The other problem is that they'd have to do a bit of tricky coding to ensure the MF/GF didn't stack, and only used your highest one. Otherwise, people with several 60 will just level them all to P20 and have capped bonuses.
A few days ago, there was a topic talking about possible D2-style runes. There was a lot of good discussion there, and I had a couple of ideas on how it should probably go. This is me taking these thoughts and running with them.
So, the basic idea is that the current gems are too limited and too easy to game. There is no variety in slot choices: Weapons are always Emeralds (other than people desperate for LOH), helmets are always Amethysts (other than MF sets), and everything else is just your primary stat with MAYBE a couple of Amethysts if you are short on health.
Caveats to this are the cautionary tales from D2. The runes were cool, runewords are the devil. Crossing class abilities is generally not smart, and they should not ever be so powerful that they end up replacing your gear or totally warping what you're looking for.
So here are the basics:
1) Any gear slot other than Follower Special that cannot currently roll sockets gains the ability to roll one slot. This important to how the system ends up working, read on.
2) The Power Stones end up emulating almost every single affix in the game that is not already present on gems (and some which are but are slot-limited)... but at low power. You will never see a +70 Resist-All Stone, but you may just get 5.
3) Power Stone affixes are limited for the most part to the same categories of items which can hold that affix. Class-specific ones are the exception here: they can go onto any slot the class-specific items which hold them normally occupy (so, for example, you could put APoC on a 2H Axe)
4) The baseline of power for the best Power Stones is roughly what you can roll on an iLvl 30 item. Adjustments are made up and down from this line for fairness and usability (and for presence, since somethings like Indestructable are never there until a bit higher)
5) It needs to be said, the presence of an affix will NEVER give a class-specific benefit, resource, or ability to a different class.
For all of this, creation is handled by the Mystic, the craftswoman met in the Spider's Lair but removed during Beta. There is no need for new materials (though Pages and Tomes of Mysticism would likely be added). Base Gems and Salvage work, along with probably a few of the very basic Power Stones which would start dropping.
*whew*, now for the part that took freaking forever and really isn't done, the specifics. Remember that these currently only represent what would be the maximum available with a capped-out crafter. Lesser amounts will be craftable as the Mystic comes up the ranks. I will be editing this post frequently as I figure more out and according to feedback both here and elsewhere. I'll try to sort by category, and in some cases (like Class Skill boosts) I'm going to skip several for now.
Note that "Armor" means Chest, Helm, Legs, Bracers, Shoulder, and Boots. "Jewelry" means Amulet and Ring. "Offhand" means Mojo, Source, or Quiver.
Resources:
Maximum Fury: +9 Max, usable on Weapons and Belts
Hatred Regen: 0.75 hatred/second, usable on Weapons, Chest Armor, and Offhand
Maximum Discipline: +5 Max, usable on Weapon, Offhand, and Chest Armor
Spirit Regen: 1.5 Spirit per Second, usable on Weapons and Helmets
Life per Spirit Spent: 1.5 Life per Spirit Spent, usable on Weapons and Helmets
Mana Regen: 5 MpS, usable on Weapons, Offhands, and Helmets
Max Mana: +50 Max, usable on Weapons, Offhands, and Helmets
Arcane Power on Crit: 5 APoC, usable on Weapons, Offhands, and Helmets
Max Arcane Power: +8 Max, usable on Weapon, Helmet, and Offhand.
Skills:
<Gigantic list, will edit in later>
Defenses:
Specific Resist: +25, usable on Amulet, Armor, Ring, Shield, and Offhand
Resist All: +10, usable on Amulet, Armor, Ring, Shield, and Offhand
Damage Reduction: 3% reduction versus Elite, Melee, or Ranged, usable on Armor or Shield
Armor: +90, usable on any other than Weapons
CC:
Blind: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons and Jewelry
Chill: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Shoulders, and Jewelry
Fear: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Helmet, and Jewelry
Freeze: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Belt, and Jewelry
Immobilize: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Boots, and Jewelry
Knockback: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Bracers, and Jewelry
Slow: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Pants, and Jewelry
Stun: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Gloves, and Jewelry
Utility:
Experience: +15 per kill, usable on Jewelry, Weapons, Armor, Offhand, and Shield
Health Globe Bonus: +500 healed per globe, usable on Jewelry, Armor, Offhand, and Shields
Life On Hit: +25 LOH, usable on any slot.
Life On Kill: +100 LOK, usable on any slot
Life Steal: 2%, usable on Weapons
Life Regen: +20 Life per Second, usable on Armor and Jewelry
Indestructable: ...what it says. Usable on any slot
Move Speed: +10%, usable on Boots
Thorns: 30 damage to melee attackers, usable on Amulet, Armor, and Shield
Thanks for making it this far, and PLEASE share your thoughts, reccommendations, and any constructive criticisms you may have.
Really depends on how the metagame turns out. Notably, if AoE is weak, I'll be using Fetish Army all day long. Definitely also gearing for multiple forms of CC, including the Bruiser Gargantuan. Basically...
L) Poison Dart (probably Snake to the Face, maybe Splinters)
R) Haunt (Resentful Spirit). Maybe Acid Rain (Corpse Bomb or Lob Blob Bomb) in team PvP situations
1) Spirit Walk (Healing Journey)
2) Hex (Jinx)
3) Zombie Dogs (Plagued, maybe Leeching)
4) Gargantuan (Bruiser), swap to Fetish Army (Legion of Daggers) depending on Meta
P1) Fierce Loyalty (Might drop for Jungle Fortitude)
P2) Blood Ritual
P3) Spiritual Vessel
I do fully expect both team-based PvP and also much lower damage numbers against players. Our damage numbers for the most part are not mitigated against monsters, so when you try to hit someone with 5k armor and 600 resist-all it will start looking puny. I have a feeling these resists are going to also apply to Thorns damage as well (not to mention it's only useful against two of five classes, not a good option unless you know what you will be facing).
Against players, dedicated pet builds just won't work. This includes Sacrifice, to be frank, players will be able to do things like kite and avoid a blast radius. The only thing the four pets are there for is to distract and soak hits while I wail on the attacker, and make no mistake they will be able to take some damage once I finish gearing (and I will be running a shield with high resists, the goal is 10 hits on the dogs before regen). While players will probably (rightfully) ignore them at first, that is a LOT of damage incoming if you try to focus solely on a very evasive player target.
Assuming Vessel isn't nerfed, then PvP becomes a question of surviving for 90 seconds at a time. If I can pull it off, the passive makes me immortal. Just remember that Monks have Near Death Experience as well.
Well not on every CD, it does not work for spirit vessel 2nd life cd as far as i know.
That's not strictly a cooldown, though, it is a debuff that persists through death. Normally six of one, half-dozen of the other, I agree, but it's significant in this case.
Such a shame I can't give more than +1 to this post.
I did it for you
That said, I do agree. Runewords were the devil, and the bane of many an honest player. What I wouldn't mind, though, would be Rune-equivalent "Power Stones" or some such. They wouldn't be massive, strictly equal to Tier 6 or weaker affixes (you know, the same one +58 to a stat falls into) and be unique within each item (so no stacking three on a chest piece), but it would just be more interesting than seeing sockets and thinking of them as just base stats. Heck, you could even restrict each of these power stones to slots which could normally hold the affix, and it would still be a wonderful thing.
Take for example, right now a Radiant Star Emerald is the only real choice for a weapon (unless you REALLY need LOH for some reason)... but what would happen if a socketed wand could add a couple points of APoC? Resource abilities, lifesteal, CC affixes, Crit rate, Indestructable, Resists, technique affixes, and quite a few others might just prove to be interesting alternatives. Always on the lower end of the spectrum, of course, you'll never be able to make a 70 Resist-All Stone (though you might just get 15, or 25 to a specific resist)
Let me reiterate: these WILL NOT be able to combine into runewords (not that the 2-3 character ones were very much good anyway), and will never grant an otherwise-unusable ability to anyone. With all of that, though, all the mats needed for them are already in-game (just use the existing crafting mats, and you're golden). It can work.
Yeah, it's 1.0.4. DH's Vault (Trail of Cinders) is high, which it wouldn't have been in 1.0.3 and prior. While this does show a lot of build focus, I would very much like to see a similar chart for 1.0.3 to check if the scores have gone down or up... and another one a couple of weeks after 1.0.5 hits to see how the changes there will change things. Where did you get your data, anyway?
I do find it funny how few of the "cookie-cutter" skills I end up using, and how good some of the sub-1% ones are (Fierce Loyalty is clutch in some builds, for example). Some of them are obvious, though, such as Ballistics and Pacifism. They're either too situational to be good or reliant on skills that just don't have the beef to back it up
I could see 100m+ coming out of it. There are some truly nasty 2H builds running around, often centered around SSS (Fulmination or Sudden Assault) with some spirit regen on helm to compensate. Heck, if I had more than 2 mil atm I'd buy it in half a heartbeat.
phuzi0n, when you have a backlog THAT long, go start dropping items on the RMAH (especially if you have the external PayPal). Most good items will sell, even if it's just in the $2-3 range, and you'll clear out your stash about 50-75% faster (market on RMAH tends to go a bit slower than GAH, buyout is used a hair less often).
Failing that, since Blizz fixed the Unidentified Item exploit, you can usually sell iLvl 63s over trade for 100-200k without IDing them.
All of this is on US servers, but I can't imagine it's all THAT much different on Euro
Leeching Beasts does not proc off of Thorns, this was established in a different topic. If they could, then anyone with greater than about 5k thorns plus good defenses would be literally immortal to any melee attacker, which is not the case.
However, Leeching Beasts is most certainly not useless by any means. Though it is not GREAT regen, it is noticeable and gets more so as your gear improves. Any time my personal regen is not quite enough to compensate for incoming damage in certain areas (I use Fierce Loyalty), I use Leeching to put it over the top.
I might just be the only person I know of that isn't using ToC as a main attack, and even at 300% it's still more than enough for its intended purpose: dealing some extra damage to enemies that chase you. This is still MUCH better than the 1.0.3 damage (I think it was something like 70%, stupidly low). I will still be using it with no change in my playstyle post-patch. It will still be an excellent kiting skill, and good damage when used to supplement your standard Hatred-based ones, but there's the keyword. Supplement.
No discipline skill was ever intended to be a primary damage ability. The fact of the matter is that this one was being used as such, and so I honestly would have taken them at their word even if they had called it a straight nerf (actually would have been more believable than the "bug fix" they're calling it).
Khanbg, I think you may have a point there. With CM, you wouldn't even need to use the major fury generator moves. Just ahve enough to get you out past the balance point so you have it ready again, and the rest can be +damage
0
0
0
So, the basic idea is that the current gems are too limited and too easy to game. There is no variety in slot choices: Weapons are always Emeralds (other than people desperate for LOH), helmets are always Amethysts (other than MF sets), and everything else is just your primary stat with MAYBE a couple of Amethysts if you are short on health.
Caveats to this are the cautionary tales from D2. The runes were cool, runewords are the devil. Crossing class abilities is generally not smart, and they should not ever be so powerful that they end up replacing your gear or totally warping what you're looking for.
So here are the basics:
1) Any gear slot other than Follower Special that cannot currently roll sockets gains the ability to roll one slot. This important to how the system ends up working, read on.
2) The Power Stones end up emulating almost every single affix in the game that is not already present on gems (and some which are but are slot-limited)... but at low power. You will never see a +70 Resist-All Stone, but you may just get 5.
3) Power Stone affixes are limited for the most part to the same categories of items which can hold that affix. Class-specific ones are the exception here: they can go onto any slot the class-specific items which hold them normally occupy (so, for example, you could put APoC on a 2H Axe)
4) The baseline of power for the best Power Stones is roughly what you can roll on an iLvl 30 item. Adjustments are made up and down from this line for fairness and usability (and for presence, since somethings like Indestructable are never there until a bit higher)
5) It needs to be said, the presence of an affix will NEVER give a class-specific benefit, resource, or ability to a different class.
For all of this, creation is handled by the Mystic, the craftswoman met in the Spider's Lair but removed during Beta. There is no need for new materials (though Pages and Tomes of Mysticism would likely be added). Base Gems and Salvage work, along with probably a few of the very basic Power Stones which would start dropping.
*whew*, now for the part that took freaking forever and really isn't done, the specifics. Remember that these currently only represent what would be the maximum available with a capped-out crafter. Lesser amounts will be craftable as the Mystic comes up the ranks. I will be editing this post frequently as I figure more out and according to feedback both here and elsewhere. I'll try to sort by category, and in some cases (like Class Skill boosts) I'm going to skip several for now.
Note that "Armor" means Chest, Helm, Legs, Bracers, Shoulder, and Boots. "Jewelry" means Amulet and Ring. "Offhand" means Mojo, Source, or Quiver.
Resources:
Maximum Fury: +9 Max, usable on Weapons and Belts
Hatred Regen: 0.75 hatred/second, usable on Weapons, Chest Armor, and Offhand
Maximum Discipline: +5 Max, usable on Weapon, Offhand, and Chest Armor
Spirit Regen: 1.5 Spirit per Second, usable on Weapons and Helmets
Life per Spirit Spent: 1.5 Life per Spirit Spent, usable on Weapons and Helmets
Mana Regen: 5 MpS, usable on Weapons, Offhands, and Helmets
Max Mana: +50 Max, usable on Weapons, Offhands, and Helmets
Arcane Power on Crit: 5 APoC, usable on Weapons, Offhands, and Helmets
Max Arcane Power: +8 Max, usable on Weapon, Helmet, and Offhand.
Skills:
<Gigantic list, will edit in later>
Defenses:
Specific Resist: +25, usable on Amulet, Armor, Ring, Shield, and Offhand
Resist All: +10, usable on Amulet, Armor, Ring, Shield, and Offhand
Damage Reduction: 3% reduction versus Elite, Melee, or Ranged, usable on Armor or Shield
Armor: +90, usable on any other than Weapons
CC:
Blind: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons and Jewelry
Chill: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Shoulders, and Jewelry
Fear: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Helmet, and Jewelry
Freeze: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Belt, and Jewelry
Immobilize: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Boots, and Jewelry
Knockback: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Bracers, and Jewelry
Slow: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Pants, and Jewelry
Stun: 2% on hit, usable on Weapons, Gloves, and Jewelry
Utility:
Experience: +15 per kill, usable on Jewelry, Weapons, Armor, Offhand, and Shield
Health Globe Bonus: +500 healed per globe, usable on Jewelry, Armor, Offhand, and Shields
Life On Hit: +25 LOH, usable on any slot.
Life On Kill: +100 LOK, usable on any slot
Life Steal: 2%, usable on Weapons
Life Regen: +20 Life per Second, usable on Armor and Jewelry
Indestructable: ...what it says. Usable on any slot
Move Speed: +10%, usable on Boots
Thorns: 30 damage to melee attackers, usable on Amulet, Armor, and Shield
Thanks for making it this far, and PLEASE share your thoughts, reccommendations, and any constructive criticisms you may have.
0
L) Poison Dart (probably Snake to the Face, maybe Splinters)
R) Haunt (Resentful Spirit). Maybe Acid Rain (Corpse Bomb or Lob Blob Bomb) in team PvP situations
1) Spirit Walk (Healing Journey)
2) Hex (Jinx)
3) Zombie Dogs (Plagued, maybe Leeching)
4) Gargantuan (Bruiser), swap to Fetish Army (Legion of Daggers) depending on Meta
P1) Fierce Loyalty (Might drop for Jungle Fortitude)
P2) Blood Ritual
P3) Spiritual Vessel
I do fully expect both team-based PvP and also much lower damage numbers against players. Our damage numbers for the most part are not mitigated against monsters, so when you try to hit someone with 5k armor and 600 resist-all it will start looking puny. I have a feeling these resists are going to also apply to Thorns damage as well (not to mention it's only useful against two of five classes, not a good option unless you know what you will be facing).
Against players, dedicated pet builds just won't work. This includes Sacrifice, to be frank, players will be able to do things like kite and avoid a blast radius. The only thing the four pets are there for is to distract and soak hits while I wail on the attacker, and make no mistake they will be able to take some damage once I finish gearing (and I will be running a shield with high resists, the goal is 10 hits on the dogs before regen). While players will probably (rightfully) ignore them at first, that is a LOT of damage incoming if you try to focus solely on a very evasive player target.
Assuming Vessel isn't nerfed, then PvP becomes a question of surviving for 90 seconds at a time. If I can pull it off, the passive makes me immortal. Just remember that Monks have Near Death Experience as well.
0
That's not strictly a cooldown, though, it is a debuff that persists through death. Normally six of one, half-dozen of the other, I agree, but it's significant in this case.
1
I did it for you
That said, I do agree. Runewords were the devil, and the bane of many an honest player. What I wouldn't mind, though, would be Rune-equivalent "Power Stones" or some such. They wouldn't be massive, strictly equal to Tier 6 or weaker affixes (you know, the same one +58 to a stat falls into) and be unique within each item (so no stacking three on a chest piece), but it would just be more interesting than seeing sockets and thinking of them as just base stats. Heck, you could even restrict each of these power stones to slots which could normally hold the affix, and it would still be a wonderful thing.
Take for example, right now a Radiant Star Emerald is the only real choice for a weapon (unless you REALLY need LOH for some reason)... but what would happen if a socketed wand could add a couple points of APoC? Resource abilities, lifesteal, CC affixes, Crit rate, Indestructable, Resists, technique affixes, and quite a few others might just prove to be interesting alternatives. Always on the lower end of the spectrum, of course, you'll never be able to make a 70 Resist-All Stone (though you might just get 15, or 25 to a specific resist)
Let me reiterate: these WILL NOT be able to combine into runewords (not that the 2-3 character ones were very much good anyway), and will never grant an otherwise-unusable ability to anyone. With all of that, though, all the mats needed for them are already in-game (just use the existing crafting mats, and you're golden). It can work.
0
I do find it funny how few of the "cookie-cutter" skills I end up using, and how good some of the sub-1% ones are (Fierce Loyalty is clutch in some builds, for example). Some of them are obvious, though, such as Ballistics and Pacifism. They're either too situational to be good or reliant on skills that just don't have the beef to back it up
0
0
0
0
Failing that, since Blizz fixed the Unidentified Item exploit, you can usually sell iLvl 63s over trade for 100-200k without IDing them.
All of this is on US servers, but I can't imagine it's all THAT much different on Euro
0
However, Leeching Beasts is most certainly not useless by any means. Though it is not GREAT regen, it is noticeable and gets more so as your gear improves. Any time my personal regen is not quite enough to compensate for incoming damage in certain areas (I use Fierce Loyalty), I use Leeching to put it over the top.
0
No discipline skill was ever intended to be a primary damage ability. The fact of the matter is that this one was being used as such, and so I honestly would have taken them at their word even if they had called it a straight nerf (actually would have been more believable than the "bug fix" they're calling it).
0
0