05-30-2012, 02:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-30-2012, 02:35 PM by ViralSpiral.)
Well it's not pure defence - like I said, both builds had good DPS. So you've got to get some DPS in there, but it's the builds that covered all their defence bases that ended up dominating in the long run. Yes, D2 had periods when WW Barbs, Multizons, FW/Orb Sorcies, and CE Necros all ruled the world. But those were all patched out until the Hammerdin came to the fore. And Blizzard must approve of that build to some extent, because it's the one that didn't get nerfed entirely out of existence. It's also the most party-friendly of all the dominant builds too, which may have contributed to its being allowed to continue existing.
It makes sense, if you think about it - it's you against thousands. Of course defence is going to be necessary. You're outmatched in every way. Look at which skills got nerfed - the ones that gave too much defence potential. Blizzard's always had it out for builds that had TOO low of an offence - look at the monster regen rates in Hell in D2, or the Council of Travincal. I'm just saying I bet the secret is going like 35-40% offence and 60-65% defence, rather than the 90-100/0-10% ratios that most of the people on the official site forums doing their bitching are probably using.
D2 spent a very long time being about glass cannons, but like I said, they eventually all got nerfed and patched out of existence. The Hammerdin was the dominant build that survived getting screwed out. And out of all those builds, the WW Barb was the only one that didn't have solid defence as a strong option, with the exception of whatever benefit leech was worth (that was back when all mobs were 100% leechable, though.) The sorcies had Teleport, the Zons had their Valks and Slow Missile (even if most people rarely bothered to use it), the Necros had their hordes or golems, as needed. And in D1, all the good skills for defence were magic oriented, which made the Mage the best by default, with the fastest cast rates and easiest spell learning. The only defence stat which didn't matter in D2 was your DR because so many monsters ignored it or had AR so high it made little to no difference to increase it. Blocking, resists, and mobility were key factors though. Consider also the famous variants - the Irene clone abused Town Portal to defencive ends. Ember had little offence, but sturdy Vitality, high resists, and good mobility even without Teleport. Gunter has mass stun, and Grizabella mass confuse. Maldar didn't even arse himself to kill things. Obviously none of the variants are power builds, but it was their defence that allowed them to make it through, not their offence. Ponder that, if you will.
It makes sense, if you think about it - it's you against thousands. Of course defence is going to be necessary. You're outmatched in every way. Look at which skills got nerfed - the ones that gave too much defence potential. Blizzard's always had it out for builds that had TOO low of an offence - look at the monster regen rates in Hell in D2, or the Council of Travincal. I'm just saying I bet the secret is going like 35-40% offence and 60-65% defence, rather than the 90-100/0-10% ratios that most of the people on the official site forums doing their bitching are probably using.
(05-30-2012, 02:20 PM)Jester Wrote:(05-30-2012, 02:06 PM)ViralSpiral Wrote: I feel there is something to be learned from history, here.
This doesn't sound like very strong reasoning. You've cherry picked a couple of strong classes, and then somewhat randomly decided that it was defense that made them good, and then are assuming that this pattern was picked up and applied by the D3 devs?
Why? If anything, it sounds like the opposite: D2 was all about glass cannons, and D3 is not.
-Jester
D2 spent a very long time being about glass cannons, but like I said, they eventually all got nerfed and patched out of existence. The Hammerdin was the dominant build that survived getting screwed out. And out of all those builds, the WW Barb was the only one that didn't have solid defence as a strong option, with the exception of whatever benefit leech was worth (that was back when all mobs were 100% leechable, though.) The sorcies had Teleport, the Zons had their Valks and Slow Missile (even if most people rarely bothered to use it), the Necros had their hordes or golems, as needed. And in D1, all the good skills for defence were magic oriented, which made the Mage the best by default, with the fastest cast rates and easiest spell learning. The only defence stat which didn't matter in D2 was your DR because so many monsters ignored it or had AR so high it made little to no difference to increase it. Blocking, resists, and mobility were key factors though. Consider also the famous variants - the Irene clone abused Town Portal to defencive ends. Ember had little offence, but sturdy Vitality, high resists, and good mobility even without Teleport. Gunter has mass stun, and Grizabella mass confuse. Maldar didn't even arse himself to kill things. Obviously none of the variants are power builds, but it was their defence that allowed them to make it through, not their offence. Ponder that, if you will.