So the first shred of information that could be relevant to our gearing has been released-
"On the topic of two-handers, we’re also changing how damage is calculated on a few damage-over-time skills... We’re switching a lot of these skills to read “X% weapon damage over 5 seconds...As the skills are converted there is an additional opportunity: when converting to this format, choosing a value for X depends on your weapon speed. So what we’ve done in most cases is assumed a high attack speed (at least 2.0 attacks per second), chosen a value of X, and then in many cases bumped the value even higher. "
This is pretty great - but comes with a bit of a curveball:
"We also want to close the gap between dual-wielding and two-handers, and so we’re improving two-handed melee weapons by creating a new set of stronger affixes to compensate for the loss of stats that can come from your offhand."
We've got one pretty decent DoT ability currently in locust swarm, and haunt is almost assuredly going to see some changes with the patch. If you're using a 2H with roughly a 1.0 attack speed it sounds like this new formula will roughly double the damage (I don't know much about the math behind this so all you theory heads feel free to tell me I'm wrong).
2H in general are somewhat cheap at the moment. Is now the time to buy one? I imagine those first few 2H weapons with the new "stronger affixes" are going to be priced insanely high anyway. Also even if you're just using a 1H with 1.4 weapon speed you're probably still seeing a buff to our DOTS.
It's not obvious. They said that they will be "creating a new set of stronger affixes to compensate for the loss of stats that can come from your offhand." This almost certainly will not be retroactive to existing two-handers.
It may or may not be wise, hard to say. I will be less likely to sell a good two hander that I find in the next couple of weeks though.
The information in the post doesn't actually explain how 2H will actually be better in regard to how they interact with abilities. All it really says is "2H will be better and dots will be better." Also, currently mana regen is far more important than weapon speed for top dps bat/bear builds and you can't get regen on 2H so it'll depend how exactly everything is rebalanced.
The information in the post doesn't actually explain how 2H will actually be better in regard to how they interact with abilities. All it really says is "2H will be better and dots will be better." Also, currently mana regen is far more important than weapon speed for top dps bat/bear builds and you can't get regen on 2H so it'll depend how exactly everything is rebalanced.
I think it does say 2H will be better in how they interact with DOTs due to DOTs being calculated with a 2.0 weapon speed in mind. Anything slower than 2.0 will be stronger. The slower the weapon the more you benefit from it assuming 2 attacks per second.
Comparing new information to current builds and current mana situations is also not very helpful. A mana adjustment of some sort is definitely on the way. This thread is about trying to make the most of new information to possibly get deals on the AH. If locust swarm suddenly does insane damage it could definitely jump up to top tier along with bears / bats.
My gripe with 2H was always that it made my character's attacks too slow for my playstyle/taste. I don't think this will change much/at all with 1.04.
BTW Rappgu: Nice WD
Same here, however... if the damage/utility is significantly better than it is now that may level the playing field enough for me.
I might go 2 hander if they buff it enough and depending on how mana is changed with the next patch. Direbat crits are really fun with a 2 hander and it's more mana efficient since you cast it less. I have a +mana regen helm with reduced cost of firebats that would make it work just fine I'm sure. I can't wait to see the new possible stats. Maybe they'll even make double sockets possible on 2 handers! That alone would make me switch to a 2 hander.
The downside is that it currently makes kiting harder... maybe they'll do something with casting animations in the new patch as well?
The information in the post doesn't actually explain how 2H will actually be better in regard to how they interact with abilities. All it really says is "2H will be better and dots will be better." Also, currently mana regen is far more important than weapon speed for top dps bat/bear builds and you can't get regen on 2H so it'll depend how exactly everything is rebalanced.
I think it does say 2H will be better in how they interact with DOTs due to DOTs being calculated with a 2.0 weapon speed in mind. Anything slower than 2.0 will be stronger. The slower the weapon the more you benefit from it assuming 2 attacks per second.
On the topic of two-handers, we’re also changing how damage is calculated on a few damage-over-time skills. Many skills have text like “Deals 75% weapon damage for 5 seconds”, which isn’t exactly clear as it can be interpreted a few different ways. It also made skill evaluation difficult, particularly for skills with long durations or cooldowns. We’re switching a lot of these skills to read “X% weapon damage over 5 seconds”. Many skills already follow this format, and understanding what the skill does is very clear. As the skills are converted there is an additional opportunity: when converting to this format, choosing a value for X depends on your weapon speed. So what we’ve done in most cases is assumed a high attack speed (at least 2.0 attacks per second), chosen a value of X, and then in many cases bumped the value even higher. A skill that currently does 75% weapon damage for 5 seconds, with a 2.0 speed weapon, will convert to at least 750% weapon damage over 5 seconds. The skill becomes easier to understand, is a small buff for most one-hand builds, and a big buff for two-hand builds.
They wrote this long explanation of what they're doing to buff 2h's interaction with skills but in the end they didn't really tell us anything concrete. What it says is that different weapon speeds will give different percentages to the ability, for instance a 1.5 speed could give 500% and a 1.0 speed could give 750% which ends up normalizing their dps for the ability to be equal. The rest of the mumbo jumbo about assuming 2 attacks/sec isn't explained thoroughly enough and seems to be just a point of reference to start from while they were redesigning, possibly what the tooltip may display regardless of attack speed.
The biggest problem I have with 2 handler is slow. I think the weapon should be no slower than 1.1 aps, just like xbox. Have you ever use a 0.9 weapon with no IAS? You hit once and before you recover from the hit, the monster already killed you.
It won't be worth it to use 2 handers anyways i think. You lose up to 25 mana regen per sec., you lose speed and up to 8.5% crit chance from mojo. I imagine decent knife + good damage crit mojo will outdamage any 2 hander.
I don't understand this comment if you're talking about 2 handers after the patch.
First off, mana regen doesn't matter much when you're using a 2 hander because you cast less spells and therefore you use less mana (and need less regen). When you cast 1/3 the amount of Bats compared to a 1 hander you will be using 1/3 less mana.
Second, they mentioned in the newest blog that 2 handers will get better affixes. Who's to say they won't add crit % to 2 handers? Imagine a 2 hander with 400 int, 2 sockets, and 10% crit. You can't say 2 handers will suck before we see the info on the 2 handed affixes.
i just bought a cheep 1300 dps 250 int, socket and 8% elite damage, just in case 2h gets good and prices sky rockets. might be so that the new affixes on 2hs are so vastly mush better then todays 2H.
possible things that could happen.
500-600 max primary stats (current 350)
75% bonus damage (current 50%)
2 sockets (current 1)
elemental modifier 50% better.
added in class specific resource bonuses.
+max mana, +mana regen, arcane on crit and +max arcane power ect
this would make 2Hs a ton better.
maybe even even alowing them to be weilded alongside mojos and sources, but NOT shields and other weapons. would be great fun!!
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There's a 2hander on the new legendary developer blog post with ~190 crit damage and a socket. Also 300 dext I think. They might have just allowed the rolls to get much higher, maybe adjusted the minimum rolls too. Who knows.
the only thing i see that is higher then normal is the crit hit damage at 192% (probably 200% max) (current 100%)
and the bleed damage. but thats just part of the weapon.
i just hope that all current (already droped) legendarys atleast gets the new gimicky stuff, cos it would be a real pain on the prices, and a market with 2 diffrent items with the same name is just bad. as the new legendarys will always have the gimicky stuff like demon spawning.
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i just bought a cheep 1300 dps 250 int, socket and 8% elite damage, just in case 2h gets good and prices sky rockets. might be so that the new affixes on 2hs are so vastly mush better then todays 2H.
possible things that could happen.
500-600 max primary stats (current 350)
75% bonus damage (current 50%)
2 sockets (current 1)
elemental modifier 50% better.
added in class specific resource bonuses.
+max mana, +mana regen, arcane on crit and +max arcane power ect
this would make 2Hs a ton better.
maybe even even alowing them to be weilded alongside mojos and sources, but NOT shields and other weapons. would be great fun!!
why would you buy 2 handers now? They aren't going to change existing two handers afaik
i just bought a cheep 1300 dps 250 int, socket and 8% elite damage, just in case 2h gets good and prices sky rockets. might be so that the new affixes on 2hs are so vastly mush better then todays 2H.
possible things that could happen.
500-600 max primary stats (current 350)
75% bonus damage (current 50%)
2 sockets (current 1)
elemental modifier 50% better.
added in class specific resource bonuses.
+max mana, +mana regen, arcane on crit and +max arcane power ect
this would make 2Hs a ton better.
maybe even even alowing them to be weilded alongside mojos and sources, but NOT shields and other weapons. would be great fun!!
/facepalm
New 2h weapons will have better procs, more stats, ect which is why they will be worth more. Existing 2h weapons will be just as bad after the patch as they are today. Buying a 2h weapon today to flip it later when they become better is pretty pointless, in fact you will lose money most likely due to the fact that the 2h weapon you just bought will look horrible next to the new weapons.
It won't be worth it to use 2 handers anyways i think. You lose up to 25 mana regen per sec., you lose speed and up to 8.5% crit chance from mojo. I imagine decent knife + good damage crit mojo will outdamage any 2 hander.
I don't understand this comment if you're talking about 2 handers after the patch.
First off, mana regen doesn't matter much when you're using a 2 hander because you cast less spells and therefore you use less mana (and need less regen). When you cast 1/3 the amount of Bats compared to a 1 hander you will be using 1/3 less mana.
Second, they mentioned in the newest blog that 2 handers will get better affixes. Who's to say they won't add crit % to 2 handers? Imagine a 2 hander with 400 int, 2 sockets, and 10% crit. You can't say 2 handers will suck before we see the info on the 2 handed affixes.
Lol ofc it they buff 2-hander so much then they may be useful, but that needs to be insane buff. 400 int, 2 sockets, and 10% crit? Haha i really doubt blizzard would ever make such an insane buff for an item.
But main thing why i would never use 2-hander on WD is because of killing speed. You will be so slow that in time your casting animation starts you will be dead. Maybe playing in party and staying out of the harm it can be possible, but else it's too slow.
Yeah I agree with you on the speed of the animations, I can't stand it much (which is why I'm currently using a 1 hander). I'm holding out a bit of hope that the WD blog will contain some mention of improving the animation speed of certain skills with slower weapons. If I were to put money on it though.... I don't think that's something they will be doing.
If the crit damage cap is 200 and they can have crit %, I'll definitely try 2 handers though. Imagine those crits! If I can melt monsters before they reach me with a 2 hander, I won't care about animation times.
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"On the topic of two-handers, we’re also changing how damage is calculated on a few damage-over-time skills... We’re switching a lot of these skills to read “X% weapon damage over 5 seconds...As the skills are converted there is an additional opportunity: when converting to this format, choosing a value for X depends on your weapon speed. So what we’ve done in most cases is assumed a high attack speed (at least 2.0 attacks per second), chosen a value of X, and then in many cases bumped the value even higher. "
This is pretty great - but comes with a bit of a curveball:
"We also want to close the gap between dual-wielding and two-handers, and so we’re improving two-handed melee weapons by creating a new set of stronger affixes to compensate for the loss of stats that can come from your offhand."
We've got one pretty decent DoT ability currently in locust swarm, and haunt is almost assuredly going to see some changes with the patch. If you're using a 2H with roughly a 1.0 attack speed it sounds like this new formula will roughly double the damage (I don't know much about the math behind this so all you theory heads feel free to tell me I'm wrong).
2H in general are somewhat cheap at the moment. Is now the time to buy one? I imagine those first few 2H weapons with the new "stronger affixes" are going to be priced insanely high anyway. Also even if you're just using a 1H with 1.4 weapon speed you're probably still seeing a buff to our DOTS.
What do you guys think?
It's not obvious. They said that they will be "creating a new set of stronger affixes to compensate for the loss of stats that can come from your offhand." This almost certainly will not be retroactive to existing two-handers.
It may or may not be wise, hard to say. I will be less likely to sell a good two hander that I find in the next couple of weeks though.
BTW Rappgu: Nice WD
Same here, however... if the damage/utility is significantly better than it is now that may level the playing field enough for me.
I think it does say 2H will be better in how they interact with DOTs due to DOTs being calculated with a 2.0 weapon speed in mind. Anything slower than 2.0 will be stronger. The slower the weapon the more you benefit from it assuming 2 attacks per second.
Comparing new information to current builds and current mana situations is also not very helpful. A mana adjustment of some sort is definitely on the way. This thread is about trying to make the most of new information to possibly get deals on the AH. If locust swarm suddenly does insane damage it could definitely jump up to top tier along with bears / bats.
I might go 2 hander if they buff it enough and depending on how mana is changed with the next patch. Direbat crits are really fun with a 2 hander and it's more mana efficient since you cast it less. I have a +mana regen helm with reduced cost of firebats that would make it work just fine I'm sure. I can't wait to see the new possible stats. Maybe they'll even make double sockets possible on 2 handers! That alone would make me switch to a 2 hander.
The downside is that it currently makes kiting harder... maybe they'll do something with casting animations in the new patch as well?
They wrote this long explanation of what they're doing to buff 2h's interaction with skills but in the end they didn't really tell us anything concrete. What it says is that different weapon speeds will give different percentages to the ability, for instance a 1.5 speed could give 500% and a 1.0 speed could give 750% which ends up normalizing their dps for the ability to be equal. The rest of the mumbo jumbo about assuming 2 attacks/sec isn't explained thoroughly enough and seems to be just a point of reference to start from while they were redesigning, possibly what the tooltip may display regardless of attack speed.
I don't understand this comment if you're talking about 2 handers after the patch.
First off, mana regen doesn't matter much when you're using a 2 hander because you cast less spells and therefore you use less mana (and need less regen). When you cast 1/3 the amount of Bats compared to a 1 hander you will be using 1/3 less mana.
Second, they mentioned in the newest blog that 2 handers will get better affixes. Who's to say they won't add crit % to 2 handers? Imagine a 2 hander with 400 int, 2 sockets, and 10% crit. You can't say 2 handers will suck before we see the info on the 2 handed affixes.
possible things that could happen.
500-600 max primary stats (current 350)
75% bonus damage (current 50%)
2 sockets (current 1)
elemental modifier 50% better.
added in class specific resource bonuses.
+max mana, +mana regen, arcane on crit and +max arcane power ect
this would make 2Hs a ton better.
maybe even even alowing them to be weilded alongside mojos and sources, but NOT shields and other weapons. would be great fun!!
EU Season Achievement Ladder: Season 1 : #773, 7150/7880 | S2 : #742, 5970/8280 | S3 : #1000+, 810/980 | S4 #? 0/? |
and the bleed damage. but thats just part of the weapon.
i just hope that all current (already droped) legendarys atleast gets the new gimicky stuff, cos it would be a real pain on the prices, and a market with 2 diffrent items with the same name is just bad. as the new legendarys will always have the gimicky stuff like demon spawning.
EU Season Achievement Ladder: Season 1 : #773, 7150/7880 | S2 : #742, 5970/8280 | S3 : #1000+, 810/980 | S4 #? 0/? |
why would you buy 2 handers now? They aren't going to change existing two handers afaik
New 2h weapons will have better procs, more stats, ect which is why they will be worth more. Existing 2h weapons will be just as bad after the patch as they are today. Buying a 2h weapon today to flip it later when they become better is pretty pointless, in fact you will lose money most likely due to the fact that the 2h weapon you just bought will look horrible next to the new weapons.
Yeah I agree with you on the speed of the animations, I can't stand it much (which is why I'm currently using a 1 hander). I'm holding out a bit of hope that the WD blog will contain some mention of improving the animation speed of certain skills with slower weapons. If I were to put money on it though.... I don't think that's something they will be doing.
If the crit damage cap is 200 and they can have crit %, I'll definitely try 2 handers though. Imagine those crits! If I can melt monsters before they reach me with a 2 hander, I won't care about animation times.