Diablo 3 Discussion Thread

That i didn't, i was holding out to see how it was, 2 guys at work say they are loving it...guess it is time to fold in...
 
Armenius said:
I was able to do T2 with a Barbarian and nothing but enchanted yellow gear following some of the suggestions on this page The key is knowing how attributes work together and balancing them in the correct slots. Before then I was doing T1 with 350k buffed sheet DPS and 3 million Toughness. Now that I have some decent legs I'm doing T3 rifts solo generally with no problems (700k buffed sheet DPS and ~6 million Toughness). Some certain elite affix combos are still kicking my ass, though. Battletag is ArmeniusLOD#1362.
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Thanks for the info. I'll catch up on that page tomorrow. Did find a couple more plans think I'm at 350k dps and 4 mil toughness. T1 is slow going but doable so hopefully with some more knowledge I can move forward some more.
 
Climber said:
Thanks for the info. I'll catch up on that page tomorrow. Did find a couple more plans think I'm at 350k dps and 4 mil toughness. T1 is slow going but doable so hopefully with some more knowledge I can move forward some more.
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It was nice playing with you earlier.
This is my DH I was using when we stopped.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Zepher-1253/hero/48061290
She can solo T2 but needs to be near friends when others join.

this is the other one I was using when you joined,
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Zepher-1253/hero/48061289
I just got her to lvl 70 a few hours ago.
 
RW2112 said:
Be great for that 2 minute rift run achievement.... :D
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Actually, that isn't hard to get. If you just do rif and join the games where boss is already at 20% hp and kill it, you get the achievements.

I went from 15 min rift to 2 min rift achievement in one such game.
 
Oh, I've got them all also, just sayin' those small rift levels could really speed through... :D
 
Deluded said:
Actually, that isn't hard to get. If you just do rif and join the games where boss is already at 20% hp and kill it, you get the achievements.

I went from 15 min rift to 2 min rift achievement in one such game.
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I think you need to open a rift, then kill a Rift Guardian in less than 2 minutes. The RG can be in a different game. Rift it Forward made this super simple... Open Rift for one group, join another group, kill Rift Guardian, free achievement :D
 
master noran said:
Just started playing a few days ago. Currently a few hours into act 3 and I've switched to hard from normal. Once I beat the game do I start the story over with a different difficulty to max my level with the same character or just go back to places I've been to grind?

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Deltaspirit-1878/hero/49526699
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You can redo story mode, but you might find Adventure Mode more entertaining. Then you can do Rifts and Bounites to level up to 70.
 
chockomonkey said:
Really! I wonder if that means they've scrapped one of the planned expansions...
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Prob not. There is space for two additional tabs. 2.1 only gives one more.

New consumable in 2.1 that gives a socketable item the max allowed sockets. Couple of seasonal legendaries also unveiled. Tons of class changes.

EDIT: PC still dead until the 30th at the earliest.
 
Harkamus said:
2.1 is on public test realm. We get another stash tab. PTR patch notes here http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/14569138/
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Read them all. Some interesting changes. Most notably:

PTR notes said:
Nephalem Rifts
  • ​
    The cost to open a Nephalem Rift has been reduced from 5 Rift Fragments (total) to 1 Rift Fragment (per player)
​
Each player must pay the 1 Rift Fragment cost in order to enter a Nephalem Rift
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The language isn't 100% clear on this. It could be mean that Rifts are no longer 'soloable'. It could mean that they could be entered alone, but it may destroy the RiF community. I'm curious on if anyone who is playing the PTR can give a direct answer.

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Crusader has mostly no changes, but that's okay with me for now. It seems like the short term smart money will be on hoarding mats from Uber drops as to make as many amulets as possible when they come out. As long as you get an amulet with ANY of the normal passives used in your build, essentially it means you get a 5th one of your choosing free. Crusader Amulet with Heavenly Strength/Fervor/Finery as an example could be seriously strong.

With all that said, I'm not sure if anyone in here is interested in starting a high level uber group, but I'm down.... Haven't farmed keys in a great while.

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Lastly, and I'm sad to say, I may not be at the Clan Event tomorrow. I just got a job, and I am uncertain when I will be back (because of traffic, commuting, and well, it's Los Angeles). I want the event to still happen, so I'm asking all our regulars to please step up and help each other out in the event that I'm not there.
 
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Holy crap to the Wizard nerfs...

Arcane Torrent and Disintegrate now have a 30AP initial cost. They increased damage slightly, but still a major nerf unless they increase the base AP of a Wizard. GG to wizards being knocked-back and having to re-channel

Broke the camels back. Will shelve the wizard permanently if these changes remain

Looks like Hydra Wizards will be PRO however. Save your Serpent Sparklers people! MM/conflag + dual mammoth + depth diggers = King of T6... Gotta love that "build diversity" Blizzard keeps touting about!


All hail our WD and Barb overlords. They are going to be utter monsters in 2.1
 
Did my first tiered rift. finished the level one and the guardian gave me a level 7 key (guessing that is based off your completion time), 2 legs and set shoulders and a TON of crafting mats and gems
 
antbikerjl said:
Holy crap to the Wizard nerfs...

Arcane Torrent and Disintegrate now have a 30AP initial cost. They increased damage slightly, but still a major nerf unless they increase the base AP of a Wizard. GG to wizards being knocked-back and having to re-channel

Broke the camels back. Will shelve the wizard permanently if these changes remain

Looks like Hydra Wizards will be PRO however. Save your Serpent Sparklers people! MM/conflag + dual mammoth + depth diggers = King of T6... Gotta love that "build diversity" Blizzard keeps touting about!


All hail our WD and Barb overlords. They are going to be utter monsters in 2.1
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I don't think any top tier player was using any of the Wizard channeling skills anyway. It might be a nerf for lower level play, but all the high damage people I see are mostly using things like Meteor, Archon, Black Hole, Magic Missile and other things of the like.

You can check this page for what I'm talking about. Great if you want to see what builds are the most statistically present. Disintegrate doesn't even make any of the top builds most commonly used Wizard skills whether talking about top 25% or bottom 75% (it does come in #12 of most common skill however). Overall, it seems like the changes are neutral, but with a buff to familiar (which I guess will help almost all Wizards) and Hydra.

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Not really seeing the buffs that you're seeing on Barb or WD either. Seems like the Barb buffs are inline with trying to promote skill diversity (using skills that currently aren't being used often), and the only major thing coming to WD is making the skill sacrifice actually useful.

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I do agree with the lack of diversity on Wizard though. It's by far the least diverse, currently most hobbled class in the game. They really should remove certain skills entirely and redesign the class.

There is a guy in the guild I talk with often that basically admits that the class isn't very good but still enjoys playing it. His common complaint is that Wizard has to use three passives in the active slots in order to really even deal damage (familiar, magic weapon, energy armor). Wizard requires the most sheet DPS to be good, as it has no ways of stacking damage or multiplying damage like other classes.

Ray of Frost and Disintegrate should be merged, and possibly Arcane Torrent with it. All of these channeling skills feel redunant. Using any of them feels like using the same as the others (oooooh, Arcane Torrent has a slightly different animation, but it's the same darn thing).

They got rid of CM, and that wrecked both Archon and of course the CM lock build. I played CM in classic and loved it. Sure it was based around a limited set of skills, but at least it used all of them to great effect, and it wasn't the most damaging setup either. It also felt like Wizard should feel to me. That it comes in and controls situations. Now it just seems like it's a class that shoots beams. Now there is nothing nearly as fun or entertaining (or powerful) in the class to play since then. It went from either the top tier class or one of the top tier classes to basically the worst.
 
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cougarsoccer said:
Did my first tiered rift. finished the level one and the guardian gave me a level 7 key (guessing that is based off your completion time), 2 legs and set shoulders and a TON of crafting mats and gems
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Yeah, I did a couple and the key drops were: 1 --> 10 --> 20 --> 29 --> 30.

Level 29 Rift was definitely harder than Torment 6, haven't tried 30 yet.
 
Climber said:
Can't see the changes yet but anything for monks? We're hurting :(
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All of the primaries are getting buffed. Exploding Palm is getting massively buffed, as is Sweeping Wind. So the most commonly used stuff is going to get better. Also there is the Dex to Armor change.
 
Check diablofans.com for data mined info. One legendary makes SSS apply exploding palm.

Also, Greed's rift
dx4gwxp.jpg
 
Harkamus said:
Check diablofans.com for data mined info. One legendary makes SSS apply exploding palm.
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Thank god! I realize they were preliminary patch notes but I was going to be insanely disappointed if patch 2.1 turned out to be 9 new legendaries for Season 1. Many in that datamined list would simply be the effect on the new Hellfire Amulet ("gain the effect of X passive") but there are many other interesting effects in there too!
 
UnknownSouljer said:
I don't think any top tier player was using any of the Wizard channeling skills anyway. It might be a nerf for lower level play, but all the high damage people I see are mostly using things like Meteor, Archon, Black Hole, Magic Missile and other things of the like.

You can check this page for what I'm talking about. Great if you want to see what builds are the most statistically present. Disintegrate doesn't even make any of the top builds most commonly used Wizard skills whether talking about top 25% or bottom 75% (it does come in #12 of most common skill however). Overall, it seems like the changes are neutral, but with a buff to familiar (which I guess will help almost all Wizards) and Hydra.

---

Not really seeing the buffs that you're seeing on Barb or WD either. Seems like the Barb buffs are inline with trying to promote skill diversity (using skills that currently aren't being used often), and the only major thing coming to WD is making the skill sacrifice actually useful.

---

I do agree with the lack of diversity on Wizard though. It's by far the least diverse, currently most hobbled class in the game. They really should remove certain skills entirely and redesign the class.

There is a guy in the guild I talk with often that basically admits that the class isn't very good but still enjoys playing it. His common complaint is that Wizard has to use three passives in the active slots in order to really even deal damage (familiar, magic weapon, energy armor). Wizard requires the most sheet DPS to be good, as it has no ways of stacking damage or multiplying damage like other classes.

Ray of Frost and Disintegrate should be merged, and possibly Arcane Torrent with it. All of these channeling skills feel redunant. Using any of them feels like using the same as the others (oooooh, Arcane Torrent has a slightly different animation, but it's the same darn thing).

They got rid of CM, and that wrecked both Archon and of course the CM lock build. I played CM in classic and loved it. Sure it was based around a limited set of skills, but at least it used all of them to great effect, and it wasn't the most damaging setup either. It also felt like Wizard should feel to me. That it comes in and controls situations. Now it just seems like it's a class that shoots beams. Now there is nothing nearly as fun or entertaining (or powerful) in the class to play since then. It went from either the top tier class or one of the top tier classes to basically the worst.
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I play a highly geared wizard... Wand of Woh builds are great until around T5, they struggle in T6. Arcane Torrent was pretty much the end-game build along with MM/Conflag (needs some time to build stacks however; I swap between Mirrorball/Conflag build and AT/Archon build pending what I am doing). Disintegrate has issues regarding managing the AP cost unless you stack resource reduction and does not deal the same damage overall as AT. Ray of Frost is a Disintegrate-lite, roughly same dps but with slightly less AP cost. The issue is, it relies entirely on the Chalice source to be usable.

So I do not agree with your assessment on channeling builds not being used for high end. That is entirely incorrect in terms of personal experience (I have the gear to support most, if not all, builds except for Woh; 521 paragon levels and not a drop yet) and from highly regarded Wizard players/theorycrafters.

My gear and characters for reference (gear/spec changes pending on what torment I am doing and if I am solo or with clan-mates):
https://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/NotThatJames-1795/hero/11480331
 
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antbikerjl said:
I play a highly geared wizard... Wand of Woh builds are great until around T5, they struggle in T6. Arcane Torrent was pretty much the end-game build along with MM/Conflag (needs some time to build stacks however; I swap between Mirrorball/Conflag build and AT/Archon build pending what I am doing). Disintegrate has issues regarding managing the AP cost unless you stack resource reduction and does not deal the same damage overall as AT. Ray of Frost is a Disintegrate-lite, roughly same dps but with slightly less AP cost. The issue is, it relies entirely on the Chalice source to be usable.

So I do not agree with your assessment on channeling builds not being used for high end. That is entirely incorrect in terms of personal experience (I have the gear to support most, if not all, builds except for Woh; 521 paragon levels and not a drop yet) and from highly regarded Wizard players/theorycrafters.

My gear and characters for reference (gear/spec changes pending on what torment I am doing and if I am solo or with clan-mates):
https://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/NotThatJames-1795/hero/11480331
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Okay, did you check my link on the statically most common builds for the top 25% of players? I didn't say what I said without research. You're right that one build uses Arcane Torment, but outside of that, no other build uses any form of channel spell.

Additionally all your statements disagree with your conclusion. You talk about the difficulties with running Disintegrate without stacking reduction gear, that RoF is the same thing as Disintegrate, and both are gear dependent. You yourself use neither disintegrate nor ray of frost, and are sticking to the Arcane Torment build. Once again going back to my conclusion that all three spells are redundant, could be one skill with these ending up being various runes. And the other conclusion that with the exception of Arcane Torment, adding the initial cost isn't going to be the biggest nerf in the world.

Patch also isn't final. It'll be interesting to see what stays and what doesn't. If Wizard tanks during the PTR, I'm sure the cost will come back off, or perhaps be halved.
EDIT: Did some playing around with it on the PTR. Doesn't seem like it's the end of the world. The channel cost is 16, the initial is 30. All that the initial is then is 2 extra ticks of channel in terms of cost. So, summary, does it break the usability of the skills? I would say no. I think the intent is to turn them 'back' into secondary skills and not into primary skills which a lot of Wizards have made them.

Also working through Tiered Rifts. I like them so far. I've been soloing a lot of Rifts lately and then doing invites for RiFers, so this actually might be a better alternative (as the greater rift tokens as you continue to progress are 'free'). Rift tokens are now super broken in the sense that only 1 is required to open a rift, so for solo play 100 tokens is a lot of rift time. Not to mention the Greater Rift Tokens for even more rift time. Not sure of the reason for this change. Perhaps they want to make bounties less important? (Not that I mind...)
 
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UnknownSouljer said:
Okay, did you check my link on the statically most common builds for the top 25% of players? I didn't say what I said without research. You're right that one build uses Arcane Torment, but outside of that, no other build uses any form of channel spell.

Patch also isn't final. It'll be interesting to see what stays and what doesn't. If Wizard tanks during the PTR, I'm sure the cost will come back off, or perhaps be halved.
EDIT: Did some playing around with it on the PTR. Doesn't seem like it's the end of the world. The channel cost is 16, the initial is 30. All that the initial is then is 2 extra ticks of channel in terms of cost. So, summary, does it break the usability of the skills? I would say no. I think the intent is to turn them 'back' into secondary skills and not into primary skills which a lot of Wizards have made them.

Also working through Tiered Rifts. I like them so far. I've been soloing a lot of Rifts lately and then doing invites for RiFers, so this actually might be a better alternative (as the greater rift tokens as you continue to progress are 'free'). Rift tokens are now super broken in the sense that only 1 is required to open a rift, so for solo play 100 tokens is a lot of rift time. Not to mention the Greater Rift Tokens for even more rift time. Not sure of the reason for this change. Perhaps they want to make bounties less important? (Not that I mind...)
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The main issue with the new initial cost is when a wizard encounters a knockback/frozen state or when things such as molten/ground effects are encountered. It would be very easy blowing through every bit of AP in a matter of 2-3 seconds if you need to move due to ground effects. If you could stay still 100% of the time, it wouldn't be terrible, but that is not how the game works sadly.

To solve this, they need to dramatically increase APoC back to the old ways (ie: 10+ AP on crit).

Ultimately, this boils down to Blizzard nerfing skills that were not overpowered to begin with while buffing already overpowered skills (Magic Missile, pet WD build, etc). Seems the don't even play there own game at this rate.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Read them all. Some interesting changes. Most notably:



The language isn't 100% clear on this. It could be mean that Rifts are no longer 'soloable'. It could mean that they could be entered alone, but it may destroy the RiF community. I'm curious on if anyone who is playing the PTR can give a direct answer.

[/SIZE]
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Not sure if you found out yet, but it only costs one stone to open the rift. I ran a few just now by myself.
You have to have the stone on your person since you have to place it onto the the rift window that pops up. there are higher tier rift stones that allow you to run higher tiered rifts so that is why you need to have the stone you want to use on your person.
 
Harkamus said:
Prob not. There is space for two additional tabs. 2.1 only gives one more.

New consumable in 2.1 that gives a socketable item the max allowed sockets. Couple of seasonal legendaries also unveiled. Tons of class changes.

EDIT: PC still dead until the 30th at the earliest.
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They had 3 expansions for D3 listed on their release schedule at one point. Perhaps one of them was scrapped.
antbikerjl said:
Ultimately, this boils down to Blizzard nerfing skills that were not overpowered to begin with while buffing already overpowered skills (Magic Missile, pet WD build, etc). Seems the don't even play there own game at this rate.
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LOL

This has been true of every blizzard game i have ever played. They are the worst at balancing a game.
 
Is it really hard to believe I have almost 900 rift stones?
no one believes me, lol
 
antbikerjl said:
The main issue with the new initial cost is when a wizard encounters a knockback/frozen state or when things such as molten/ground effects are encountered. It would be very easy blowing through every bit of AP in a matter of 2-3 seconds if you need to move due to ground effects. If you could stay still 100% of the time, it wouldn't be terrible, but that is not how the game works sadly.

To solve this, they need to dramatically increase APoC back to the old ways (ie: 10+ AP on crit).

Ultimately, this boils down to Blizzard nerfing skills that were not overpowered to begin with while buffing already overpowered skills (Magic Missile, pet WD build, etc). Seems the don't even play there own game at this rate.
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Outside of MM/Conflag builds, most high torment wizards don't use primaries - for 2 reasons - they aren't very effective, and pretty much every single wizard has to run 3 'passives' in active slots (Magic Weapon, Familiar, Energy Armor). Add in Archon, and wizards get to pick 2 skills to roll with. Have fun choosing between primary + spender, or control + spender.

Looks like my Arcane wiz is going to be mothballed for a bit, we'll see if I can make for fire wiz work with firebirds and doubled up hydras. Or pray for a Wand of Woh and double MM mirrorball (found three 1 extra mirrorballs so far...) with 4 APoC.

With the increased arcana costs for Torrent and Disentegrate, can see a lot of builds dropping all paragon points into CC over CD, try and squeeze a little more out of APoC. If you run 4 from source and 4 from wizard hat and get your CC near 60% it can work, but of course both the Tal-Rasha and Firebird set helms are 'Helms' and not 'Wizard Hats' so no 8 APoC for you!
 
Zepher said:
They need to make it stack to 1000, so I can save space.
How many do you have on hand?
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500 or 600, my supply is getting low from doing Rift it Forward.

I am still working on getting a better RoRG too... Might wait for 2.1 before sinking more time into A1 bounties though.
 
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