Attack Speed bonus values on weapons and armor have been reduced by 50%
Remember this? The game has changed a lot since 1.0.3, and in retrospect it looks like Attack Speed wasn't really the problem. IAS looked like a problem mainly because of how it interacted with some other problematic things, such as certain crowd control procs and other effects. IAS was also a problem because we didn't have many stats that promoted build diversity. The best builds were likely to be those that took the most advantage of Increased Attack Speed.
Patch 1.0.3 was released almost 2 years ago. Nowadays most of the things that were the root of pre-1.0.3 problems, have long been fixed.
We have been left with a gimped Increased Attack Speed stat. If you bother to do the math you will realize that when Cooldown Reduction and Resource Cost Reduction are utilized on the right build, they blow Increased Attack Speed out of the water.
Attack speed has remained prevalent because of its "star power", just like famous past-their-prime fighters can still get a payday and be hyped up like a big deal because of their past glories. IAS has clung to hearts of many players in a way that to this day, they are still proud of their "Trifecta" items.
Mainly thanks to CDR and RCR totally invigorating the game. Now more than ever, people are starting to realize the downfalls of high attack speeds. Some have even asked for attack speed to be buffed to its pre-1.0.3 status.
Fixing Increased Attack Speed is an interesting exercise on design and balance. If you were to buff the numbers on attack speed, you would make it compete withResource Cost Reduction andCooldown Reduction on all builds. You shouldn't need Increased Attack Speed on builds that are heavily cooldown based, nor you should need it on those that provide passive resource regeneration or straight-up cost reductions.
Increasing the numbers on IAS could artificially make attack speed optimal for builds where intuition tells you that attack speed wouldn't help. Moreso, it would continue to shift gearing from an intuitive process into a heavy math excercise. Increasing IAS numbers on items would also make it super OP for some builds like pet-based builds or the furnace.
To summarize:
Attack Speed shouldn't compete with Cooldown Reduction or Resource Cost Reduction, instead it should provide a completely different alternative. Attack Speed doesn't need to rise numerically as much as it needs more skills and item stats that support IAS-based builds.
Attack speed seems to be in a good and manageable place right now. The big issue seems to be making the player base understand that attack speed does have his places. Maybe creating or modifying a few skills and stats here and there could help drive the point home. Things like Crushing Blow, an improved version of bleed%, or just anything else that benefits from having sky-high attack speeds.
What do you think on the subject? Are you still running with heavy attack speed builds or have you started toying around with CDR and RCR builds?
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Patch 1.0.3 was released almost 2 years ago. Nowadays most of the things that were the root of pre-1.0.3 problems, have long been fixed.
We have been left with a gimped Increased Attack Speed stat. If you bother to do the math you will realize that when Cooldown Reduction and Resource Cost Reduction are utilized on the right build, they blow Increased Attack Speed out of the water.
Attack speed has remained prevalent because of its "star power", just like famous past-their-prime fighters can still get a payday and be hyped up like a big deal because of their past glories. IAS has clung to hearts of many players in a way that to this day, they are still proud of their "Trifecta" items.
Mainly thanks to CDR and RCR totally invigorating the game. Now more than ever, people are starting to realize the downfalls of high attack speeds. Some have even asked for attack speed to be buffed to its pre-1.0.3 status.
Fixing Increased Attack Speed is an interesting exercise on design and balance. If you were to buff the numbers on attack speed, you would make it compete withResource Cost Reduction andCooldown Reduction on all builds. You shouldn't need Increased Attack Speed on builds that are heavily cooldown based, nor you should need it on those that provide passive resource regeneration or straight-up cost reductions.
Increasing the numbers on IAS could artificially make attack speed optimal for builds where intuition tells you that attack speed wouldn't help. Moreso, it would continue to shift gearing from an intuitive process into a heavy math excercise. Increasing IAS numbers on items would also make it super OP for some builds like pet-based builds or the furnace.
To summarize:
Attack Speed shouldn't compete with Cooldown Reduction or Resource Cost Reduction, instead it should provide a completely different alternative. Attack Speed doesn't need to rise numerically as much as it needs more skills and item stats that support IAS-based builds.
Attack speed seems to be in a good and manageable place right now. The big issue seems to be making the player base understand that attack speed does have his places. Maybe creating or modifying a few skills and stats here and there could help drive the point home. Things like Crushing Blow, an improved version of bleed%, or just anything else that benefits from having sky-high attack speeds.
What do you think on the subject? Are you still running with heavy attack speed builds or have you started toying around with CDR and RCR builds?