When is blizzard going to address this issue in solo barb leaderboards being overloaded with zbarbs clearing 150 in europe, the fact the exploit was never properly addressed is worrying for season 22 , and also a kick in the teeth to those who have grinded and geared dps characters to have a push at the leaderboards , basically wasting there time as it seems all was required was 1k paragon and a zbarb , please address and remove these zbarb clears and reward the players who have grinded all season
1 Like
Blizzard told us that the season theme was, and I quote, “working as intended”.
We knew it wasn’t. They knew it wasn’t. We knew they knew it wasn’t.
3 Likes
Yeah I remember that quote lol , however it still sends out the wrong message to the players who are prepared to grind hard all season for no reward, countless hours of grinding and fishing for a good clear
First of all it’s not an exploit. The seasonal theme does enough damage to clear a 150 by itself. You should be complaining about the fact that zbarbs have the tools to pull this off on top of being able to survive solo that high. Everyone is allowed to use and manipulate the theme to there desire since blizzard said “working as intended”. Streamers,hardcores,botters will use whatever they are given to get an advantage. Either join them or don’t. You made the choice not to use it apparently so don’t complain when good barbs are clearing 150s. I can already see people complaining about rat runs in season 22. People that don’t run them will be very far behind. There will be multiple 10k paragons this coming season due to 10trill per hour farms. Ask your yourself is this intended or an exploit? Very much intended the second they added a fourth cube slot. Use it or don’t but I guarantee you people will have 3k within 2 weeks.
3 Likes
Yeah I know its not an exploit as they say its working as intended, and its been used in such a manner , however my point is its a kick in the teeth to those who have grinded all season gear and paragon to be able to push the leaderboards , when all was needed was a 1k paragon zbarb to be able to do 150 , so to your point of join them or don’t I ask the question again what is the point of grinding a seasonal hero
If I serve you a cowpat and tell you it’s a pancake, would you eat it for breakfast? No, because you know that regardless of what I called it, you know what it actually is. This theme is most definitely not working as intended unless Blizzard’s intention was to allow heroes that literally couldn’t kill a single mob themselves to clear a GR150.
2 Likes
What if you were told that cowpat tasted like steak and was healthier. Would you try it? For most the answer is no. Some its yes but still can’t get over that fact that it’s a cowpat. Then there are the 25 guys that actually dont give crap and said help yah I’ll eat that stuff because I actually want to be rank one. Not bust my tail off for 5k paragon and only clear 142. They got 3k clearing a 150 in 8 minutes. Oh and by the way the same guy has rank 1 world clear season 21 and 22. He is taking what is given and making the best of it.
1 Like
I don’t have a stake in Seasons since I never play it–and let’s be honest, the Season themes are stupid strong, so complaining that they’re ruining Season leaderboards is a little like complaining that a bazooka makes stuff blow up too much.
But I do think there’s something extra broken when zDPS characters can clear 150. I mean, on the surface, GR ranks are simply about clearing mobs to gain progression–as long as something is doing damage, this is possible, and maybe this kind of creative application of game mechanics can be retconned into the GR design philosophy. On the other hand, I think the point of getting that progression is that it comes from the players–from the characters–and not from the passive attributes of the rift conditions. So, yeah, I’m not a fan of what’s going on in Seasons, but this is to be expected for a while now. Blizzard seems intent of making every Season more broken and bombastic than the last.
Why they don’t put those same resources into items, overhauls, and other popular community requests is beyond me.
6 Likes
Sorry, just a non-barb passing by who has to agree with this statement. +1
3 Likes
10 clears of 150 in the last week alone in eu leaderboards by zbarbs ,mainly all from same clan , either theres another exploit or alot of people are doing alot of fishing for snowballs , either way the eu barb leaders are turning into a joke
The number behind the rank doesn’t mean anything. If the season theme wasn’t “broken” 95% of the barb leaderboards would be the same. The same top 1% of players would be doing what it takes to get these cleats. Only it would be a 144 instead of a 150. And everyone else would be complaining that they only did it because the theme is broken. You see what I am getting at? Every season has had broken stuff. Every season people complain about the same thing.
4 Likes
Agree.
If it’s possible- for a season - for some builds to use “the weather” to kill their foes, I think that’s pretty cool.
If that became the trend in every season, I think that would be bad. And in non-season, it would be doubly bad… using the environment to achieve victory is an interesting digression from the norm, but it shouldn’t become the norm.
1 Like
Have you taken the time to have a look at the eu leaderboards ? And had a look at the 1k paragon barb clears ? My original point was what is the point in grinding a seasonal hero when this can happen , I know the theme is broken and is been abused to make these clears , you make it sound that I shouldn’t be complaining about this , but after grinding hard all season I have every right to make my feelings known on the issue
Everyone always has the right to let there feeling be known. My feelings are that instead of grinding so hard maybe you should play a zbarb and find out what hard really is. Grinding hard almost never gets you what you want. Grinding efficiently is always the way to go. Solo=bad not using the theme to its fullest=bad.Blizzard says broken stuff is ok. You should be happy that the botters are not on top. If you think the grind is pointless then why did you season. Meteorblade didn’t season because he wasn’t a fan of it and moved on. Maybe play non season so your grind isn’t pointless.
But it’s not just a Season. Last Season featured similar OP effects (angels, etc), and this Season has the Shadow Clones which, while not as powerful, are certainly not insignificant, especially in early-Season/low-Paragon play.
It’s more like 2-3 Seasons, maybe more, where the theme does the heavy lifting. And that’s really the crux: some players feel that they, the players, should do the heavy lifting, and not some OP graphical effect, even if that effect must be controlled or timed by the player. Really, this boils down to player agency, and while there’s no right or wrong opinion here (I side with Mitch, but I completely understand the other perspective), it’s easy to see how this can irk some players.
Surely your just trolling here right ? Your feeling is i should play zbarb ? What you think I’ve been doing with my clan mates grinding inefficiently?? And again I ask you have you looked at the eu barb leaderboards yet , if you had you would know that rank 2 and rank 4 are the same person who i may add was already banned earlier in season for botting aswell as banned last season for botting , before you comment again please have a look at leaderboards for yourself
I think what we’re seeing here is a paradigm shift in terms of GR advancement and player engagement. The devs have clearly opted to shift that engagement–in Seasons, anyway–from direct player action to management of rift conditions and theme effects. Of course, there have always been elements of rift condition management (Pylon spawns, fishing, etc), but the core of GR mechanical interaction–killing mobs to earn progress–was solely in the hands of the player: They had to directly engage mobs to kill them to earn progress.
Now, that focus has shifted. Players certainly kill some mobs, but they also manage theme effects and gimmicks to kill others. There’s a level of abstraction present that wasn’t there before, and some players may feel, as I believe Mitch feels, that this level of abstraction goes a step too far when zDPS characters can make efficient use of it. I’m inclined to agree, though I do wonder at the difference between a zDPS toon that uses themes to kill mobs and a pet-driven character where the bulk of the damage dealt to mobs comes from the pets.
3 Likes
If you intentionally and knowingly put yourself at a disadvantage no matter what anyone feels about the quality of the theme that is your fault. If you dont adjust and play the optimal way you will always be behind those that do.
I’ll give you a real life example maybe it will help you understand. You are in your 40s and you start to complain that you are always working because you have two full time jobs. Your wife recommends going back to school so you can learn a skill or knowledge to get a better job. Ofcourse you refuse. A week later at a family gathering everyone is joking around about memories. So your mom says we thought he was a little off when he was young so we had him tested. Luckily the doctor said he was “working as intended”. If you refuse to do the optimal thing in life you will almost always be stuck behind other and work twice as hard.
1 Like
This analogy works well until you realise that the reason you lost the footrace was because the guy that won it ran one step then took a taxi around the course, i.e. he couldn’t have run it himself.
So basically in your terminology you agree thats its pointless to grind a seasonal character as that’s not the optimal way of pushing the leaderboards or playing a seasonal character , so does that same terminology you use apply to the players that use botting to gain high paragons as by your quote that would be the optimal way wouldnt it ? Or the players who are using hud to get an advantage ? My original point of why grind a seasonal character when a working as intended theme can carry a zbarb to 150 isn’t right or optimal in anyway and goes against all the players who are grinding seasonal characters to push the leaderboards , or maybe come season 22 we dont roll a character straight away we wait for the optimal time to do it when another working as intended bug appears