When they first said MF wont be competing with other stats, I thought they were going to remove it from normal sets or perhaps make it so that all items come with magic find.
If all items had a small adage of a randomly generated amount of MF then there wouldn't really be a problem.
Another idea I came up with is if they add a secondary property to rares and uniques. For instance, all rares/unique items spawn with either MF, extra gold or increased XP (which stops generating on level 60 items). That way items will always have that something else you can balance out and added an extra dynamic, plus they don't take up a slot that could have added extra damage or protection.
When they first said MF wont be competing with other stats, I thought they were going to remove it from normal sets or perhaps make it so that all items come with magic find.
If all items had a small adage of a randomly generated amount of MF then there wouldn't really be a problem.
Another idea I came up with is if they add a secondary property to rares and uniques. For instance, all rares/unique items spawn with either MF, extra gold or increased XP (which stops generating on level 60 items). That way items will always have that something else you can balance out and added an extra dynamic, plus they don't take up a slot that could have added extra damage or protection.
This is what I thought as well but no one seems to be backing up that assumption - seems to me having a completely separate slot for those 3 options is practically an ideal situation if you want to leave MF in the game.
OR (heading in to uncharted territory here)
Remove MF from items but make another mechanic similar to the item recycling/component (Cauldron?) - So you find moderately useful magic item X - you can break it down for crafting components, sell it for gold OR (new option) distill its magical essence to increase your magic find. Each magic item would contribute a number of mf points (not percentages) based on item level, suffix/affix combos and rarity (magic/set/legend.
Non linear progression (exponential?) so that the first few items increase your mf fairly quickly by a few percent but as you pass 100% mf it gets increasingly difficult to gain additional percentages - past 300% it might take dozens of items to gain even an additional percentage point of mf.
Has the advantage of being an additional item sink, no competition on items for slots, no trade off in multiplayer - if the person your grouped with has no mf it doesnt harm you at all and someone having a TON of MF doesnt effect their killing speed.
The current situation is not acceptable. As it is, Magic Find is the definition of selfishness. By sacrificing damage for magic find you penalize your team's killing speed/item drop rate in favor of increasing your own item drop rate. The most ideal situation is to sacrifice as much damage as possible for magic find, and to have party members who sacrifice as little damage as possible for magic find. It's disturbingly similar to the Prisoner's Dilemma.
Very astute point.
One thing to consider: Game theory does not accurately predict the outcome of these situations. Most humans tend to be far less shrewd, and more empathetic than our mathematical models predict. If someone's being a douche and stacking MF, don't party with that person in the future.
Hopefully people will create an ever-growing list of in-game trusted friends that they want to party/play with. People who act like dicks won't make those lists, will get passively blacklisted, and won't enjoy D3 very much.
However, I can see a party of 4 friends intentionally having one buddy stack MF while doing runs. Why? Because that buddy will drop the gear he/she doesn't need, to the benefit of the group.
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"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
Why not have a system that doesnt offer 'being a dick with mf' as an option in the first place. I know there are many ways to be a dick, but still, its kinda 'too easy' to go this route. The game isnt out yet, so it doesnt have to be this way.
First, as a technical matter, it's obviously difficult to do.
Second, I think that's a philosophical question. It comes down to choice, and how much of it Blizzard is willing to allow. I personally believe that more choice is better, to a point. Obviously we can't allow people to PK/grief others. In my view, MF stacking and low DPS doesn't qualify as griefing, but general annoyance. People should be allowed to play the game in a non-optimal way.
Plus, in the case I listed (where friends would actually want to stack MF on one character provided there's an agreement between friends to that end), preventing this practice would restrict friends playing the game benevolently.
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"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
Spectral Blade (Impactful) runed to provide a 36% chance for knockback and 60% slow for 2 seconds.
Wave of Force (Impactful) runed for greater knockback distance and 3.5 second stun.
Ray of Frost (Numb) runed for increased slow to 46% for 7 seconds. Ideal for bosses.
Frost Nova (Bone Chill) enemies take 34% more damage while frozen.
Slow Time (Time Warp) enemies take 31% more damage while in Slow Time.
Mirror Image (Mocking Demise) when a mirror image is destroyed it explodes for 105% dmg and a 50% chance to stun enemies for 4 seconds.
Passives:
Evocation - 20% lower cooldowns for spamming goodness.
Unstable Anomaly - Reduced below 20% hp you release a knockback shockwave.
Critical Mass - Critical hits reduce cooldowns.
Idea is to stack crit and use a fast weapon to spam spectral blades in between AOE spells. You pretty much want to have 100% uptime on either Slow Time or Frost Nova. Increasing everyone else's damage by > 30% more than makes up for losing 25% of the group's damage even if you never attacked. If you need to you can hit a big group with a stunning Wave of Force to save a party member, then drop some mirror images that explode when they die.
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This is a very good suggestion but it means less choice about how people play.
If all items had a small adage of a randomly generated amount of MF then there wouldn't really be a problem.
Another idea I came up with is if they add a secondary property to rares and uniques. For instance, all rares/unique items spawn with either MF, extra gold or increased XP (which stops generating on level 60 items). That way items will always have that something else you can balance out and added an extra dynamic, plus they don't take up a slot that could have added extra damage or protection.
Incoming diablo 2 fans rage in 3... 2... 1...
This is what I thought as well but no one seems to be backing up that assumption - seems to me having a completely separate slot for those 3 options is practically an ideal situation if you want to leave MF in the game.
OR (heading in to uncharted territory here)
Remove MF from items but make another mechanic similar to the item recycling/component (Cauldron?) - So you find moderately useful magic item X - you can break it down for crafting components, sell it for gold OR (new option) distill its magical essence to increase your magic find. Each magic item would contribute a number of mf points (not percentages) based on item level, suffix/affix combos and rarity (magic/set/legend.
Non linear progression (exponential?) so that the first few items increase your mf fairly quickly by a few percent but as you pass 100% mf it gets increasingly difficult to gain additional percentages - past 300% it might take dozens of items to gain even an additional percentage point of mf.
Has the advantage of being an additional item sink, no competition on items for slots, no trade off in multiplayer - if the person your grouped with has no mf it doesnt harm you at all and someone having a TON of MF doesnt effect their killing speed.
Very astute point.
One thing to consider: Game theory does not accurately predict the outcome of these situations. Most humans tend to be far less shrewd, and more empathetic than our mathematical models predict. If someone's being a douche and stacking MF, don't party with that person in the future.
Hopefully people will create an ever-growing list of in-game trusted friends that they want to party/play with. People who act like dicks won't make those lists, will get passively blacklisted, and won't enjoy D3 very much.
However, I can see a party of 4 friends intentionally having one buddy stack MF while doing runs. Why? Because that buddy will drop the gear he/she doesn't need, to the benefit of the group.
-Thomas Jefferson
First, as a technical matter, it's obviously difficult to do.
Second, I think that's a philosophical question. It comes down to choice, and how much of it Blizzard is willing to allow. I personally believe that more choice is better, to a point. Obviously we can't allow people to PK/grief others. In my view, MF stacking and low DPS doesn't qualify as griefing, but general annoyance. People should be allowed to play the game in a non-optimal way.
Plus, in the case I listed (where friends would actually want to stack MF on one character provided there's an agreement between friends to that end), preventing this practice would restrict friends playing the game benevolently.
-Thomas Jefferson
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XcjZST!UTb!cacZZa
Take this wizard build.
Spectral Blade (Impactful) runed to provide a 36% chance for knockback and 60% slow for 2 seconds.
Wave of Force (Impactful) runed for greater knockback distance and 3.5 second stun.
Ray of Frost (Numb) runed for increased slow to 46% for 7 seconds. Ideal for bosses.
Frost Nova (Bone Chill) enemies take 34% more damage while frozen.
Slow Time (Time Warp) enemies take 31% more damage while in Slow Time.
Mirror Image (Mocking Demise) when a mirror image is destroyed it explodes for 105% dmg and a 50% chance to stun enemies for 4 seconds.
Passives:
Evocation - 20% lower cooldowns for spamming goodness.
Unstable Anomaly - Reduced below 20% hp you release a knockback shockwave.
Critical Mass - Critical hits reduce cooldowns.
Idea is to stack crit and use a fast weapon to spam spectral blades in between AOE spells. You pretty much want to have 100% uptime on either Slow Time or Frost Nova. Increasing everyone else's damage by > 30% more than makes up for losing 25% of the group's damage even if you never attacked. If you need to you can hit a big group with a stunning Wave of Force to save a party member, then drop some mirror images that explode when they die.