I am a passionate Diablo player ever since its release. I write this out of love to the core game and to give additional feedback.
So we just got the final Patch notes today and there are some fundamental problems without going into full detail:
1. S20 Start Date & lack of communication
The start date is the same as POE League which is an issue for many player who love both games. This sure could have been avoided.
The communication could have been much better too. Mostly players would like to know ahead of time or at least know when they can expect an announcement.
2. Silence during 2 weeks PTR testing Phase & lack of patches
There has only been one patch mid PTR and no blue responses to core problem for days! We just cannot have mechanical changes like we just got to the wd now without play testing them.
See what happened in S19 after the bug of getting stacks outside of greater rifts got reported but had to be streamed to hundreds of people to finally get fixed.
3. H90 Barb set is dead on arrival
As pointed out by our awesome barb community in full detail here: [Barb] H90 Focused Feedback - #2 by Rage-13139
The current version of the set is dead on arrival even with the added stuns & the coe bug fix. We did multiple tests on that. It just gets beaten by other builds in every way.
4. Nerf to WD
Just like with the Vyr wizard we had a decent alternative speed farm meta to rat runs with the spirit barrage wd.
It just seems everytime that happens a nerf is coming to everything but the rat necro. I dont know many people who still enjoy doing rats for the 3rd year in a row.
For high gr group play the situation is even worse: With the revert on half the tickrate of Phantasm we will most likly be back to crazy lag problems.
This together with the crusader & bazooka wizard nerf will hit all NS players extra hard as they will feel so much weaker overall. Also NS will be used as yet another 2nd round of PTR which might destroys the integrity of the NS leaderboards yet again.
5. Nerf to Hydra Wizard & lack of fixing bugs
The new wizard set is still underperforming immensely and has no plance in anything effective either.
We were never even able to properly test the new set during PTR because it was unplayable as it is still riddled with bugs as you can see in the bug reports:
6. Nerf to Mantel of channeling
In the attemt to nerf bazooka wizard a 1 sec buff delay has been added. But this also effect other classes like ww barb or strafe dh.
7. Patch notes not complete
Changes to pet mechanics are not mentioned in the notes at all.
8. S20 Theme only really benefits necro
Again so much feedback was given here in the past weeks with the issues. Yet somehow the impression was given to blizzard that âplayers are really excited about itâ
Overall in my network and from what I see here on the forums and on twitch there are barely any players who are happy with these final notes!
I get that balancing is complex and I do not have perfect solutions for every problem but many players invested hours in testing and summarizing feedback during the PTR. Please listen to it and find some middle ground.
Well it looks like that ship has sailed.
The really sad thing is there is not much new content now, because most of it is trash. Not planning to play squishdoc, wizard is all garbage, barb has nothing new except 6 more Blackthorne items to salvage. And I have had my share of WW this season.
And while they failed badly first with monk and sader set but managed to save them, barb and wiz are long term stuck without useable new sets. Sigh.
In my opinion they nerf end game WD, and LoD hydras.
And to be honest they add the option to barbarian to make x2 damage with near any CC you have, Frozen and stun Will fit very nice for most builds allowing the option to add the 2 set bonus of H90 to other builds.
I totally get that - we are all humans after all, just many people wanted to know when they would even get the announcements in the first place including me. I saw comments like: âPlease tell me when the next season starts, so I can take a few days off work. Because after all, I still love your game.â - âNope. I wonât even tell you when Iâm planning to tell you!â
The initial sets they released for wizard & barb to a degree were so bug riddled that we could not even test them at all. This was only changed after a full week of PTR (with still plenty bugs remaining). Major bugs like these should be fixed in 1-2 days if we want accurate feedback going forward. People dedicate hours & hours of testing it is only reasonable to get the obvious bugs fixed asap for accurate testing.
OKay so maybe the new barb set is 2nd best in solo. Very bad in Torments, Speed GRS, Bountyâs and has no spots in groups while being super squishy. Does not sound like something the community wants like concluded in that very detailed post.
It is hard to balance the game around group and solo play. The crusader is already clearing these tiers with ease and the wd does not benefit from the theme at all like stated in 8. But that is not even the core issue. That is: additional lags due to double tick rate yet again!
Thanks
Thank you!
It is not small for starting a fresh character and should be included to not mislead players as it has been in the game since 2017.
Some other classes will get very minor benefits maybe yes but that is not the kind of impact I thought blizzard nor the community would want a seasonal theme to have! I agree with you that S19 theme was to strong but S20 seems very very underwhelming to any class but the necromancer.
Good job on the league start date Blizzard. You just lost thousands of players who play both Diablo and POE⌠Probably destroyed anyone who still full time streams Diablo 3.
âwe hear youâ
the barb comunity was super constructive and we did alot of testing.
there were good suggestions how to bring up the set to a decent level, blizzard ignored almost everything.
i played ww last season and if i decide to play s20 (unlikely) i am stucked with ww again, cause the frenzy set does nothing better compared to ww.
why should anyone play a paper-barb and hit monster with wet noodles?
Iâm not saying It will be viable for solo or group. I just say that the Stun option Will open possibilities to other builds, as we always use charge or ground stomp in most of them.
Well said, I agree completely with this. Feedback was there, but clearly wasnât taken seriously. As you said this is not to insult those that made the decisions it is out of passion for the overall health of the game.
Iâll be sitting this season out since my friends and I have been sick of rats for quite some time and were hoping to see changes that made our classes relevant to compete with in 4 player. Theyâll continue to play Poe and Iâll stick to other games as well. Maybe next season I guess.
So, the things which could have shaken up season 20:
Witch Doctor (nerfed)
Hydra Wizard (nerfed)
Barbarian (set is dead on arrival)
My question to Blizzard would be: why?
Just imagine a season where say, a barb could be: zbarb or rgk; a wd could be trash killer or rgk; a wizard could be - rgk; necro could be trash killerâŚor rgk (wellâŚ)
See? What is wrong with having multiple classes being rather capable? You really want people to play a new season where thorns necro (fishing) or crusader is RGK in groups?
I have played the last few seasons and put hundreds of hours into each. I donât even play PoEâŚbut I did buy Wolcen. Not really seeing a reason to play S20 at this rate after even a few seasons of rats.
If you use GS, you lose TS buff. Otherwise you canât survive.
If you use Freeze Charge, you are lack of mobility, and still die easily.
The only improvement for this stun change is the main target. However, this will not increase single target much. As CC immune make HC time is below 50%. This change wonât change the story.
Clearly, Dev didnât think about H90 changes much.
Weâve provided them nearly 700 replies post, which is so detailed and constructive. Yet, they do NOT Even buff the 4pc DR.
Why you still speaking about playing H90 in full set? I perfectly now the set is under others, I just say mix 2p of H90 with other sets as It give you X2 to your damage, and now that they add the Stun mechanic is even easier, Cuz the Stun is the main CC that barbarian have in 99% of our builds.
Iâm not Happy with the season and not even the sets, but as barbarian player at least that 2p of H90 set will open different options, in solo play and support in groups.
EDIT: I forgot that H90 set can only be mix with IK, so yeah itâs a shame xD
