Stop with melee can’t blah blah! The narrative you tell is casters own all well, good luck doing Ubers with your caster! Melee is great, far more challenging to play than caster but that is not a bad thing! What is needed are items to support under used skills such as Vengeance, Fire Arrow, Ice Arrow. 1 handed melee is underwhelming unless you use somthing like grief but oath is also viable and much more affordable. Have you ever tried 2h melee, because it greatly out damages grief and is 100% viable. Lastly, try Hsarus boot/belt combo for big ar boost like angelic amulet/ring or any combonation.
Sorry man, you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about here.
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Yay melee can excel at 1% of the game!!111oneoneone
I agree challenge isn’t bad, but I think all classes should offer similar level of challenge, even if specific challenges are different, while still offering the different playstyle flavor, like they did pre 1.10.
Actually having lots of fun with 2H eBB Oath WW barb right now, and enjoy IK Barb 2H, but changes to WW have made non-sword 2H worse at least for WW, and in general the damage can be a tough sell vs. 1h or DW.
As I mentioned in other posts, having to get gear specifically for big AR boost is something casters don’t have to do. Hsarus means you’re giving up things like Gores or Goblins, SoE/Vergundo and Angelics means you’re giving up good damage ammy like Highlords and other ring options. I’m not saying having to much such choices are a bad thing, I actually think it’s great, if all classes/builds had similar trade offs.
Meanwhile you’ve got things like Shako, hoto and Occy that hit damage/mf/survivability all in one package for casters/sorcs
I’m not saying it’s not possible, I’m saying you have to make bigger sacrifices than casters do, and it would be nice if the same level of challenge and gear trade offs were for both.
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If you want melee to be as strong as hdin then fire up D3!
Yet another weird claim that casters dominating melee is somehow a critical, defining aspect of D2. 
What is with these people?
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D2 is not the simplified bore that D3 is. D2 has actual mechanics in place to diffrentiate Casters vs Melee namely attack rating and defense. It really sounds like you want D2R simplified to make it easy for you to even bother with a melee build. That said, melee isn’t for you in D2R or LoD.
Thx for the bump we apreciate it but as some other person already told You , You clearly do NOT have your melee facts straight.
You say that melee is “far more chalenging” . You should ask yourself first : 1) why is it more chalenging and then 2) should it be more chalenging ? . Then please elaborate a decent argument about melee vs caster and come back .
Still :
I would greatly trade My “privilege” to do that what …2% of the endgame content. Ignoring the fact that we have caster builds that own ubers , yep .
You would need a humongous amount of damage and AOE yo compete with strafe/multi (not Even looking at javazon!) , Same with vengeance vs zeal+ fana. Don’t get me started ln fohin and hammers.
What’s the distinctive aspect of underused skills ? Single target damage. No . Berzerk and smite live off their respective shebanigans: one from sniping mostly elites and find item (howl+ berzerk) and the other never ever missed (Also used as a BOSS killer pretty much always) .
1h melee is not underwhelmin… melee is .
This is straight wrong in 9/10 cases . The tarde off we are forced to do when using a 2hander is ridículous atm . Just not worth it . The only build that is better off using a 2hander over a 1h weapon is the druid ? (Not a furry expert) and a pkr charge paly (lol). In most cases You LOSe damage or way too Many defenses/MF/Resis… etc .
IE : My barbarian. Ww 2handed Tmaul Will do about 20% less damage than dw grief (more taking into acount TM can’t reach 4 frames pero attack … Never could ) . Perfect 4 frames ww are a mith and not realistic (if You Even think about it) .
But i can berzerk. … emm You would lose that 6 isted shield or that Ali baba … or the chance to actually block While yourndefense is Zero and a crapton of resists. 2h melee in general suks . You do NOT know what You are talking about.
Ar mechsnics are an abomination , melee has to endure and casters has NO equivalent . Nope resistances are a thing of the past since the last patch and there is Also this guy that no 1 talks about regsrding the Ar … monster block chance.
While it is NOT related to the ar formula it sure matters ofr landing damage . Casters go brrrrr and monsters just fall dead. Ar miss chance + block can negate 50% of your damage easy … ohh and monster Phisical resistance… yep . (We rely on a decrepify proc to lower those cuz the sunder charm is crap to melee).
Your feeling of “Challenge” is itself evidence of the imbalance vs casters , is not a good thing , is actually flawed design.
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Ok… I’m alredy swapping between;
TGods/Verdungos/SoE
WispProjector/DwarfStar/Nature’sPeace/GG-dual-leach/GG-crafted-with-resists
Highlords/CatsEye/Metalgrid
LoH/Dracul’s/Crafted IAS-CB
Enigma/Fortitude
Gores/Aldurs
All the above depending on where I’m running… what I’m focusing on… just to survive… none of that has anything to do with MF.
And now you want to introduce Angelics and/or Hsarus as viable alternatives?
The point is, what’s a caster swap out on the regular depending on where they are headed for survivabilty?
So suggesting even more gear is not the answer… thank you.
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There are only a handful of legitimate problems with melee, and weapon scaling outside of runewords is the most notable. Their mechanics are otherwise fine. Is it annoying to toggle run/walk for def/block? Yeah, and maybe that should change, or maybe it’s an added layer of depth to managing melee combat. They don’t need AoE parity with casters, otherwise they’ll simply become better than casters in every facet of gameplay.
Playing casters makes me miss melee, and playing melee makes me miss casters, because they excel for different reasons, and that’s a major strength of the game. Casters seem easier because they’re not hard locked into expensive runewords to become relevant, and that’s a balancing issue OUTSIDE of individual class mechanics. It’s a balancing issue that’s rooted in the rune system in general.
Imagine telling people that melee isn’t for them when recommending Hsarus’ set and two-handed weapons.
You honestly don’t understand how the game mechanics of D2R work. Discussion of how game systems function and should be modified isn’t for you.
Like that other dude who trolls this thread while not even understanding how key game systems work, I appreciate your free bumps regardless.
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Semi random but related to an earlier post of mine. I wish I could make uniques ethereal lol Hunting down a pair of ethereal warshrikes has been a mission of mine for weeks with no luck. Only thing I can upgrade on my throw barb and I would melt if I could get them.
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I really like 1, 2, 3, and 5. I think they are slam dunks. You could convince me on 6, 7, 8, 9 but I think they are less important. I like 11 but think it is it’s own discussion. 10 confused me a little talking about Grief but if the point is just give 2-H weapon attacks uninterruptable, I could be talked into that too.
Let’s talk about #4 more in depth. My initial reaction is to dismiss it completely, expecially with a normal attack. However, I could see specific melee skills having more of a swing arc or impact zone. This isn’t too far removed from what is currently available from Whirlwind and Leap attack so it wouldn’t be a huge change. To be honest, I don’t know quite enough about how weapon range plays into this but I’m guessing it could help scale the area. I don’t think it would apply to every skill either. For example, Impale could hit 1-3 enemies directly in front of the Amazon depending on the weapon reach but Jab could stay single-target. I don’t think Bow skills need any adjustment. Berzerk could possibly have more of a swipe motion that could hit 1-3 targets in an arc that are all close. Bottom-line is that I think there is some room for some swiping/penetration for specific skills but each one should be looked at individually. I think it could also be amplified with larger 2h weapons.
I don’t think the physical sunder charm should have anything do to with it. It doesn’t feel like should be any connection between how an attack physically occurs and the resistances of the enemy.
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You are asking for an overhaul of mechanics that just won’t happen. If you believe all skills should hit equally, deal similar damage THEN GO TO DIABLO 3!
Thanks for keeping this on the front page of the forums. 
We don’t need class revamps or rebalances. D2 is all about loot. We need more INTERESTING loot for melee classes. Items like Wolfhowl, Beast, Passion, Choas, etc. Or items that add entirely brand new skills to the game that are only from that item. I wouldn’t even mind items that modify existing skills in some way, more than just adding elemental damage or whatever. Who knows if that kind of functionality can be added retroactively to this engine though
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Hey someone who gets it!
Even tho I clearly spelled out the point (adding even more gear for swapping for applicable conditions/activities is not the answer), you still somehow missed it.
If you’ve been paying attention (rhetorical) then you would have read above where I am against AoE. Additionally, nowhere on these forums you will find anywhere where I note melee should have screen clearing ability,
Matter of fact I’ve noted several times/places I actually think melee is in general, in a good/fun place, that offers challenge/strategy/retreat/regroup… I rather like that.
In addition, above… I clearly stated I’d be quite content if all they did was to implement the 50% hit bonus and 50% increased damage for physical (melee) builds - that the dev’s showed us is easily implemented (holidays). That does not change anything about how melee is played, certainly does not come close to making it OP, and sure as heck doesn’t add more gear to swap in-out.
I’ve been playing/enjoying this game as an adult since 2000, and have played nothing but melee (with any commitment)… have never purchased/played D3 and have no interest in D4… they are simply too fantasy looking to appeal to me, kinda like casters are too fantasy to appeal to me in D2.
I’m guessing, based on your suggestion, that you are quite familiar/experienced with D3. Enjoy.
I would suggest you work on your reading comprehension, and maybe search a players comments history before you bust out your tough guy all cap’s D3 silliness.
Regards,
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People complain in this thread that somehow making melee viable turns the game into D3. It’s such a bizarre argument, but here people are somehow believing melee being sub-par is crucial to the identity of D2.
Yet as an alternative, you now propose that: 1. melee actually does have problems, and 2. it should be fixed with build-making items. Are you kidding me? THAT would turn D2 into D3.
That, in fact, is arguably the biggest systems difference between D2 and D3. In D2, your build is defined by stat and skill allocation; BIS items help, but you can still use a few other items as well. In D3, your build is strictly determined by your item set; you can assign skills all you want, but without wearing XYZ set, it will never, ever be viable.
I genuinely can’t believe how little some of the trolls in this thread understand about these critical game systems and designs.
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+1
This is a really solid list of changes that Blizzard could implement to close the gap between casters and melee. I hope the developers would atleast consider a few of these items for Season 3.
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Yeah seriously. D3 has vastly different mechanics with how sets/skills interact, builds are pretty rigidly defined with sets, paragon +5 main stat bs, GR rat race making the non-Meta characters even less playable, etc.
Before 1.10, D2 had a reasonable pairy between melee and caster. Both had roles. 1.10 introduced big changes and then development support for D2 was greatly reduced, regulating it to a few bug fixes and other updates, but never having the ability to fine-tune the overall balance again. Just b/c it was left that way for longer, because Blizzard moved on funding wise, doesn’t mean it’s some fundamental game system intent 
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