11 replies to this topic

[Altreg01]

I know there is no right or wrong answer here and I may get 4 different answers even.  In everybody's opinion what class/skill set is the most effective AND cheapest to build for low level MP farming. If you insect me you will see I have a very ordinary and cheap cookie cutter monk, my wife just hit 60 on a wizard and for not too much gold we could get her up to 100k DPS but is a true glass cannon atm with less than 30k morale.

Mind you I took a large chunk of this game off so I am very far behind the curve skills and gear wise as compared to how I was in D2 or how most of you are here in D3.

I havent even touched a Wizard or Barb, my Witch Dr is >level 15 and my Demon Hunter while at mid 40s I think hasnt been touched since a month after launch.

Just looking for some well informed opinions which could directly lead to my 2nd class being leveled to 60 and geared out.

Thanks in Advance

[Küken]

Generally speaking, a Barb excels in low and high monster powers and is probably the cheapest to equip while remaining effective, either using ww/sprint or HotA builds respectively. He can easily dish out a lot of damage while still maintaining survivability.

A monk is a little more expensive to equip for similar amounts of dps and ehp and even at similar stats cannot put out quite the same dps, however playing mainly a monk myself I think he is not very far off in terms of farming speed. Tempest rush builds offer similar or even a little more mobility compared to sprint/ww and the cookie cutter FoT:TC + SW deals very reliable aoe damage; also MoC:Overawe makes him probably the best mate to have in any team.

WD, Demon Hunter and Wizard all have ways of farming at a decent speed as well, but currently, I think they are at a slight disadvantage compared to the 2 melee classes.

However, I wouldn't base my hero of choice solely on the current farming efficiency. You will probably spend a lot of time playing this hero, so you better make sure you have fun with him. Also future patches might change the efficiency by quite a lot.

[Bagstone]

Are you planning on playing mostly alone or with your wife? If she has a wizard and wants to play with you, be prepared that Archon can be quite frustrating at times because group members "steal the kills" which means Archon is always on cooldown. Although Archon is my favorite spell and wizard my favorite class, I've been looking into other builds/classes recently that contribute to my group's composition. If you wife wants to stick with her wizard and wants to play with you, one of the new Blizzard builds might be worthwhile and they're pretty low-cost, too. Take a look at the wizard section, there have been posted plenty of guides recently.

The two classes that I wouldn't recommend for you then are demon hunter, because it's such a similar play style, and witch doctor, because you and your wife would be looking for the same equipment. Monk or barb sounds best.

HOWEVER, ultimately both of you should choose the class you like the most. Even a perfect group composition becomes boring quite soon, and Diablo 3 is a game that essentially resembles a loooooong grind for new gear. You won't play the game for much longer if you don't really enjoy your character.

[Altreg01]

Thanks for that first response.

I should add that I have the ability to play more than the average person, Im disabled (deaf) which allows me significant more playtime. Ive been a gamer ever since my first $2500 386/DX2/66 (which is significantly weaker than the average cell phone) lol.  Ive given up Lotro for good and as of now all my attention is squarely on D3 with a minor in Neverwinter Alphas and Betas.  I will be trying all classes and will level all, so far it seems none are at a severe disadvantage the way some were in D2 when it was all about the hammer or the sorc for farming efficiently.

I look forward to more responses, maybe Ill check out the barb for the time being.

Edit for Bagstones response:  While my wife does play and is a damn good gamer (was top 10 pvp leaderboards for minstrels on lotro for a while) shes much more casual nowadays, I wouldnt even let the fact she has a Wiz prevent me from rolling one too.

Edited by Altreg01, 25 February 2013 - 01:49 PM.

[Zuchi]

Agree that barb is best, I started with monk main like you, but I levelled a barb few weeks ago to 60 and by far it's so much faster than a monk, u just lolwind thru packs and keep running with sprint. It's FASSTTT!!!

[Bribous]

I'm by far no expert on classes, buuut....

I do have 3: An oldest Wizard, a youger Demon Hunter and the youngest Monk.

By far, the easiest to gear and achieve ~100kDPS were the Wizard, than the Monk, than the DH (from my point of view). If you are able/willing to throw real money on your char, all of them will be easy to gear, since nowadays you have multiple choice of cookie-cutter builds for farming/fun on all classes.

But, on farming speed, comparing the 3 of them, the best is the Monk, followed by the Wizard and them the DH.

The thing is: None of them can be compared to a well-geared Sprint/WW Barbarian, in terms of farming speed. But as Bagstone said, you should play with the class you like the most, since it'll be a long-time relationship until paragon 100.

I usually switch between the Wizard and DH, because I get bored on one or another. And, although faster, I really don't like the playstyle of the monk on neither styles (I have 2 builds for him: One really fast - 2.7 APS and another one slow for Tempest Rush). But this is personal, and goes with your playstyle.

[Altreg01]

Bribous, on 25 February 2013 - 02:35 PM, said:

By far, the easiest to gear and achieve ~100kDPS were the Wizard, than the Monk, than the DH (from my point of view). If you are able/willing to throw real money on your char, all of them will be easy to gear, since nowadays you have multiple choice of cookie-cutter builds for farming/fun on all classes.

I dont mind spending a buck or 2 to buy gold, most of my current gold comes from a legendary that dropped right after RMAH and I sold it for a pretty penny, I have since turned that into game gold since I really dont want to play for real money. Even without that I would have no problem adding $10 or $15, Ive been pay for 2 subs for lotro for over 5 years now (since cancelled) but Id like to stay money nuetral, but with all that said I do have 50+ million  gold and a few real $$ in the game but would rather spread that out over my wifes and my accounts as opposed to sink it into one godly toon.

[JKlimek]

I play heavily with and without my wife and do solo with all 5 classes and with several different diverse groups.  Not to toot my own horn here, but I would say I have a lot of experience to share

My wife plays the barb because quite frankly it's nice to tank and just smash the face out of everything.  When I farm with her, I am usually doing a wizard archon/cm build and we do "big 3" runs on MP7 in about 15 mins.  What Bagstone said is spot on, if you play a wiz, archon is by far the best farming build, but when you do multiplayer or can't one shot mobs, you suffer with archon on cool down regularly.  You could go the blizzard route which he suggested (or disintegrate) but if you can get the equipment for it, a cmww/archon hybrid build works very well and adds a dimension to any group that is immensely helpful.  The group I farm with knows to ignore the vast majority of the mobs and when we get to elites I cancel out of archon and switch to cm to lock the elites down for the rest of the group to kill.  By the time we are done with the elite group archon should be back up for you to plow through to the next group.  It's far more efficient for the whole group than killing everything melee style or skipping whites to get to elites.

That said, I feel like wizards are terrible at solo play.  CMWW single player is terrible (boring, hand-hurt-so-much) but archon works well and is cheap.  The main problem with archon is that you have to stand still to channel and other than archon's teleport rune, you really don't have a good way of consistent on-demand move speed bonus like all of the other classes do.  Monks are my favorite solo because if you can afford a well equipped tempest rush build, it's sooo fast.  A monk's best contribution to ubers unfortunately is the mantra that does extra dmg.  I've heard the cyclone wind build does a ton of damage, but I haven't seen if that's still viable post snapshot nerf.  I have a feeling that monks kinda suck now but I have no personal experience with that as I only play my monk solo.  Barbarians hota smash with good equipment can help fly through elites and ubers with crits in the millions of dmg.  They are pretty cheap to equip for a single player whirlwind build and are probably the second fastest build for farming.  DH has it's perks, but without going into much depth I think they are probably the least useful in a group and they aren't nearly as fast as tr monks or ww barbs without some investment in a constantly flipping build which is only useful for solo.  WD are kinda bad too, but I am having a ton of fun with the freezing acid rain build.  I have about a 30% chance to freeze on hit from items and a high acid rain crit chance and with spirit walk and the rest of the build, running solo or in a group is very fast.  You freeze enemies just enough to be really helpful and you can also clear mobs out really quick.  Voodoo is helpful not only in elite farming but also in ubers.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!

-edited for clarity!-

Edited by JKlimek, 25 February 2013 - 08:54 PM.

[Bribous]

^ 25mil per char is more than enough to buy / craft really good gear. I did not pay even 5mil on my monk.

The problem is: there are some builds that are a bit expensive. Wizards CM+WW is an example.

[Altreg01]

Ive been poking around on the barb for the past few hours, and it just feels right. Not sure what it is though since I never really messed with barbs in D2.  Im definitely going to follow up on him.  I tried the starting areas for the WD and it wasnt fun at all. Im sure he gets better but I wasnt feeling it.

Thanks again!!!

[Chazhang]

In terms of low MP efficiency I've found that WD is the most cost efficient as demoed by this 15M set:


Barb is less cost efficient at low MP; however it's probably the most flexible in its choice of MP. You can switch around skills and playstyle with little adjustments in gearing to handle higher MPs. The WD setup shown in the video scales horribly on higher MP.

The one counterargument that some people have against barb is that it has a tendency to be less engaging versus other classes. I've played barb as my main, got really well geared and then ended up selling my gear since it got boring. Nowadays I just play around with all the classes with low budget builds.

[Altreg01]

Chazhang, on 26 February 2013 - 06:51 AM, said:

.

The one counterargument that some people have against barb is that it has a tendency to be less engaging versus other classes.

I can definitely see this being an issue, again referring back to lotro a warden was my main, a very engaging and cerebral class to play but horribly inefficient. Thanks for the vid!!