I think a summoning WD makes for the best Thorns build. With Zombie Dogs, Gargantuan, Fetish plus the Zombie Handler and Fierce Loyalty passives your 'meat shields' would generate good offense as well. Best of all your WD his or herself doesn't have to sacrifice defense.
Have you ever been part of a committed group for any video game, card game, role-playing game (D&D) or board game before?
No but I have had experience playing with group play just not as part of a specific clan or such.
What class do you plan to start with?
Do you plan on rushing or taking your time through Normal? If you're taking your time, what will you be doing for Nightmare / Hell / Inferno?
I plan on taking my time with Normal so I can soak up as much of the lore as possible. After that its up to the majority opinion of the group - if they want to rush I'll rush, if they want to take their time thats cool too.
How often will you be able to play?
Probably at least 3 hours a day, beyond that depends on the constantly changing demands of work and family.
Do you have a microphone and are you willing to use Ventrilo? (If you answer no to this - then, well, you didn't read my OP :))
I don't have a problem with it.
Do you have any suggestions for a group like this?
Sounds like you have the right idea.
What timezone are you in?
Central
Are you over the age of 18?
Yes. (As a side note I'll have share some of my drinking stories from my time in the Navy later)
Will you share and trade within the group as much as you can, or just a little?
I plan on playing the WD exclusively until I master that class completely (which is likely to take a lot of time) so any non-WD gear I will share with the group for sure. Beyond that I'll trade or share any 'decent' WD gear I find. I plan on playing a summoning build so I'll likely have a lot of extra loot that doesn't really help with such a build.
I was just looking through all the runes for WD and noticed that Big Bad Voodoo has a Boogie Man rune that adds a 50% chance for fallen enemies to resurrect as a zombie dog. I know with the Zombie Handler passive you can have 4 dog summons. Does anyone think this rune can break that 4 dog cap?
I am by no means an expert but I tried to design a WD build that will allow me to survive solo play on Inferno. I included a lot of pet summons (zombie dogs, gargantuan, and festish army) to act as distractors, meat shields, and damage dealers simultaneously. The Leeching Beasts skill rune even adds a vital life leech function that will be invaluable in higher difficulties. To that end I also added Cosuming Spirit to Haunt (my primary 1vs1 spell). I added Firebomb with the Pyrogeist rune for some good ol'fashioned AOE damage to help my pets with large mobs. I also added Grasp of the Dead with the Unbreakable Grasp rune to (hopefully) allow my pets to run circles around most enemies. I added the Jungle Fortitude, Zombie Handler, and Fierce Loyalty passives to increase my pets viability end-game.
I want to use the dogs as either a meat shield or offensive weapon (hence Sacrifice) depending on the situation. I included Firebomb for AOE and Haunt as a fire and forget ability and in case I run into any fire/physical immunes in Hell/Inferno. Horrify serves as my panic button. The Gargantuan adds extra offense and can also serve as meat shield. I'm hoping that the three damage types (physical, arcane, fire) will allow me to take down most immunes. (I really hope there are no monsters immune to all three!) I think with the right gear this build could survive the later difficulties.
The following is my possible build for Pve WD. I won't be able to test this fully until release (obviously) but wanted some feedback on viability. I know that due to one of my passives it is highly gear dependant. Thoughts?
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#UcYdkP!Ugh!ZbaZaZ
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I am by no means an expert but I tried to design a WD build that will allow me to survive solo play on Inferno. I included a lot of pet summons (zombie dogs, gargantuan, and festish army) to act as distractors, meat shields, and damage dealers simultaneously. The Leeching Beasts skill rune even adds a vital life leech function that will be invaluable in higher difficulties. To that end I also added Cosuming Spirit to Haunt (my primary 1vs1 spell). I added Firebomb with the Pyrogeist rune for some good ol'fashioned AOE damage to help my pets with large mobs. I also added Grasp of the Dead with the Unbreakable Grasp rune to (hopefully) allow my pets to run circles around most enemies. I added the Jungle Fortitude, Zombie Handler, and Fierce Loyalty passives to increase my pets viability end-game.
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#bceThf!aWT!YabbaZ