DiabloFans

It's not an issue. The PTR is offline, no point trying to log in untill they say it's back up. AFAIK it has been down for 8+ hours already.

1. Put some time and effort into pushing the highest GR possible for increased blood shard cap. 40 will suffice, 50 is preferred. Don't waste time on it though, stop doing it the first rift you can't complete.

2. Find a group of 3 more players and run ~42 grifts. This is where the 250 bs cap from RG starts. Anything over is a waste of time, anything lower yields less rewards. Farm and hide keys for 4x runs (**). If groups are hard to find, prefer groups that play and don't wank in town. A less efficient group is more effective than being in chat, looking for a new group.

3. If you're running solo, run the highest GR you can, while maintaining 2-4 min clears (some GRs are always slower than others). If this puts you at GR 32, then so be it.

(**): Hiding keys: Google it, or ask your group. Most players know how to do this by now.

What you should prioritize at kadala really depends on the rest of your gear.

Quote from Quidam67

I think there needs to be a balance between guaranteed rewards and RNG (luck) and I think they currently rely too much on RNG.

In it's current state, the game is 99.9% reliant on RNG. The only guaranteed drops in the game right now is the Reaper's Wraps plan from Malthael and the Leoric's Crown from Skeleton King. You could also probably say that Hellfire ring/amu is a "guaranteed drop" as it's targeted farming.

The problem with implementing guaranteed drops is this: If it's easy to obtain, everyone will have it, like the RW plan. If it's difficult to obtain, as in you need to gear specifically for it (Torch charm in D2 uber tristram) it will only become yet another demotivational factor for all the players that are unable to obtain it. Regardless of how it's implemented, it will always feel like a chore. Tedious, but required if you want to compete. Much like RoRG farming pre 100% T6 leg chance and we all know how utterly boring that was.

As for the topic:

I strongly believe that ancient weaponry is a broken mechanic. Not only because of the huge powerjump from NA to A, but mostly because it's such a demotivational factor for many players. I have given this many thoughts, and the only viable solution I came up with was to remove ancient weaponry, and buff weapons approx. 50% of what the diff between NA to A is today. Another aspect about ancient weaponry is that it goes against blizzard's own philosophy on item drops. They (especially Josh Mosquiera) have always said that they want players to feel excited when they see a desireable item drop on the ground. Right now, I believe most players are lik "meh" when they see a leg wand or leg daibo drop. You can often immediately see if it's your build-defining BiS weapon, but still most people I play with are like "another flying D (identify), nah, not ancient, salvage". Instead, according to blizzard, they should've said "WOAHHHHHH A FLYING D BOYS. ITS A FLYING DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD".

With that said however, NA weaponry isn't necessarily the make it or break it factor. I've got an ancient SS and some pretty decent gear. On par with a lot of wizards that are >150 on the EU leaderboards. Still, I simply cannot get past GR 52. Why? Because I obviously suck and need to l2p. Players with non-ancient SSs and overall lower statrolled gear than me have finished GRs 3-4 lvls higher than me. I even rolled a GR 54 full of dust eaters, ravenous dead and other high-progress, low threat monsters and still failed!

The problem with that tactic is that TP has an 11 sec cooldown which would give me problems keeping Tal's 4th stack up If I were to swap teleport for energy twister. Only other option would be to drop force weapon, losing 20% damage.

I saw Reiko just cleared a GR 58 with an Aether Walker/cindercoat/APD meteor build, so Imma try that instead since I already got and ancient one which I've been using for T6 speedruns.

I just did a couple of 52 grifts today, at 13:30 and 12:57. Both went on like a breeze, not the greatest rifts, but decent enough. Did both with 2 keys only. Then I had 10x53 keys that I wanted to try, and failed miserably. Some of the rifts had decent density, some gave me acute cancer, but in the end, it was the yellow packs that got me. I tried both kiting like a maniac and eventually kill them, and death zerging, but both apporaches ended up setting me back 2+ min on the rift timer.

So. With the TR6 ranged SS+tasker build. What is the best way to avoid/skip a pack?

Esoteric is a waste IMO. Because when you take a lot of damage, you die anyway. But even at 50+, you can actually take a hit or two because of force armor. Gizzard helps you recover faster, not having to use potions or rely on templar heal all the time. I could probably use a 3d dmg gem instead, but I like the convenience of the shield + fast regen. Damage isn't my issue, and neither is yours. It's all about the grift RNG.

Your damage isn't that much lower than mine. Here's my profile in D3planner: http://www.d3planner.com/900194585

Don't convince yourself that ancient SS is the only thing holding you back, because it's not. It takes time to L2P. I spent many hours in high GRs before I pushed 50. Rift RNG also becomes very important. I failed 4x 49 grifts before I did it, and took 50 and 51 right after because I got lucky with good mob density/composition three rifts in a row.

Probably a L2P issue then. I cleared a GR 51 yesterday with similar gear (almost identical, except my SS is ancient and I run Gizzard instead of Toxin gem). I clear 37-38 in 2-5 min, depending on rift.

One thing I noticed when I started pushing for 50 was that I was paying too much attention to my stacks, and too little to my surroundings, and especially mobs. The result was 100% uptime on stacks, and a lot of deaths, often hitting the 30 sec marker before I even got to the RG. So I stopped looking at them and instantly pushed beyond my previous best with ease.

Also. Get an Eun Jang Do for your follower. The permafreeze of RGs below 15-20% hp (depending on EJD roll) is really usefull.

Rolling max attack speed or higher weapon damage would require you to use a ramaladnis gift to get a socket for emerald. You shouldnt waste a gift on such a generic weapon.

My advice would be to reroll the attackspeed to socket and save your gift(s) for something better.

Anyway, the weapon DPS formula is as follows:

Average base weapon damage (the white numbers below the big DPS number, not the blue weapon damage number) * attackspeed.

In this case its: ((1954 + 2642) / 2)) * 1.26 = 2895.48

The sc builds already offers a lot of mitigation. With those as base builds there are several things you can do. The least damage suffering would probably be to:

Get ancient parthan defenders. Things that proc these are e.g. blizzard -> frozen solid, teleport -> calamity, ice armor + halo of arlyse ring (frost nova procs). Throw in a double unity follower cannot die setup and you're pretty much invincible.

Combine this with 6pc tal's and 2pc firebirds + unstable anomally passive for two cheat death passives. You'd have to be either reckless, stupid or both to die with this setup in T6. The defensive gems are also viable options for increasing toughness although they will make you suffer damage wise.

Delsere's is another option, but imo it would make you suffer damage wise, and you'll get trouble choosing which skills to use. Blizzard and teleport + halo of arlyse offers more than enough cc so the bubbles would only get in the way on your skillbar. I think I'd rather go with a full delsere's build rather than combining it with tal's. Both builds offers great DPS with their 6pc bonuses.

I believe Delsere's has a lot more to show for than what people have been able to display as for now. With well-optimized set-pieces, jewelry, high-lvl gems I believe this build can do wonders. There's no good comparisons out there between fire, arcane, cold or even lightning so it's not easy to say which element is the best. The arcane spells deal huge damage but have low AoE, same with fire. Cold has decent aoe in both MM and orb. Lightning should also be able to some damage changing MM for shock pulse - orb rune and the arcane orb - spark rune which iirc has decent aoe.

I have a lot of theories for this build, and it will be my primary focus for season 3 (atleast for starters). I hope I get to test all four elements as they all have different capabilites. Been testing Tal's for a couple of days now and the more I play the more I resent the playstyle. It's just not for me. I also don't really give a f* if a build bottoms out at GR 50 or 55 as I won't ever be able to invest enough time to reach that lvl anyway.

I agree that the "season only legendaries"-thing should be dropped. They don't incentivize seasonal play and only makes playing non-season more disheartening and unrewarding than it already is.

I only play seasons, but I do so because of the fresh start and the thought of starting on the same premises as everyone else regarding leaderboards. I couldn't care less if the new items were also available to my non-season characters as I see no joy in playing them whatsoever.

As for other means of differentiating the game modes I don't like the idea. Players would, in a greater sense than now, feel forced to choose between this or that because of what they contain - not because of what they themselves want to do.

The only thing that seems fair is what they've added to season 3 with a unique portrait and that banner thingie you can have on your back. Just too bad they're obtainable within the first hours of gameplay by anyone who cares for it and that it's only two items. They don't alter the gameplay in any way and NS characters don't feel let out to the same extent as they do with the season only items.

The Crusader will still be one of the fastest and most effective classes for T6 clearing with the condemned build. I played it in S1 and although it's quick and efficient it's real boring in the long run. The crusader doesn't really have a lot of build options either and neither of them feel very meelee-ish except for maybe the new rolands set (which sucks in my opinion). The raekor barb is also a very good build for T6 and I had a lot of fun with it in S2. Thenew WW barb does indeed look like it's going to be a strong build, but doesn't have the mobility of the furious charge raekor variant. The new raiment monk set offers both a lot of mobility and a fast T6 speed, but is somewhat nauseating to play. The "old" SWK/bell build is a viable option for both T6 and grifts though.

All in all theres so many different builds with different purposes ready for S3 so your choise depends on what/how you want to play. Solo or party? T6 or GR-pushing or both? Speed and efficiency, or fun & casual? In any event, I would recommend one of the three classes that get new sets with patch 2.2 (barb/dh/wiz) as they have more variety and buld options, especially for T6.

Although correct, the proc rate increase is only 5% (from 10% to 15%). It should however enable the WD to choose proc-skill more freely, or no designated proc skill at all (relying on e.g. haunt and/or pirhanado).

I wouldn't recommend the WD if your plan is to play casually a couple of hours here and there. The WD is truly in the hands of the RNG god when it comes to gearing. I chose the WD for S2, but after hitting paragon 200 i switched to barb in pure frustration. The WD has a lot of build defining weapons and voodoo masks. In theory you would think that was a good thing because you have a lot of variety, but in my experience it's a big hurdle in gear progression as all combos require totally different gear setups in the other slots, forcing you to farm and hoard a huge amount of items, just in case you actually find one of the build defining weapons, which historically and statistically hasn't been anything but a pipe dream for most players.

Unless you're a die hard WD fan and hate all other classes I would roll a Monk, DH, Wiz or Barb for T6 + lvl 40 grift goals. WD is fun, but only if you like a challenging class that actually requires some skill. There's no cookie cutting one-click wonder builds for the WD. I found the Raekor barb quite fun in S2. Lots of damage and mobility. The new WW barb (post nerf) also looks like a lot of fun. Same with tal rasha / delsere Wiz and strafe DH. The raiment monk murdering T6 rifts and doing huge single target dps in grifts does however look like the most fun/efficient build atm.