Wanted to drop some feedback after putting some time into the PTR. Overall, the playstyle is feeling good and the OG D2 “vibe” is coming back with the recent tweaks, but I think the gear setups provided for testing are missing the mark for actual players.
Gear & “Unrealistic” Scaling
The current testing gear feels a bit “imaginary.” I don’t run Enigma on live because I actually enjoy walking for the extra drop chances, so the mobility wasn’t the issue for me—it was the itemization.
The Rings: Stone of Jordan feels like a wasted slot here. I’d much rather see a Carrion Wind or a BK for the life leech. The crafted ring roll we got was also pretty underwhelming.
The Weapon: Eth Fortitude is fine, but I honestly think an Acrion’s (+4 skills) would have been a better benchmark for this build.
Inventory: The stash is full of skillers, but I have zero on my main and still clear everything easily. It makes the PTR feel overpowered in a way that doesn’t translate to a “real” budget or mid-tier character.
Missing Merc Gear: It was a huge oversight not to give us a proper Merc setup to test. We really need to see how the build handles with and without the standard Insight/Smoke/Andariel’s combo.
The “Horazon’s Splendor” Oversight
Why wasn’t the Horazon’s Splendor set in the stash? It’s an incredible set for budget players and it’s basically my go-to. If we’re testing accessibility, we should be able to test the gear people actually use, not just high-end runewords that don’t always fit the kit.
Skill Feedback: Bind Demon
This is my biggest “meh” moment. The skill feels significantly improved, but Bind Demon is still a weak spot. Requiring 20 hard points just to bind a Super Unique feels unrealistic and like a total build-killer. I ended up ignoring my go to curse mob from Trav, and still found the main build useful, just this skill lacked due to requiring so many hard points, that take away from the rest of the build.
General Gameplay & Tweaks
Mana Issues: Even with the “god gear,” I was spamming mana pots constantly. I could clear everything, but the moment the blue bulb went empty, everything stalled.
Nerfs: The damage feels “in line” now. If anything, you could probably tweak it down a tiny bit more to keep it from power-creeping the OG classes, but it’s in a much better spot than before.
Other Classes: While the Warlock is getting love, I’d really like to see Druids and Necros get some attention.
Final Thought: Please give us more gear variety to switch between in the PTR stash. I’m not going to spend my time grinding for runes/gear on a test realm where nothing carries over, but I would test more if the options were actually there.
It still functions as a 1 point wonder though as investing just 5 points in it allow you to bind any random white demon that once bound will be a unique with extra fast extra strong spectral hit and an aura (with the gear currently available on the ptr. You can still also have that demon and a consumed Goatman for pretty big self buffs.
You don’t need a council member or Hephasto pet to make Echoing Strike specifically works.
Thats entirely due to poor gearing decisions on the template, just slap a dual leech ring instead of a soj and its fine. Worst case, insight merc still exist.
Oh I understand entirely, just a poor PTR test templates setup, the choices and the options available are limited but overall it’s still solid it could certainly do with further tweaking to make it more balanced with the other classes, because clearing Terror zones and any act is still effortless if you have an insight merc you just sit back and relax while playing.
The fact that Blizz gave the ptr warlock so many bad options is very troll. I agree with a lot about what you said. An eth Tmaul fort? Like really? I’m guessing they didn’t pitch in any high runes to make testing more fun. After all everyone has been grinding since rotw dropped and I’m sure the last thing they want to do is be stuck farming for specific items.
At least give a set of angelic rings / ammy, or horizon helmet, or some high runes to make things interesting and maybe max out the gems in stash and ral sol runes so players can really start crafting some adequate things to test with otherwise it’ll be too little too late and the feedback will be bad like it has been.
Why should players invest too much in a ptr when none of the time they contribute converts to saved items or progress?
Agreed, I respec’d the level 80 character into a pure summon build. Was disappointed to find no gear for mercenaries. At level 80 the player should have a decent merc.
Really? My luck is such that I only get the BIS items after or near a nerf and as luck would have it, just had an Arioc’s Needle drop earlier today with perfect rolls. I’m presently spec’d to Goatmen and Demon build.
I’m a simple casual, but, I honestly do not mind the 20 hard points into Bind, Mastery and whatever you can afford in Blood Oath… I totally get it makes BindDemon a joke/worthless for Eldritch or Chaos builds, but, it maybe keeps the Demon build unique.
Ya, again, as a casual, I have no place in he PTR… spent a couple hours only to realize I was wasting my time.
[quote=“BrainVersus-1625, post:6, topic:175150”]
if the demon even has a remote chance to die no ones going to use it because its to annoying to have to keep getting a new one[/quote]
100% agree… by the time you hunt your perfect Demon, it’s time to go to bed… if it dies tomorrow… WTF?
Hmmm… I waited to make ironGolem until I could max his life… only time he dies, is when I do… it’s kinda like a proxy death :).