Barb has 4 weapon slots, Rogue has 3, Sorc had 3 enchantment slots which was what made it unique. That was reduced to two before launch along with some pretty big skill adjustments to things like, Hydra, Ice blades, Chain Lightning, Arc Lash, Frost Nova, etc. Many of these changes were inevitable when invincible Level 25 Sorcs started showing up in the beta that leaned on cooldown reduction to keep barriers up constantly. However, in addition to reducing cooldown reduction on many of these skills most of them had their damage or other effects reduced as well.
Now, even though the Sorc is one of the most played classes, it is also rated as one of the weakest in the higher levels and end game. It finds itself in the position of having one of the weakest defenses (squishy) and being very dependent on maintaining barriers and kiting like crazy to stay alive. Nothing new about that. Sorcs are always glass canons. What is different this time is that the D4 Sorc is more of a glass pop gun. It puts out some of the lowest average damage numbers in the game. The only really strong, dependable offensive skill at its disposal is Ice Shard. Everything else depends on a synergy with something else to do significant damage. And synergies are limited by the number of available skill slots. Beyond that, the stagger mechanic is the only thing that makes the Sorc viable, especially against Bosses.
I do not see Blizzard giving the Sorc its beta level Chain Lightning, Arc Lash, Ice Sword, Frost Nova, Hydra or other skills power back, Nor do I think they should. However, the Sorc needs something. That is why the Sorc should get its 3rd enchantment slot back IMO. That would provide players with one more possible slot to work on synergies to make the Sorc more well rounded and more fun to play after level 70. Perhaps we would see more builds than just Ice Shards and every build would not have to have Flame Shield for immunity and flame skills for mana gen and viable damage if we had the option of one more enchantment to make other builds viable.
Yes. After doing the capstone dungeon to go from WT2 to WT3, it should then be a small quest to open it up. Or just give it at that point (but I like small side quests, they add character).
If you played WoW during Legion then you know Blizzard sucks at designing and balance and especially balance updates. they can’t do it. They’re incompetent. The best they can do is meaningless adjustments and nerfs that keep it so a few classes are good and then bad over time so you get flavor of the month classes.
I think the 3rd enchantment slot would make the class too strong, it’s already got amazing damage and aoe, amazing CC, amazing mobility and amazing survivability too due to barriers, death prevention etc.
I am not saying other classes are better or worse than the sorc but if you are using a build from a popular build site then you can expect to have issues with every class. Those builds are trash, you need to make your own build - it will do more damage and have higher survivability than any of those types of builds. The cookie-cutter builds are designed for softcore casual 4-man speed running dungeons, if you expect to use them solo, hardcore or in nightmare dungeons then you are going to have a lot of issues and it might feel underperforming.
And yet Barb is the weakest Class in game. Really wish they would allow Barb to use Shields or Off hands. Might give build diversity and the mitigation they need.
Yes. Sorc’s absolutely need the 3rd enchantment back. Not just for the reasons you mentioned, but for build diversity as well. Sorc builds are very limited and due to defensive issues, I can’t even play with a basic skill if I wanted.
1-Teleport ( I can’t even keep up with other classes movement speed with teleport)
2-Flame Shield (2.5 seconds of protection…wow)
3-Nova (need aspect for 2 charges because cooldown too long as a single charge)
4- Ice Armor (duh)
ML- Shards
MR- Ultimate
And I disagree on the skill nerfs. You don’t nerf an entire build based on level 25 damage/output when the road goes to 100 and level scaling is involved. That makes zero sense, and only shows they over reacted to streamers. Un-nerf those skills and give us back 3rd enchantment and then when you have some real data, make adjustments as needed. But, by far, their reaction was way overblown.
I have my own build. It is a hybrid and has served me well to lvl 70. How much further I can take it, I am not sure. I do love the synergies that I have found between skills, aspects and gear but I feel the class is limited. I am starting to feel those limitations.
So then are you telling me you think hydra and chain lightning are balanced right now? They are useless at high levels and in nm dungeons where they do little damage. Everyone specs out of these two abilities at end game. That means they are underpowered and not balanced!
I did not say that they should not be adjusted again. I said that IMO they should not be put back to how they were in the beta. I do not think any of them needed their damage reduced. Reducing things like cooldown reduction and number of bounces was adjustment enough.
But I would still chose to have that extra enchantment and leave them as is if that was the choice to be made. The additional enchantment slot would add more to build diversity and fun.
Sorc needs the 6 secs dr back on teleport. Sorc need barriers that last more than 2 seconds. In fact should be no duration get barrier keep till it gets taken. Not like we get any real amounts since most are based on base hp not max.
What sorc really behind on compared to other classes is CRIT DAMAGE. Druid only class that does not get to wear swords for crit dmg. But they have double crit dmg possible on every single slot because unlike sorc they get a crit dmg for every element not just the one noone uses like sorc.
Ah, yes that classic Blizzard flavor of the month class system…I missed that from WoW - So whats the current flavor of the month in WoW? The last time I played which was back in 2010, it was Rogues which were OP with insane stunlocking potential.
Adding it would be a bandaid. So now everyone has two slots because everyone would still take fire bolt enchant. (Remember when no one on here knew why you’d take fire bolt, oh those were the days)
What needs correcting, desperately, is for them to understand why certain things are taken by everyone. Considering their reaction to the same core issue on Barbs was to nerf shouts, I’m not left with much hope that they understand why the Sorc class is practically unanimously 4 defensives plus fire bolt enchant.