Can I just say that I really appreciate the Barbarian community.
When WW/Rend and H90 were rolled out the Barbarian players were methodical and organized in their feed back and testing on the PTR and in the end had constructive pointed criticism and suggestions.
Someone was also there to drive the conversation in a single well curated thread.
Looking at the Necro and DH communities in the S21 PTR it’s a hundred screaming voices that are drowning themselves out. There is no methodology, no format for sharing experiences with build templates along with testimonials on performance. There are no videos of gameplay illustrating how or why something is not functioning.
I fear that both classes are going to be sorely dissatisfied with the results of their feedback and that instead of doing introspection on why their desired changes were not implemented they are going to say Blizzard didn’t listen.
Look its way different than hundreds of barbs saying taking away the belt damage multiplier ruined the automatic apply rend damage. Between getting two sets the improved WW/rend build along with the new frenzy set build, you guys were totally spoiled compared to how the DH GoD build is messed up using standing still to generate and then strafe that doesn’t work properly. We don’t have any of the four original sets reworked at all.
We had DH players that also played barb contributing advice with barb issues, but it would be very nice if barbs that play DH reciprocate with hot mess of patch 2.6.9 PTR builds and help define the problems.
Yeah, I’ve been watching the PTR Feedback Forum and my first thought was, “Where are the focused class feedback threads? Where are the community experts with their insight and analysis?”
Some notable DHs have been doing some nice work in the DH and GD forums, but the PTR forums are an absolute mess. I mean, it’s only been a few days, so we might see more focused discussion next week, but as of right now, it’s just a hundred different three-post threads that don’t seem to add up to much more than, “The DH set is weak, the Necro set is pretty strong.”
Yeah, I noticed that as well. When H90 was released, we had focused feedback in a single thread with videos, stats, and focused analysis of the good and bad aspects of the PTR items. Like I said above, maybe in the coming week, they’ll get to it. There are, after all, far more important things going on in the world right now, and I’m sure Diablo is pretty low on most folks’ list of priorities.
Anyway, I appreciate your input.
While I understand your frustration, I don’t think this paints an accurate picture. This community did worked hard to get all the buffed items and the fixed Wastes set. Blizzard wasn’t interested in buffing Barbs until that happened, even if they were aware that Barbs were generally dissatisfied with their class’s power and items.
Your point about the new DH set is valid–it looks like a train wreck.
No thanks. I’ve tried to offer the DH community advice in the past and it was never well-received. I like to think the Barb community set the standard for petitioning for changes and offering constructive PTR feedback. I would encourage the DH and Necro communities to copy our approach, but I have no interest in directly assisting them–nor do I have the time. I’m so busy these days, I can’t even try out PTR, and by the looks of the new DH items, I’m not missing much.
I was hoping for a much larger Impale buff, and for the new set to be really powerful and fun, but it doesn’t look like any of that has come to pass.
All good, mah dude. I understand the impetus. The explicit message from the DH community–at least as delivered from DH community experts–was that they preferred to do things their own way.
Cool, cool. I’m gonna sit back and let them do it their way, which seems to be–as of the current moment–what we’re seeing in the PTR forum.
After seeing the shiet show that’s the current PTR… I must say it feels good to be a Barb
I’m thankful I came back to the game just in time to enjoy the WW barb at the peak of its powers. Glad to see they didn’t nerf us for next season either.
Everything I seem to be reading about the new DH set makes me want to believe they have to have put it together wrong. Surely that stop-start gameplay wasn’t what they intended, or what they thought anyone would think is fun.
Barbs got such an extensive rework on existing sets because of the Barb community rallying behind the barb buff proposal spearheaded by Free and Rage. Barb experts then created and led focused feedback threads on the PTR, which the barb community embraced and rallied behind. This was true for WW changes but also H90, such as getting 2pc and 4pc bonus changes so keeping frenzy stacks was viable and 2pc damage bonus was worth using.
Barb experts tried to offer suggestions on how to successfully use the barb buff experience to get what they want, but were met with… Mixed at best response from the DH community and essentially told to stay in their lane.
I’m a barb main who has dabbled in DH (somewhat forced when barb couldn’t farm or get stash tabs nearly as efficiently) and enjoy UE MS, however I just had a second kid, and my first is only 2, so the reality is that I might get an hour or less a week of downtime, let alone D3 playtime, so I can’t really be effective at PTR testing. That said I really hope that the DH set gets the mechanics changes and number buffs required to be a worthy addition to the DH arsenal. The Monk and Sader new sets give me hope that Blizzard will be able to get something decent released even without as strong of community feedback organization.
I’ve not been on the forums much whilst testing on the PTR so when I came on tonight, it was to around 30 unread threads, and almost 350 new ones, most of which are in the PTR Feedback forum. I took a quick look and noped straight out of there.
Since barb didn’t receive any changes this patch (as expected) I was really only interested in seeing if the theme is going to have any impact on group play which early on shows it may be similarish to s19 in doing big pulls on open maps on hoping the theme then wipes them out. We shall see but am still enjoying that we have a barb that can do all aspects of play these days. Spin to win!
Not necessarily PTR related, but I do enjoy the 4 man meta of clearing trash now, instead of the way it was in the old days where the strategy was elite hunting which got pretty monotonous.
That’s why I’m working hard to try and consolidate the meaningful feedback in one place with no overlapping ideas. But I agree, 99% of the posts are a hot mess!
Your thread is the best thing DH’s have this PTR. Outstanding work! I’d like to suggest asking players to record video, and to use a static format for testing. Don’t test in Seasons, and make sure players note their Paragon, main stat, clear times, tiers, build details, etc. You get the idea. The more precise the feedback, the more likely you are to get the changes you need.
I also strongly encourage you to re-format the OP. The info you have there is fantastic, but a simpler, more logical organization will help folks–including the devs–sort through and prioritize information. I would suggest starting with the problems with each new set/item and doing so in a way that suggests some kind of solution. After that, you can have test results, collated from the responses in the thread, and bugs/FAQ can come last. Be direct and concise in your writing. Get straight to the point. Can’t stress how important good organization and concision are in communicating your arguments to the devs.
You might also use a tag on the thread title to help it stand out as THE place for focused feedback–something like [Focused Feedback] or some such. Might seem trivial, but it gets the job done.
I did post some screenshots of non-seasonal PTR Impale DH clearances but not sure which thread it was in. On live, I think the highest I’d managed was a GR119 on her. On PTR I’ve done a GR123, and been a few seconds away a few times from a GR124. So, the rough, back of an envelope maths that said the HPS change would get 4-5 GR ranks of improvement seem to be borne out from my test.
