Heiho,
you're right, at least in parts regarding party play. Where blizz nerfed the Necro along with 1.09 and all that 'cast very useful curse on strike' business and made that class nearly obsolete they didn't learn from this mistake but repeated it to make the classes of Paladin and Barb a bad joke, what with giving their most party friendly skills out to anyone virtually rich enough or unscrupulous enough not to mind thei sorces of items.
We're talking SP here.
I think with Patch 1.10 blizz people already had too much WoW gameplay in mind, so they restricted the melee classes, especially the Barb, to a simple blocking function ('pull Aggro' or whatever they call it in WoW). Giving their most party valuable skills out of that classes' hands (CtA anyone? Aura when equipped?) made them unattractive. IMHO _that_ is the reason why you don't see many Barbs around anymore.
You mentioned a BotD weapon one of your Barbs got finally and that being 'just ok, but not Uber'. IMHO this _is_ a typical kiddie weapon, regardless of player's age. Does high figures of raw damage, a lot of funky graphical lagging, and renders the uttermost important Cry a Barb can use for offensive purposes - Battle Cry - helpless due to NHD issues with the casted PN and its very special setting of NHD. I've seen Barbs with that weapon cutting through everything in their way not due to their player skill but due to raw damage and the favorized tactic of running at the next enemy and slashing him while ignoring all other enemies. This is hireling's behaviour, not player's.
In SP for designated melee classes a Honor elite weapon marks the low end of a hell viable melee weapon, at least if you're accompaigned by a Mighty Merc.
And I tell you that based on a physical DaggerNec wearing a low cruel Mithril Point, who was buid during 1.09 and reactivated several times in 1.1x just to see how it works.
The Ice Wolf is just ok to keep single opponents or very small groups under control. The area control of a Holy Freezing guy is much better. Still I think the Mighty guy is your best choice, because you definitively lack damage. The Barb has crowd control of his own, War Cry, Howl, Taunt, and maybe Leap as well, not to mention seldom used ones like Grim Ward.
I'd also second Hammer's opinion on Howl. Against ranged attackers you'll need Howl and Taunt, because especially in mixed enemy groupings you can't WC them at your ease. Unless you Leap at them, but this brings problems of undefeated melee warriors on your backside.
Quote:...
I have played 4 character classes through Hell in D2. I have no experience with Assasins, Druids or Necros. Out of all of them, a pure Barb is by far the weakest of the group. When 1.11 rolled out, the character that I saw the least of by far was a Barb. Later on, as some people got decent Barb items, some Barbs were seen here and there. See, most on Bnet just want to crush things. The fact that the Barb is one of the least common characters, should tell you something. You could say that these are just kids playing who want god mode. In some cases, you'd be right. However, there are some very skilled people out there, whatever their age is.
you're right, at least in parts regarding party play. Where blizz nerfed the Necro along with 1.09 and all that 'cast very useful curse on strike' business and made that class nearly obsolete they didn't learn from this mistake but repeated it to make the classes of Paladin and Barb a bad joke, what with giving their most party friendly skills out to anyone virtually rich enough or unscrupulous enough not to mind thei sorces of items.
We're talking SP here.
I think with Patch 1.10 blizz people already had too much WoW gameplay in mind, so they restricted the melee classes, especially the Barb, to a simple blocking function ('pull Aggro' or whatever they call it in WoW). Giving their most party valuable skills out of that classes' hands (CtA anyone? Aura when equipped?) made them unattractive. IMHO _that_ is the reason why you don't see many Barbs around anymore.
You mentioned a BotD weapon one of your Barbs got finally and that being 'just ok, but not Uber'. IMHO this _is_ a typical kiddie weapon, regardless of player's age. Does high figures of raw damage, a lot of funky graphical lagging, and renders the uttermost important Cry a Barb can use for offensive purposes - Battle Cry - helpless due to NHD issues with the casted PN and its very special setting of NHD. I've seen Barbs with that weapon cutting through everything in their way not due to their player skill but due to raw damage and the favorized tactic of running at the next enemy and slashing him while ignoring all other enemies. This is hireling's behaviour, not player's.
In SP for designated melee classes a Honor elite weapon marks the low end of a hell viable melee weapon, at least if you're accompaigned by a Mighty Merc.
And I tell you that based on a physical DaggerNec wearing a low cruel Mithril Point, who was buid during 1.09 and reactivated several times in 1.1x just to see how it works.
Quote:I've recently just picked up a might merc to help out my damage output. I felt like I had enough control with my war cry that I didn't need my ice mercenary from act 3. Do you think this is a mistake? Will my one handed swords have enough damage to be efficient with might, or should I stick with more control for hell. Also, is the cold aura from the merc in Act 2 better than the Act 3 Ice Mercenary for control?
The Ice Wolf is just ok to keep single opponents or very small groups under control. The area control of a Holy Freezing guy is much better. Still I think the Mighty guy is your best choice, because you definitively lack damage. The Barb has crowd control of his own, War Cry, Howl, Taunt, and maybe Leap as well, not to mention seldom used ones like Grim Ward.
I'd also second Hammer's opinion on Howl. Against ranged attackers you'll need Howl and Taunt, because especially in mixed enemy groupings you can't WC them at your ease. Unless you Leap at them, but this brings problems of undefeated melee warriors on your backside.