DiabloFans

This is a good topic. Have you posted it on battlenet?

I want to add one thing: in "design concept" Blizz states that they want to encourage different builds to be playable and viable, but I can't see how any of intended changes will do that for a wizard. FA will still be the one and only most viable skill for a wizard and you got no options to change it with something whatsoever.

Quote from Squi

This is a good topic. Have you posted it on battlenet?

I want to add one thing: in "design concept" Blizz states that they want to encourage different builds to be playable and viable, but I can't see how any of intended changes will do that for a wizard. FA will still be the one and only most viable skill for a wizard and you got no options to change it with something whatsoever.

I think they will encourage build diversity through multiple patches. First step:- Inferno nerf, Second Step:- Improve itemization. Third step:- Class skill rebalance - focusing on buffing under utilized skils

A1 is so easy to clear, compared to A2 and A3/A4. I can't see why they are making the drop rates for A1/2/3&4 as 2/4/8% respectively. There is not much incentive to clear anything but A1. The drop rate should be nonlinear such as 1/3/9.

Once you hit a sufficent AR/VIT the FA becomes a waste and you end up using Prismatic and dropping AR for more dmg stats.

FA is only mandatory while you are using skill rather than gear to push content early, or like me, are wearing max-MF gear.

Quote from Zergie

FA is only mandatory while you are using skill rather than gear to push content early.

Which translates to "you go for FA if you hate farming". That's exactly the reason why this skill feels mandatory for so many Inferno wizards - people want to progress, not farm. And for the same reason lowering monster damage in 103 won't affect FA's popularity.

Quote from BigEd781

We can't get anywhere near melee range because we just fall over and die, regardless of whether or not we stack res and vit. So, our only choice is to do a lot of damage and run away, dying often in the process. Trust me, that's not fun for us either.

I feel compelled to refute this point. Vitality and defensive stats are very important and effective. It is very possible to tank as a wizard. I am currently tanking act 3 as a melee wizard, and act 1 and 2 do nothing more than tickle me (yes, I am face-tanking, no kiting, except for arcane sentry dodging). Making sweeping statements about defensive stats being useless isn't very accurate.

edit : Also, I should mention that I do not use force armor.

Quote from Legaia

Would you mind posting your stats/build? I'm kind of interested in a build which is capable of staying somewhat more stationary without sacrificing all of my DPS. I simply lack the gear in general to go for anything but kiting atm.

Also, I think not using FA was kind of implied in your post. I do assume you're using energy armor with the prismatic rune. Maybe the problem is not that FA is completely mandatory, but that it's a simple choice between the force armor and prismatic rune. Which doesn't promote game diversity at all.

I'm a bit too lazy to photoshop together my gear, but I am currently at 35k hp, 1k resistances, 20k DPS, 20% block with 4700 block, 8k armor, 40% crit, 250% crit dmg, 1k LoH, and some melee and elite damage reduction, and most of my gear was bought for less than 1 million a piece (its amazing what people post items for if you are looking).

I use critical mass in conjunction with meteor and spectral blade to chain cast ice nova, diamond skin, and explosive blast. Blur, evocation also used. And Prismatic Armor, as you said.

20k may sound like very small dps, but with 10 arcane on crit, and staying stationary, I can spam meteors and explosive blast and I suspect that is just as much, if not more damage than much higher DPS kiting builds where you are forced to spend half your time running.

I agree with the lack of build diversity in inferno right now in terms of armor spells, but blizzard has stated that this is something they are working on fixing so we'll see how that evolves.

Quote from Legaia

Thank you. A friend of mine is running a similar build, but he was getting destroyed in act II due to a lack of gear :).

I only have about 10k dps with a shield equipped (12.5k with an off-hand), but it seems to be enough to kill Belial for now (just need to not fuck up in p3 for once). I do however spend most of my time running around and kiting :(. Need moar gear! I suppose..

If you have enough armor/resists (about 7k armor/700 resists) and 25-30k health, just swap to Force Armor for Belial. In phase 3 each hit will be reduced to 8-10k damage, letting diamond skin absorb 2-3 hits.