07-10-2003, 10:16 PM
Quote:Considering I found a goldstrike and similar exceptional bows mainly off hell pindle runs, I can assure you that even decent gear does not fall out of the sky, especialy when actualy playing through the game.
My experiences in classic hc didn't not make me feel the amazon was overpowered.
Also, if Blizzard can really stop duping, I expect it will be incredibly difficult to trade for decent items, because as you know as of 1.09, it's easy to trade because most of the items up for sale aren't even legit. Not to mention the general attitude of the trading crowd on b.net that makes trading a waste of time in the majority of cases.
I absolutely agree with all of this: no doubt 'zons are very strong, verstile characters (as you would hope all mainstream characters would be) but they're not intrinsically overpowered. What broke them was the widespread availability of duped (or hacked) equipment (especially bows/xbows). In my experience, good equipment is not easy to come by on your own. In all my time playing LoD the best bows I've seen were one Goldstrike arch (off one of Brem's council members) which is what my main zon uses -- and yes it's a great end-game bow, but not overpowered IMHO -- and an Eaglehorn, which I've never used, since my hc sorc found it (off hell/meph) and I haven't made a hc 'zon since then. In fact, lvl for lvl, that hc fo/hydra sorc with rubbish for equipment was more powerful than any 'zon I've played.
Now, as far as I can see, 'zon skills haven't been changed too much in 1.10 (and a couple of bug-fixes are effectively nerfs - see below), so this may bring some of the other classes that were previously weaker than bowazons, say, closer to them in effectiveness. But with increased hitpoints etc, it doesn't look to me like 'zons will be mowing down mobs in 1.10 unless (or perhaps even if?) they really own what -- from my perpective -- looks like unobtainable uber-gear. Actually, based on what I've seen so far (which doesn't include hell) valk may be the essential crowd control skill for 'zons.
Two bug-fixes that do weaken bowzons are the ga/pierce bug-fix (and the definitive removal of extra strafe arrows for minions). This means bowazons have no high-damage attack for single targets (assuming, as I think is likely, that immo is still too weak), which was always a potential problem -- that, I guess, means they will have to rely on massively damaging weapons to kill act-end bosses etc. (I'm also talking from a solo-play perspective here), and we are back to the issue of what appears to be the overwhelming importance of itemz in 1.10. The other is the fire-arrow fix which removes their (bugged) attack against PIs (one that was very useful and one that I felt no qualms about using given the fact that my lvl 12 immo was absolutley rotten in comparision). This may well be replacable, though again there's a question of what an effective replacement for 1.10 PIs will be (maybe still a high level fire arrow, immo, freezing arrow, a javelin skill?)
The other major change I see is that the new valk is much tougher than the old one (and overpowered?) So far in nm/coldplains, a boss/6-minion mob of might-enhanced goat demosn was able to take down my lvl 2 valk, and a fast/extra strong lightning demon boss/minion mob killed her quite quickly. Apart from that, she seems almost indestructible, which seems too much.