You sir (Xolo), have not played a minion build, til end game…
I actually could feel my brain cells dying, reading your response.
There is no choice in taking those minion passives and taking those 3.5x passives as you say doesn’t make the build perform on par with even most B or C tier builds in the game. Further in addition to those passives you have to sacrifice aspect slots and gear affixes to keep them alive effectively. This comes at the expense of their power and your own.
Can it still clear content? Yes in the right hands nearly any build can, but it’s an incredible slog. The main problem here is that the same developers that were quick to nerf minion power (and other powerful builds like WW Barb) because their damage is too high are allowing other builds to one button smash thier way through the game without any consequence. In fact they seem keen on adding content that requires an OP build just to complete the early tiers.
Try taking even the strongest minion Necro through T1 AoZ. You will not beat the 10min timer.
many people who respond in necromancer topics have not played necro in endgame at all.
even had a discussion not to long ago with someone about Necro minions, after 5mins, i asked what level he was, ( 25 ) 
where i replied to i SAID ENDGAME thats not level 25!!
some people on this d4 forum not just necro specific just wanna see other classes get destroyed cuz they dislike em ig?
don’t mean to be offensive towards anyone here…,
but anyone that actually types that Minion builds are doable in endgame i can’t take seriously 
, this isn’t my first game i’ve played, currently playing PoE untill S3 comes, and im DESTROYING enemies in that game with minions I LOVE IT!! 
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Technically it’s six passives that “buff” minions.
The 7th, which is an attack speed booster applies to the necromancer as well as the minions (if any), which brings 3 skills to the table for non minion builds due to attack speed boost.
So, skills “in favour” of minions. Well, not really. The investment of the skill points alone, does not allow minions to survive WT4 with ease (I’ll get to that part later), nor does it put minion build “on par” with a sacrifice build.
As a non summoner build you have 15 skill points that can be assigned to flex/ more important roles/ skills. As a summoner, you’re tied to investing 18-21 skill points, and then having to select the bare necessities to have a passable build. It’s rather, inflexible.
So. Sacrifice build- memento mori- extra bonus to your sacrficed abilities for warriors and mages. There’s also an aspect for sacrifice bonuses, up to 25% extra (from base, it’s an additive).
Damage reduction buff.
Already that’s power and defences.
Minions.
You can get 5 skirmishes, 3 mages and a golem in a pear tree. Stats are 30% of your own, cool right? They die to a sneeze in wt4. Even with skill points invested.
So, how do we roll with minions- minion paragons- all minions, all the time, and lacklustre in its performance. Oh, and the golem board. Can’t forget that one either.
So what, 100+ paragon points? In minion/ golem plus 21 skill points.
For that investment you’d “expect” it to hold even a candle to bone spear, blood lance sacrifices right?
Wall of text is wall of text 
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Minions, summons, and companion builds all suck.
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Man in the alpha minions were so awesome. I wish they didnt nerf it into the ground.
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I have no issue with any class being overpowered… id prefer an endless paragon and plenty of room for growth even beyond level 100. whether its sets, legendary gems, rune words, more unique and legendary effects, kanai’s cube, there was plenty of ways to progress through the 13 world tier benchmarks in D3 and unnumerable levels of greater rifts. the endgame to me feels, stagnant, and all new content is seasonal… temporary and transient. which is annoying
Main issue with D4 devs is they are taking 0 chances. They have no vision. Playing it completely safe. Meh and blah seem to be design standpoint. Out of everything we have paragon is the only thing with actual substance and even there it has big issues like keystones being in far off areas so ppl just skip it and get 7 glyphs instead. D4 skill trees are blah. Endgame meh. Outer world blah. Only one goblin blah. No set items blah. No fun gems blah. No legendary gems blah. Aspects are meh and mess. Comparing items blah. Instantly dead bosses and world bosses are blah. Where is the actual game parts of this game???
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It seems that their designers lack confidence. It’s like they fear to innovate to the point of paranoia. They are EXTREMELY conservative in their design choices. I have some hope that when PoE2 comes out, it will create a strong competition for D4 and they will MAYBE copy some solid ideas from PoE2. At the very least they will feel much more pressure to be competitive, assuming that PoE2 succeeds.
its not the minion builds alone that are in this state. The problem is their design philosphy.
For whatever reason they let 10x too strong classes in, and rather balance new stuff around the broken builds then trying to reach a more stable balance point within the season. Ultimately that would have been much more fun. Why do they listen to ppl who want their broeken builds stay like that forever is beyond me anyway.
It made the whole season a joke if you tried off meta stuff. And most of these experiments failed or lead to utter disappointments in the overall class balance that Jackson aims to uphold but doesnt seem to care at all.
The Answer is quite simple its easier that way. Its Live Service"the easy way" .
Whereas my preference is that once I’m past level 15 or so, the minions should be doing ALL the damage. I am the general that commands and directs them. I’m not the grunt swinging a weapon. I don’t mind casting debuffs, but that’d be the limit of what my ideal necromancer would do.
that is exactly what it will never become. they intentionally made it that so you cant afk farm with necro minions
I’m pretty sure you can in other versions of Diablo, so why not here?
because they ***intentionally **** made it that way because they didnt want afk farming
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Doesn’t matter what their intention was with a clas…
In the end what matters if players enjoy the class, considering necromancers core identity is in a horrible spot, anyone with a decent amount of thinking could see that it’s in a wrong place right now.
Imagine your sorcerer not having fire ice or lightning spells, but something that isn’t the core identity of the class, just cuz something works doesn’t mean its right.
either way, i dont see why you are argruing here clearly you dont agree with necro minions so why bother beeing on this post.
But objectivly He is right…way too much Minion stuff in the skilltree…get rid of all the Minion passives, make their effects Baseline and Change Said passives to some useful defensive/Mobility Options…
IT does Matter AS the devs are the ones coding balancing the Game…what does Not Matter are your Views about IT…If you Like IT,Play IT If you dont Play Something different -simple as that…and WE have Had this discussion enough Times allready. Time for you to Accept the fact, afk Minion builds Not wanted, Not going to Happen…in fact ITS allways the Same few people coming Up with the same stuff every day …If your build doesnt Work, get good or try Something Else…
Some time ago I posted on D3 forums about Rathma set being nothing like the Skelemancer from D2. They reworked it and now Rathma is one of my favorite sets in D3. I also posted on D2:R forums that I really enjoyed Strafe Bowazon in D2:LoD. In D3 they made GoD DH into what is probably my favorite build in the entire game. Providing constructive feedback matters. Developers gather feedback from this forums and make decisions. Don’t hesitate to say what you want and what you don’t want. Just do it in a smart and insightful way, so that they can treat you seriously.
so are you also arguing necros should be able to afk farm? is that the identity of the necro you search for? if it is you are pretty sad
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you shouldnt dismiss such as always bein lazy people. I think a weaker but serviceable build that mostly does dmg w/o ur char doing anything is fine to have. There are still ppl with handicaps.