I would like to know that too. What I've figured out so far: Drahque's LoN Blessed Shield build is heavily group-focused, it lacks survivability for solo. With a few adjustments, one will be able to us it in solo-games, but I don't know how succesful that would be.
Yesterday I put together a suboptimal LoN Blessed Shield to try in a group with a Wiz friend. Had 5 ancient items total with random stats, sometimes quite useless, and didn't have Pain Enhancer at all. We were able to clear GR60 in 8 minutes, which was slow compared to our usual runs, but build was fun and the overall impression was that it should be quite viable in groups. Still that's just my impression. In the end I'd also like to know if someone mains that build and could elaborate on its potential.
Quote fromasuqun1991
You do realise the items are already rolled, before you open the cache right? It is rolled the moment you get the cache, not the moment you open them.
I do. And I did know that Blizz said so before conducting this experiment, but I tend to test things myself before I come to conclusions
I provided as much info as I could, because it may be helpful to others.
You are absolutely not right, when I obtain a cache, I can switch to a different character and open the cache and the items will roll a different main stat for the items that dropped. So this cannot be true then? If they were all predetermined they would always roll STR on items and not INT when I open them on my Wizard?
Haven't tried this yet. Although caches from a bounty that I completed at lvl 61 gave me lvl 61 items when I opened the cache at lvl 70. But still plenty room for experimenting I guess.
You do realise the items are already rolled, before you open the cache right? It is rolled the moment you get the cache, not the moment you open them.
I do. And I did know that Blizz said so before conducting this experiment, but I tend to test things myself before I come to conclusions
I provided as much info as I could, because it may be helpful to others.
There's a monk set with a 2-item set-bonus that increases all damage by 20% if combat staff is equipped. Makes 2h builds for monks somewhat viable. Crusaders are also using two-handers, and demon-hunters do (though it's ranged weapons). I think this is what Blizz mean when they say that two-handers are in a good place right now: there is a certain niche for them. If you add extra sockets and some other bonuses, I fear only more issues will arise, such as classess already preferring 2H-weapons becoming OP and players that like 2x1H builds complayning that those builds are inefficient and that they are forced to use 2H-weapons. My guess is no major changes are coming. Maybe some minor tuning like tweaking stat ranges.
I have not seen anything apart from "bounty only" legendaries drop from the chests. I've opened at least 50 of those chests and got at least 5 legendaries: Cloak of Deception, Pauldrons of the Skeleton King, Sanguinary Vambraces, Insatiable Belt and Gloves of Worship. A friend of mine got Coven's Criterion and Golden Gorget of Leoric along with some of aformentioned ones, but no non-bounty legendaries. All the chests were opened in Act I on T6 (adventure mode). The bounties we were farming were in all the acts and on two difficulties: normal and T1.
I'd say running rifts sounds more reasonable if you are looking for set pieces.
Bleu, do you remember which monster power you were playing on?
My clan mate an I were doing a cathedral run when he got his 4 within 12 minutes, and we were on T3. Yesterday when I got my double drop within two minutes, I was on T4 solo.
I got 6 yesterday within 2.5 hours doing keep depths l2 runs on T2 with 1-3 friends, today only 3 within the same time with 1-2 friends.
For better results bring more friends!
As of now the best difficulty for both legs and exp farm seems to be the one you are able to roflstomp. There are no torment-only legendaries until RoS comes out, the droprate bonus from Torment difficulties is minor, but XP bonus is good. Though if you can't kill things fast enough, you will gain less xp in the end. So yeah, just choose the difficulty that you are able to clear fast enough.
BTW the only good farm spot I found is repeatedly clearing keep lvl 2 + killing Ghom.
I agree that Blizzard has gone into an extreme here. I'm not a huge fan of trading and I never cared if someone else is trading or not. The issue with the AH was not that it allowed someone to get better gear, the issue was that it was mandatory to use the AH if you wanted to farm higher difficulties. Drops were balanced around the AH, because it was open for everyone and if everyone had a small chance of finding a good item, it meant that this item will flood the AH, which in turn meant that it will have a low price, which meant that everyone would be able to buy it. And this happened when Blizz tuned drop rates, so that people could actually find weapons with DPS higher than 300 (back when there was no MP and each next act was more difficult than the previous). Those good weapons (and not only weapons) flooded the AH, and suddenly Inferno was too easy, so Blizz were forced to introduce MP. By telling all this I try to describe why AH was bad. It was not trading in general, but the ease of access to a global and powerful trading tool. I haven't spent as much time in D2 as I have in D3, but the existence of d2jsp was not bothering me at all. There was a part of the community, that wanted to trade there or buy items for real money or whatever, but I wasn't part of it. And so weren't many others. Some may have even been oblivious to the fact that RMT existed at all. And here's what this BoA change does wrong: it makes an ordinary player like myself unable to play as I used to, it is hurting my experience without giving anything in return. I have a wife and she prefers to play alone, but we like to share our loot with each other. We can't do that anymore. I have a close friend that has more spare time and is playing much more often, and he also likes Wizards while I like melee classes. Thanks to loot 2.0 he has little to no chance to find a piece of gear suitable for me (as do I to find an item for him), and on top of that we can only share items found while farming together. We have guildies from WoW with whom we were going to form a clan, and we can't share items within our clan. It's not even trading - it's sharing with people I like. You can't lend your alt's gear to a friend that recently started to play and wants to farm faster. All of this is frustrating, because those are such fundamental things. I agree with Shaggy and his particular opinion that they areturning an online game into a single-player sandbox. BoA was a cure for this issue with good items with an acceptable chance to drop flooding the AH, but with the AH gone, there's no need for this cure. Especially for the much stronger version of it.
I agree that skeletons aren't that useful during boss fights, but like Abah said perma fetish army will do just as good (better even). 9 dogs and 3 WDs already make for a 60% damage increase. I fear that Blizzard's intent was to make it in line with other damage increasing abilities - 15% to you for 3 friends and 5% bonus for each of them fits the general rule of 10-20% damage increase from passives and runes (combination strike = 10-30%, fire ally = 10%, overawe 20%, crippling wave rune = 10% and so on). So I guess if cap is going to happen, it will be a really low cap. Though I'd be fine with 6-8. It will still be powerful, but not as broken, as with an army of dogs and fetishes.
EDIT: Or maybe if it will count your minions/followers and your party members, but not their minions, there will be no need to cap it at all. I think this one I like the best, don't know about the ease of implementation though.
Hey, mates! I stumbled upon this funny combo, which I'd like to share with you. I've done no testing regarding it's effectiveness on higher difficulties (past Hard to be exact), but it's enjoyable to look at at least
The combo is based on the Unity passive and a legendary item called Golden Gorget of Leoric
Unity counts every summoned skeleton as an ally, so you get 5% damage increase for each skelly fighting by your side. Your follower and an elemental Ally also count. Though Fire Ally's special ability (summons 10 explosive allies) is ignored. Here's how my stats change:
No mantra
Mantra of Evasion, Templar and Fire Ally
Mantra of Evasion, Templar, Fire Ally and about about a dozen undead friends
I'm afraid to even think about how the numbers will change with four such monks in a party. Couple of WDs will also do. Here are full-sized screenshots in case someone wants to take a look:
On a serious note I think Blizz may have to implement a cap for Unity. What's your thoughts on this combo in general and on cap in particular?
They already added legendary crafts that require a base item (white), a unique legendary material (there are different types that drop from certain monsters) and all the crafting mats along with a death's breath - the new demonic essence. That's not exactly what you propose, but it works for me. Though it's a pain to craft those atm because of how difficult it is to find that white item.
I did like the original D3 to some extent, but it was a disappointment in the end. And I think that for me it was the AH, that ruined everything. It was a barrier keeping Blizz from fine-tuning the gameplay, because if some items would drop a little more often than never, then the AH would be flooded with those, that would impact difficulty, gameplay would get boring, and so on. AH influenced Blizz's decisions, bound them to it's rules. BoA was part of the solution, but not a cure. And after all the patching the only thing I really enjoyed was plaing self-found HC with friends, who felt like playing this way too, but the loot was not rewarding enough to keep playing past p8 (and my friends were only playing to get HC achievements). I believe that removing the AH was the decision, that will bring this game back to life for me and for many others. Strangely enough I was lucky to get into the beta the very day it was announced, and I must say I like it (lvl41 crusader atm). There are some things asking for improvement, but I have a feeling, that this is the game I will be enjoying like I enjoyed D2 in the past.
So, I tried both builds I said I would. Didn't like either tbh :\.
Phalanx: The end guys would tend to hit into a wall too often and or they just miss guys. Missed the range and reliability of FoH
Sweep attack: Did more damage, possible canidate to switch to for boss fights with fire rune (though shield bash seems like a better idea if I'm going to do that...). Though again missed my range of FoH.
Back to FoH for me in the end *sigh*. Also Romique I found the clone a pain to kill as well and I wasn't specificallly going to survivabilty as I'm not playing HC (While I didn't die until post 70 anyways). Ohh and if you read this before you get to act 5... if a angel says get behind it.... DO IT. Otherwise you might get one shot on expert or heck even hard.
Phalanx looks lame to be honest, especially the bowmen version of it. Still going to try it with Lord Commander passive, horse and bombardment, but I imagine this mix needs some kind of legendary set bonus or something, doesn't look viable "as is". What I like about the Crusader is that he is not squishy and can use any of his abilities in melee. Though spamming range abilities from melee feels odd (and I never did because of that). Not having a 30% damage reduction like Monks and Barbs do also feels odd. I got to Act V yesterday and killed Uzriel, but I don't think I've seen this "get behind" thing. I'll be on a lookout, thanks =)
I've actually been enjoing Blessed Hammer since I unlocked it. The Infinity rune (or whatever it's called, I also don't remember. It's effect is a 50% chance to create a new hammer whenever a hammer hits a target) is really fun. And when I was palying on Normal the lightning rune was quite handy. Switched to Expert right before Izual. I'm still lvl 40, and to this point the Crusader is quite tanky. Though I'm kinda new to HC, and maybe I'm investing a little too much in survivability, since my copy in the Diablo fight was quite a pain in the @ss to kill - it soaked damage like mad. So if "mid-ranged" is not your thing, there is a variety of things to try. Though I was expecting it to be fully melee, and was a little disappointed at first. But I've found what I personally like (Falling Sword)and also have some ideas on what to try later. But it's in no way a monk with all his blinding speed and flurry of blows. Maybe the Zeal rune along with AS Law and some AS passives opens a possibility to be like one, but it's definitely not my case.
BTW what i REALLY like about the Crusader is his personality. Makes me enjoy playing him and laugh sometimes
I could be totally off here but...loot alert ...video...report hacking...
like.. at least least try and set that up before you start the stream
AFAIK loot alert isn't considered a hack. I think there was a support ticket answer somewhere (maybe photoshopped, I don't care) stating that they don't consider loot alert dangerous and that it can be used for now.
EDIT:
Looking at how further discussion went, I'll add a warning that I don't encourage using loot alert, so that I'm not responsible if someone gets banned
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I would like to know that too. What I've figured out so far: Drahque's LoN Blessed Shield build is heavily group-focused, it lacks survivability for solo. With a few adjustments, one will be able to us it in solo-games, but I don't know how succesful that would be.
Yesterday I put together a suboptimal LoN Blessed Shield to try in a group with a Wiz friend. Had 5 ancient items total with random stats, sometimes quite useless, and didn't have Pain Enhancer at all. We were able to clear GR60 in 8 minutes, which was slow compared to our usual runs, but build was fun and the overall impression was that it should be quite viable in groups. Still that's just my impression. In the end I'd also like to know if someone mains that build and could elaborate on its potential.
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I provided as much info as I could, because it may be helpful to others.
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I'd say running rifts sounds more reasonable if you are looking for set pieces.
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For better results bring more friends!
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BTW the only good farm spot I found is repeatedly clearing keep lvl 2 + killing Ghom.
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I agree that Blizzard has gone into an extreme here. I'm not a huge fan of trading and I never cared if someone else is trading or not. The issue with the AH was not that it allowed someone to get better gear, the issue was that it was mandatory to use the AH if you wanted to farm higher difficulties. Drops were balanced around the AH, because it was open for everyone and if everyone had a small chance of finding a good item, it meant that this item will flood the AH, which in turn meant that it will have a low price, which meant that everyone would be able to buy it. And this happened when Blizz tuned drop rates, so that people could actually find weapons with DPS higher than 300 (back when there was no MP and each next act was more difficult than the previous). Those good weapons (and not only weapons) flooded the AH, and suddenly Inferno was too easy, so Blizz were forced to introduce MP. By telling all this I try to describe why AH was bad. It was not trading in general, but the ease of access to a global and powerful trading tool. I haven't spent as much time in D2 as I have in D3, but the existence of d2jsp was not bothering me at all. There was a part of the community, that wanted to trade there or buy items for real money or whatever, but I wasn't part of it. And so weren't many others. Some may have even been oblivious to the fact that RMT existed at all. And here's what this BoA change does wrong: it makes an ordinary player like myself unable to play as I used to, it is hurting my experience without giving anything in return. I have a wife and she prefers to play alone, but we like to share our loot with each other. We can't do that anymore. I have a close friend that has more spare time and is playing much more often, and he also likes Wizards while I like melee classes. Thanks to loot 2.0 he has little to no chance to find a piece of gear suitable for me (as do I to find an item for him), and on top of that we can only share items found while farming together. We have guildies from WoW with whom we were going to form a clan, and we can't share items within our clan. It's not even trading - it's sharing with people I like. You can't lend your alt's gear to a friend that recently started to play and wants to farm faster. All of this is frustrating, because those are such fundamental things. I agree with Shaggy and his particular opinion that they areturning an online game into a single-player sandbox. BoA was a cure for this issue with good items with an acceptable chance to drop flooding the AH, but with the AH gone, there's no need for this cure. Especially for the much stronger version of it.
edit: grammar...
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I agree that skeletons aren't that useful during boss fights, but like Abah said perma fetish army will do just as good (better even). 9 dogs and 3 WDs already make for a 60% damage increase. I fear that Blizzard's intent was to make it in line with other damage increasing abilities - 15% to you for 3 friends and 5% bonus for each of them fits the general rule of 10-20% damage increase from passives and runes (combination strike = 10-30%, fire ally = 10%, overawe 20%, crippling wave rune = 10% and so on). So I guess if cap is going to happen, it will be a really low cap. Though I'd be fine with 6-8. It will still be powerful, but not as broken, as with an army of dogs and fetishes.
EDIT:
Or maybe if it will count your minions/followers and your party members, but not their minions, there will be no need to cap it at all. I think this one I like the best, don't know about the ease of implementation though.
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Hey, mates! I stumbled upon this funny combo, which I'd like to share with you. I've done no testing regarding it's effectiveness on higher difficulties (past Hard to be exact), but it's enjoyable to look at at least
The combo is based on the Unity passive and a legendary item called Golden Gorget of Leoric
Unity counts every summoned skeleton as an ally, so you get 5% damage increase for each skelly fighting by your side. Your follower and an elemental Ally also count. Though Fire Ally's special ability (summons 10 explosive allies) is ignored. Here's how my stats change:
No mantra
Mantra of Evasion, Templar and Fire Ally
Mantra of Evasion, Templar, Fire Ally and about about a dozen undead friends
I'm afraid to even think about how the numbers will change with four such monks in a party. Couple of WDs will also do. Here are full-sized screenshots in case someone wants to take a look:
On a serious note I think Blizz may have to implement a cap for Unity. What's your thoughts on this combo in general and on cap in particular?
0
They already added legendary crafts that require a base item (white), a unique legendary material (there are different types that drop from certain monsters) and all the crafting mats along with a death's breath - the new demonic essence. That's not exactly what you propose, but it works for me. Though it's a pain to craft those atm because of how difficult it is to find that white item.
0
I did like the original D3 to some extent, but it was a disappointment in the end. And I think that for me it was the AH, that ruined everything. It was a barrier keeping Blizz from fine-tuning the gameplay, because if some items would drop a little more often than never, then the AH would be flooded with those, that would impact difficulty, gameplay would get boring, and so on. AH influenced Blizz's decisions, bound them to it's rules. BoA was part of the solution, but not a cure. And after all the patching the only thing I really enjoyed was plaing self-found HC with friends, who felt like playing this way too, but the loot was not rewarding enough to keep playing past p8 (and my friends were only playing to get HC achievements). I believe that removing the AH was the decision, that will bring this game back to life for me and for many others. Strangely enough I was lucky to get into the beta the very day it was announced, and I must say I like it (lvl41 crusader atm). There are some things asking for improvement, but I have a feeling, that this is the game I will be enjoying like I enjoyed D2 in the past.
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What I like about the Crusader is that he is not squishy and can use any of his abilities in melee. Though spamming range abilities from melee feels odd (and I never did because of that). Not having a 30% damage reduction like Monks and Barbs do also feels odd.
I got to Act V yesterday and killed Uzriel, but I don't think I've seen this "get behind" thing. I'll be on a lookout, thanks =)
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I've actually been enjoing Blessed Hammer since I unlocked it. The Infinity rune (or whatever it's called, I also don't remember. It's effect is a 50% chance to create a new hammer whenever a hammer hits a target) is really fun. And when I was palying on Normal the lightning rune was quite handy. Switched to Expert right before Izual. I'm still lvl 40, and to this point the Crusader is quite tanky. Though I'm kinda new to HC, and maybe I'm investing a little too much in survivability, since my copy in the Diablo fight was quite a pain in the @ss to kill - it soaked damage like mad. So if "mid-ranged" is not your thing, there is a variety of things to try. Though I was expecting it to be fully melee, and was a little disappointed at first. But I've found what I personally like (Falling Sword)and also have some ideas on what to try later. But it's in no way a monk with all his blinding speed and flurry of blows. Maybe the Zeal rune along with AS Law and some AS passives opens a possibility to be like one, but it's definitely not my case.
BTW what i REALLY like about the Crusader is his personality. Makes me enjoy playing him and laugh sometimes
0
AFAIK loot alert isn't considered a hack. I think there was a support ticket answer somewhere (maybe photoshopped, I don't care) stating that they don't consider loot alert dangerous and that it can be used for now.
EDIT:
Looking at how further discussion went, I'll add a warning that I don't encourage using loot alert, so that I'm not responsible if someone gets banned