Skill "Issues" + Ultimates

PC General Discussion
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I originally dismissed people’s complaints about there not being an “Ultimate” exclusive hotkey…but after playing all 5 classes, I’ve come to the conclusion, that there are in fact, not enough skill slots for this game. This game suffers from the fact that it’s trying to handle skills the way Diablo 3 did, but also handle them similar to Diablo 2…and what that leads to is many class builds that require 7 or 8 skills with only 6 available slots. This is exacerbated by the fact that having extra abilities just from +skill affixes on items REALLY incentivizes using more abilities for more build diversity.

Personally, I’d change the design one of two ways. The first option is a dedicated Ultimate skill slot, as well as changing the movement skills so that they replace the spacebar dash, and just give them 2 charges so that you don’t lose the secondary movement capacity. (Teleport, Leap, etc.)

The alternative…Do what Lost Ark did and provide a full 8 skill + Ultimate layout.
Q, W ,E ,R, A, S, D, F + Z.

I also think there are a few specific issues with specific skills, but the biggest problem with the skill system is that there aren’t enough skill slots to use skills.

My Necromancer is currently using Decompose, Blood Surge, Corpse Tendrils, Corpse Explosion, Summon Skeletons. I literally can’t use Army of the Dead or Summon Golem because there aren’t enough spell slots. Golem isn’t good enough to use on it’s own without Skeletons. Corpse Tendril and Corpse Explosion synergize too well to not use both together. Basic + Core skill are pretty much mandatory.

I have a similar issue with the other 4 classes where I’m just not using Ultimate abilities because there’s not enough skill slots.

My understanding is that Blizzard wanted to return power to the characters and their skills, and have them rely less on items…but the current skill setup is SEVERELY limiting.

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I agree, should double the number of skill slots at least, I heard some argue that it’s consoles fault, however that is nonsense as D2R on console let you have double the amount skills bound than this.

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Although it’s a big design and balance change, there might be room for an ultimate slot/button. Adding one more skill can add a lot of player power (but also player agency) if done right.
I also find the 6 skill setup limiting in both customisability/identity and it would be great to get away from the same design paradigm as D3.

A big challenge is that resources rely on using the Basic to charge (at least in early game), guaranteeing that takes up a slot. There’s no natural regeneration - that’s the limiter peeps are feeling in beta.

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I disagree. I think what happens when you add another skill slot is that you don’t create build diversity, you just create more must-have skills for every class.

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Agree. It feels really bad not having it right now, its strangulating instead of promoting fun gameplay.

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I agree - stripping us from “ultimate” skill makes no sense at all, we should have it like D2…

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The thing is. I have initially agreed with that we should have a lot more skill buttons. But the problem is that the game is 80% about cooldown skills which have nothing to do with resource management so the more buttons you have the more skills you can put in even just one pointers and smash down the whole piano every time you encounter a group of enemies absolutely for free. If the game was actually about mana management it would make sense to give people freedom over which skills they are using but this is not a decision because…you can use all of them all the time :smiley:

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correct… it is a game balance issue… dunce cap fatties who still have 1080s who call themselves “PC” gamers blame it on the villainous console user… in reality they have no clue… total maroons…

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Except for Piano Sorc, which doesn’t use mana at all.

But yeah, maybe it’s less of an issue for other classes, but for Necromancer specifically…there aren’t enough spots to use your summons AND have abilities. I was insanely disappointed when I hit level 25 and realized that Golem was separate from the other summon skill…and I had no room to take anything off my bar to add the Golem. I was already not using any Mastery/Ultimate because the build relied on other abilities to even function.

Every sorc build I’ve used is the same way…no mastery ability, no ultimate ability…because they’re not worth removing a defensive skill off the bar for.

I mean that’s fair…but what we have now is people using 3x abilities from one section of the tree because all of those long cooldown skills are absolutely useless in comparison and the only way most of them will ever be used is it we get more slots.

No one is ever going to take Blizzard over teleport. No one is going to completely drop both of their shield spells for Meteor.

Right now, half the skill tree is DoA and will only ever be used by a few people who want to use less effective abilities for the luls.

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Yep. In the Beta I got to the Ultimate skil, chose which one I wanted and then found out I had to remove one of my skills to fit the ultimate skill in and it really made things harder for no appreciable improvement.

At the very least we need a dedicated Ultimate skill slot.

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Why are you using Blood Surge, Corpse Explosion, and Corpse Tendrils. Blood Surge is the one Necro core skill that makes Corpse Explosion unneeded. And Corpse Tendrils seems unneeded as well. All about picking and choosing and that includes ditching extraneous skills from your skill bar.

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They’ll make this one of the season’s feature. eventually. mark my words. lol

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It’s just a cost like all the others that define game balance. If you want minions, use a slot on them. If you want an ultimate, use a slot on it. Having ultimate-specific slots just means forcing every build to use an ultimate. Not having them means you can consider whether the slot is worth it.

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The ultimate skills are not base or core skills, but they all work on them.

Basically a booster for your damage. It’s not a skill you are using every 20-30 seconds as most of them have very long cool-downs.

Which is why they should have their own skill slot.

But you don’t have to take them if you don’t want to.

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Adding another skill slot, dedicated “ult” or not will throw off ALL balance of the game. It was balanced around what we have the capability to use.

They absolutely wont be adding a slot for anything anytime soon, or even in the near future, as an ENTIRE rebalance of the game would need to be done.

Make better choices. Build better. This is how it was designed and intended to be played.

Not being able to figure out decent builds then asking for them to gimp the entire balance of the game makes no sense whatsoever just because “you want”.

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That sounds like a fun corpse explosion build. I would focus in on that if you like that combo.

Realisitically, fewer skill slots makes you focus in on what your build is supposed to do. I think its better.

Like, if i were doing that i probably wouldnt want skeletons, my corpses are spoken for. Probably a golem instead for defense.
Id probably ditch the core skill too, none of them do as much damage as corpse explosion anyway.
And now i have room for an ult.

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disagree. you suffer of fomo problem, there are many skills to pick from thus you want all, as a kid in a candy shop. that’s not a design problem. all your “i need this and that” arguments actually just translate to you wanting that, not needing that.

you also don’t think at all of consequences of your “clever” (not) proposed solution. entire build design is based on six skills. having 7 or 8, would make immediately useless most skills, since skill points allocation would be forcefully dispersed over a higher number of skills, thus making each of those largely ineffectual.

then they should address the consequence of implementing that, then correct the additional impactful and totally unforeseen other consequences on paragon boards, etc. you’d have simple ruined the game as it is, gz.

just leave it as it is, and accept you have a 6 skills apparent limit (that you can already work around, if you actually know what you are doing and really want to do so).

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The number of skill buttons is fine, this is not diablo 2.

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That just forces people to play a way that you think is the obvious choice and hurts build diversity
If we need more skill slots, just add more skill slots. Don’t tell people what to put in their skill slots.

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Reasonable point

Irrelevant addition

Big flashy ultimate skills are fun to use. Not having space to fit them in to your build is a shame. Someone else in this thread mentioned limited skill slots being a ‘cost’. It’s just a shame that the cost of having the best build you can is fun