I don’t mean character strength, power, viability, etc. I am talking strictly about freedom of choice. It feels incredibly frustrating to find something like a shield, and not be able to equip it on anything except a Necromancer? Why do Rogue skills say they require dualwield, when I’m not able to do anything but dualwield?
I absolutely am loving everything about this game. The world feels immersive, the story writing has felt like a horror movie at times, the aesthetic feels wonderful once you turn off things like player highlight. The combat is so responsive, the ability to dodge attacks without fantasy breaking target reticles – all of this feels so immersive and is really sucking me into the game, making me pay attention to the world around me. I feel so far like the layers of systems (skills, paragon, powers, unique item effects, etc) will amount to something with depth as you near end game, and without complexity bloat. I don’t feel like it will ultimately be shallow in all other regards. I’m also not even unhappy with the actual items themselves or the stat variations they have. Though, it does feel like there could be some more skills in general.
But it just feels so off that I can’t have agency over the character’s weapons. How can a Rogue not use a buckler? Why couldn’t the bow that I don’t use (but is a stat stick) be swapped out for something like a weapon charm; like a flex slot on the character doll. It just feels so offputting it’s difficult to not consider refunding. Is this driving anyone else crazy? Game is super fun but that one aspect is taking me out of it a lot more than I’d like
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I’ve struggled to really get behind enjoying the gameplay. Story is fine, world and settings are fine but actually playing feels… off? I’m a Barbarian main and always have been and after playing today I can’t understand some choices they’ve made or the “one step forward, two steps back” we’ve done when comparing to D3 and even D2.
Being limited on choices due to weapons is so off-putting and is akin to “weapon specializations” from ye-old WoW days (looking at you Arms Warrior).
D2 Frenzy required 2 weapons, but had Double Swing to help make clearing mobs less of a chore.
D3 Frenzy allowed any weapon to be used but relied on armor and the cube to back it up for clearing potential.
D4 Frenzy requires 2 1handed weapons with no cleave, less stacks and less time to keep those stacks up. On top of choosing between %DR vs your other abilities attacking faster.
The whole skill tree idea feels a little bland and having a class require 4 weapons feels like a deliberate time sink. The only plus-side I’ve seen with 4 weapons is if all 4 are legendary you get all 4 legendary abilities, rendering the one not in use as a “stat stick” of sorts. But imo I just can’t get behind such a heavy-handed “this play style only works this way” with no alternative in site.
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I haven’t gotten to try Barbarian yet. I think the arsenal idea of using a load of weapons sounds awesome. But, I don’t think it should be the only option. It should be possible to use solely a 2handed sword or something. Is that not possible, then? That would be pretty disappointing
I like how the Necromancer can allegedly use the ‘book of the dead’ idea to pick and choose how much or how little they want to be involved in summoning. Why would this type of flexibility not allowed elsewhere?
edit: It appears as though you could assign all of your abilities to a 2Handed sword (granted it meets the weapon requirement), though you would still have a handful of weapons equipped in the background as stat sticks?
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Correct. If you wanted to, you could design an entire build around using a 2h slashing weapon. The other weapons will just be there unless you choose an ability that requires them, which is where the arsenal idea comes from.
Example: Flay requires a slashing weapon, so your sword (or swords if you dual-wield and choose them) will be where the damage is calculated. However, if you choose Hammer of the Ancients for a Core ability it will use the 2h Bludgeoning for damage calculation not your Sword(s).
Its very frustrating that in D1, 2 and 3 I could make a 2 handed sword or a sword and board sorcerer but in D4 which should be the most advanced game of the series, I cant do the same.
Another bad design is that they said we wouldnt be doing millions of damage, but we are.
Poor game design causes damage numbers to go that high.
Lack of skills, very few build diversity, lack of passives, bad itemization.
You sir have won the award for Necro of the year. This boggles the mind.
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Blizz needs to auto lock these old threads after say 30 days of inactivity or something.
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just saying, you are the master necromancer. please teach me in s4 =)
Barbs are too manly for shields.
Yup. Items in this game are only slightly better than they were in Diablo 3, which was egregiously bad as items were no more than stat sticks in that game.
EDIT: Just noticed this was a huge necro-d thread, heh. Doesn’t make my statement any less true however.
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