Balance and Changes, all wrong

PTR Feedback
1

I believe there is a fundamental mismanagement of all of these issues and balance changes that are being addressed.

This reminds me of the most exciting time period I had on this game doing Cows on the PTR as a dragondin and as an Auradin. There was an outcry that it was too OP and changed too much…..so we never pushed those changes through and we just instead watched the game slowly die and dwindle.

This DLC revived so much of the playerbase, and changes like the dragondin changes that made it capable of clearing in P8

One, the player base can inform you of a problem but they cannot tell you how to fix said problem. There really is only one way to do that……you have to be smart.
I’m not taking the time to write this to say someone is or isn’t smart but rather the classic way the company is behaving with balance changes….the same way that sooo many companies are behaving and losing players, is fundamentally flawed at it’s core.

Look the end goal is more money, how do we get more money…..we create fun, we create a repetitive fun experience that keeps the player itching for more and wanting to support future expansions or get their friends to buy the game. This is the classic loop and the only one that really matters.

If you own a restaurant and you serve people all day and night and they do not come back, that is the only sign you will have that your food sucks. Unfortunately that sign and symptom comes too late. The exact same thing happens with video games.

Who am I to be listened to? Just a random person who loves the game and would like to see it succeed.

First you need to consider the classic gameplay loop, do not rely on streamers to explain what is needed, do not rely on classic intellect, but rather design itself.

The majority of players are over 30, some fathers, they have lives, they are not 10 years old anymore and a lot of them have jobs/families. The grind to 99 was never fun before but for a lot of people this season it was, it was fun because the content was possible to do and accessable on a single class that did not need the most broken hard to find 200k FG gear.

In order to clear P1 or P3 content in this game in every zone it should require you to have 1-2 HRs of gear, not 40-100. And P8 should be 5-10 HRs. Does this make sense? The warlock allowed this to happen. Clearing faster should be a consequence of optimizing charms to find the best gear and clear P8 with ease. Hitting 99 without the ability to clear p8, doesn’t feel remotely good….and therefore not fun.

You need to focus on what makes the repetative loop of the game fun.

Echoing strikes is a spell that scales on FCR, the life steal aspect is the bug….and most importantly it’s a wicked fun bug that should stay. The durability makes sense. It should not use durability nor should it use AR……..it’s a SPELL, it scales on CAST RATE…….
If the demon amp damage was the only nerf to warlock it would already be significantly less fun. The problem is the demon makes it capable to do all content and no investment……you need to release and make mercs this strong and be an investment to apply amp damage with an aura or something.

Dragondin needs to be able to clear P8 it’s a massive gear investment, the fun shouldn’t just end in lobbies over 3 people.

Waking into hell as a fire sorc and not being able to kill the most basic enemy in the blood moor is one of the dumbest aspects of this game especially when you have to commit to the fire tree as a fireball sorc, you can just put 20 points into lightning. This is the basic stuff that is just not fun and makes you feel like you wasted your time and cannot enjoy the content of the game.

You need to make a charm only inventory……. the basic loop of this game and all RPGs is broken by charms. Get stronger to kill more to loot more ………is replaced with ……get stronger to kill more to loot less and take more time to loot…………this defeats the entire purpose of a looting aRPG. I don’t want to play inventory management….. I want to kill enemies and find items and level up and play the game. CHARM ONLY INVENTORY for charms. Stop punishing me for finding charms or getting stronger.

There are just so many problems that are happening at a core level that need to be addressed. The game needs to be centered around maintaining fun and playability to increase player size and keep people playing the game.

Increase chronicle rewards and fix the physical damage jewel flat dmg %dmg bug.

Increase chronicle rewards is super simple.
Step 1: Find 10 shakos

Step 2: Unlock a Golden Shako Skin

The number can be different for different uniques. Maybe tyraels needs to be find 3.

Also make super rare uniques viable again.

Make grandfather better than grief (not astronomically but just barely)

Make tyraels just barely better than enigma. Enigma is fun…. do not remove fun.

Make Tyrael’s +3 skills and +1 teleport and 100 flat MF with an additional 50 to str and 20 all attributes. Make people super excited to find that RARE AF armor.
It should be the best thing in the game ……….not the worst.

Make bowazonos fun again….. make it so that magic arrow gets 1 extra arrow every 5 levels into the skill.

Make it so that Ice arrow gets an extra arrow every 8-10 levels……….these are simply changes that really make the build sooo much more fun. Better QOL.

You need to approach the game in this direction…………I’m not saying nerfs are not warranted I’m saying the way the nerfs are done a) do not make any sense and go against fun and b) they do not focus on the experience of the player. The classic loop of the game & and the desire to better gear/better thyself.

Please do not let this game keep on dying for no reason. Please be aggressive add some QOL and fun things back into the game! Stop focusing on removing the first build that was fast enough to clear P8 and find gear for a father with a job.

Make frost nova viable………. make 30 other builds A tier…….. make every character have an S tier build minimum 1 but really 1 S tier in each skill tree!

The more builds to try the longer time to enjoy the game!

The more skins to achieve in chronicle, the more time enjoying the game!

More to earn = fun = more to do = more friends to buy the game.

2

TLDR,

short summary i guess:

we have limited hours,

we are casual players,

we need d3 d4’s powercreep OP build.

we love one button get everthing done

1 Like
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“d2 is the best game ever”

ok enjoy playing your 1 class to farm torches and 1 class to farm meph

hell the sorc cant even “farm” meph it has to exploit a lame trick to cheese it from a distance without being able to get hit.

these builds are so out of date and the only people who complain to keep it this way are old lard-os who grew up playing pre LOD and had to spend 45 minutes kiting every trash mob just not to die

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That is exactly my point……….. blizzard is listening to a vocal minority for no reason.

Anyone that argues against a charm inventory is free to play the game offline before classic…….

No other game ever did charms (that occupy inventory space designed for pick up) again because of the obvious flaws in taking up inventory space

Hell half the reason I LOVE Sling ring is b/c it frees up 2 whole spaces in the inventory!

5

last epoch does charms but they have a section for them. which is what d2 should do. or just have “tabs” in the inventory like in d4

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Ah to intentionally misunderstand everything for no reason. Sad life you live good sir. Lol.

To think that builds should not be capable of clearing the game on P8 and to think that builds should exist to farm 1 area and only 1 area is not only antiquated but also boring gameplay.
Every class should have 3 builds that are not only fun in groups but that can farm P8 without an inventory of 3-20-20s.

Diversity and innovation lead to more enjoyment.

D3/D4 power creep that you complain about has nothing to do with power creep but everything to do with a lack of build diversity design with oversimplified mechanics that once again lead to boring gameplay. If everyone is playing the same build because something is fun versus everyone playing something because it is the best = fundamental difference.

The warlock needs changes. The problem is you either cannot articulate or lack fundamental awareness of the problem that needs addressing.

I will give you an example of something that needs changed. Phoenix is a less fun runeword by design. It discourages playing with barbarians or necromancers or people who benefit from bodies in other ways and you lose + to all skills, you lose FCR, you lose max mana…… it’s just a less fun runeword and encourages solo play. This is an example of something that should be changed, adjusted to encourage group play.

The grimore change does not really solve this issue, it will just increase the desire for 1 handed ebotdz and phoenix gameplay, which is boring and antisocial.

You are the classic example of a person who complains about something and does not even understand what they are complaining about.

Perfect example, it’s as if you have forgotten the game is suppose to be designed around your fun and you can no longer realize what that looks like anymore so you just pick something random and hope that might be it……. man….lol

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i only agree with the charm bag idea, like have a bag that mimics a players full invetory but charms go in there only, they need to be identified to get any benefits, any charms in your in charm bag that is not idetified wont give any bonsus. Charms picked up in your main bag give no bonsus regardless if identified or not . As for making things like grandfather better then greif i would say no on that one, runewords have always been stronger than found items in 95 percent of cases.

The rest of the things you said makes no sense your not even aiming for any balance all your aiming for is FUN. As for the age of the player base, companies are never gonna balance the games on the age of the players, they do it on what the average or the majority of the players can do.

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what are you talking about all sorcs can farm meph with a sunder charm or even without one.

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Are you confused as to what constitutes fun or do you just generally believe that not feeling joy is better than feeling joy?

We call those people depressed. Do you need a hotline?

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i said in your comments you seem that fun is the most important and major factor, not realizing balance is also very important.

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Even if most of us have children and have another responsibilities, why are we obsessed of clearing fast the game ? At your age, there is something that you probably know : it calls enjoying the process.

Training is a everyday grind.
Having children is never ending story.

If you clear the game that fast, you don’t return. Do you realize all the current games have 100+ hours of contents, are you complaining there too ? Or is it fine there?

I think they should add those random events like d3 and d4 : Go ! go ! go! kill those in less than 1 minute ? Why? No reason. Click, click, boom! Demons are there since forever, you just a random guy who tries to save the world, but all of sudden, there is only 1 minute left before EXPLOSION ! Ah, you lost, here is your participation prize.