"The Mini-Monk"
Focuses on control using knockbacks and ranged attacks, with a smattering of survivability.
Meant to use Deadly reach for most attacks, with a third-hit Fist of Lightning for knocking back persistent enemies.
Serenity with a heal is for those embarrassing moments when you just might die.
Seven-Sided Strike with Sudden Assault helps bring up some mobility.
Also, this build is intended to work out of the box at level 30 -- the moment you get every slot unlocked.
These are some excellent responses. Thank you all for your time and your thoughts.
A clarification: In the OP, I don't expect people to swap 1) more than one skill or rune at a time, really, or 2) in the middle of a fight. I'm more looking at a character dusting themselves off, thinking about how it might be easier to fight a dominant, common enemy on the floor that they just got to, and changing a skill or two to help them out.
Still, I'm pretty convinced by several posts. Let me interact with them, below:
@Rozmata: Kiting a bit does work. Those who claim that 15 seconds is an "eternity" in D3 aren't quite right. I actually find the game is slower than Diablo 2, but more fun and intense. However, 15 seconds is about two fights. You don't want to be sitting or kiting for 15 seconds as Zero(pS) pointed out above. You would not want to swap powers in a fight unless it was a life and death situation that could only be survived via a swap. At which point either your build or the game at large is broken.
The biggest thing I think is wrong with my views in the OP was pointed out by many people in this thread, including:
@Terminaber: The beta is indeed a lot easier and less complex than Inferno will inevitably be. At the same time, I'm not sure huge combo play will exist; Blizzard has said they are trying to squash the kind of play where you need 6 specific abilities to get a viable character. At the same time, I think you're right: with 6 abilities, you probably can stock enough variety to make it through anything if it meets your playstyle. Switching up one ability on the fly probably isn't going to make or break your gameplay; you're probably going to want to stick with what you're skilled at rather than a clumsy ability swap that you "need."
@Mew: thanks for bringing up the gear. I had totally forgotten that you're probably going to have gear that complements your build, so swapping might nerf you a lot by causing you to have a build that isn't supported by your gear.
However, I totally agree with @NPSlow. Late-game play will probably be about kits; a handful of smaller (3 or so skills) builds that are likely modular so that they work of the same gear and playstyle. You'll probably swap between these based on challenging parts of the game and, probably more often, based on the builds and strengths of any "frequent flyer" party members (e.g., I know this Wizard, she loves her slowing build, I'm going to drop Cyclone Strike for Lashing Tail Kick and some supporting powers.)
That all being said, I think it's likely that people will not adhere to a build very much while they are leveling and unlocking content. I figure it's going to be closer to Inferno when they start building builds or kits.
I don't want to make this controversial, but I do have to ask this.
My brother's in the beta and I've seen some of his gameplay, asked him some questions.
A lot of the time when playing through the game, he changes out spells and abilities to match not a "optimal build" or a "perfect build" but rather to match the challenges in front of him. For example, if playing a monk against a lot of ranged-type enemies, he'll swap in things like Dashing Strike or Cyclone Strike and maybe a builder like Deadly Reach, whereas against nasty big guys he'd use stuff like Lashing Tail Kick and Fists of Thunder to keep them away from him.
Especially now that Runes are learned as you level and don't drop, if it's really easy to choose between runes and skills and even Runed skills, wouldn't a player continue to choose what they feel works against the particular challenges they find themselves up against, rather than sticking to a single, static build?
Couple of thoughts on the other side of the spectrum:
The beta has a very tight limit of enemy types. Perhaps the full version will have so much variety that a key build will be pretty much necessary?
Maybe some players won't want to hotswap skills or be able to wrap their heads around what is a good swap to make. Still, the game is very intuitive.
I was thinking of calling him "Commiepete" and using macros like "Taste the people's fist, demonic running dogs!" "This kick is for the proletariat masses!" and "Overthrown the infernal bourgeois!" but I don't think Blizzard would allow my name.
I'm pretty sure that the monk will be my first, and possibly only class. I'd like to restrict playing a lot of classes simply due to the possible ability to make some money (like, enough for my WoW account) by selling cool stuff that I'd otherwise want for myself.
That said, I'd love to tinker around on the other classes to see if there's something I like a whole lot more.
I have to say I'm all for this change. I've been playing around with builds and thinking to myself Too bad it's going to be so lame not being able to play this guy until I find the perfect rune drop to make it happen. I'll probably end up having to settle for second best or much worse.
Guys lets face it, some cooldowns on monk's spells are just too much. As if being a melle character is not enough ( being engaged by pretty much all the range mobs and half of the melle enemies that you see on your screen ) i think that if inferno difficulty is as hard as they say, w8ing for 30 sec for a spell to cooldown, might be just too much. I mean come on, i know seven-sided strike is a handy skill, inner sanctuary can provide quite a defense with obsidian rune ( 40% dmg reduction ) but i dont think that this skills are worth the 30 sec coodlwon.
My suggestion is that 20 sec cooldown would be most apropriate for this skills, if you agree with me, please share your thoughts i would love to hear em.
I don't know. In the very small amounts of time I've seen the monk played, it tends to take a while to fill its orb of spirit. The cooldowns on abilities didn't seem too harsh.
I did, on the other hand, think that the golden runes should really reduce cooldown instead of spirit cost on some of the abilities, since I see a lot of people running around with full or nearly full orbs.
Still, the cooldowns do make the Exalted Soul passive seem pretty bad.
Well we know that it will be at least as long as D2. But I think with the random events and such, that it will be a bit longer if your doing full clears and really exploring and finding everything there is.
What he said. From what I've seen, because we're not limited to six quests every act for 5 acts, it feels like Diablo 3 has a lot more content than Diablo 2. The additional random mini-dungeons, sprawling randomized dungeons, and Inferno Mode will make Diablo 3 feel like it's a lot bigger than DIablo 2. Which, content- and story-wise, it most certainly is.
I'm predicting that, while it might not be longer in terms of map sizes and act numbers, Diablo 3 will feel 4-6 times as large as Diablo 2.
I'm planning just to play one class at a time in order to maximize the profitability of grouping with my wife, brother, and a friend, each on a different class.
I'm planning to play the Monk because I love the look and feel of the class. I loved the paladin from Diablo 2, and I see the Monk as the next Paladin. I think the Monk will be a lot better at fighting, too.
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"The Mini-Monk"
Focuses on control using knockbacks and ranged attacks, with a smattering of survivability.
Meant to use Deadly reach for most attacks, with a third-hit Fist of Lightning for knocking back persistent enemies.
Serenity with a heal is for those embarrassing moments when you just might die.
Seven-Sided Strike with Sudden Assault helps bring up some mobility.
Also, this build is intended to work out of the box at level 30 -- the moment you get every slot unlocked.
0
A clarification: In the OP, I don't expect people to swap 1) more than one skill or rune at a time, really, or 2) in the middle of a fight. I'm more looking at a character dusting themselves off, thinking about how it might be easier to fight a dominant, common enemy on the floor that they just got to, and changing a skill or two to help them out.
Still, I'm pretty convinced by several posts. Let me interact with them, below:
@Rozmata: Kiting a bit does work. Those who claim that 15 seconds is an "eternity" in D3 aren't quite right. I actually find the game is slower than Diablo 2, but more fun and intense. However, 15 seconds is about two fights. You don't want to be sitting or kiting for 15 seconds as Zero(pS) pointed out above. You would not want to swap powers in a fight unless it was a life and death situation that could only be survived via a swap. At which point either your build or the game at large is broken.
The biggest thing I think is wrong with my views in the OP was pointed out by many people in this thread, including:
@Terminaber: The beta is indeed a lot easier and less complex than Inferno will inevitably be. At the same time, I'm not sure huge combo play will exist; Blizzard has said they are trying to squash the kind of play where you need 6 specific abilities to get a viable character. At the same time, I think you're right: with 6 abilities, you probably can stock enough variety to make it through anything if it meets your playstyle. Switching up one ability on the fly probably isn't going to make or break your gameplay; you're probably going to want to stick with what you're skilled at rather than a clumsy ability swap that you "need."
@Mew: thanks for bringing up the gear. I had totally forgotten that you're probably going to have gear that complements your build, so swapping might nerf you a lot by causing you to have a build that isn't supported by your gear.
However, I totally agree with @NPSlow. Late-game play will probably be about kits; a handful of smaller (3 or so skills) builds that are likely modular so that they work of the same gear and playstyle. You'll probably swap between these based on challenging parts of the game and, probably more often, based on the builds and strengths of any "frequent flyer" party members (e.g., I know this Wizard, she loves her slowing build, I'm going to drop Cyclone Strike for Lashing Tail Kick and some supporting powers.)
That all being said, I think it's likely that people will not adhere to a build very much while they are leveling and unlocking content. I figure it's going to be closer to Inferno when they start building builds or kits.
0
My brother's in the beta and I've seen some of his gameplay, asked him some questions.
A lot of the time when playing through the game, he changes out spells and abilities to match not a "optimal build" or a "perfect build" but rather to match the challenges in front of him. For example, if playing a monk against a lot of ranged-type enemies, he'll swap in things like Dashing Strike or Cyclone Strike and maybe a builder like Deadly Reach, whereas against nasty big guys he'd use stuff like Lashing Tail Kick and Fists of Thunder to keep them away from him.
Especially now that Runes are learned as you level and don't drop, if it's really easy to choose between runes and skills and even Runed skills, wouldn't a player continue to choose what they feel works against the particular challenges they find themselves up against, rather than sticking to a single, static build?
Couple of thoughts on the other side of the spectrum:
The beta has a very tight limit of enemy types. Perhaps the full version will have so much variety that a key build will be pretty much necessary?
Maybe some players won't want to hotswap skills or be able to wrap their heads around what is a good swap to make. Still, the game is very intuitive.
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Russian monks are the win, though.
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That said, I'd love to tinker around on the other classes to see if there's something I like a whole lot more.
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Now, I don't have to fear the RNG.
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#iadbTj!bWZ!cZbbbZ
Teleports, Dashes, Dashes (and more dashes,) and movement speed.
I took a little bit of dodge so you don't just outright die.
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I don't know. In the very small amounts of time I've seen the monk played, it tends to take a while to fill its orb of spirit. The cooldowns on abilities didn't seem too harsh.
I did, on the other hand, think that the golden runes should really reduce cooldown instead of spirit cost on some of the abilities, since I see a lot of people running around with full or nearly full orbs.
Still, the cooldowns do make the Exalted Soul passive seem pretty bad.
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So, share away.
I will be using the name "Ebusiness." There's a number of reasons why.
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"Can't Touch This" build.
This build is all about reducing incoming damage, dodging attacks, becoming immune to damage, and denying areas.
Might work with a ranged weapon, too.
I chose Deadly Reach because it has the highest range, Fists of Thunder for the knockback.
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What he said. From what I've seen, because we're not limited to six quests every act for 5 acts, it feels like Diablo 3 has a lot more content than Diablo 2. The additional random mini-dungeons, sprawling randomized dungeons, and Inferno Mode will make Diablo 3 feel like it's a lot bigger than DIablo 2. Which, content- and story-wise, it most certainly is.
I'm predicting that, while it might not be longer in terms of map sizes and act numbers, Diablo 3 will feel 4-6 times as large as Diablo 2.
0
I'm planning to play the Monk because I love the look and feel of the class. I loved the paladin from Diablo 2, and I see the Monk as the next Paladin. I think the Monk will be a lot better at fighting, too.