Reaper of Souls - Blizzcon Round-Up

[Aahzmadius]

I wonder if they're going to implement a new system to trade. Has there been any hints of this? Maybe to have the ability to trade from the forums, thus setting up a manual type of marketplace?

All legendary and set items in Reaper of Souls (and even in D3 vanilla after the next patch) are going to be “Soulbound.” As of right now, this means you have a 2-hour window to give the item to another member of the party you were in when the item dropped (so a max of 3 other players). Once that window expires, the item becomes Account Bound. I’m not a big fan of this change, but I understand the logic behind it-and I hope it is executed well.

But aside from that, I'd be interested to hear about your main characters since you've been playing for so long. What class have you been playing mostly, and what skills? Do you try going for more dps and higher MP, or whatever skills you find the most fun?

Let the record show, that this part of my post was requested. It’s time for my most narcissistic of posts: a cadre update! I love writing them; you wonder why I took the time to post them. The Damage Per Second numbers are taken from the current profile screen on Battle.net and are unbuffed; Effective Hit Point numbers are from D3up.com. This is my main account, so heavy GAH use was involved. In honor of the requestor, we’ll start with HC. Here we go:

Wizard- Paragon 58, 6,400 elite kills, 90k DPS, 540 EHP. This is my most-used HC char and I typically play in public games on Monster Power 4. I use a cookie cutter Archon build, although recently I switched out Energy Armor (defense) for Storm Armor (offense). As long as I’m in Archon mode, I feel pretty safe-particularly if a barb is in the party running War Cry. Outside of Archon, things can get a little hairy, but it’s only maybe once per week that I feel uncomfortable. I’ve also had the opportunity to do Uber runs with the wizard. I switch over to gear and skills better suited for the perma-freeze Critical Mass/Energy Twister build. In that mode I drop to 60k DPS/360k EHP. It’s a lot more dangerous, and Unstable Anomaly (death-cheating passive) has gone off 3 times recently due to getting hit by Uber Maghda’s butterfly attack. I completed a full run of MP5 uber games, as well as 3 MP6 games. I now have 4 mostly crappy Hellfire rings of vitality. The CM/ET support character is helpful for Uber running, but it’s in this mode that I expect to have my deeds of valor remembered. As of now Poledra is still alive and kicking.

Barbarian- P29, 3,500 elite kills, 68k DPS, 900k EHP. Brienne is the character I use to hunt for keys in Hardcore. Very sturdy, and now has enough DPS to handle MP5 solo.

Demon Hunter- Level 51, currently in Nightmare Act 3. This character is currently leveling up with one of the aforementioned Hellfire rings. I already had all of my Standard mode characters to 60 by the time Hellfire rings were added, so this is actually the first time I’ve built up a character wearing one. It’s pretty fun and makes the level grind much easier. I typically play on MP10, but will turn it down once I get to NMA4. All of Hell difficulty will be at MP0. Most of my HC deaths have been in Hell difficulty.

And now switching to standard mode characters (you’ll note the much lower EHP):

Witch Doctor (on hiatus) - P100, 25k elite kills, 140k DPS, 230k EHP. I haven’t played the witch doctor since dinging to Paragon 100, because there’s not really an incentive. The expansion will credit your account with the total amount of Paragon already earned in D3 vanilla. Since P100 chars earn no further Paragon XP, it doesn’t make much sense to play them until RoS ships. I used an Acid Cloud build for the final stretch of leveling, mostly playing MP6 in public games. Some of the gear got transferred to my wizard.

Demon Hunter- P45, 6,500 elite kills, 210k DPS, 185k EHP. I haven’t played this character much recently, but did switch to a different build based on watching [a guildmate]. Rapid Fire/Bombardment dishes out a ton of damage, including an area of effect element. Unfortunately, since I’ve almost completely ignored boosting EHP, Reflect Damage elites tear me up, and the Savage Beasts in the Fields of Misery constantly one-shot me on MP5. If I were going to play the DH seriously, I would need to trade some DPS for EHP. However, I basically just play him occasionally for fun.

Monk- P32, 5,500 elite kills, 85k DPS, 370k EHP. I didn’t play the monk, my original character, for quite awhile, but I’ve grouped a bit more recently. Another monk suggested we use overlapping auras, so I’ll grab mine and run Mantra of Evasion with his Conviction. We’ll typically farm Act 1 on MP5 or 6, and we recently did an Act 2 key run at MP7. I dual-wield and use Sweeping Wind/Cyclone along with Exploding Palm. I recently dropped Breath of Heaven for the healing rune on Cyclone Strike. CS pairs well with EP and makes farming more efficient by grouping up enemies. Unfortunately, Wave of Light (which I’ve never really used) is in my friend’s build and it tends to counteract CS. A small price to pay for its (WoL) burst damage.

Wizard- P54, 5,200 elite kills, 175k DPS, 285k EHP. My current SC project. Since Blizzard is removing perma-Archon mode in the expansion, I decided to use it while it was still available for Paragon leveling. Typically I’ll jump into a public game on MP6, and die the least of the group. At least half of my deaths are lag-related (wireless), and I still can get through some runs with zero deaths. I think playing Hardcore has changed my mindset a bit regarding what an acceptable death rate is (except in my DH’s case, apparently). I’ve also used this character for the new “in thing” to do for Paragon XP: Crypt runs. The gist of this is to find a random dungeon (doesn’t always appear) in the Fields of Misery. One player then runs through the entire Decaying Crypt, activating the Wretched Mother type zombies (which vomit up other zombies). You don’t kill anything, just try to get wall-to-wall zombies. In the meantime, the other members of the party go find elite packs in the Festering Woods and wear them down to a sliver of health. The party re-forms, gets 5 stacks, and heads back to the Crypt for zombie-punching fun. On MP10, you get tons of XP. I have to switch over to Energy Armor, and I still die to tough elite packs, but it’s worth it for the progress I get on my blue bar. Also, starting around MP6, your odds of finding legendary items are actually greater from normal monsters than from elites, due to the chance of a bonus drop item. The screen lag is pretty wicked in the crypt, though (so many monsters to draw at once).

Barbarian- P29, 3,800 elite kills, 125k DPS, 540k EHP. The sturdiest of my cadre, and also happens to do the most “effective” DPS. Fully buffed, he tops out at nearly 700k EHP and with life steal on the Skorn he is tough to bring down-even on MP10. In Wrath mode against elite packs, Hammer of the Ancients pumps out 800k DPS, and I can pretty much maintain Wrath of the Berserker for an entire fight. When [guildmate] invites me into games with her uber friends, I grab the barb. (Note in this case “uber” refers to the players, not the monsters.) Barb builds will also change significantly in RoS, due to Life Steal being removed from items, and-more importantly-the Into the Fray rune on Battle Rage being changed. No more perma-Wrath, either. I just read a guide about a build that doesn’t use a Fury generator; I may give it a shot for kicks.