While that is logical, for now, considering that everyone (self-included) has made it known that nobody that loves playing the Barb likes the nerfs (understatement)âŚ
I am going with the No news is good news until next Monday or Tuesday. I think they have a pretty good idea of how much sh!te has already hit the fan and they will do themselves no favours if they do not give some kind of explanation when the patch notes are released and unleash a similar torrent of disdain, if there is no explanation.
No, the silence means they are not going to announce the changes in 2.6.7 until the patch is implemented. There will be an answer to your questions in 3-4 weeks.
I just have to repeat an earlier point. The Barb has not been nerfed. As of yet, nothing has happened to the Barb. We will see in 3-4 weeks if Barbs will be more powerful in season 19 than in season 18. I suspect that Barbs will be more powerful, and I expect to play a Barb this new season.
Whatâs happening is that people are looking at the PTR as a kind of a promise, which must be kept, or else. But thatâs not how PTRs work. Point Iâm making is, some people are setting their expectations based on the PTR, and thatâs not the way it works. We must always assume that some things in the PTR will not make it into the final version of the patch.
Blizzard did promise to make changes to the Barb which will make it more competitive with other classes. In 3-4 weeks we will see if that happens.
It does seem to me that Blizz wants to avoid another situation where one class (such as todayâs Wiz) is crazily overpowered⌠that would cause another controversy. They are trying to strike a balance between making the Barb more powerful, but not too powerful. In a short while we will see if they succeed or fail.
ForeverFree, what youâre saying about PTR would be true if not, and I repeat; IF NOT the nerfed version of the belt had been shown at Blizzcon. Thatâs the key thing to all this commotion because now theyâve seemed to reveal something that shouldnât be revealed before the patch notes are final.
Everything about the PTR is still true. The PTR does not represent a promise that the devs are bound to keep. It is a test environment, and some things make it out of the test environment, and some donât.
It is unrealistic to expect and demand that things in the PTR must go into the final version of the patch.
People say, they want an answer as to why something didnât make it out of the PTR. In this case, an answer is easy to guess: the reason is that the PTR Barb was overpowered.
I know that lot of people donât like that answer, and I defend peopleâs right to disagree with Blizz that some of the PTR changes make the Barb OP. Nonetheless, it is wrong to think that the PTR changes represent a promise that the devs are bound to keep.
And yes, it would have been nice if there had not been the accidental reveal about the belt during Blizzcon. It would have avoided the current controversy. But again, the controversy is based on the notion that the belt is being nerfed. It is not being nerfed, compared to patch 2.6.6. Rather it is not being upgraded as it was in the PTR. We need to get away from this idea that something not making it out of the PTR represents a nerf.
Blizz DID promise that they would make the Barb more competitive with other classes. It remains to be seen if they kept that promise. Weâll be able to figure it out in 3-4 weeks.
Nope.
With the Bone Ringer nerf Necros can still do 140.
With the Chantado nerf Wizards can still do 141.
With the Lamentation buff Barb did 140.
Without the Lamentation buff Barb will do 133.
With the buff, Barbs are comparable to post-nerf Wizards and Necros.
Without the buff, Barbs are 7-8 GRs behind.
In what way is being roughly equal to other classes overpowered, and yet being 8 GRs behind is considered okay?
This is true only if 140 is the maximum the build could have pushed on ptr. Darkpatator already claimed he could go much higher with no lag, better map and better gear, and he had time to spare. For spin to win the buff is pretty significant without lamentation rend damage bonus. Iâm just happy Iâll be able to do t16 right out the gate and push without feeling like I need perfect gear.
First, regardless of whether the new Barb is OP or not, people should not expect that the changes in a PTR amount to promises that the devs are bound to keep when the actual release comes out. That point is the focus of my comments.
Second, we will see what the Barb can or cannot do. I mainly do the WD, and I am painfully aware that the classes are not balanced. I have made it clear that itâs fair for people to disagree with Blizzardâs take on things.
But another point I make is that, Blizz may be afraid that the changes in the PTR might, for example, enable Barbs to do GR 145, while nobody else can. That would cause yet another set of controversies.
It might be better to err on the side of being underpowered than overpowered, because the fanbase doesnât like to see power taken from them. (Of course, in this case, no power has been given to take away, because the final patch has yet to be delivered.)
Second, Iâm forever Free, so expect to hear from my lawyers.
Kidding. Sort of.
Anyway, I completely respect your point about PTRs and development time, but you also need to consider the history between the devs and Barbs: itâs not good. Weâve had numerous last-minute nerfs in the past without any warning, and of course, there was the Mortickâs fiasco. On top of it, weâve been incredibly weak for a very long time. We were told there would be better communication and that we would receive updates and buffs, and when we finally get them, we find out via leaked BlizzCon imagesânot through official channels, mind you, but through leaked imagesâthat our shiny new toys are getting nerfed.
However you look at it, this is poor handling of the situation. We had zero feedback in the PTR and zero feedback post PTR, and we still donât have an official response to the massive GD thread calling for no nerfs. Iâve urged folks to be patient, and I know, directly from Nev, the kind of red tape she has to navigate to post anything on these forums, but that doesnât change the fact that Blizzard dropped the ball, big time.
PTRs arenât promises, correct, but they are implicit agreements, and they do offer players a potential glimpse of what to expect. Claiming that we shouldnât get our hopes up over a PTR isnât realistic and it ignores the long, weird history between the devs and the Barb community.
So, if folks are chomping at the bits, if theyâre angry, and if they demand things from the devs, I support that 100%.
Add to the list that DH and WD have recently clared 142 and will clear higher.
The new solo standard is 140 and it took 10k Paragon for Barb to get there. Even with 200%, Lamentation was fine for 99% of players, and if the top 1% with 10k Paragon can push to 145, itâs not a big deal.
Watch Sader just smash everyone by 7+ GRâs lol. I mean I guess these devs are confident enough to let that go live w/o another test phase and know it will catch Sader up but those buffs look absolutely insane on paper.
I was hoping they gave Hota / SS a bit more juice, especially if theyâre going to stick with a Lamentation nerf.
We will all see when the patch notes come up. They have said 'We listen to youâ.
Solid figures have been produced to show clearly that the lamentation belt brings the barb up to the others and nerfing it takes it 7 GRâs below.
So if they listen, the patch notes will tell all.
The problem is that the assumption that without the lamentation buff Barb will do 133. What we know is that a high paragon player who invested 3 hours on the PTR at the time was able to clear GR 140 without FoT equipped and 300ms ping. We also know that live non-season clears always exceed the PTR by at least 3 GRs but sometimes far more. If we assume that the 145 you mention is correct, then rend @ 100% gives GR of 141.5.
I do not know how you reconcile the fact that DH and WD recently cleared 142 and will be higher, but turn around and argue that 140 is the top for ww/rend. For DH and WD, these are builds currently that have been pushed by many and presumably have not reached their limit. One player at high paragon clears GR 140 on the PTR and now it is assumed by some that 140 will be the max.
Maybe the initial PTR lamentation bonus was this yearâs out of season April foolâs joke by Blizzard. âLamentationâ literally means: âthe passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weepingâ and by baiting Barbs with it, then taking it away after a very long time of crapping in the Barb community, they just might be laughing to tears as they are ironically or by design getting exactly that: our lamentation. I just donât get why Blizzard would drive away their own game enthusiastsâŚ
Even devs arent sure, so it was overshot? Now its undershot, whats next?
What about using some little advanced mathematics to test the damage numbers and dont use whole season for testing if it was right decision, because you are not sure? This is sad.
Who the hell from devs or Blizzard team decided, that charging into wall for gaining raekor buff is fun to play and is our top dmg build for so many seasons?