Grandfather is lvl req 81 but sucks. I think they should change the high lvl req uniq items.
+50% base weapon damage and make indestructible items automatically eth with replenish charges
But firstā¦ maybe add something hard enough to need better items? TZās werenāt that. Just loot pinata mode with very little difficulty difference.
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As a purist I agree weapons in general could use a buff
As a purist I say we knock down the S tier builds that got stronger due to synergies, 1.10 runewords, torch/anni, and D2R changesā¦ then weapons will get buffed as a result. 
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Isnāt the underlying issue that monsters got a buff back when they were introducing skill synergies, but weapon damage remained the same? It sounds like weapon damage is long overdue for a review.
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I can only speak for the barbarian class when I say this: developing a SSF barb to clvl 81 without cheating and never leaving act 1 hell is easy and a lot of fun. It just takes time to develop the skill and build the character. And that is how single player was designed to be played. Grandfather has always been available on single player and it drops in act 1. See the correlation?
As for ladder game play: a barb can be leveled to clvl 81 in less than 24 hours - such is the nature of āteam playā - sharing skills, damage, loot and experience. If a person doesnāt like playing with other players, but wants to play ladder, there is a penalty to pay - your character will be weaker, longer.
If there was individual loot and no trading in D2, and a sword barb found a Grandfather before they made a Grief, it would be Christmas and the barb would be stronger.
The only reason these conversations occur is because most players are use to a free ride (HEditor/JSP/RMT), and specifically with the barbarian, few players know how to play it efficiently and effectively - ābarbs are only good for BOā.
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Iāll just throw my idea in that I bring up every timeā¦
Add 1-5 damage to all normal weapons, 6-10 damage to all Exceptional weapons and 10-15 damage to all Elite weapons.
Iāll fully admit this is probably not going to swing the needle drastically but it is a start. This is base damage and it can have a good swing at higher ends.
On top of that double the AR bonus from points into Dex and add DR to medium and heavy armor so there is a reason to use them while lowering the upper end of ST requirements so if you actually wanted to use a heavy armor you donāt need to pull every point from Vit to do so.
Donāt give flat damage to weapons to avoid balance issues between weapon types. PBS would profit far more from flat damage than BA or 2 hand weapons which already are underperforming in comparison.
50% base damage would already help a lot. Thatās eth weapons with another eth weapon bonus afterwards.
The AR bonus increase on dex sounds reasonable as dex is already underperforming and only used for blocking.
Except weapons ādidā get buffed when monster HP went up. CB scaled with monster health. 
The problem is many caster builds scaled harder.
Go watch any playthrough from a pre 1.10 install, or just try it for yourself. Game got disgustingly easy 1.10 onwards for casters.
Meanwhile barbs are pretty much in the same spot they always were.
Melee didnāt get weakerā¦ everything else just got MUCH stronger.
Note that both builds take a similar amount of time to clear.
Believe it or notā¦ game used to be fairly hard lol. You didnāt just hit CL 20 times and clear a cow map in 2 minutes.
Iād kill for a return to 1.09 with the look of D2R.
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v1.13 HC Whirlwind barb on p8
It was great watching a skill tri sorc at work, and without a merc!
Yeah I mean good point, if anything Barbs are better than they were in 1.09, but while their clears doubledā¦ casters clears went up by like 6-10 fold.
You will never āfixā melee by making weapons better. Youāll only āfixā melee by making aoe weaker. Even if you buff weapons to every single hit 1 shotsā¦ melee will still be FAR slower than casters. The ONLY solution is to lower aoe damage.
Been saying this since 1.10ā¦ and Iāll keep saying it lol.
That saidā¦ I donāt even think Barbs are ābadā persay. Just limited currently. They are still the best rune farmers in the game after all. Itās just not a fun play style currently for most.
Even removing 2/3-3/4 of the aoe damage in the game would still leave a very enjoyable game, and move it into the direction of āaround twice as fast as 1.09.ā Itās just something I sadly never see Blizzard doing. Blizzard ONLY buffsā¦ or nerfs through ignorance.
Frankly Iād even be fine with compensating the player base with a higher drop rate (probably on normal non champ/unique/boss mobs) AFTER nerfing AoE, to respect the aging player bases time. As long as it works out to ~the same amount of loot in the same time I donāt see that hurting anything.
As for PvPā¦ I meanā¦ they can always tweak numbers back to the same as it is currently vs playersā¦ for the handful of people that still do that.