Before the purists bash me, this would be for a new patch, which is good for the longevity of every game. Balance suggestions, not new stuff.
I havent played the game in quite a while, this is just the stuff i remember out of my head, feel free to add:
Items
nerf to enigma (maybe +1 skills instead of +2)
nerf to grief
buff to +skills on two handed staffs
buff to 2 handers in general
small buff to elite sets that are underpowered, like bul kathos
Paladin
holy bolt now also hits non-undead for 50% of the damage
nerf to blessed hammer
nerf to holy shield
Sorceress
mana cost increase for teleport
Amazon
buff to bow and crossbow skills and melee
Druid
-buff to werebear
-buff to elemental skills
-nerf to oak sage max %HP
Barb
-buff to berserk (maybe make it decrease def by 50% instead of 100%)
-nerf to battle orders max %HP
Necro
-buff to poison and bone skills (damage)
Assassin
-buff to martial arts
PvP
skills that have stun animation have a chance to proc (like 30%) instead of being 100% to prevent stunlocking
no rejuvs in pvp
That’s how I’d like it to be done also. Nerf Grief a bit and then the rest of balancing should be done through buffing skills and other items as you said.
I mean I think barb skills need to be buffed for PvM though. I’d also like to see barbs use some other weapon aside from Grief. I miss the old uniques actually being competitive. This stuff should probably be done in a separate realm so that purists can enjoy the game like they remember also.
With Grief, it really takes away from finding that extremely exotic and rare weapon eth rare with fool’s mod and self repair because Grief trumps it. What’s the point of finding something so rare and exotic if it’s not gonna be rewarding because a Lo rune and a Phase blade beats it?
Wow! Finally a real balance suggestion thread, not one of that “I want sweep all the items, gimme 100500 inventory stackable slots” threads.
Actually, I think things should be nerfed, not buffed. Hell is too easy for some builds, and other builds are struggle. But it is hell, so all characters must struggle. We do not play OP nephalem annihilating the whole screen. Our characters are weak humans. But smiters and hammerdinners look nephalem-like. This is not D3, so this is not OK.
Wtf? Posion Nova Necro is a strong build. Bonemancer isn’t that bad either.
My “wishlist” (only classes I play):
Buff Martial Arts
Buff Werewolf/bear
Buff Druid Summoning (Elemental damage would be useful)
Add more high runes to Grief
Add a “+1 Teleport” unique Jewel (rarity equal to Jah) to balance out the “need” of Enigma
Nerf Crushing Blow. Seriously, almost all meele builds have to rely on crushing blow. Buff their class based damage instead. I know people would hate this ('cause it crushes their cookie-cutter meele builds), and it will never happen. So no need to educate me on this one.
Buff mercenaries (espacially Act 3 and 5). Maybe just give every kind of merc specific auras which suits their theme, 'cause that’s the main reason most people pick Act 2 mercs.
Fix all the remaining bugs like fend, and enemy abilities that do stupid things like delete your mana pool. Start simple. Maybe a little more QoL like stacking.
I don’t remember teleport as a broken skill back in 1.09 when sorc was still the only character with access to it. Sorcs were the fastest but had more problems with immunes. They are good for running certain bosses that are otherwise hard to reach, but not for clearing chaos/baal solo.
I like it when characters have skills that give them more individuality, so I was never a fan of how they added a lot of skills on items in 1.10+.
