+1
Thanks for your feedback, but I feel like a few people might still be going for leaderboard rankings towards the end of the current season. This may be valuable information for them (if they were not aware of it until now).
Devs have openly stated that they believe high numbers are the main attraction for their playerbase. Not long ago, they focused on making those large numbers more readable and more visually appealing, so it is not something that is going to go away. As for PvP, this is literally never going to happen in D3, so people need to stop calling for it. If we were going to get meaningful PvP it would have happened a long time ago. As for competitive PvE, this seems more in line with what Diablo is about, so I think that could work.
I care nothing for Grifts.
When are we getting competitive PvP, team-deathmatch or 2v2 Grifting where we can sabotage the others for first place?
Because right now, all we have are NUMBERS. Grift level.... idiotic 90 bill crits.... absolutely horrific and stupid gameplay.
Give us direct ways of competition between players and teams. Give us PvP. For GOD's sake, make a SMOOTH transition of damage output across levels 1-70.
Like, if we start with 10dps at lvl 1, lets go to like ~500-600 at lvl 70!
Look at the MOBA's, there is teamplay involved and damage does NOT mean anything unless you are able to dish it out - crowd control and teamplay need to be focused at!!
I'm just about done reading patch notes and "guides" to stupid numbers - is that really the best Blizzard can come up with???
0
@ LordOfDestruction
ET is generally preferred in group play, relying on reaper's + globe supports to keep AP full. In Solo you could tweak your setup slightly to better handle single targets, although it would cost you some valuable dmg bonuses.
Option 1:
Valthek's Rebuke in cube in place of furnace. Causes ET to go straight.
Note: Huge loss in dmg vs elites/RG - not recommended.
Option 2:
Switch to the Wicked Wind rune. ET spins at the target location, instead of following a path.
Preferred Playstyle:
Trap mobs in corners. Basically provides the benefits of Wicked Wind rune, without sacrificing the dmg bonus of Raging Storm.
1
Lag is not the only reason for the current meta. It is not always of greatest benefit to run DPS in place of support. Group buffs, such as mantras can provide much needed survivability, allowing the DPS to stay on target for longer (as opposed to dying and causing a noticeable drop in DPS). Numerous classes can also provide group dmg buffs, which can provide higher dmg bonus than an additional DPS. Remember, 1x DPS provides 100% dmg; 2x DPS provides 200% dmg (200/100 = 2x); 3x DPS provides 300% dmg (300/200 = 1.5x), 4x DPS provides 400% dmg (400/300 = 1.33x). As you can see, adding more DPS into a group provides a reduced bonus after the 2nd DPS.
So basically, if we didn't have the lag issue, the meta would consist of 2x DPS and 2x support, provided that 2x support was enough to handle the group's cc/survivability needs. This statement should hold true while support classes offer more attractive group dmg bonuses than DPS classes.
0
"I want wizard to be what sorceress was. A long range caster, lacking in toughness, but powerful in spells."
"I have to run backwards and cast 1-2 tornados..."
@ LordOfDestruction
Wizards are a long range caster, and in 2.4 they are considered the highest DPS class. In particular, twister build in 2.4 (which I assume you are using) is considered extremely powerful due to buff from sword (currently nerfed on PTR). Also, from the looks of the current PTR, wizards will retain their position as highest DPS, although the mechanics of this particular build may reduce its effective range (30 yd radius). As an avid monk player, I would not consider 30 yd to be melee range, I would say it's on the fair side of mid-ranged.
0
No offense, but the title of this thread seems somewhat uninformed. S5 Wiz was considered an absolute requirement for high tier GR. S6 looks like Wiz will be just as much a requirement for high tier GR, and even using a different skill and gear setup (what more could a wiz ask for?).
On a more helpful note; I second shap's advice to go look on the build section; you can use it to familiarise yourself with the current trends. D3Planner is also a great tool if you want to do a more in-depth build comparison. There was also a nice little vid around this site recently, for what looks to be the most promising S6 wiz build (which shall remain nameless for fear of nerf).
0
I'm gonna go ahead and cast a vote for barb, for the reason being that its usefulness in high GRs (group) should be retained in the coming season. This means that by playing a barb, you should not find too much difficulty in getting a decent GR group together, thus you can continue to enjoy the game content throughout the season.
0
Yep, that's true, but this will always be the case so long as there is a possibility for 2 different players to have 2 different levels of power. The only way to protect against this in group play would be to impose a master/apprentice mechanic, which would first scale all group members' power down to the "weakest" values, and then scale the mob difficulty up to suit these values (and number of group members).
Note:
This would only balance stats, which could potentially cause issues when considering that recent group meta has consisted of support builds (potentially lowering the scaled dmg values). Also note that a difference in players' level of "skill" may impact upon group performance.
0
0
@ Jokerfiend:
Your post suggests you have given up any hope of improving/modifying the game form its current state. I refuse to agree with this stand-point because it is irrational; patches are on-going, and with these patches come the potential for change. Since change is possible, we should focus on discussing those changes which will have the most positive impact on us, as a gaming community, within the bounds of the developer's capabilities. The suggestion I have made above is in no way difficult to implement. You simply remove GRift keys and put a new unique reward in its place (preferably infinite scaling, with a low gain, in the same way that caldessan's and leg gems are), and re-align difficulties with power creep.
We both know that cheaters will always exist; the aim is to minimise their numbers. Obviously, regular ban waves is one method to achieve this. Another method may be to tweak current features in accordance with player requirements/suggestions. The difference between the 2, is that 1 approach will ultimately reduce the player base, while the other could potentially expand it.
0
Let's take a brief look at rifts. We could say that rifts serve purely to provide GR keys (tedious - monotonous). So far, the most commonly offered solution to the botting trend has been to remove the need for GR keys, however this will impact on rifts, making them redundant. So basically, you have solved the issue of tedious rifts by removing rifts completely.
I think removing rifts would be a bad idea and offer the alternative of a unique reward, making rifts more attractive. While GR keys are a unique reward available only in rifts, they do not provide any immediate benefits to the player, which leads to a sense of non-accomplishment (tedious - unrewarding).
AS you can see, there are 2 different reasons as to why rifts are tedious; monotony and lack of accomplishment. These factors, and the circumstances which form them do not become clear until we take a closer look at the issue. It is not the same thing to say;
"People cheat because rifts are tedious."
and
"Rifts are unrewarding and monotonous, which leads to the acceptance of cheats; furthermore these rifts are unrewarding/monotonous because X, Y and Z."
Personally, I would like to see rifts provide attractive rewards (some unique benefit, as leg gems are to GR, or mats are to bounties) which would bring immediate benefit to the player. This would provide more progression routes (variety in gameplay) for players, and allow GR keys to be phased out. This new reward should warrant a bump in rift difficulty (preferably on an infinite scale, just as GRs provide), which would make them more challenging (less tedious) and may also reduce the effectiveness of bot programs (which cannot play the game as well as a human).
0
I will agree that cheating shows a lack of moral fiber, although I think it only holds truth in the context of competition, as the intention is more often malicious in these circumstances (i.e. deliberately gaining an advantage over other players with the intention of claiming an undeserved rank/reward). I still think the widespread use of non-default (cheat) features within the community warrants attention, in order to isolate the exact cause. I will also agree that these causes have been mentioned numerous times across the forums; although I don't think this is a good enough reason to lower our voices on the issue. In fact, I think that this thread may be a more appropriate location to post such concerns, purely due to its visibility to the community (almost 200 posts in a matter of days), and as a result, its visibility to the Blizzard affiliated readers who patrol these forums.
To be fair, I also think that making excuses for cheating is a fruitless endeavor (it won't earn anybody's respect), however I believe there are some groups who will have more legitimate reasoning for cheating. The most common example being; GRift key farming reduces a player's ability to enjoy the aspect of the game which they take most interest in, due to extremely limited free time for gaming.
This is not my own personal circumstances, but it is a dilemma faced by some players;
Do I spend all of my available time farming GRift keys only to run 0 GRs?
OR
Do I move on from the game due to its time sink requirements?
At this point I would like to remind the reader that we are all paying customers.
Following on from this scenario; what if there was a compromise?
A bot could farm the keys for the player, so that they could simply log on and run GR, which was their entire goal to begin with. For obvious reasons, this is likely to appeal to many players facing the aforementioned dilemma.
This scenario may identify the need for GRift keys as being a concern for casual players, deterring them from playing the game. This may be considered as a significant issue, as the majority of console gamers are thought to be casual gamers, and may therefore represent a significant market share.
1
For pre-torment, you may want to consider crafting some legs, purely to fill any open slots (i.e. anywhere you have a rare equipped). Once you get that sorted, you should be able to handle rifts reasonably well, which should give you some fast-paced gear progression (high leg drop rate). You will want to push into torment reasonably quickly, as there are quite a few torment-only legendaries, some of which may be required for your desired build(s).
I can't really provide any info on early game WD builds, but the WD forums (as opposed to general discussion) more than likely have an abundance of recommendations.
0
S5 will be ending in ~2 weeks. Whether you should invest in it at this late point depends on your goals (LB, all conquests, stash tab only, etc.), and your intended time investment for the season. For example, it is completely unrealistic to think that as a player who is only now entering S5, you could compete for highest paragon, it simply can't happen.
Here is a guide provided before the beginning of S5 by Drahque.
Patch 2.4: ULTIMATE GUIDE for Season 5!
0
Considering that Quin has regularly provided in-depth data on in-game mechanics, and has constructed multiple LB-worthy builds, I think it is clear that he was actively playing the game. Personally, he is the only streamer I actually pay any attention to (I don't exactly make a habit of following streamers), as he gives a strong impression that he knows his sh*t through and through. It becomes quite clear from Quin's build explanations that he has definitely play-tested them before releasing them, as he understands the strengths AND weaknesses of the build; i.e. do x now, but don't do y, because z.
Obviously there is nothing in this post to actually prove that Quin is 100% legit, but I will say this much:
Quin invested a substantial portion of his own time into the game, as an ACTIVE PLAYER.
Quin provided significant contributions to the community; constructing, testing and explaining a variety of builds, so that OTHER PLAYERS could benefit from them. IMHO these are not the actions of somebody who hogs the competition, and certainly not an example of malicious intent.
1
I think it is imperative that Blizzard take a stand on the matter of THUD use, as it is clearly a topic which splits the community. I don't think that THUD users should be punished as harshly as botters straight off the bat, because they are vastly different advantages. One allows farming while the player is AFK (sleeping/work/etc.) and is often used for lengthy durations; the other provides more detailed information on the player's surroundings, allowing them to use their time more efficiently while actively playing.
To be clear, I am for features/extensions which provide the player with more decision-making power, and against any element which makes that decision for the player.
THUD features I openly support (I do not use THUD, but do familiarise myself with the features of the program):
- Skill calculation details (it's basically a read-out similar to that provided on D3Planner)
- Arcs and circles (displays radius marks which the player can use to set up their positioning for buffs like zei's)
- Orbs on minimap (displays orbs on the minimap, so you don't run past them and miss out on your rift progress)
There is a feature which can provide significant advantage, and thus is unfair in a competition of non-THUD vs THUD user:
Monster dots on minimap show how many monsters are within the detection radius. Additional features work off of this to mark those dots by classification. This allows a THUD user to analyse the on-screen elements much sooner than a regular player would be capable of. My main issue however is the detection radius itself. Based upon the image I am viewing, the detection radius would have an effective range which exceeds the player's FOV; If this range were matched to ~85% of FOV, I would not have an issue with it.
Those features I have not mentioned would only really cause clutter for me. Also note, I am not using THUD, and the feature list I have looked through may be somewhat outdated, and thus my own list could be outdated/missing competition-breaking features.
In the interest of referencing my own source, a link to an imgur page detailing THUD features is provided.
http://imgur.com/a/SvGuv#0
@ Moderators:
I realise that by posting specific details of THUD's features, it may draw more attention to the program than what may be warranted. With this said, I believe it is necessary for the community to more accurately understand exactly what they are fighting for or against, with regard to 3rd party programs. I don't think it is enough to say that EULA/ToS prohibits use of these tools and be done with it; instead I think more can be learned by discussing precisely which elements of these tools are causing problems for players, and which features the playerbase may actually want to see implemented.
0
I think that if GR fishing was less beneficial, records could be wiped without impacting the LB records of legit players, since they could just party with other high LB legit players and make a new record. I also think that having all of the records associated with cheat accounts would remove some of the outliers in LB, which would more accurately reflect what the playerbase has accomplished within a season.
The reality at the moment, is that GRs are too RNG dependant; we need randomness, but only to a certain extent, especially if GR is infinite scaling. Due to this issue, penalising legit players would be unfair, because they are not guaranteed a LB spot which accurately reflects the balance between their toon's power and the 'skill' of the player.