Class and Build diversity in D4

General Discussion
1

In an ARPG damage is the foremost important attribute of a class and build. However classes and builds should vary in more than just their DPS, but by the utility they provide. Here are some are the diverse attributes that could be present to make each class and build unique:

  1. DPS,
  2. AOE DPS,
  3. burst damage,
  4. durability/tankyness,
  5. healing utility,
  6. dps endurance,
  7. healing endurance,
  8. crowd control slows,
  9. crowd control stuns,
  10. mobility utility,
  11. treasure+ utility,
  12. party-dependance,
  13. party-independence,
  14. dungeon traversing utility,
  15. scouting utility,
  16. elemental resistances,
  17. light generation,
  18. party resource regeneration boost,
  19. door opening (bash, pick, or charm),
  20. mob spawn suppression/generation
  21. damage type
  22. aggro control
  23. role versatility
  24. skill range
  25. death resilience

I’d be interested in hearing if people are strictly opposed to any of these because it breaks the ARPG or Diablo 2 formula.

2

The charm would be quite interesting to exist on a legendary item auto-casting it near doors.

I personally think the more you separate the classes from each other in terms of mechanics and utilities, the more you go in the RPG direction and not the action direction. A balance is needed.

Some of these you mentioned have to prevail in certain classes, but each class has to have a way for countering in-game mechanics. That doesn’t mean I want merge class tree like in PoE. I like the classes identity in an aRPG, but only to certain extend.

I am against having a single class for a single thing in the game - density manipulation for example by a barbarian “hooking” stuff. Such type of skill should be allowed to other classes too, or other classes have to have the ability to use an item granting similar mechanic.