variant - the Natural Hero
#1
My issue with D3 is that starting a hero (thru normal) is stupid-easy boring - click on monsters to proceed. I like starting new heros, so I hate this - Normal is like riding on rails through an amusement park. The tense, chilling feeling of D1 is gone.

(Mongo Jerry said no one could naked punch through Act I Normal. I tried for a bit and got bored / realized some champ/elite packs would be very hard indeed. So...)

Enter the Natural Hero.

They will let nothing unnatural (magical) touch their bodies - it lacks virtue - they wear/wield only white (or gray) items. No rings unless you can find a white one. No sockets unless you can find a white socketed item. (I don't think you can.) Non-magical weapon, armor.

Does the Natural Hero feel sad because they find all these great items they can't use? No! - they do not try to impose their beliefs on others - they can give these to their Follower.

I have a Natural female Wizard softcore who just killed Magda. It's been a real blast through Act I and Act II so far. I've died 3-4 times, all of them more or less avoidable.

Observations:
- Damage is still not too bad because of superior weapons, you just 2-hit things you used to 1-hit.
- Defense rating is great because extra defense is the only "affix" you get on superior armor.
- Mainly, it's very tense because your vitality is so low!

try it and see, I think it's lots of fun. Feels like the D1 I used to know. Feels like an accomplishment killing off each pack. Elites and champs (even with only one affix) are pretty scary! What's more the game takes a lot longer and is feeling a lot longer and as if it actually has more content - I notice the individual attacks, behavior of each monster, etc. I kite, attack around corners, actually use my mind while playing ...

Try it and tell me what you think - I think you might like it!

(Added bonus: no time wasted inspecting every darn blue that drops or going to the shops or crafting or AH or such.)

It really feels to me as if the game were designed and balanced (in Normal anyhow) around a non-magical base-equipment character.
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#2
"Barbarian Light" eh? Sounds nifty.

When things start getting rough you could allow "magic only" (no rares) by a certain difficulty. Even putting together the best blue set with the AH for Inferno would be interesting.
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#3
(07-14-2012, 05:12 PM)FoxBat Wrote: "Barbarian Light" eh? Sounds nifty.

When things start getting rough you could allow "magic only" (no rares) by a certain difficulty. Even putting together the best blue set with the AH for Inferno would be interesting.

Hey thanks!

My idea is not so much "cool variant" (look at me!) as "making normal into a real game".

It feels like a real game because 5-10 member packs of normal monsters force meaningful tactics, and champs/elites/specials are often seriously dangerous without being undoable or taking half an hour.

Yeah, I'm wondering how this would handle Nightmare. Would being significantly over-levelled (like +5) be enough to handle Nightmare in white gear?

I also totally twinked my Templar (3-6 dam rings with +26 str, etc) and now he does 2/3 my damage and is a real help in the fights (instead of being a semi lame meat shield and healbot.) His Mighty Blow actually kills some critters outright. I feel like I have a true adventure companion.
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#4
BattleNet forums has HardCore Natural (aka Barbarian or White) players in this thread:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5592454258

They don't let the Follower have any magic either.

One guy made it past Belial and Ghom and died in Siegebreaker.

I'm in Softcore and on Siegebreaker and have died quite a few times, but always (I feel) due to my own rashness.

It's certainly forced a very different playstyle for me - Ice Armor, Frost Nova, Blizzard, Diamond Skin.
Signature: Lightning.
Right-click: Arcane Orb

Between Frost Nova and Diamond Skin, I noticed the mobs don't get much chance to do damage to you. So despite my low (700-something) hit points, I stand around in the monsters and pour Blizzard on them.

I used to think of Diamond Skin and Frost Nova as escape skills Smile

I haven't bound the "move" key yet, probably should.
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