It's actually way worse than expected. They showcase builds, which don't make any sense. For example, why would you put a 160 dex gem into a ring? Most of the items are not rerolled either. Rerolled items were rolled wrong in most of the cases. This may mislead new players and inexperienced players.
"They" don't put or choose anything. What you see is a rift cleared by an actual player using the particular build and items.
People have been asking for a feature that they could measure "skill", meaning you get same gear and rift, and now that they got it, they realize it's not all that fun unless there are some significant rewards attached to it.
I don't get why you set so random targets for viability.
I mean who is to say you need to steamroll T13 for a spec to be fun?
If you enjoy the play-style you could use it for T1 or T6?
You mention reaching GR 30, so you did progress :).
You then mention 50 would be acceptable? What's the reasoning? Why not 40? Why not 60?
All the different difficulty and GR levels are relative. Even the "meta" builds have points where you can no longer progress and progress comes in steps (listing the GR levels as a very loose guideline):
- get full set (including supporting legionaries) (GR 60-70)
- get better rolls for each item (GR 70-80)
- get ancient version of items (GR 80-90)
- get more paragon levels after 800+ (GR 90+) - augments also help jumping a few GR levels as well
So if you divide the GR levels by 2, let's say, you could work on your own build. I mean with Paragon 1,400+, I am sure your build would clear more than GR 30, etc.
Yes Blizzard did pick some skills and decided to build sets around them, and then tuned the numbers so that clearly they are more powerful than "random" builds, but nobody is telling you the difficulty and progression pace you should pick.
If you want to rush, complete the Season Journey in a week or so, go ahead, use the "meta" builds, but if you want to take it easy, see how far you can go with your home-brewed setup, then by all means go ahead.
Getting power leveled means you missed out on testing the different skills while getting them during leveling, but this doesn't mean you can't do it now.
Find the build that suits you most and then start your max level journey.
I recommend to start on Master difficulty, and if mobs take more than a few hits to die, turn it down to Hard.
Don't bother with Expert difficulty, it's quite inefficient.
You should do Nephalem Rifts, as they have the best chance to drop legendaries and those are what you need.
Once you're comfortable with the gameplay and get a few upgrades on your gear, you can try joining public games.
Multiplayer is more rewarding in Diablo 3, even if it's just a PuG, so join them for some rifts.
Once you can bump the difficulty to Torment 1, the most powerful sets are able to drop, and you will want to focus on getting a full set.
Any of the 4 Wizard sets can work but if you want to target the completion of a set via gambling for example, I recommend going for Tal Rasha.
In terms of spending your blood shards, you should gamble for the slots where you still don't have a legendary item, and once that is done, gamble for the slots still missing from the set of your choice.
A very big boost early on will be a good weapon, so use whatever weapon you are able to find Ancient, preferably with a socket.
Make sure you get the brand new Kanai cube, as it has some useful recipes for starting up, such as re-rolling a set item you have as a double or upgrading a rare item into a legendary of the same type.
You will also want to do some Bounties, but I prefer to leave those for when I am able to split farm them.
There any many other tips and tricks, but you will be able to find them out either by reading this forum or by yourself in-game.
It looks like this patch adds new ways of farming specific legendaries/slots, through the Kanai cube, so I believe the problem will not be as big as it used to be.
Additionally, with being able to use legendary powers, certain items will not be so mandatory, as you could simply imbue their power and use the next best thing you get.
Why not just stopping the leveling at paragon 800?
Well that defeats the purpose of the whole system, which was to give some progression after you reach max level, initially, and after paragon level 100, later.
When the overhauled paragon system was introduced, level 800 was supposed to be very time consuming to reach, but with the subsequent changes (XP, GR, etc.), it became quite trivial for people playing a lot.
In seasons, I don't think it's such a big issue, because any advantage is lost when season is reset, but maybe it could benefit a little from toning it down, so people optimizing their XP farming, don't get so much ahead.
However the problem is for non-season, as the gap is constantly increasing. This means that simply nerfing the benefits would make the top paragon levelers very unhappy.
To give some clarification to the 2H Crossbow vs Bow vs 1H Crossbow questions, based on my understanding gathered from various sources, here are a few things to consider:
1. Arcane Barb is very popular because you can craft as many as you need to get a very good ancient roll on it. This is why people consider it a very solid choice.
I have seen people state that it's BiS, which is simply not true as it adds no bonus of flavor over any other weapon, so the stats on it and possibility to get them is what makes it a choice.
For example a Pus Spitter with the same rolls as an Arcane Barb will be superior as the blobs will add some DPS themselves.
2. DPS is a good way to compare weapons only if you use builds that benefit from attack speed. Unfortunately because of the CA builds being hatred starved, it means that even if you can shoot faster, you will not have resources to cast more CAs.
Sure you will also generate it faster with your generator skill of choice, but people did the match and harder hitting CAs turn out on op.
Also sentries don't really benefit that much from attack speed, especially compared to the previous version of the M6 bonus, this this is why TnT is not a good choice anymore.
Attack speed is of course an overall DPS gain but when you compare what you're sacrificing for it, you get better choices (like RCR for solo play or Area Damage for group play).
3. Calamity, Etrayu and Krider Shot, ancient ones, with good rolls, are alternatives because they provide extra benefits that translate to "hidden" DPS.
I tried it myself, and I found that it's a lot easier in the long run to gear a DH and get the keys you need, than feel under-powered for the trials, even with great Wizard gear.
Most people seem to forget about the lower attack speed on the furnace, which is the main reason to why furnace is superior to one-handers or for example a Maximus with both greater damage and fire damage.
What does the attack speed of the weapon have to do with anything?
The Furnace is better than Maximus because 50% elite damage is better than 20% fire damage.
Attack speed is indeed useless for this spec, but implying that 2 weapons with same damage range (not DPS) wield different results is just wrong.
Well stat weights will always be relative to your current gear, so it can fluctuate. You could do some calculations for expected stats with perfect gear, but that will never be obtainable anyway.
Also as people mention, there is the defensive benefit from INT as well to consider, not just pure DPS.
The ideas I see floated around lately are that you only want to reroll the INT on the amulet, since the amount of gains from 20% Fire damage or 100% CHD outweigh the benefit of 750 INT, but for rings, the ratio is smaller, 500 INT vs 50% CHD, so INT is worth keeping.
Hey i dont understand the use of Bane of the Trapped over Bane of the Powerful at all. Can you explain that? I can maybe see something like that in higher GR the buff falls off too much but isnt it just better than to use 20% Fire dmg on the Amulet instead of of BotT?
There is a not so obvious difference between the two gems.
You can check the information here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14058607023
Basically Bane of the Powerful is in the same category as regular dmg % increase buffs, which means it gets less valuable the more you have from other sources (skills, items, etc.), while Band of the Trapped is in it's own category, so it scales better.
Same reasoning for 20% Fire dmg. It's only 20% if you have no % Fire dmg at all on gear, but if you already have 80% Fire dmg for example, it's only a 11% increase.
0
"They" don't put or choose anything. What you see is a rift cleared by an actual player using the particular build and items.
People have been asking for a feature that they could measure "skill", meaning you get same gear and rift, and now that they got it, they realize it's not all that fun unless there are some significant rewards attached to it.
0
I don't get why you set so random targets for viability.
I mean who is to say you need to steamroll T13 for a spec to be fun?
If you enjoy the play-style you could use it for T1 or T6?
You mention reaching GR 30, so you did progress :).
You then mention 50 would be acceptable? What's the reasoning? Why not 40? Why not 60?
All the different difficulty and GR levels are relative. Even the "meta" builds have points where you can no longer progress and progress comes in steps (listing the GR levels as a very loose guideline):
- get full set (including supporting legionaries) (GR 60-70)
- get better rolls for each item (GR 70-80)
- get ancient version of items (GR 80-90)
- get more paragon levels after 800+ (GR 90+) - augments also help jumping a few GR levels as well
So if you divide the GR levels by 2, let's say, you could work on your own build. I mean with Paragon 1,400+, I am sure your build would clear more than GR 30, etc.
Yes Blizzard did pick some skills and decided to build sets around them, and then tuned the numbers so that clearly they are more powerful than "random" builds, but nobody is telling you the difficulty and progression pace you should pick.
If you want to rush, complete the Season Journey in a week or so, go ahead, use the "meta" builds, but if you want to take it easy, see how far you can go with your home-brewed setup, then by all means go ahead.
1
I am sure you can try plenty of fun builds at lower difficulties.
Not all builds you think of should be usable or efficient at the high end of difficulty.
0
Hi, welcome to Diablo3!
Getting power leveled means you missed out on testing the different skills while getting them during leveling, but this doesn't mean you can't do it now.
Find the build that suits you most and then start your max level journey.
I used something similar to this: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bdYSQO!hdXR!YcZbZc
I recommend to start on Master difficulty, and if mobs take more than a few hits to die, turn it down to Hard.
Don't bother with Expert difficulty, it's quite inefficient.
You should do Nephalem Rifts, as they have the best chance to drop legendaries and those are what you need.
Once you're comfortable with the gameplay and get a few upgrades on your gear, you can try joining public games.
Multiplayer is more rewarding in Diablo 3, even if it's just a PuG, so join them for some rifts.
Once you can bump the difficulty to Torment 1, the most powerful sets are able to drop, and you will want to focus on getting a full set.
Any of the 4 Wizard sets can work but if you want to target the completion of a set via gambling for example, I recommend going for Tal Rasha.
In terms of spending your blood shards, you should gamble for the slots where you still don't have a legendary item, and once that is done, gamble for the slots still missing from the set of your choice.
A very big boost early on will be a good weapon, so use whatever weapon you are able to find Ancient, preferably with a socket.
Make sure you get the brand new Kanai cube, as it has some useful recipes for starting up, such as re-rolling a set item you have as a double or upgrading a rare item into a legendary of the same type.
You will also want to do some Bounties, but I prefer to leave those for when I am able to split farm them.
There any many other tips and tricks, but you will be able to find them out either by reading this forum or by yourself in-game.
Feel free to add me in-game if you want.
0
I just completed it using this build:
2.3 The Thrill Conquest - WoW Fire Build
It took a few tries to get a decent rift, as DPS was lacking so if there were too many nasty mobs that I needed to skip, the run was over.
0
Re-roll legendary gives you the same item, not a random of the same type. Upgrade rare recipe works like Kadala.
That's the point of the re-roll legendary. You need to first find the item you are targeting, and then you can re-roll it until you get a nice one.
However it's not cheap, so you should probably use the cube for the weapon, and use Kadala for your armor pieces.
And yes, you should do T7 bounties, as at that point you start to get 8 mats per act, as long as you follow the bonus act.
0
It looks like this patch adds new ways of farming specific legendaries/slots, through the Kanai cube, so I believe the problem will not be as big as it used to be.
Additionally, with being able to use legendary powers, certain items will not be so mandatory, as you could simply imbue their power and use the next best thing you get.
0
Well that defeats the purpose of the whole system, which was to give some progression after you reach max level, initially, and after paragon level 100, later.
When the overhauled paragon system was introduced, level 800 was supposed to be very time consuming to reach, but with the subsequent changes (XP, GR, etc.), it became quite trivial for people playing a lot.
In seasons, I don't think it's such a big issue, because any advantage is lost when season is reset, but maybe it could benefit a little from toning it down, so people optimizing their XP farming, don't get so much ahead.
However the problem is for non-season, as the gap is constantly increasing. This means that simply nerfing the benefits would make the top paragon levelers very unhappy.
0
Thanks for sharing.
Great job, your posts are always so well constructed and informative.
0
To give some clarification to the 2H Crossbow vs Bow vs 1H Crossbow questions, based on my understanding gathered from various sources, here are a few things to consider:
1. Arcane Barb is very popular because you can craft as many as you need to get a very good ancient roll on it. This is why people consider it a very solid choice.
I have seen people state that it's BiS, which is simply not true as it adds no bonus of flavor over any other weapon, so the stats on it and possibility to get them is what makes it a choice.
For example a Pus Spitter with the same rolls as an Arcane Barb will be superior as the blobs will add some DPS themselves.
2. DPS is a good way to compare weapons only if you use builds that benefit from attack speed. Unfortunately because of the CA builds being hatred starved, it means that even if you can shoot faster, you will not have resources to cast more CAs.
Sure you will also generate it faster with your generator skill of choice, but people did the match and harder hitting CAs turn out on op.
Also sentries don't really benefit that much from attack speed, especially compared to the previous version of the M6 bonus, this this is why TnT is not a good choice anymore.
Attack speed is of course an overall DPS gain but when you compare what you're sacrificing for it, you get better choices (like RCR for solo play or Area Damage for group play).
3. Calamity, Etrayu and Krider Shot, ancient ones, with good rolls, are alternatives because they provide extra benefits that translate to "hidden" DPS.
0
However, I can't seam to find that post. Is this the case or am I imagining things?
0
0
The Furnace is better than Maximus because 50% elite damage is better than 20% fire damage.
Attack speed is indeed useless for this spec, but implying that 2 weapons with same damage range (not DPS) wield different results is just wrong.
0
Also as people mention, there is the defensive benefit from INT as well to consider, not just pure DPS.
The ideas I see floated around lately are that you only want to reroll the INT on the amulet, since the amount of gains from 20% Fire damage or 100% CHD outweigh the benefit of 750 INT, but for rings, the ratio is smaller, 500 INT vs 50% CHD, so INT is worth keeping.
0
You can check the information here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14058607023
Basically Bane of the Powerful is in the same category as regular dmg % increase buffs, which means it gets less valuable the more you have from other sources (skills, items, etc.), while Band of the Trapped is in it's own category, so it scales better.
Same reasoning for 20% Fire dmg. It's only 20% if you have no % Fire dmg at all on gear, but if you already have 80% Fire dmg for example, it's only a 11% increase.