In reading some of these, I think a lot more of the problem comes down to pets then we're thinking. Most of the comparisons here have been vs Wiz and DH (not all) for DPS, and Monk/Barb for survivability. Those comparisons aren't entirely fair, as we're supposed to be that mixed class - high surivivability due to pets, passives, and CC, but lower DPS to compesate for the inherit reduction in damage that ranged gets (cause it's harder for monsters to hit us).
The first problem is that pets really aren't viable middle to late Nightmare unless you plain over gear, or if you stack defense, in which case you do no damage (cause pets weren't built with high damage in mind). That means we're back to the run/hide/cc methods to survive, like the Wiz and DH, just with less damage. We still have some very nice CC, but they aren't overpowering enough to compensate for the lack of damage we have, unless we use some very specific builds (VQ Bats/ZB or splinters).
I think they could completley ignore damage and mana, but if they improved pets, and reduced the cost or cooldown for certain CC, then we'd be back to closer to balance. Sure, we might have to go OOM, but that'd be more from lack of planning, or spamming a skill when we shouldn't be.
My problem with WD is not mana, cause i kind think that works. Running Act 3 using Dire Bats and an 2h weapon and only Spirit Attunement + Honored Guest is enough to keep my mana on.
Imo what need to be fixed in the class:
i. Pets should survive if you invest in 1 or 2 defensive affix (right now you need 4). I mean, right now you need HP regen, CC on Hit, Armor and All Resistance in every piece of gear. Good luck dealing damage with that ! Pets taking reduced damage from avoidables is another must have change (or else gimme the ability to micro my stuff so i can avoid.
ii. WD need armor/resist bonuses like other classes. This is absolutly needed if you want to make tanky WD functional. And how's one suppose to use spells like Toads and Charger without being tanky ?
iii. Buff healing runes please. Hegde Magic is a joke wtf
I mostly agree with this. While I would, personally, like to see mana replaced with something more along the lines of Blood Ritual (now that would make the class different), I don't think the problem is in the mana. The problem is, imo, in the costs of skills and terribleness of the pets.
Pets: the issue here, again imo, is that Blizzard wants them to be tired to the WD's defensive stats (beyond the obvious that they just don't have enough HP/defense). As an example - if you need to stack defensive stats to get your pets strong, then why do you need pets? You just stacked defensive stats. I always thought the idea for pets was that you could gain survivability, independent of gear, by sacrificing some skills. Basically, pets should be more like CC builds, in that you use that skill to control monsters to some extent. Sure, Blizz could just skew it so that a moderatly defensive build makes your pets able to survive a dirty glance, but then a Tank-Specced WD could have immortal pets. IMO, they should scale based on your lvl vs the monsters level, with a little based on overall gear quality (cause we're capped at 60, that way a fresh into Inferno WD doesn't have pets that can survive Act 4).
Attack Skills: Basically I just don't think they're balanced that well. Either Splinters does too much damage, or just about every other skill doesn't do enough. And the way mana works, I think they need to adjust costs (and VQ, sadly), so that you're doing a big attack, and then dodging a bit. During said time you have the choice of doing extra damage with your primaries, or saving up a bit faster for the big attacks. And then CC's shouldn't cost signifcant amounts of mana
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The first problem is that pets really aren't viable middle to late Nightmare unless you plain over gear, or if you stack defense, in which case you do no damage (cause pets weren't built with high damage in mind). That means we're back to the run/hide/cc methods to survive, like the Wiz and DH, just with less damage. We still have some very nice CC, but they aren't overpowering enough to compensate for the lack of damage we have, unless we use some very specific builds (VQ Bats/ZB or splinters).
I think they could completley ignore damage and mana, but if they improved pets, and reduced the cost or cooldown for certain CC, then we'd be back to closer to balance. Sure, we might have to go OOM, but that'd be more from lack of planning, or spamming a skill when we shouldn't be.
I mostly agree with this. While I would, personally, like to see mana replaced with something more along the lines of Blood Ritual (now that would make the class different), I don't think the problem is in the mana. The problem is, imo, in the costs of skills and terribleness of the pets.
Pets: the issue here, again imo, is that Blizzard wants them to be tired to the WD's defensive stats (beyond the obvious that they just don't have enough HP/defense). As an example - if you need to stack defensive stats to get your pets strong, then why do you need pets? You just stacked defensive stats. I always thought the idea for pets was that you could gain survivability, independent of gear, by sacrificing some skills. Basically, pets should be more like CC builds, in that you use that skill to control monsters to some extent. Sure, Blizz could just skew it so that a moderatly defensive build makes your pets able to survive a dirty glance, but then a Tank-Specced WD could have immortal pets. IMO, they should scale based on your lvl vs the monsters level, with a little based on overall gear quality (cause we're capped at 60, that way a fresh into Inferno WD doesn't have pets that can survive Act 4).
Attack Skills: Basically I just don't think they're balanced that well. Either Splinters does too much damage, or just about every other skill doesn't do enough. And the way mana works, I think they need to adjust costs (and VQ, sadly), so that you're doing a big attack, and then dodging a bit. During said time you have the choice of doing extra damage with your primaries, or saving up a bit faster for the big attacks. And then CC's shouldn't cost signifcant amounts of mana