" The introduction of magical items into the game has been slowed "
What does that mean? Fewel magical items at lower levels?
I believe this means that we won't see magical items right away; perhaps the game will check your character level (i.e. if your character is level 4/5, then the game will know to start dropping magic items)
I always noticed that magic items could even be found by a level 2 character; I think it just means for the first few levels, we'll have to take notice of common items, labelled as white, and actually use them
What about WD changes? I saw a topic that WD got new passive, yet it isn't written here.... ??
I think you might be referring to "Jungle Fortitude" which was added a while back (Beta patch number anyone?); With that patch came a few other passives for other classes too
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I've been using this build since all abilities were available. Similar to what Maniacman is referring to: Generate fury through Cleave and Shouts; when in trouble / lots of mobs / mobs keep running away, I stun using Stomp; when fighting Elites, I stun them using Seismic Slam.
Revenge is a MUST! It's healing is phenomenal when surrounded by mobs, plus (based on my abilities/passives) I am stacking alot of Vitality, meaning my % life is quite high! Revenge and Inspiring Presence generally provides alot of healing on its own. I sometimes swap out Rend for Ignore Pain ("Ignorance is Bliss" Rune) when I get into trouble with Elite mobs.
Damage output I think is fine; depends heavily on strength from gear and my weapon. Soloing Hell atm, and I'm doing fine.
I tried to change to a heavy DPS build with dual-wielding in NM and got obliterated; barely lasted a few seconds without getting 2-3 shotted! I don't know how some people do it! Shields are almost necessary for the Barb.
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The slows won't stack; they'll be multiplicative... Effectively you'll be reducing their movement by 86% (But, in all honesty, that's still REALLY slow)
I think it'd be much more effective to Teleport in > Slow time > Teleport out > Arcane Hydra; As videos have shown before, Hydra can be placed at range (what that range is, I don't know) so it may be wiser to cast at range, rather than while your still in the pack of mobs (Especially in Inferno, where 2-3 hits is all a pack of mobs may need to kill a wizard)
My only other quarrel is that 10 yards on Slow Time isn't very far! If the character models were to scale, it might actually be good, but 10 yards in game doesn't translate like that; this distance might work better against a Boss or Champion mob, but not a large pack of fast, moving scavengers or anything else that may be spread out.
But that's what Skill Calculator's are for! Experimenting! Theory-Crafting! I love this idea and it's definately one I wouldn't have thought of.. Certainly going to try it out; well done
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I've run into packs of Nightmarish monsters before, and at times, I throroughly enjoyed the challenge!
I don't believe this type of monster champion is imbalanced or anything of the sort, but without really testing it, I do wonder if the "Fear" effect has a diminishing return...
@Feralio: I love the idea of a "Jailor" type monster! Sounds like a great idea, especially for a ranged mob vs. Melee characters (or even to root Ranged characters attempting to run away
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Agreed! We'll either see a greater increase to spirit generated, or perhaps see the larger spirit pool make a return!
@pmpch: your referring to the indigo rune stone in Mantra of healing? I would imagine they would add an effect like "can only occur once every x seconds" or something...
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I was referring to the "new" lethal decoy: it was a quick aoe bomb... Bringing it back would be good! It's not like every class has the exact same amount of skills anyway! One more wont hurt... In its original form
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Breath of Heaven is different too; it only had an 8 second duration!
Remember: these are all effects we won't see in the Beta. So until someone Data mines this info from the D3 client, we won't know if these are typos... If they aren't typo, the Monk just started looking a lot better
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They don't refer to the DROP RATE, but rather, how early a character will see magic items!
Example: Initially, Magic items started to drop at, let's say, level 2. Now, the game will only start dropping magic items at level 5.
As the notes say, the INTRODUCTION of magical items has been slowed, not the RATE at which magical items drop.
I believe it just means that we'll have to start taking notice of any common items we might find...
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Then, I watched another where the ability lasted 1 second... and it went too quickly!
Lethal Decoy was Blizzard's attempt to give the monk a viable AOE ability, which many fans found there was a lack-of.
Now, Cyclone strike has come along, and I for one welcome the new ability! Quickly draw them in, and explode with a blast! You could then activate Mantra of Evasion in case any stragglers exist, and finish them off with Crippling wave or even Lashing Tail Kick! And the rune stone effects aren't bad either (Implosion anyone?)
It seems this new ability has made a few interesting combinations for the Monk... Rather than walking into the middle of a pack and dropping a "Bomb"
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Previously, having to wait 15 seconds to activate the mantra in order to receive the bonus effect seemed tedious; you'd have to remember "Oh right, I have a mantra, I'll activate it, get the bonus effect when a fight begins, and then have a wasted skill slot for 15 seconds"
I think their thought process for this New Mantra system was to make Mantra's a viable, usable skill, as opposed to a "Buff" or "Aura" you had to remember to keep turning on before a fight began, or simply have to refresh.
Now, Monk players can spam a mantra (e.g. Mantra of Conviction) and either ( a ) be happy with the 20% damage increase, or ( b ) when faced with a boss/challenge, are able to spam the ability (when spirit is available) and be provided with double the effect, to quickly dispose of any challenging monsters.
I understand where your coming from; Mantras don't need to be taken! You might find another ability (perhaps one that is runestoned) that allows a similar effect as a mantra, and still provide lots of different combinations! In the end, with Co-op play, Mantras will definitely be a viable option, especially in harder difficulties.
I think this Mantra system will become similar to the Barbarian's Shouts; constantly shouting, spending fury in order to weaken enemies/strengthen himself. Would a monk now be any different? Activating Mantras, spending spirit in order to heal himself/increase damage to enemies?
Woah... I wrote alot
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I believe this means that we won't see magical items right away; perhaps the game will check your character level (i.e. if your character is level 4/5, then the game will know to start dropping magic items)
I always noticed that magic items could even be found by a level 2 character; I think it just means for the first few levels, we'll have to take notice of common items, labelled as white, and actually use them
I think you might be referring to "Jungle Fortitude" which was added a while back (Beta patch number anyone?); With that patch came a few other passives for other classes too
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What is the mentality behind that?! Early on, I would suspect that a Barb wouldn't need a shield as it looks quite easy (even in the Full Version, I'd imagine it would be easy)
Definitely in later difficulties, I will be making a Barb with a shield; try to lean towards survivability... But why now in Beta?
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I'm betting anything, he'll show up in 2012
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I think your right in saying that the Altar may be a quick beta fix, but if it were implemented, a 10 cast to recall back to town isn't too big of an issue, but having to do it every time to look at a skill which I might not even use is just a nuisance... I'm pretty confident though that they would allow you to look at skills, just not change them... Still too early to call
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The new Skill system... I think it's so easy to use and the possibilities of builds are endless! My only concern linked to the Skill system is the Nephalem Altar; someone has mentioned it before and I think a simple 10 second cast time to change skills anywhere in the diablo world would have been a better alternative.
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And also the RMAH; I'm quite excited to think about finding an awesome Item, selling it on the RMAH, and then logging in the next day to find I've made $5
Edit: Within reason... $5 might be a bit expensive and I may also want to keep that item for another toon, but its still interesting stuff