There are 2 major reasons the 1 dps + 3 zdps meta exists. Scaling mob dmg requires as many buffs/cc you can get to keep the dps alive at higher Gr lvls. The second and really the bigger issue that will prevent even 2 dps is the lag. D3s servers simply cant handle the numbers. This is why zdps go with no area dmg or LoH. In its current state, the game would lock up every time you grouped up enough mobs to kill with 2 dps .
For most of the past seasons 2 dps + 2 zdps was the meta because it provided the best utility combined with the best dps and the least lag. We saw 3 zdps start in S3 speed runs only because people wanted to leach XP+gear on their dps class but it was uncommon, in S4 supports were able to act as dpsers thanks to Static Charge monk proc'ing from everybody's attacks but there was still many groups with EP monk + SC monk. S5 is when 1 dps + 3 zdps was mandatory and it has nothing to do with buffs or lag, it was entirely because of a brokenly OP sword and a brokenly OP passive that allowed 1 class to pump out lingering AoE spells that scaled exponentially and reached heights unforeseen by the devs.
Lag is a byproduct of too many mobs taking damage too frequently. The game was designed around the assumption that mobs would die fast so things like DoT's ticking many times per second or the Area Damage stat which proc's multiple times off of spells that already do AoE damage (aka exponential scaling) are okay when things die fast but it lags to all hell when you group a ton of shit together and it never dies. They have slowly been redesigning things ever since S1 to reduce the number of calculations but AD is fundamentally flawed, DoT's need to tick less frequently, and mobs need to leash to prevent over-grouping (too much density).
The meta is controllable, they can promote builds that cause less lag by making those builds' dps the highest, they can reduce the utility of support specs, they can make DoT's tick less often, and they could redesign AD to only work with single target spells or only proc off the first target hit ortons of other things that don't create exponential calculations...
Rather than removing them entirely, I think another solution could have been;
Select the GR level you 'think' you can handle. EG GR:45
Select how many GR45rift tokens you want if successful Eg 20.
Start Trial.
The mobs inside are equivalent to GR45 mobs.
Kill mobs (1 wave only).
A GR45 Champion pack then spawns (timer adjusted to suit what's fair to kill a pack).
Kill champion pack (1 wave only).
End (success)
You get 20 GR45 tokens
End (fail)
Try a lower setting!
Thoughts?
Not that it matters but for the sake of discussion.
No. Trials are boring, unrewarding, waste tons of inventory/stash space, and require alternate gear and specs than what you actually run the rift with. The new system is much better.
It only applies to public games which are a cesspool anyways. The real annoyance is that you have to be level 70 to join T7+ private games so even if your friends are willing to power level you then they have to drop it down to T6 first and recreate game after you're 70.
You do realize this is an ARPG. Your entire argument about skill is completely contrary to the format of roleplaying games. You grind and grind and grind to get more power, skill has little to do with anything in RPG's. The game doesn't take much skill at all, it takes a little knowledge which you can learn quickly, and lots of time grinding gear and paragon. Bots are pretty good at grinding and can play 24/7 so they are on the leader boards. If you want bots banned then that makes sense but arguing for a leader board that displays skill means that you don't want the game to be an RPG.
The bigger issue is that botting generated tons of GR keys which were then used to run tons of speed GR's which gave inflated XP to support leechers who now have 50% more main stat than a typical well geared player. That's 50% more dps that no amount of skill can make up for. Whether a particular top player bots or not is almost irrelevant because they get speed GR keys from people who do, and pretty much everyone who plays multiplayer has benefited from all the "free keys" for speed GR's that botters farm up.
Nonseason will be totally screwed unless Blizzard does something to reduce the effect of paragons over 1k, especially since XP will be harder to get with the changes they've made on PTR. Super high paragon players will stay there while everyone else will have a harder time catching up. It will be a positive affect on S4 though because XP gain will be even among the party and you'll be doing a lot more T10 rifting (additive XP still) to get ~1.3 GR keys per run that can't be recycled.
Thanks! Well, better than the other data indeed, but looks strange. Before paragon 1000, having the same levels in season and non-season would result in not more than 100 paragon more (as a rough rule of thumb). According to this, if I take the example of Vajet (who's quite high in both season and non-season paragon) he'd jump from p1339+p1358 to p1662 after the season, more than 300 levels gain. It might just be because of the crazy amount post-p1000 XP needed per paragon level... who knows.
I'll use this data for now, until someone disproves it - but it would really be great if some p1000+ guys could just post how much they need for the next level, so we can "validate" the table. There are enough out there ;-)
No it's because before paragon 800 the xp per level needed was irrational. You always had different xp per level jumps. After 800 the xp per level is rational again and you need exactly 122.400.000 XP per level. I can confirm that both charts are correct and still up to date, since I am a pretty high paragon player aswell.
If the spreadsheet is correct for lower paragons, there are XP patterns all the way down. Even the 122,400,000 pattern extends down to p750.
>p750 = add 122,400,000 to previous lvl's xp req
p701-750 = add 102,000,000 to previous lvl's xp req
p651-700 = add 81,600,000 to previous lvl's xp req
The reason Mikhail was confused is he didn't test his skills with the exact same stats without the ring set at all.
Since my testing showed that the hit that triggers the buff is also boosted by it, he was always seeing the 50% damage added on to his initial hit with either skill (you can see in his video when he tries to baseline his skill he waits for the other buff to fall off).
This means his baselines were spenders with the 50% spender buff and generators with the 50% generator buff.
Hold on guys ... I appreciate the feedback but if the buff affects all damage, shouldn't I be doing more damage on the 2nd hit with either my generator or spender?? Please point out the flaw in my logic and I will retest. First hit 8m. Second hit = 8m. Shouldn't it be 12m?
The first quote already explained it to you. The buff applies immediately and affects the hit that applies it. If you had the same stats with generic rings then you would be hitting for ~5.3m but the buff raised it to 8m.
Call it whatever you want but it's Blizzard's game, Blizzard's TOS, and Blizzard choice whether it's allowed or not and they have already decided that it is. Any argument you have is a pointless waste of time.
It's invite only which is elitist by definition. Monks must play a very specific build (which is about to be nerfed) with specific gear even though the build is not strictly said. If they decide you die too much (by what metric?) then out you go. Once you are accepted then feel free to play on badly geared alts that are worse than people who were rejected as long as you don't die too much though?
I'm not in T6 legit rifters and haven't ever applied but at least they tell you up front specifically what they want. This one is copying the name and claiming to be more open yet they're still closed and lacking any strict minimum requirements so you might get rejected while someone slightly worse gets accepted???
It's very confusing to me when there is a completely public rifting community that is fairly easy to find competent players in.
1
For most of the past seasons 2 dps + 2 zdps was the meta because it provided the best utility combined with the best dps and the least lag. We saw 3 zdps start in S3 speed runs only because people wanted to leach XP+gear on their dps class but it was uncommon, in S4 supports were able to act as dpsers thanks to Static Charge monk proc'ing from everybody's attacks but there was still many groups with EP monk + SC monk. S5 is when 1 dps + 3 zdps was mandatory and it has nothing to do with buffs or lag, it was entirely because of a brokenly OP sword and a brokenly OP passive that allowed 1 class to pump out lingering AoE spells that scaled exponentially and reached heights unforeseen by the devs.
Lag is a byproduct of too many mobs taking damage too frequently. The game was designed around the assumption that mobs would die fast so things like DoT's ticking many times per second or the Area Damage stat which proc's multiple times off of spells that already do AoE damage (aka exponential scaling) are okay when things die fast but it lags to all hell when you group a ton of shit together and it never dies. They have slowly been redesigning things ever since S1 to reduce the number of calculations but AD is fundamentally flawed, DoT's need to tick less frequently, and mobs need to leash to prevent over-grouping (too much density).
The meta is controllable, they can promote builds that cause less lag by making those builds' dps the highest, they can reduce the utility of support specs, they can make DoT's tick less often, and they could redesign AD to only work with single target spells or only proc off the first target hit ortons of other things that don't create exponential calculations...
2
No. Trials are boring, unrewarding, waste tons of inventory/stash space, and require alternate gear and specs than what you actually run the rift with. The new system is much better.
1
BOO HOO!
It only applies to public games which are a cesspool anyways. The real annoyance is that you have to be level 70 to join T7+ private games so even if your friends are willing to power level you then they have to drop it down to T6 first and recreate game after you're 70.
1
You do realize this is an ARPG. Your entire argument about skill is completely contrary to the format of roleplaying games. You grind and grind and grind to get more power, skill has little to do with anything in RPG's. The game doesn't take much skill at all, it takes a little knowledge which you can learn quickly, and lots of time grinding gear and paragon. Bots are pretty good at grinding and can play 24/7 so they are on the leader boards. If you want bots banned then that makes sense but arguing for a leader board that displays skill means that you don't want the game to be an RPG.
The bigger issue is that botting generated tons of GR keys which were then used to run tons of speed GR's which gave inflated XP to support leechers who now have 50% more main stat than a typical well geared player. That's 50% more dps that no amount of skill can make up for. Whether a particular top player bots or not is almost irrelevant because they get speed GR keys from people who do, and pretty much everyone who plays multiplayer has benefited from all the "free keys" for speed GR's that botters farm up.
Nonseason will be totally screwed unless Blizzard does something to reduce the effect of paragons over 1k, especially since XP will be harder to get with the changes they've made on PTR. Super high paragon players will stay there while everyone else will have a harder time catching up. It will be a positive affect on S4 though because XP gain will be even among the party and you'll be doing a lot more T10 rifting (additive XP still) to get ~1.3 GR keys per run that can't be recycled.
1
Speed GR's are better in every way. More xp/hr, legs/hr, and shards/hr.
1
If the spreadsheet is correct for lower paragons, there are XP patterns all the way down. Even the 122,400,000 pattern extends down to p750.
>p750 = add 122,400,000 to previous lvl's xp req
p701-750 = add 102,000,000 to previous lvl's xp req
p651-700 = add 81,600,000 to previous lvl's xp req
etc.
p2-60 = add 1,440,000 to previous lvl's xp req
1
The first quote already explained it to you. The buff applies immediately and affects the hit that applies it. If you had the same stats with generic rings then you would be hitting for ~5.3m but the buff raised it to 8m.
1
1) Have friends that play seasons.
2) Wait a week for them to outgear T6.
3) Get power leveled in 5 minutes.
1
1
I'm not in T6 legit rifters and haven't ever applied but at least they tell you up front specifically what they want. This one is copying the name and claiming to be more open yet they're still closed and lacking any strict minimum requirements so you might get rejected while someone slightly worse gets accepted???
It's very confusing to me when there is a completely public rifting community that is fairly easy to find competent players in.