How I believe GA and pierce should work together

[ALnitak]

Hi all,

After a week of boards-browsing, and since it's my first post here, I feel like I have to introduce myself a bit before going further. I'm 22, and am hooked with zons since my beginnings in Diablo2 - was in classic 1.06. I started posting at PDF on February last year, and I'm considered there as one of the zons' specialists - although I don't expect it to have any weigh here, considering the awesome guides Lurker Lounge's members had already written.

As for my chars, they have all been built in single player mode. I began with a bowazon (converted to burizon with LoD, now level 92), kept on with a javazon based on crushing blow and deadly strike (level 93), then a level 78 hybrid (although I played more with her bowazon's genes, then did some PvP with her), and last a level 98 windexazon, on who I've been focused for 8 months, gathering stuff for her. I also built a level 90 frenzy barb - I have to confess it's boring not to fear dying :-) -. Right now I'm playing a D2 Classic 1.06 sorc, level 34 act1 hell, who I'll convert to LoD 1.07/1.08 after she finishes classic, and all this to collect sweet charms and gear. Her top-end quest is to find a 1.08 Windforce for my dexazon, although I realize it will be long not to say impossible. But I already traded for two 1.08 Windforce, they turned out to be dupes as Atma was released then I deleted them. So I'm decided to find this bow by my own, whatever the time it takes - my dexazon is a very long term build, by the way...

Three words about Lurker Lounge forums now :

1) The look and features of the forum really rock.

2) The low rate of forum trolls is really appreciable, which might be related to 3)

3) It seems to be one of the rare D2 forums with no post count, and I really think it's a good thing as I believe it prevents spam. I hope it's not temporary as Lurker Lounge just changed its forums' software...


****************************** Now back to topic ******************************

In what follows, zons will stand for bowazons, or zons using GA skill.

From my personnal forum experience, I've observed one of the most common expectancies about patch 1.10 is related to what's called the GA bug, pierce bug or whatever : "nerf it !", "no more multiple pierces !", "zons are invicible in duels !". So, if you don't mind, let's have a seat and discuss about it - although I guess it had been done numerous times before. I hope I come with new arguments in favour of GA piercing one time (GA piercing one time and nothing more).

The bare facts (please correct me here if I'm wrong)

• guided arrow didn't pierce in D2 Classic, not until LoD 1.09 patch
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• guided arrow now can pierce up to 4 times (it is said to depend on the monster type, or the distance and angle from which you shoot at your target...)
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• zons using this feature in duels can hardly be beat<>
  [st]
  A fast conclusion one shouldn't draw, although I've often read it - I'm not talking about LL
  
  Guided arrow piercing is unfair in duels, ridiculous, then it's a bug and GA should never pierce.
  
  Side note 1 : I would say that a PvP-only concern (zons being overpowered because of GA + pierce) shouldn't lead systematically to a nerf ; I mean, this game is not only PvP, and one should keep in mind that before duelling, chars need to be levelled up, thus play PvM. This game has multiple features, the main of those being PvM, IMO. Thus the fact that zons are overall more powerful than other classes in PvP shouldn't be a motivation to nerf zons, just for the purpose of making duels more fair to other classes (although it's up to Blizzard to decide that, not me, I'm quite aware of it). I hope PvPers will understand my point... and I encourage them to read the second side note...
  
  Side note 2 : I truely believe zons having a huge advantage on other classes in PvP is not related to this GA + pierce bug or whatever it's called ; I do think it is rather related to a feature that is part of zons, which is : zons are the only chars who can leech while having ranged attacks (throwing barbs and variants let apart). In duels, they have the advantage of being ranged chars as sorcs and necromancers (bone spirit), as well as the advantages of melee physical chars (barbs, paladins, non-elemental druids, and assassins), that is leeching. This very combo, part of zons, is something no patch will ever change, that is to say zons will always be unfair chars to duel, GA piercing or not. But true, it's not a reason to allow other advantages for zons, and that's why rules exist in legit, fair duels, which commonly consist of a limitation on pierce amount from pierce skill, and forbidden use of piercing items such as buriza or razortail.
  
  Instead, let's try to be more accurate when we say it...
  
  Guided arrow piercing more than once is unfair and should be removed. And this more than once thing is the key point of my demonstration.
  
  4 arguments which make me believe GA piercing is no bug
  • Unless I'm mistaken, there is no official line from Blizzard saying that GA piercing is a bug, in no patch release info it is said that it's a known bug. There again please correct me if I'm wrong - I have searched for such information, but never found it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
    
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  • Nowhere on Arreat Summit - official site of the game, although it was kinda out-of-date not so long ago - it's said that guided arrow should not pierce. I quote Arreat's Summit :
    
    

    Effect: Imbues an arrow with the ability to seek its nearest target.
    
    Guided Arrow is very effective in Player vs Player battles.
    
    Guided Arrow is handy when it is difficult to hit a moving enemy (Sand Leapers) or you want to hit an enemy around a corner. Keep in mind that Strafe and Multishot can also get the job done.
    
    Players focused in Strafe or Multishot may wish to use this for single monsters or bosses.

    
    I already had this debate at PDF, and one member objected, as a proof of GA being a bug, that this skill was originally designed to kill monsters in corners, not to be the utlimate boss killer. As you can notice, this argument falls, as Blizzard described guided arrow to be also a skill used for bosses, and even an effective PvP skill (everybody will agree here :-)).
    
    
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  • Same, nowhere on Arreat's Summit it is said that pierce skill doesn't work with guided arrow. I quote Arreat Summit again :
    
    

    Passive Effect: A chance that your missile will continue through its victim.
    
    This is a very powerful passive skill since it affects any and all missile weapons you employ a chance to damage, pass through, and then damage another creature.

    
    Although I chose the lines I quoted, there is no mention of pierce not working with guided arrow, and why would it be implicit ? Not that obvious to me, as an argument...
    
    However, at this very point of my demonstration, the aware reader should have noticed a loop-hole. Pierce is to allow missiles to pass through a creature, then damage another creature... hey hey gotcha AL ! Wait a minute please. I guess this is a handy sentence they made, as pierce is to work on all bow skills : for all "regular" bow skills (strafe, multishot, freezing arrow etc...), arrows will indeed do that ; that's a majority of skills having this behaviour with pierce. Now let's take guided arrow's description again :
    
    

    Effect: Imbues an arrow with the ability to seek its nearest target.

    
    So to me, guided arrow works special with pierce as the nearest target after a pierce is the very target that has just been pierced. So they just wrote "damage another creature" to make it short ; indeed, for guided arrow, the "other creature" is the very same that has just been hit before. No big deal. If I ask you : "give me a number", let's say you reply "21". Then I ask you "gimme another number" : what prevents you from saying 21 again ?
    
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  • Now, my key argument : in the name of basic logic, why would a level 18 skill (guided arrow) take precedence over a level 30 skill (pierce) ? In the name of what, game balance ? Let's get back to D2 Classic, when sorceresses were much more powerful than other classes, not to say really overpowered. How did Blizzard nerf sorcs ? They added casting delays. Did they inhibit masteries (level 30 skills) for powerful skills (frozen orb - level 30 -, or even firewall - level 18 -) ? Nope. Why would it be different for zons - although I do agree something has to be done ?<>
    [st]
    Now something to satisfy both sides (pro and anti) : let's be reasonable. Guided arrow piercing 4 times is way too much, it makes zons be overpowered in duels mainly, but also in PvM compared to other classes. But guided arrow piercing once would be the most logical thing, as pierce is a level 30 skill, said to work with all missile attacks, and which shouldn't be hijacked by a level 18 skill, whatever powerful this skill is.
    
    My conclusion is guided arrow should pierce either none (if you haven't got any point in pierce, or if the pierce roll failed), or once and no more (if you have 100% pierce or if the pierce roll succeeded).
    
    Addition : I think what should be really nerfed, without any doubt, is buriza. Buriza-do Kyanon, an exceptional unique weapon being almost as powerful as the most godly, powerful bow in the whole game. A weapon easy to find or trade for. A weapon which boosts your pierce amount to 100%, an amount no zon could ever obtain only with points in pierce skill, even 60 of them (without razortail). There is no equivalent of this in the game - as if a staff would give +50 fire mastery for sorcs !
    
    I realize this post is kinda pointless since patch 1.10 approaches - let's hope so -, and anyway, Blizzard wouldn't have taken my point of view into account. I just wanna know what you all think of this, does it sound fair for both sides ? Would it satisfy duellers ? Do you find my ideas on the way those two skills should work together acceptable ?
    
    Thanks for having read this.
    
    --- Multiple edits due to wrong-key hit, and also because I'm used to edit my posts all the time... ---