Hellborn are severely unbalanced in WT3/WT4. Not saying they shouldn’t be challenging but at the same time they need a serious balance overhaul in the higher World Tiers. The loot they drop is pretty lackluster too. Mostly rares that get salvaged or sold…
So you’re not just a barb main, you’re a sweaty barb main.
Blizzard baseline for buffs / nerfs:
Is Druid / Rogue / Sorc / Necro above Barb damage? Nerf by 30-50%. Buff Barbs by 50-100%
Is Barb now on top? Buff Barb by 25% more multiplicative.
The fact it’s basically been an ongoing meme and joke in the d4 community for a year now should show how inept the devs are at balance as a whole. Even if you removed all the bugs (it won’t ever happen, but let us be hypothetical), the baseline of the class, how it synergizes together, the aspects, skills, paragon, arsenal system all combine together to create an excellent package.
The Druid and Sorc boons / enchants don’t provide anywhere near enough from a class mechanic perspective to matter and the classes are not cohesive, while I dont have enough real hours on rogue to give it a good guage. These classes still have to many riders of Do X to get Y. Barb is usually just get Y, with virtually no effort involved. It’s many small things that add up to create the bigger imbalance. While the 2 weapons, addiotnal stats / tempers etc certainly make a HUUGE difference, it also provides barb with flexibility and freedom, since they can toy with those uniques more, or play with more aspects. The other classes have less slots and keep having their aspects convoluted more and so they keep pairing down to pick the absolute best modifiers. I don’t feel that pressure when I play my Barb or Rogue as much.
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Barbs really need a buff, I refuse to play bash and ww bleed needs like 4 ubers to be playable.
I suspect its a joke but in case it’s not…
Sorc is unplayable no matter what gear you throw at him 
I wrote a post. It’s about bringing top end damage into line. It’s some math that basically stops builds from outpacing Blizzard nerfs by orders of magnitude.
The formula can turn a 10,000,000x damage spike into only an 8x, while not affecting 99% of other hits. Feedback is appreciated!
LOL not at all. Fresh bash, ww and even thorns does better than a well geared sorcerer in PTR. I gave up on sorcerer and tried the trash barb builds pretty quickly. Much easier time on barb and I am sure they will be at the top once again.
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Obviously you haven’t seen the buffs to Flay barb, which as of season 4 was already the best build in the game and it only gets buffed in season 5, while all the best builds for the necro were nerfed into the ground. S tier necro builds suddenly became B tier. The vast majority of the game’s lifesoawn minions were underperforming and they finally made them competitive to the barb only to nerf them into the ground while the barb gets buffed higher. If 99% of players are playing barbs while sorcs and necros can barley compete then that is not healthy for the game. If you are playing necro in season 5 then you HAVE to play bone spirit because each and every other necro build was nerfed into the ground making them unusable. It’s ridiculous how Blizzard is dictating to us what classes/builds we want to play by making one class/build way more powerful than the others, and it’s not even close.
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Just give 4 weapon slots to every class.
This is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar away of a solution.
Exist better ways to fix class balance.
These classes can’t be balanced because all classes have different aspect slot variables that scale their base damage. Barbarian class design is a mistake and belongs to a single-player game like Assassin’s Creed. The only solution is to give all classes the same slots. This is particularly important on weapon and jewellery slots. Barbarians can simply tank more additive damage than everyone else in the game and there is no other solution than to remove this variable or branch out this class from the game. The fact that they can slot the Droombringer, the Grand Father and two additional weapon slots with aspects, including a 2H, now with additional tempers and masterwork, is just wrong and filthy. All the other classes are literally Barbarian trophy wives, we are their minions. We don’t matter in this realm. Rogue is there on second place with an additional weapon slot that can fit an all-class mythic unique as well. The rest of the classes need to make a choice. It is very simple. The could have had the classes with the same base code and just change the name of the game objects and VFX on trigger. They probably have different teams on different classes and it is all a big mess. It is the only explanation because actually the game is very simple, it doesn’t have any complicated physics, everything is mostly collision.
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You are deranged if you think the problem with other-than-Barbarian class players is that they can’t build their character. There is plenty of data out there from both famous and niche players that says otherwise. I am glad you are having your bit of fun with your barb, good for you. But we aren’t having fun with you at all and this is a multiplayer game with different class categories, we should have the same value and possibilities. They need to not only nerf you, but to completely change the way your class works, the amount of weapons you have or they need to lock all of you up in Ked Bardu so the rest of us get a chance to game together alone. Good Bye. Ciao. Adios.
Balance the damage range and you balance the game
Enough anyway that you can normalize monster/boss health and make the game feel more balanced. It’s also a heck of a lot easier than trying to balance the different classes which are by design different.
Barbarians may have more aspect slots, but the actual core problem is extra multiplicative multipliers in those slots makes that matter orders of magnitudes in some cases. Same with haves vs have nots of ubers, top end masterworked gear, etc.
The damage range of trillions (quadrillions) at the top end for some players vs millions or less for casuals makes it impossible for monster health equality that feels good. It’s why uber bosses have quadrillions of life and as player power creeps it’ll keep getting worse.
It cannot be a ring. Is not a consolation price. Even if we get a ‘Medal’ that can equip the same amount of additive damage than all Barbarian weapons combined, they still get to wear more aspects, mythics and uniques at the same time.
I appreciate your input but I disagree. The classes can still be different with the same number of variables, it just needed a different shader. The fact that they weren’t like that since the beginning is a design problem. We have ‘all-class’ items that simply don’t function or can’t perform as intended because they are mental on Barbarians. And other classes have weaker passives, weaker core and basic skills, we have no other way to scale damage, they keep introducing aspects and items we can’t slot because there is no space! Word Boss is a different subject, they need to do something about world events because they are a complete joke, using player health to estimate and balance the monster health should be revisited. It is boring and setting up my alarm to kill the WB at the beginning of the season is not fun, it is a job.
I don’t disagree with you. The classes can feel distinct with the same number of variables. I’m just saying there’s a way to adjust the final damage output where the input doesn’t matter.
The extreme example is a straight cap. This is not a good solution (in my opinion) as it promotes getting to that cap then never having any reason to grind for more damage (see armor, crit, resists, etc.).
That’s why I proposed a solution (I wrote a post linked in this thread above) that implements a soft cap system on Monsters (resilience). I won’t detail all of it again here (I hope you take a look, feedback appreciated), but here’s 2 extreme examples from the post:
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Monster cap of 500 million (M), player hits for 4 quadrillion (Qa):
500M + log( 4Qa / 500M) * 500M = ~3.95B
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Fire resistant monster has fire cap of 10 thousand (K), player hits with fire skill for 4 quadrillion (Qa):
10K + log( 4Qa / 10K) * 10K = ~126,020 fire damage
if you really think the barbarian is currently the best balanced class. then you should all reach the barbarian level with all classes instead of nerfing the barbarian now. isn’t that the only way to get ahead?
I just have that South Park episode in my head, with the decapitated chicken landing dead somewhere random.
In the ongoing debate over class balance, particularly between Sorcerers (Sorc) and Barbarians (Barb), it’s evident that the scales have been tipped in favor of the Barbarian class for over a year. This imbalance has sparked numerous arguments within our community, but I believe the crux of the issue isn’t about competition; it’s about balance itself.
The Barbarian class, as it stands, is significantly more balanced, leading to a one-sided dominance that stifles real competition. It’s not just about one class being better than the other; it’s about how this imbalance affects the overall health of the game.
From a game theory standpoint, we’re witnessing a dominant strategy emerge with the Barbarian class. This strategy consistently outperforms others, regardless of the opponents’ actions, leading to a static and predictable gameplay environment. This is where the concept of Nash Equilibrium comes into play. In our scenario, the Barbarian class has reached a point where any change in strategy by other classes (like the Sorcerer) doesn’t yield a better outcome, thus creating a stagnant meta.
The solution isn’t to nerf other classes or Barbarian into oblivion, rendering them as unplayable as the Sorcerer currently feels. Instead, we should be advocating for a fix to the Sorcerer and other lagging classes to bring them up to par. By doing so, we encourage a diverse and dynamic meta where multiple strategies can coexist and compete.
Arguing over which class is the best and calling for nerfs only perpetuates the problem. We need to shift our focus to fostering a balanced and fair playing field where every class can shine. Only then can we achieve a truly engaging and competitive game experience.
Let’s not forget that at the heart of MMORPGs is the joy of choice and the thrill of strategic diversity. A game where one class reigns supreme is not only unbalanced—it’s fundamentally at odds with the spirit of what makes MMORPGs so captivating.
Just nerf every class down to sorc level damage. no more oneshotting uber bosses please