Hi guys, thanks for the responses so far. Good to see everyone keeping their cool in here, so I’m happy that has happened so far.
There’s a lot to respond to, so I will distil my response down to addressing some of the common points raised, focusing on key points that hinge around the concerns raised.
Back to original post: PTR Feedback: Runeword's concerning approach towards class balance
Response to: Hustle’s Burst of Speed proc will provide more options for bowazons that bowazons need
The main issue is neither:
- Bowazons don’t benefit from having Burst of Speed
- Bowazons receiving new buffs would negatively impact the game
The issue is very specifically: There’s a bad side effect of granting specifically the Burst of Speed buff to bowazons and perhaps broadly other melee classes.
This example has been cited in the original post.
To clarify this point: Faith becomes redundant, not useless. Faith technically does get a 7.5% DPS boost from Hustle, but if the net result is a much more obtainable item such as Windforce out DPS’s a Faith by not a small amount - by 16% - then there’s little reason to get a Faith bow other than because you want to, or want to do some weird flex.
This concern does not come out of any preference other than wanting to maintain some level of cohesion in item progression.
In short, Burst of Speed doesn’t just improve the road map towards an end-game experience, it hollows it out by also removing a practical upgrade option from Windforce to Faith.
With this in mind, the goal is to substitute the Burst of Speed proc with something that:
- provides the same positive benefits, but
- doesn’t bring that bad side effect of making Faith redundant
Which there’s an abundance of options that can be explored for achieving this exact goal.
Some of these options have been suggested in this separate post (still a draft)
Any of the combinations listed in this post can be explored.
Response to: There already is precedence that class identity is diminished in Diablo 2
That’s true, and I’m not challenging that beyond saying that this adds to the pile that already exists.
For Hustle’s Burst of Speed, it also has these nuances that don’t get respected and should not be taken lightly:
- Auras: the auras available require an active occupation of an item slot to keep active, and therefore do not spill over into other gear that the aura was not designed for → Hustle’s Burst of Speed doesn’t respect this rule
- Prebuffs: the buffs are not comparable to the same power as what the owning class has. CTA’s Battle Orders is only a faction as powerful as a Barbarian specing into the skill. Many other prebuffs that exist are also of skills that have synergies and therefore are no where near as powerful as the owning class using them → Hustle’s Burst of Speed doesn’t respect this rule in that Assassins normally spec into Burst of Speed as a 1 point wonder (with +skills) due to heavy diminishing returns:
Level 9 Burst of Speed: +44% Attack Speed, +51% Movement Speed
Level 20 Burst of Speed: +52% Attack Speed, +61% Movement Speed
- Active skills: Teleport on enigma is perhaps the strongest precedent there is. However, with all things considered with how big of an impact the Teleport skill has on the Sorceress’ overall efficiency and subsequently on other classes that wear Enigma, it’s very hard pressed to say from a purely pragmatic point of view that the removal of Enigma is a good thing for the game, as the teleport skill is a 1 point wonder with no synergies AND is impossible to balance without breaking one of the Sorceress’ main defining skills
- Power vs Expense: The power granted via Hustle’s Burst of Speed proc is huge compared to the runes that it requires → Hustle’s Burst of Speed doesn’t respect this rule:
- The movement speed bonus out paces Harmony’s Vigor aura, which also requires a Ko rune and requires to be actively equipped
- The attack speed bonus out paces Faith’s Fanaticism aura (even a perfectly rolled one), which requires much more expensive runes Jah and Ohm runes and requires to be actively equipped
- Comprehensive loss of identity: with the reasoning explained, the Assassin has comprehensively lost her identity with the prebuffs that she has available to her. The only prebuff option she has is Blade Shield, which very few Assassins already spec into
As suggested earlier, we are by far not out of options to explore to address class balance that we need to settle on leaving Hustle’s Burst of Speed into the game.
Response to: Windforce is not easier to obtain than Faith
If we’re being literal, then it is technically possible to optimise your farming strategy around attaining the ingredients for Faith, but the same can be said for Windforce too.
If we’re using the middle of the line farming setup of 100% MF farming Chaos Sanctuary, then your chances of getting Windforce before rolling a Faith in a suitable +3 Grand Matron Bow is slightly slimmer in favour of getting the Windforce.
This widens modestly for any level 13+ Fanaticism aura Faith GMB +3.
And widens again significantly for any superior Faith GMB +3.
This is because the main factor that makes making a Faith GMB hard to obtain is the base itself, rather than the Jah and Ohm runes.
I hope this clarifies a lot of your feedback guys. Again, thanks for reading this far.