMAH if bloods flood the market with items.
The zombie ladder is pretty crazy but also kind of awesome. I wonder if the ladder gets taller and taller with higher levels (or maybe a zombie pyramid?).
Personally, I'm fine with the limit. I don't think I've ever had more than 3 friends willing to sit down and play the same co-op game as me over an extended period of time anyway. But I can see how for some people, a limit of 4 would kinda suck.
It's really weird. I read your post and found myself agreeing with you on all of your points, yet at the same time I do find myself sympathising with some of Kripp's points as well.
I have a bit of a dilemma at the moment. On one hand, it's a very fun game to play with friends, particularly very casual gamers. I've had a lot of friends who would never touch a game like league of legends or starcraft pick up this game, and that's exciting. At the same time, I find myself looking enviously at my OTHER more hardcore friends who've raced to finish the game. I find myself hating the fact that they've had an easy time in the game because they picked the 'right' class from the start and don't have to grind for gear. So I find myself rushing forward to complete the game as quickly as possible as well. Only thing is that means I sacrifice the time I could spend playing with my more casual friends, because lets face it, it's not very fun for anyone when a lvl 60 Inferno Act 2 Barbarian joins a nightmare level game.
Maybe I too have become a victim of this move by 'hardcore gamers' towards playing just so that I can show off to other people, and I've lsot the ability to simply a game, the way I once enjoyed Diablo 2. I don't know. But I think my own gamer soul-searching reflects a lot of the soul-searching that the D3 community is going through now and will be going through for a while.
Barb: do you ever write your own spells?
Enchantress: Why yes! don't you?
Barb: No! I don't even like magic. I just put up with yours.
And also to Leah
Enchantress: There is something odd about Leah, but I can't quite place it.
Barb: Well, she was raised by Cain after all.
Enchantress: Hehe, I mean in addition to that.
I don't know if any class, other than the barb, is supposed to be able to tank groups of mobs that well. Seems to me that if you let yourself be surrounded by monsters, or don't do something to get out of that situation quickly, you SHOULD expect to get killed pretty quickly,
Maybe you should think about who you're going to play D3 with, or if you're gonna solo, and which class would be better suited for your purposes?
I was referring more to armour sets, particularly at the highest tiers.Much prefer the wizard armour sets compared to the monk ones.
So my question is, would a Wizard or Monk go better with a summons-based WD? Here's a couple of reasons I've though of in support of each class.
Wizard Pros:
- Lots of AoE dmg. Coupled with some of the WD's spells, we could do a lot of dmg in small areas.
- Because WD is going summons, can be built more offensively.
- Male Wizard looks cooler than the male monk =D
Wizard Cons:- Primary attribute is also INT, which means it's possible we might fight for the same gear. But this might be offset-ted by the fact that each player gets their own item drops. Also, I might focus more on items that increase my chance to crit, and she might focus more on items that increase the health of her summons
- Once pets die, our ability to tank drops off dramatically (unless I use Diamond skin, but that means my build will need to be focused more on defence rather than offence). This is especially a problem for boss fights.
Monk Pros:- Good support class. Can heal and keep summons alive a bit longer hopefully. Also, can utilise mantras to help out summons and whole team.
- High mobility: can zip around the battlefield and take out key targets like tomb guardians while WD summons engage the rest.
- Can also help tank boss fights
Monk Cons:Although we didn't get to see much of the Wizard in beta, I found the class to be very powerful. It felt really good to use Shock Pulse runed with explosive bolts and see clusters of skeletons and zombies melt. It also reminded me a lot of the Necromancer's Corpse Explosion in D2, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I eventually replaced that with spectral blades and really liked how the blades do 3 hits in quick succession.
Arcane barrage as other people have said felt really strong as well. I love how I can kill those tomb guardian things that summon skeletons from far away before they've had the chance to summon skeletons. I used it as my main dmg dealer on the Skeleton King as well because I loved how I could hit the SK even if there were skeletons standing in between me and the SK.
Pretty sure Wizard will now be my main class.
Unfortunately, in a game that is repeatedly described as an item hunt, gear IS everything. It will be the primary motivation for players to go through all difficulties, and will be one of Blizz's key focus, hence their repeated statements on how rare the best gear is going to be.
And when gear gets devalued because of bots, the game begins to lose value. Previously people devoted hours of their time to farm the best gear. If bots exist, there will be a smaller incentive for players to grind for their own gear: why spend hours farming something which bots can farm for you in less time? There isn't even an incentive to sell the items for money on RMAH if bloods flood the market with items.
Rofl you mean something like this? circus pyramid
After this post, definitely the Zombie ladder /Zombie stage dive
Edit: this was from the discussion of the WD's spider summon btw.
ROFL that made my day