Proposal for some node changes:
In the original tree, Double Kill Streak was A. This is a serious detriment to console players of Diablo 3. On the console, all enemies have double the health of the PC version, and the only way to do similar damage as PC players is to collect NG globes. Unlike the PC, on the console, they double your damage. And these only drop when you get a kill streak. It’s been a complaint from console players for a while about the NG globe game, and how it puts them at a disadvantage vs PC players. It’s roughly a 5 tier disadvantage that they have, until they get a globe.
The Issue here is that the globes stop dropping at 300 kills, as the kill streaks are different than the PC. And they also drop in Rifts and Greater Rifts. The problem here, is that this is easy to get to, particularly when pushing, meaning now, when the globes stop dropping, they now have to avoid attacking for 10 seconds due to the season buff instead of 5 seconds. And another difference on the console compared to the PC, is that other players in your party can continue the kill streak. So, if playing in a group, you have to hope every player stops attacking for 10 seconds.
Massacre bonuses are not even good for leveling on the console.
Both are playing the same difficulty, and same zone, and the Console gets a 125 kill streak, which gives a 3x bonus, and only levels from 9 to 10. The PC player gets an 81 kill streak, which gives a 2.5x bonus, and levels from 9 to 14.
The proposal here is to move it where Permanent XP Pools currently sits. Both the double Kill Streaks and No Item Level Requirement are primarily useless for many players once they hit 70. So this would give players a choice. Do they go down the path of Double Kill Streaks, which works better in the later levels, along with the early Paragon, or do they go down No Item Level Requirement, which works well for the mid levels, but tapers off around Level 50+, and is only really useful for Hardcore players?
So, this presents a dilemma of how to start the season for PC players, while also allowing console players who want to push, not to be punished. Double Kill Streaks is great for the upper echelon of PC players, but is worse than worthless, and a detriment for console players.
And in place of Node A, everyone now gets the HP Globe Shield. And where the shield was, you now have 10% elemental damage. The unskippable early nodes are now a combination of one being defense, while the other is offense, and every play stayle benefits. This benefits everyone. Console players have the ability to avoid the detrimental node. And players who choose to level via rifting also benefit from it, instead of being left out in the cold.
The middle path has now been switched with the one on the right. And Permanent XP Pools have been moved to the left. Permanent XP Pools are considered a powerful change. These have effect all throughout the season, so, they’re to where Death Breathx2 was located. And Death Breathx2 is located above the double bounties. This solves two problems.
It presents another dilemma for players. The path to the left will get you higher paragon and is great for the hardcore players. The path to the right is now item based, and great for casuals who want lots of early materials.
It also solves the problem of Death Breathx2 being useless. Really, any sensible player is going to wait for these until after they get the Staff of Herding. With Sage Gear, Death Breath is no longer a problem. The other materials have sense become the bottleneck, and that doesn’t change here either. The tree only requires 530 Death Breath, but 600 Forgotten Souls. With Sage Gear, you can get those Death Breath in about 5-6 T16 Rifts, whereas the Fiery Souls will take hours to farm. About 8 hours into the season, you’re never going to farm Death Breath again anyway. And on the current PTR, that node is just way too deep to be useful. So, this fixes it, making Death Breathx2 a lot easier for more casual players who want to go the item route early in the season.
The last is just a swap of the potions. It’s not too big of a deal, but the middle path as it currently stands has weak powers that people will hold off on. And currently, the random Shrine/Pylons is WAY too strong. I know this will change, but it puts the strongest of the potion powers in the most avoided path.