Basic Math - The Failure of Diablo Melee

[Bolty]

I have to conclude that the whole "melee classes in D3 are underpowered" gospel is a myth. Rather, it is the other way around - RANGED classes are the ones who get screwed more.

It's all gear. But in the long run, you are correct. In the end, after this game's been out a long time and gear curves have flattened, melee are going to rule the game as long as the current ruleset plays out. Yes, I'm aware that the next major patch is going to change things some, but not drastically enough to change the dynamic.

Ranged classes gear up enough defensively to be able to take a few hits before they die. They are unable to become "tanks" in the sense that they can avoid the kiting game. They have to kite everything.

Melee classes are forced to gear and spec enough defensively to be able to take lots of hits, because the only way they can kill anything is via a method that exposes them to these hits. As they gear up, the number of hits they can take expands, to the point where they can jump into crowds of champions and rares and just eat the damage while killing them. It stands to reason that once a melee class is geared enough to be able to do this in Inferno Act 4, balance is gone and ranged classes will be inferior. This is precisely why you're seeing Barbarians lead the pack in Inferno hardcore clearing. If they're geared enough, they can take 10 times the abuse the ranged classes take. If they're not geared enough, they can take 0 times the abuse the ranged classes take, and are unable to contribute to any fight.

Blizzard interviews pointed out something they're seeing in softcore mode: ranged classes have a distinct edge in the "death run" method of killing bosses, because they're able to res, get some hits in, die, res, get some hits in, etc. Melee res, run in, die practically instantly, etc, because they can't kite. So in softcore, it's the ranged characters that advanced the fastest and "beat" the game first. In hardcore, which forces you to play much, much more slowly and carefully, the gear curve leaves melee dominant due to the defensive abilities they're forced to have.