Basic Math - The Failure of Diablo Melee

[FireIceTalon]

Those "on-demand" heals don't scale at all

And healing potions do? The Templar's heals do?

and the armor and resistance buffs (which you have to sacrifice damage for and aren't out of line with what other classes get) hardly compensate for being exposed to the most dangerous threats in the game, repeatedly.

Which the Demon Hunter flat out doesn't get. The ONLY class without any buffs available to them. As for low DPS, melee can survive with 14k DPS in Inferno. At just shy of 20k DPS, I can't do enough damage to mobs at the entrance to Act II before they can kill me. Offense is the only defense a ranged class has, especially a Demon Hunter, because we flat out can't tank the damage. Monks and Barbarians can. Even Wizards can better than a Demon Hunter.

Let's not pretend that melee doesn't have serious problems in this game. Hell, switching my monk over to a hybrid ranged template was probably the single most beneficial change I made in Inferno.

Let's not pretend that the Demon Hunter has it any better - trust me, they don't.

Agree with all of this 100%. DH is such a underpowered and frail class, its ridiculous. If anything even touches us once, we are usually dead or close to it. I've been playing my Barb and Wiz, and I'm astounded at how much easier (and more fun) they are. DH has the potential to be an awesome class, but I really think Blizz needs to go back to the drawing board with how this class is designed - it is a class that is too item dependent with too many weaknesses. You can get pretty much the same DPS on a Wiz - except you get much better defensive skills, better overall crowd control skills, less item dependency (especially on resist all items, since Intelligence is your main stat as a Wiz), and perhaps most importantly, a much faster regeneration on your resource sytem. Alot of people say Wiz and DH are the two strongest classes, but I see no comparison between the two. Both are ranged classes that do high DPS, but that is where the similarities end: Wiz is grossly OP, and DH is grossly UNDER POWERED. This has been a tradition in the Diablo series though - casters are always OP, while ranged/bowers are always weaker. The same was true in D1 and D2.

And then you have Barbarian - which is the definition of over powered: with automatic 30% dmg reduction, loads of dmg reduction skills, attack rate/crit rate/armor increase boosts, and so on. Sure, some mobs are a nightmare to face (id imagine waller, arcane sentry, health link and plagued is quite nasty for any melee char), but at least they can survive a few hits - and cheezy affixes like vortex, fast, and teleporter dont mean as much since u usually fight in close quarters anyway.

I really regret making DH as my first 60 char, because the Inferno brick wall has left a sour taste in my mouth. My Barb and Wiz are currently in nightmare only, but they are having a much easier time with it than my DH ever did - though to be fair I also have a much greater understanding of the game now then back when I was lvling my DH in very first days of the launch. But If this is any indication, I would imagine they will fare better in Inferno than my DH currently is. DH is just a weak, fragile under powered class, that only has a huge DPS potential going for it really. That being said, they could be an awesome PvP class because they probably have the highest overall DPS potential, but in terms of PvM, they are the weakest class for sure. I get the feeling alot of the trouble I am having with Inferno is in part to the class I am playing, though I do not doubt that Inferno is unbelievably tedious for any class - just extra so for DH's.