But then the problem lies into the classes/builds that use more tier 5/6 skills.
Having a hammerdin with 1200 mana and 300 life seems kind of pointless. Same goes for any class/build that uses the higher tier skills.
Why would I want to dump Energy into any melee build? Your suggested energy requirements for a caster and sorc and a frenzy Barb are the same and the delta between all of em is about 40 points 
Energy on equipment means nothing as well as end game is runewords and casters can just opt for normal quality bases with lower requirements.
If you want energy to be useful, it has to do something other than just add to the mana pool as mana isn’t an issue end game (or any time thanks to limitless pots).
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Wasnt this the thing in Diablo 1? Where you up your magic with books and at some point warrior even couldnt learn the best books because there were a energy requirement?
Also i played median XL mod and there was that bonus to point in energy that it increases magic damage by x%. But in this case only sorceress would become more powerful with ES.
The balance between casters and melee in D2 is based on casters having limited Mana while melee gets mana leech and continuous use of skills. The reason casters are so much better than melee right now is because Mana pools are functionally unconstrained with no cost
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Yo what if they like made a runeword that was really beast for and gave the 0 skill for energy shield? So that any character could invest heavily into energy and get “life”
Just a random idea
Give melee stamina haha
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Consider this, weapons get 1% bonus damge per strength and daggers recieve .75% damage increase from both str and dex. Blessed hammer is massively boosted by concentration aura and melee capability is built in from the synagries. Very few actually play sorcs anymore unless its blizzard or nova build. Adding elemental damage bonus from energy would greatly balance the game. You may pump up vit, go max block, maximize your damage output. Im not saying apply it to hammerdin or auradin but as a perc for choosing a classic sorc, mainly to buff sorcs without redoing skill trees.
Lots of replies so I’ll address them as best I can. First off, I wasn’t expecting a warm reply to this but seriously, the Energy Stat is largely irrelevant. Mana Pots and cheap Runewords like Spirit make the Stat virtually worthless, especially in end-game setups since Torch/Anni yield +20-40 to ALL STATS.
Putting points into Energy bumps up total Mana and Mana Regeneration Indirectly since Mana Regeneration rate is TIME BASED. Namely your entire Mana Orb refills every 120 seconds. The more Mana you have, the more Mana you gain per second or Total Mana/120 = Mana/Second. That’s why +Mana from gear is way more impactful than +Energy. The only thing that reduces the 120 second duration are the Sorceress’ Warmth skill and the Paladin’s Meditation aura(latter of which at level 17 reduces it from 120 Seconds to 15… or basically takes your Mana/Second and multiplies it by 8). Coincidentally those two classes happen to be the most played…
Anyways, since +Mana is more impactful than Energy, then something has to be done for the Statistical Attribute to become relevant. I chose to base it on Class Skills(which can be refined further), but here are other options.
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Affecting Mana Regeneration RATE. Namely each class has their own Warmth Skill but is additive to Warmth/Meditation Aura. Basically Sorceress/Paladin don’t own a Monopoly to Mana Regeneration. 100 points cuts the time to 60 seconds, 200 points to 40 seconds(and so on).
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Elemental/Magic Damage Scalar. Could be focused on specific Skills but then which ones and what Classes benefit? Hammerdins could be solved by simply removing Concentration aura from Blessed hammer and doing further Class Skill Balancing.
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Magic Resistance. Seeing as only Safety Shields roll with Magic Resistance, perhaps pumping points into this can natively raise your Resistance to Magic? Perhaps every 1 point into Energy Stat is 0.05% Resistance. Meaning 100 points = 5% Magic Resistance. So if you get to 200 Energy, rises to 10%, etc.
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AoE scalar. Every skill in the game comes with an AoE scalar. Some skills presently have none, while others have an AoE radius(example: Fireball with 1 yard). Putting points into Energy instantly grants every skill in the game an AoE scalar that grows as you put points into it. More points you place, the larger the AoE impact on your skills. Everyone complains about Melee not having AoE, well this would be a possibility of implementing it. Radius = 1 Yard/100 points.
Energy is relevant for ES soso that is all that is needed it has its niche.
I don’t really see a problem in Energy. OK so stat allotment is a no-brainer (str and dex to equip, no energy, rest in vitality) but that’s very much OK with me.
If your formula was adopted the only consequence is that it would still be a no brainer by becoming (str, dex and energy to equip, rest in vitality), then you’d just have less life so how would you compensate for that : make mobs hit less hard ? or just accept all characters are more frail ?
Added drawback of your plan, each and every single high level character would have to respec when your idea comes into force since they would now be unable to use their spells.
So I would say thanks for the idea, but no thanks 
I agree
I was thinking investing points into energy can give casters a small boost of damage. But if energy boost spell damage then we will need some sort of nerfs on the base damage for casters. It would be a good idea to take a path like this. But I’m not a fan of the energy required to use certain skills either.
Remove insight and manation from npc and wala. Problem solve.
Energy would be even more relevant if insight and spirit didn’t exist. People would spec into it and respec near endgame for vit.
Respecs made energy useful. Ultimately still not that useful because of those cheap overpowered runewords though.
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I think ideas like how do sorcs or casters get enough mana and Regen now? Insight, warmth , and things like mana pots.
Nerf mana pot refill rate or tie rate to energy stat. Weaken insight and warmth and energy is more valuable
Balance stuff imo you want a careful incision and not amputate limbs. Small changes to just relevant parts
Why not make caster weapons, steves, wands, orbs and voodo heads require energy to equip for caster characters? Like we have bows, crossbows, claws and throw weapons require dexterity.
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There is Hoto,Spirit and etc. so most of them are useless, if you implement additional limitation then you make them even more useless.
Energy to be viable it should be ED for ele/fcr skills the same as Str/Dex is for ias/phys skills.
Synergies should be limited to 20p max. Open synergue mechanic destroying all caster balance, build diversity and all ctc skill mechanic.
Bigger Inventory should balance casters by skillers, the same as weapons balancing melee.
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Honestly I think seeing skills scale mana cost more smoothly would be enough. I really don’t like gatekeeping skills to make you use an attribute. That’s just entirely lazy game design.
In early game the skills cost so much mana you almost question if that +3 bone spear wand you have was even worth it. 10 mana per cast is dire when your mana pool is only 150. Scale that up in late game and boom easy mana is far more valuable. Staying with the bonespear example, if my level 45 bone spear cost 40 mana per cast I would definitely be putting a handful of attributes into energy and looking for mana after kill, regenerate mana, etc. on my gear.
Also I don’t like the adding %elemental/ magic dmg. We really don’t need ES sorcs being tanky AND dealing decent damage. There has to be tradeoffs. But I do like regenerate mana %. Reduce it a bit so warmth is still a good skill, but enough so non sorc classes don’t rely so heavily on insight early on.
YEah especially that we have HDin and Wind Droot
Sorc is designed to be pure mage character with mana as her natural shield.
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Remove Vit as a stat point investment and increase health scaling per level.
Add reasons to invest into str/dex/energy:
- Str now adds 1% crushing blow, 1% open wounds, and 1% deadly strike per X points
- Dex now adds 1% IAS, 1% FCR, and 1% frw per X points
- Energy now adds 1% caster skill damage (any skill affected by FCR) per X points
The real problem with D2’s faux choice for stat investment is that vit is better than every other stat by miles once you’ve hit gear requirements, or max block if you’re a paladin. By removing it as an option, and increasing what the other stats offer, players can start to make meaningful choices with the stats required for their builds.