I think if this goes live as currently implemented that every weapon that's been enchanted and already had an innate socket should be given another chance to be enchanted. This just really sucks for weapons like Thunderfury that roll with a guaranteed socket. It was awesome prior to this item but now it means everyone who got one and rerolled anything besides the socket (read: everyone) got fucked.
With everything in Diablo, you expect changes to items not to be retroactive. It is too much programming and a lot of complaining fans if they were to erase the altered stat. If you got a great Thunderfury where you rerolled one of the stats, you are going to have to accept it as no longer being the best (although still good). But if you find a new Thunderfury, you reroll the innate socket to a stat you want, then apply the R-gift to get a new slot.
I think your fears will abate over time: it is just a new way to look at items.Players will start keeping awesome, socketless, weapons in the bank hoping that a Ramalandis Gift drops for them, so they might have an "unnaturally awesome" weapon.
I am kicking myself for disenchanting a nearly 3,000dps "Fate of the Fell" Flail last week that didn't have a socket. Now that I know the R-Gift will come into the game, I will keep a great, but socketless weapon, in my bank.
Why don't you join the Crusader March community in-game (if in NA), and have crusaders of similar gear levels work with you? It will be alot easier then trying to get an all-crusader clan of the same skill-level and large enough size to support your effort.
I agree that Akkhan's set is freaking awesome, but it pretty much locks you into using Akarat's Champion. They should make a second set, something like an artillery set, that is weaker than wizards and demon hunters ranged, but still good for crusaders who like to drop artillery on mobs. Something like:
2 piece: +500 str
4 piece:reduce the cooldown of heavens fury and falling sword by 30%
6 piece:reduce the cool down of bombardment by 50%
While they are at it, change the hallowed hand axe to a hallowed flail, so all 6 classes have a class weapon for the set.
I started with about 580 million and have never dropped to below 430 million. I can see how people lose the gold...re-enchanting items gets expensive. If I can't get the right skill on an item after 5 or 6 attempts, I stop trying. when people are trying 12+ times they are paying ludicrous amounts of gold just in the off chance of getting the right stat. Likewise, if I want a chest with 3 sockets, I need to create it or find it: I won't keep rerolling the enchants until I get it because that is (on average) very expensive.
I have just over 100 hours at level 70 for my crusader, so want to offer feedback. I was asked by my brother why I continue to play the crusader given the challenge and I insisted that it will get better: I played a witch doctor before Blizzard fixed them in vanilla, so I am confident it will happen. I merely hope it doesn’t take too long.
Since Blizzard doesn’t recognize my account for some reason, I can’t post on the official forums, so will post my thoughts here. Here we go:
The development/play-test team at Blizzard optimized crusader damage output on them using the 2-hander (thus requiring the use of Heavenly Strength), which is the source of many of its current problems. Here is my short list:
It neutered the 1 handed weapon + shield configurations. Unless a crusader is very lucky and gets a great 1-handed weapon and unlucky and never gets even an average 2-handed weapon, an efficient crusader is required to use heavenly strength. Being the most required passive of any class, it effectively makes the crusader a 3 passive slot class
In groups, the crusader is always falling behind because of the Heavenly Strength movement penalty. To compensate, Crusaders need to either use an active slot for steed, use a gimmick affix, or design a build around eliminating the 15% penalty (the “nephalim glory” builds)
When it comes to kill efficiency, the crusader is on the bottom rung. Hopefully, this will be less of a problem after today’s patch. The way I see it, there are 3 ranges (short, medium, long) and 2 modes of killing (area of effect [AoE] and single target). Each class fills a role: wizard is long AoE, Demon hunter is long single, Witch Doctor is medium AoE, Barbarian is short single, Monk is short AoE and that puts the Crusader as medium single. However, it doesn’t play like that, as every other equally equipped class kills more efficiently. The reason, in my opinion, is two-fold: 1) we don’t regenerate resources as fast as other classes because of our slow attack speeds and, 2) Many of our abilities are on long cooldowns.
It isn’t a problem with me yet, but I think shield Block values need to be carefully scaled to be competitive in higher torment levels
My guess is the Blizzard team is divided in their way of thinking. There is someone there that has a lot of pull that conceptually wants the crusader to be the slower, heavy hitter. The other, less influential camp is more practical and realizes that by making Crusaders slow (in movement as well as killing), the class is undesirable…so the group did what they could and added crutches that wouldn’t be invalidated by the first camp. Those crutches are the Hellskull shield, the Swiftmount flail, Kassar’s retribution, Gyrofalcon’s Foote, and the Armor of Akkhan 4 and 6 piece bonus.
Remedy
Blizzard doesn’t like taking suggestions, but it is in our nature to offer them. My suggestions are:
Make carrying a 2 handed weapon in one hand while holding a shield a class perk, just like it is a perk for Demon hunters to dual wield hand crossbows, or monks and barbarians tp have 30% damage reduction. This solves for the lack of a 4th passive slot for Crusaders.
Change Heavenly Strength to boost 1 hander damage instead, so it is competitive to the baseline 2 hander + shield. This will give the class variety in equipment and play-style variety it is lacking at the higher-end.
Remove the Heavenly Strength movement penalty: I understand and like the concept, but in practice it only frustrates the crusader and those people grouping with the crusader. The game is about fun and teamwork, and this penalty breaks both (unless slowing down the group is a bonding experience for many).
It is fine to keep the hit harder but slower idea, but it needs to be balanced so it actually feels like Crusaders are hitting harder. When wizards, witch doctors and monks are melting groups of creatures while I am still trying to finish off a single creature, I don’t feel like an equal contributor, depsite comparable gear to them. Let my single target skills pack more punch than their large AoE. I am sure Barbarians and Demon hunters would like this as well.
Every class, except the Crusader, has 2 sets of armor. Give Crusaders a second set, and one that is not dependent on using a single skill. Something involving being a warrior who uses the holy elemental might be in order here.
Once the Heavenly Strength mechanic is fixed, you can alter the gimmick affixes on the crutch items so they aren't involving movement increases
Look carefully into resource regeneration for Crusader. It might not be an issue if the damage is tuned better, but it does feel like the resource globe is on empty more than any of the other 5 classes I play.
The first thing you should do is get a 2-Hander with 4 primary affixes and 2 secondary. Ideally a 2-handed flail with high damage, high strength and wrath regeneration. It shouldn't be hard to come by. Then reroll one of the primaries to make it even better (for instance, a socket is a must). Once you have that, put a gem in it. It looks like you have a low crit hit chance, so maybe a ruby is better at this point. Regardless, either will give you a significant boost to your damage output and make T1 much more bearable.
If you group with others, just ask them to trade any yellow two handed flails with you for something yellow in your inventory. If they listen and agree, you should have what you need within the hour. Once you find a better legendary weapon, just salvage the yellow weapon to get the gems back without paying the high unsocket cost.
I don't know of any, but a key to it might revolve around farming treasure goblins at a lower difficulty level. I usually get multiple gems from them and it should be easy to ignore all mobs and just go treasure goblin hunting (perhaps black canyon/desolate sands maps).
This is the beginnings of a guide to show what items synergize with each other. I started with synergies from my inventory, but if you post some that you have found, I will expand the list.
My apologies for being thicker than a George RR Martin novel, but can someone definitively explain it in a way that I understand?
I have a crusader. Let's say his base weapon does 100 damage, and it does 500-1000 holy elemental damage. I also have the passive that increases my holy damage by 10%. I have the two runes to choose from for sweep (which does 400% weapon damage): the blazing one (fire) which adds a secondary damage, or the holy one that heals me a little bit.
If I use the fire rune, is my actual average damage:
base (100) + average holy elemental (750) x weapon damage modifier (400%) for 3,400 damage, or
base (100) + [average holy elemental (750) x passive modifier (1.1%)] weapon damage modifier (400%) for 3,700 damage, or
[base (100) + average holy elemental (750)] + passive modifier weapon (10%) x damage modifier (400%) for 3,740 damage, or
It definitely plays different then the other classes. Not broken, but not as refined. I am still trying to find the right blend of it feeling responsive and doing acceptable dps.
The cooldown costs are long for the damage output they give, but I can live with it until they collect data and decide if it needs to be redressed. If no one else feels it is too excessive, I can live with it as just being a slower, less button-clicking class than the other 5 classes.
The mechanic where the Heavenly Strength passive is practically required to get close to the dps of the rest of your group (given the group is approximately the same paragon level and same mix of gear) is hard to stomach because you lost one passive slot just to correct your weak dps (Heavenly Strength) THEN you need to pour paragon points or use up 2-3 primary gear slots to improve your movement speed, and even then most crusaders are using one of their active slots for the steed, so they don't get left behind. To me, that part of the class that needs some tuning: I want to keep up with my group members and not feel I need more paragon points or better gear than them to be on par.
Moving this thread back to its intention, I tried it Dedcadaver, and it does work well when the group knows to concentrate firepower on the mobs you are pulling in to you. It was nice to drop an elite packs health in half in the first 4 seconds of the fight (soloing).
It is not my playstyle, but it is a good build. +1
The largest omission was the two-hander damage range (and off hand damage affix). That indicates they haven't found the source of the problem after considerable time to look for it, which is troubling given the imminent launch of RoS. It is possible all but the dual wielders will be gimped at Reaper of Souls launch.
2-handed weapons underperform dual wields or mainhand+source/fetish/quiver. 1H+ shield is the worst of all, which is the reason why you don't see players choosing it. Crusader has to take Heavenly Strength or their dps is gimped. Penalizing their movement for a required passive is poor game design. Most crusaders take steed to compensate, which is another penalty (losing a skill slot). Rather than fixing the problem that forces everyone to take these, they make the penalties even greater to discourage their use and promote diversity. Rather than fixing the root cause, they keep applying more badages that aren't effective.
At this point, I think they should just remove heavenly strength and focus on balancing crusader around sword and board. If they want to encourage variety in attacks for Crusader, make a passive that allows 30% damage reduction when using a 2-handed weapon (ala monk and barb).
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I am kicking myself for disenchanting a nearly 3,000dps "Fate of the Fell" Flail last week that didn't have a socket. Now that I know the R-Gift will come into the game, I will keep a great, but socketless weapon, in my bank.
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You still can't see the ground when the fires are spammed all over, but no screen shake is a significant QoL improvement.
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- 2 piece: +500 str
- 4 piece:reduce the cooldown of heavens fury and falling sword by 30%
- 6 piece:reduce the cool down of bombardment by 50%
While they are at it, change the hallowed hand axe to a hallowed flail, so all 6 classes have a class weapon for the set.0
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Since Blizzard doesn’t recognize my account for some reason, I can’t post on the official forums, so will post my thoughts here. Here we go:
- The development/play-test team at Blizzard optimized crusader damage output on them using the 2-hander (thus requiring the use of Heavenly Strength), which is the source of many of its current problems. Here is my short list:
My guess is the Blizzard team is divided in their way of thinking. There is someone there that has a lot of pull that conceptually wants the crusader to be the slower, heavy hitter. The other, less influential camp is more practical and realizes that by making Crusaders slow (in movement as well as killing), the class is undesirable…so the group did what they could and added crutches that wouldn’t be invalidated by the first camp. Those crutches are the Hellskull shield, the Swiftmount flail, Kassar’s retribution, Gyrofalcon’s Foote, and the Armor of Akkhan 4 and 6 piece bonus.It neutered the 1 handed weapon + shield configurations. Unless a crusader is very lucky and gets a great 1-handed weapon and unlucky and never gets even an average 2-handed weapon, an efficient crusader is required to use heavenly strength. Being the most required passive of any class, it effectively makes the crusader a 3 passive slot class
- In groups, the crusader is always falling behind because of the Heavenly Strength movement penalty. To compensate, Crusaders need to either use an active slot for steed, use a gimmick affix, or design a build around eliminating the 15% penalty (the “nephalim glory” builds)
- When it comes to kill efficiency, the crusader is on the bottom rung. Hopefully, this will be less of a problem after today’s patch. The way I see it, there are 3 ranges (short, medium, long) and 2 modes of killing (area of effect [AoE] and single target). Each class fills a role: wizard is long AoE, Demon hunter is long single, Witch Doctor is medium AoE, Barbarian is short single, Monk is short AoE and that puts the Crusader as medium single. However, it doesn’t play like that, as every other equally equipped class kills more efficiently. The reason, in my opinion, is two-fold: 1) we don’t regenerate resources as fast as other classes because of our slow attack speeds and, 2) Many of our abilities are on long cooldowns.
- It isn’t a problem with me yet, but I think shield Block values need to be carefully scaled to be competitive in higher torment levels
Remedy
Blizzard doesn’t like taking suggestions, but it is in our nature to offer them. My suggestions are:
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The first thing you should do is get a 2-Hander with 4 primary affixes and 2 secondary. Ideally a 2-handed flail with high damage, high strength and wrath regeneration. It shouldn't be hard to come by. Then reroll one of the primaries to make it even better (for instance, a socket is a must). Once you have that, put a gem in it. It looks like you have a low crit hit chance, so maybe a ruby is better at this point. Regardless, either will give you a significant boost to your damage output and make T1 much more bearable.
If you group with others, just ask them to trade any yellow two handed flails with you for something yellow in your inventory. If they listen and agree, you should have what you need within the hour. Once you find a better legendary weapon, just salvage the yellow weapon to get the gems back without paying the high unsocket cost.
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I have a crusader. Let's say his base weapon does 100 damage, and it does 500-1000 holy elemental damage. I also have the passive that increases my holy damage by 10%. I have the two runes to choose from for sweep (which does 400% weapon damage): the blazing one (fire) which adds a secondary damage, or the holy one that heals me a little bit.
If I use the fire rune, is my actual average damage:
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The cooldown costs are long for the damage output they give, but I can live with it until they collect data and decide if it needs to be redressed. If no one else feels it is too excessive, I can live with it as just being a slower, less button-clicking class than the other 5 classes.
The mechanic where the Heavenly Strength passive is practically required to get close to the dps of the rest of your group (given the group is approximately the same paragon level and same mix of gear) is hard to stomach because you lost one passive slot just to correct your weak dps (Heavenly Strength) THEN you need to pour paragon points or use up 2-3 primary gear slots to improve your movement speed, and even then most crusaders are using one of their active slots for the steed, so they don't get left behind. To me, that part of the class that needs some tuning: I want to keep up with my group members and not feel I need more paragon points or better gear than them to be on par.
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It is not my playstyle, but it is a good build. +1
edit: typos