Dear Blizzard, Please Can You Fix The Wizard?

Wizard
1

Dear Blizzard :expressionless:,

Before all else is said I’d like to say I’m grateful for your support over the years, it’s been first rate, I’ve had Diablo 3 installed since release and still play it on the same machine, that’s an incredible feat!

Not everyone will agree but for me Diablo has always been that indie game crown of glory, it represented near endless fun focussed on lore, character building, killing hordes and finding loot.

My experience started out with the Amazon in Diablo 2, later I progressed to the Sorceress and loved Meteor, the class and spells.

It’s taken me years to catch up and start playing with others online, took me forever to build a decent wizard in Diablo 3 (I’m just drawn to being a Sorceress or Wizard).

Tal Rasha is a great set, meteor became more effective than I’d seen over the years, It’s probably down to my skill set I admit, I still lacked what was necessary to contribute significantly to groups on higher greater rifts.

I felt like a wizard but lacking in power, so near, yet so far!

Later I discovered Vyr, the set felt great to use, party members wanted me to be part of the group much more often (a big deal in a multiplayer game), despite the temporary popularity boost Vyr made me feel more like a Warrior than a Wizard.

I’m devastated, I’ve been chasing my tail for years hoping for what now seems impossible. I wanted to master being a wizard in Diablo 3, it still hasn’t happened.

I’m tenacious to a fault, I’ve been thrown out to ‘find safety’ like the best of us, in many cases the voting has been justified.

I’ve had the audacity to join groups geared well for greater rift 100, presented everyone with my rubbish half built Wizard and been greeted with open arms.

Now the tables have turned and It’s so sad, I wanted to stick to my class and really didn’t want to run Vyr or Tal Rasha for a third season (I’ve got two wizards of of each class), I knew Tal Rasha wouldn’t cut it so I went with Typhon’s Veil.

With over fifteen hundred paragon points everyone looks at me and laughs (sigh*), I can feel the lacklustre response on my arrival as everyone stands there in a moment of silence(or pity)…then leaves!

If I’m lucky I get to play one game before my allies have left, all three!

It’s horrible hearing that ‘player exiting’ sound in triple succession!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipcUpPOLRCc

I’m not naïve and I know bots and cheats have made life more difficult for everyone who loves this game.

Sob story over although I would really like to go out out with a bang as a Wizard before learning the new systems in Diablo 4, I’ll be playing the Barbarian or Demon Hunter next season and leave my favourite class aside (not really by choice).

If you’re listening Blizzard then I want to say thanks again, I’m likely to buy a new PC just because Diablo 4 has hit the shelf!

Please can you find a way to make Wizards feel significant again in Diablo 3?

We love our class, are we supposed to chase our tail in a continuous loop?

Our glory days aren’t over, look at these threads, we can’t find the answer!

Watching Wizards get relegated to a class for newbies is an absolute tragedy, I’ll do the grind if get to cast meteor shower and melt face at higher tiers (with everyone else)!

From a dedicated customer and player.

Thanks In Advance

3 Likes
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That’s an issue with D3, from patch to patch the balance issues change from a class to an other.
Itemization is too significant and skills not enough, the power progression is based on primary stat and there’s no possibility to customize a character outside of what’s in the patch notes if playing in a group is desired.

I did witness many kick out, and why? Reasons are always as stupid as the runeskills system is (I hate that system with a passion)
My D3 friend list is empty since a year, most of them left because they couldn’t play their way… remember me the ''Play Your Way Thursday" which was cool but never helped to balance things up.

Unfortunately I have seen a lot of player with a case similar to yours, and THAT really makes me despise the way this game prioritize aspects responsible for the exodus of way too many players.

It should take forever to have a powerful Wizard (or other classes) instead of ‘‘play your Wizard this way because…patch notes’’

You see, you’re the kind of player I can admire, your dedication and courage, this chapter just don’t have any reward for that, this is the saddest part of D3

1 Like
3

I feel the same way, I played sorceress and stayed with sorceress/wizard until this last season where i am now rolling a DH… especially after watching a d3 junkie like Raxx confirm that the wizard is last or second to last in every category. It was like watching your favorite sports team loss every game in a season and get no first round draft picks… no potential for better. And now having played GoD DH and rolling around like a mad man, I see just how far wizards are behind. Its such a big gap that I couldn’t justify playing wizard this season.

4

It’s a very sad state of affairs. Our hopes ride on the balance patch coming in around ~3 months.

Wizards need buffs to Typhons, Tal Rasha, Archon, everything. Firebird and DMO are a steaming pile (Thanks, Vu!). Vyr is still our best set, but it’s actually physically damaging to play. I think you could fix Vyr’s by simply doubling the Archon abilities base damage, but the RSI (repetitive strain injury) will still persist. If they allow Etched Sigil to cast Arcane Blast, I think it’ll fix that, too. Make it cost 1 AP and it should work.

And this doesn’t even address Deathwish, which is prop’ing up the entire class.

1 Like
5

To be fair, DH were left behind for a long time, so it’s okay that they received a caring hand.

Wizards had a huge problem named Bazooka which was basically also caused by how Deathwish (and Etched Sigil to some extend) works. What they did to fix it was crippling to the entire class - probably not because they wanted to, but because they had to. In fact, I would completely change how Deathwish and Etched Sigil work. Buffing all damage is the main problem. It should be shifted to buffing only autocasts and the channel skils themselves, were it is needed. Thing is, in that regard they should move the complete autocast buff to Etched Sigil and have Deathwish buff the five channeling skills (including Electrocute and Archon Disintegration Wave)… that would be better for the entire class, because if they did that they could focus on the other skills and items without having to balance everything else around Deathwish which is bad in itself. Not to mention they could undo the Bazooka Fix (aka channeling nerf) after taking care of the fundamental issue.

But honestly, what Venaliter said… there are so many things to be addressed that you could essentially say that it would be better to start from scratch. We need a do-over for the whole class,. starting with several underperforming skills that are useless or flat out horrible, have too long a cooldown or are otherwise imbalanced (like Hydra or Arcane Orb runes)… not to mention wizards passives, proc rates and the bad itemization that comes on top of that. Tweaking some sets buffs won’t fix that. Never.

1 Like
6

Vehemently disagree with both of these points. DHs were never really far behind; They just needed a bit more impale damage and they were one of the RGKs around. As for Star Pact… they fixed Star pact like…well, frankly, moronically.

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Well, I won’t argue about Demon Hunters, since my knowledge is limited when it comes to that class. But regarding Bazooka/Star Pact… you should know that I’m not really fond of their crappy “fix” myself. I would have preferred a solution that does not gimp every channel related build. But that in itself might be a wrong way to think about it. Their fix is really bad because it hurt non related builds… but it is also true that they need to address the whole Deathwish issue rather sooner than later. So, they should get data on how much of an impact this has to finally fix this mess with the balance patch. If they do that, I can accept their approach as a necessary evil.

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The fix was ridiculously simple. The problem was Reverse Archon. They should have made Archon stacks only increase Archon damage. It would have buffed Vyr at the same time, as well as removing reverse Archon forever. It was elegant. It was obvious.

They nerfed three items and shortened damage windows instead. Sheer stupidity. They will have to fix it for a fourth time.

        This in a nutshell is why Diablo 3 development was cut short. The playerbase lost all faith (quite understandably) in Diablo 3 development.
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There was a number of fixes that could’ve handled the issue far better than what they’ve chosen. But like some of the other issues in the game, Blizzard chose to use a hammer instead of a scalpel to fix an issue.

10

My issue with the wizard isn’t so much the power level (I play solo these days), but that the sets just feel awkward and unfun.

Firebird - I need to not kill an elite in order to get the bonuses. Huh?!?
Tal Rasha - very squishy, but probably the one I enjoy playing the most
Vyr - don’t really like the play style, where I am powerful for a short period of time, and suck outside of archon form
Delsere - feels a tad awkward where I need to keep alternating between slow time and spells.
Typhon - not too bad, but again, I hate that it’s the hydras doing the damage, and I am channeling arcane torrent that barely scratches anyone.
LoD - getting the right ancients is a pain, and I have never really come close.

My favourite play style is probably disintegrate (there’s just something carthatic about mowing enemies down with a giant laser) and it looks like my only option is LoD. I don’t think Blizzard will bother reworking any of the sets at this juncture.

1 Like
11

Well, Typhon is the Hydra set so Hydras doing the damage is… intended? Okay, jokes aside, the issue with Typhon is that it’s a set designed around a single skill and in the current state it performs worse than the LoD build.
Tal Rasha is underperforming, especially because skill juggling no longer works with channeling skills thanks to the carpet nerf they applied to kill off Bazooka.

DMO is… well, I would like to see this:

DMO (2)
Slow Time no longer has a cooldown.
DMO (4)
While you have at least one Slow Time bubble summoned, your damage taken is reduced by 60%. Allies inside your Slow Time gain half that benefit.
DMO (6)
Enemies coming into contact with your Slow Time take 10000% increased damage from your arcane power spending or generating skills for 10 seconds. Damage dealt to an enemy inside a Slow Time bubble is dealt to all enemies inside the same bubble.

Gesture of Orpheus:
Slow Time consumes 33% of your Maximum Arcane Power per cast but deals 4000-5000% weapon damage per second to enemies inside its area of effect. Multiple Slow Time areas stack and the elemental damage type is aligned to the damage type dealt by of your weapon.

Crown of the Primus:
Slow Time gains the effect of every rune and a permanent Slow Time bubble surrounds you.

Firebird… ugh, no comment there.

…and Vyr, I never liked Archon, so I won’t say anything here.

1 Like
12

Yeah this one really irks me. The set is solely designed around hydra. In no universe should the LoD variant be stronger. I’m fine with the LoD variant being a strong alternative, but the set designed specifically around hydra should be the strongest variant. Even if it’s only by a couple GRs. Instead, Typhon’s gets largely relegated to T16 and early season (as a stepping stone for LoD) pushes. And the odd person who just prefers to play it.

No one who seriously pushes hydra on wizard pushes with Typhon’s beyond the first bit of the season. Because by the time you hit mid- to late-season, LoD is significantly stronger.

It shouldn’t be like that.

2 Likes
13

For Vyr Archon, I would propose:

  • 2 piece effect:
    • For every 10 archon stacks gained, reduce the remaining cooldown of Archon by 5%. Archon gains effects of all Runes.
  • 4 piece effect:
    • Archon kill stacks also increase Attack Speed, Armor and Resistances by 1% per stack.
  • 6 piece effect:
    • Gain one Archon stack per hit or per tick of damage of any Archon ability. Archon stacks also reduce damage taken by 0.15% each and their damage bonus increases to 100% per stack. Increase the damage of all Archon abilities by XX% per Archon Stack.

Then perhaps add the following to Chantodo:

  • Your Archon abilities deal xx% less damage. Every second while in Archon form you expel a Wave of Destruction, dealing 4000% weapon damage to enemies within 30 yards. This damage scales with attack speed.
  • Every time you hit with an attack while not in Archon form, 4000% weapon damage is added to the Wave of Destruction, stacking up to 20 times.
14

I think it makes sense. LoD should be the final gear progression. It makes sense that LoD Hydra should be the strongest, being the final gearing stage.

No question Hydra is WAY too weak. 500% Serpent Sparker should fix us.

15

At first I agreed with this, but I don’t agree with this anymore.
There’s plenty of sets that just buff general things, this is the only set we have that only buffs one skill thus it should be stronger than the general damage/defense buff set or non-set without question or it’s creation won’t make sense and won’t be played, like currently.

LoD dominance is already clear enough for many skills, we don’t need it to dominate simply everything and justify it by ‘well it’s harder to get than a 6 pc’.

That’s exactly not the way we need to look at the next patch. I want one , maybe two skill/builds being better with LoD because of creative item use, the rest need to be sets, just the way it has to be or else we lose like this season.

They made the same mistake with necro, now their set much like our hydra set is a joke compared to anything LoD, thus making this season rather useless to debut a new set. Same deal…one skill…and unlike hydra it’s a rather badly supported skill at that. There was no tone down needed on PTR because Bone spear was never OP.

Why is Crusader set and WD set so successful? Because they buffed that one skill they do to great levels on the set so that LoD would be pointless. That’s the direction all these one trick pony sets need to be in, period.

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I feel like searching out, and acquiring, ancient items with specific co-operative affixes is the essence of Diablo, not sets.

I wish more legendaries interacted like Ice Climbers and Stone Gauntlets do. THAT is what the itemization I wanted looks like. Combining items to make powerful combinations.

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And that’s fine, we can have a world were both those exist, there are plenty of skills to choose from where that is superior. Frozen Orbs, Meteors, Blizzard and Energy Twisters (if that ever got any love!) but why do we also need it to be better than a set that’s specifically only made for one skill?

Answer: We don’t. That obviously kills a set if that’s the only thing it can do. That’s like saying Chants with LoD should be better than Vyr’s/Chant.

18

I’m okay with a world that you can use Arcane, Cold, or Lightning hydra with the set, but Fire requires LoN. As long as they are roughly equal. They can buff Typhon to 1750% and changing Serpent Sparker to 400-450% or something.

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Yes, that’s how both can co-exist since set doesn’t utilize Mammoth, but I think the set version needs to be much superior in damage and that’s not the way it is right now.

We’re talking, as things are right now, Typhon being 2400% per head, maybe with 50% AS as well with SS being 400-450%. Mammoth is the best hydra by far, the others need a big catch up.

I’m really okay with the set outdoing LoD Mammoth to be relevant again, meanwhile LoD Mammoth would get a little bump too.

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I play Typhon Frost Hydra and I don’t care about how others perceive me. I feel I play that spec really well too. The problem for me is my buddy plays a WW barb and I am SO slow compared to him. If we want to duo, I’m going to have to build up a Vyr’s set for the mobilitiy.

Soloing, I just do my own thing :slight_smile: Suggest you play what you want, not what groups want you to play (they prob want DH and WW barb)