For the same reason we don’t use hearts for Life, weapons don’t hit for 1 damage, and we don’t kill things by jumping on their heads.
Sometimes extra complexity is a thing to be enjoyed.
Example, I can’t stand 5th edition D&D because somewhere in it’s streamlining, it lost it’s magic.
Not at all considering 1-85 is all of a few hours of play, and still not all that much if you go about it the slow way. A small benefit for hundreds of hours > a moderate penalty for 10 hours.
Always like your posts.
I don’t knwo, but I would have though you could separate merc calc’s/stat’s from player calc’s/stat’s…
I think,
Bows are missile right? so, Javelins also… does Javazon really need more power?
Well, “I” have a problem with all that.
My first problem is, I don’t think any character should be “effective” in P8. I think each class should have builds that can survive P8… that can do it… but they power level should make it hard enough, dangerous enough, slow enough, that effective farming is not worth the time/risk.
I believe I’m in the minority there, but that is my opinion.
Another though is… Barb is able to dual wield, so with these changes he now gets double boosted, while all other melee get a single boost. Hmm.
Barb is already noticeably stronger than Zealot and now gets double boost while Zealot gets single.
The statement above is based off what I see in game;
I have 2 very good Zealot builds, a lvl99(DualDream/Zealot) and a lvl98(Fanata/Zealot), friend has 2 really good Barb builds, a lvl98 and… there other one is getting up there… maybe lvl95 now??? not sure… both dual wield 2-handers, the 98 is WW, the other is Frenzy… either way… either Zealot has a real hard time keeping up with either Barb… who always leads/carries the game.
That is my experience/observations…
Any way, point is, does Javazon need a boost in power, and, with these proposed changes, Barb gets double the boost of all other melee characters.
I think it needs more thought.
For Javazons, the physical damage component is something of an afterthought, so the boost for them would be rather negligible.
For Barbs, sure, they may be pretty well situated compared other basic physical attackers, however, that is ALL they can do. Paladins and Amazons have higher power build options besides Zealot and Bowazon, Barbs do not. Again, I don’t think the double boost is a problem, more like a solution.
I’m on board with these numbers. I personally preferred just modifying physical skills to be more interesting. A lot of these skills need improvement anyways so kill 2 birds with 1 stone type of thing.
But… if it means no fixes vs a semi decent fix as stated in this post i would prefer a fix.
As Techno mentioned Javazon has a very small physical damage component. I’m running one right now, first one in ages, and she has trouble leeching life or mana due to the lack of physical damage. I’m so used to being able to manage life/mana with leech on my ‘physical attackers’ that I keep having to remind myself to use pots in non-emergency situations. I can say the extra physical damage won’t help the javazon do much of anything.
Barb is just a pure offensive beast, the Pally can bring far more to a party when played well. I’ll also admit I’m mostly concerned with making the Zealot more viable, if the barb gets a bit better, ok.
I do agree that no char should be able to solo P8, I’d much rather we needed to work as a team. That just isn’t where the game is at, each time they do something they make another build that just carries the team through P8. Mosaic is their latest crowning achievement, before that sunder charms. The Devs are catering to those who want to be solo’ing P8. They might as well let physical damage players do it too.
But we are talking about increasing base weapon damage in an effort to help melee… Justifying favoritism to 1 character with an excuse that other classes can just play a different build is not a appropriate an response to a “melee” topic.
And boosting one melee character 2x as much as all others doesn’t speak “balance”.
Actually we’re not even talking so much about boosting melee/physical here, it’s more about making weapons other than Grief an option without resorting to nerfing Grief. Yeah, there would be some minor gains at the very top end, but it’s a very good start. If dual-wield barbs benefit slightly more, they’ll still be well behind pretty much every caster.
Additional class and skill based balancing is already called for, but increasing base weapon damage would provide a much better baseline to work from.
Fair point for sure.
I’m not sure it really is 2x more though. Yeah you can use two weapons at once, but you only hit with one at a time (even WW does separate alternating hit checks as it goes past enemies in range), and 2H swords being used 1h on Barbs already have a damage penalty. Whether or not the penalty is appropriate now, and after a hypothetical base damage buff is a fair question though, and one that should be considered when/if 2H weapons had buffs as part of this. 2H is already only really worth using in some builds, and WW can’t hit 4 FPA like they could pre2.4, so they do need some special consideration.
I do agree dual wielding is really nice though, for instance running Lawbringer or Azurewrath in off hand is really nice.
I do find Zealot is really well rounded, though. They have cool 1 point wonders like Cleansing, Redemption and Salvation, and the builds tend to have more skill points to play with than Barb. They also can 1 point smite for auto-hit. Barb builds get BC/BO/Shout though which are also really good for survivability (although other classes can CTA).
nah, theres no alternation, just to clarify some info. dualw ield swings with both weapons on every interval.
with that being said, i don’t think buffing weapon damage has any negative impacts and buffs all melee pretty fairly. there aren’t any outliers that gain from teh fact. i don’t think theres an issue with buffing mercs. and if somehow mercs get too op, just nerf them individually. they already have damage penalties against bosses.
I did not know enough to even think about that.
Agree… both are cool melee characters for different reasons… and, really enjoying my Frenzy WereWolf the last few days too, Oak Sage and Heart of Wolverine are awesome tools… and, he hit’s wayyyy harder than my Zealot… my Barb friend really enjoys when I bring a Druid out to play… he loves the Oak Sage… he becomes invincible LOL.
Thanks again to all who have replied to my concerns, I have learned much… and now see this base damage deal may be a good step for melee… while not wrecking the things I had noted/questioned.
I really did like the “Holiday-Bonus” when physical attacks received the bonus… I forget what it was… 50% ??
I don’t know if that was weapon damage, or a total damage buff… either way it felt good.
I really enjoy how this thread has stayed civil and on point, and appreciate the things I learned from comments to the .02cents I’ve tossed out there… I’ve learned so much, that I now see my .02 was not worth face value 
that was tested to have been offhand dmg%, which just adds to your other %s from skills. for people who have skills that have big % and ran fanaticism and might, it was a pretty small boost. still a boost nevertheless
Thanks for the correction, I think I was thinking of how it used to handle weapon speed to use when whirling between targets.
correct, it used to alternate which weapon was considered primary to calculate wsm. it still alternates which weapon is considered primary, but it doesn’t change anything regarding wsm anymore. the alternating mechanic creates some interesting bugs tho Dual Wielded Sequence Skills Only Use Primary Hand's Chance to Hit
I’ve run these numbers in detail as well. I’ve also made posts advocating for +50% base damage on exceptional and elite items. So I agree with you.
One thing to note, due to phase blade being a thing, even with +50% phase blade grief is still king for dps (generally). Of course you have wolf stuff etc. but you know what I mean.
But, I think that’s the way it should be. We don’t need power creep, grief can still be a luxury item or something you work for. It can still be king, just not by a massive margin.
Just bringing this back into mind as we get closer to the next ladder start. Devs, please consider this. 
I think a +50% base damage increase on all elite weapons would do wonders for improving melee across the board.
It absolutely would. I advocate for a 100% increase in durability for all elite weapons as well.
I think a 25% reduction in repair cost would also be appropriate.
50% Increase on all weapons, normal and exceptional need the increase as well.
I think normal is fine too bad but agreed on exceptional.