I’ve been playing with this weapon a lot recently, both in Crucible and in Main Campaign. Overall it’s a great weapon and a build enabler. However it feels like some of its aspect are not that well designed or could be better. Here are my suggestions:
Why do we have %vitality damage on it? Seems absolutely useless. If we are using this weapon, we should be using two of them and our goal is to convert Vitality to Fire. So why do we have %vitality damage there? Makes no sense, there is 0 synergy between vitality and fire, it’s one or the other.
Weapon damage could be pure fire. I think this kind of special weapon can get this kind of treatment. There are not many builds that use fire swords, in fact, there is only sabouter besides the build you are suggesting this weapon for. So why not make it full fire, given how special this sword is in game’s lore and how exotic the build for this weapon is.
Instead of Vitality damage this weapon could use either cdr or crit damage or adtch or any subpar stat like “reduced burn duration” or whatever. Anything would be better.
Rolls on Vita to Fire conversion could have a tighter range. Right now it has 36 to 54 spread which is ridiculous because to farm another weapon you have to make a whole new character and level it to act 5 Ultimate.
Most weapons with conversions have the original damage type modifier. Not everyone will have both weapons, and not everyone will get two weapons that convert 100% if they do get 2. You yourself explained that well.
That’s not a bad idea, but then it doesn’t matter much of you use the conversion, and the conversion would likely be taken away as a result. That would affect how useful it is with all your other skills which might also need the conversion. Most weapons that do their intended damage type without the need of a conversion do not get a conversion on them.
I don’t think they intend for everyone to be a min/max type of player. Although this is not specific to this weapon, but a general idea.
That doesn’t make sense. I understand why this happens with physical damage, because you are getting physical damage leftovers quite often after conversion, so it makes sense to boost it. But here out of 3 damage types besides fire weapon gives you, it decides to boost Vitality, one damage that you are trying to get rid off and turn it into fire. Because it’s impossible to have a good build around both fire and vitality, it’s not fire and chaos, or physical and pierce or vitality and bleed.
That “sword” is specifically designed for “defilers”. My current build has 100% Vitality damage converted to fire.
There is an amulet and rings to fill the rest of the gaps. Getting 100% conversion is not really that difficult but it’s completely item dependent. You don’t need 2 swords.
I agree it’s not easy to scale fire+vitality in a build. Kilrians Shattered Soul is an obvious component that compiments both damage types but it’s an uphill struggle to try to get both to work. The bonuses to % vitality damage are just there as “gap fillers” until you find the other times required to make the build work.
Would I mind if the devs decided to add +%crit damage instead of %vitality bonuses? Of course not. But it hardly would make a massive impact on what the sword already offers. (I feel it’s in a really good spot. It is a build enabler. You can easily go fire to vitality if you have a conduit of destructive whispsers but vitality to fire is pretty rare.)
You are thinking in terms of min/max. Not in terms of how the dev’s create these items. Any item that converts from one damage type to another, always has both damage types boosted. I can’t recall ever seeing an exception, not counting the new skill conversions. Not everyone will succeed in converting all the damage to the new damage type. The items are designed to work in transition.
About vitality…the only thing that comes to my mind was that it was meant for Dravis
Well Dravis followed his fathers’ path being a necromancer and possibly occultist??
since his father was messing with the cthonian portals that consumed their house…
These classes use it so my 2 cents goes that it was for lore reasons…
But fire aswell? not many options to use indeed
Interesting build. I know what it’s for, in fact, I am very close to releasing an ultimate Defiler build guide. And I played with the sword a lot. That’s why I am posting this feedback. Lore or not, vitality boost on it is 100% useless. There is no “transition” for this item, guys, don’t forget you can only find it in last act in Crucible, it’s always level 94. So by the time you can equip it you have end-game gear and end-game build that you designed specifically for this item, you are not picking it up while leveling a defiler.
Having % Vitality damage isn’t hurting it just like not having it wouldn’t make much of a difference either.
The only argument you could make is that Crate could have added another stat there instead but for what it is and what it’s purpose is (increasing Vitality damage assuming you do not have 100% Vitality to Fire conversion), I’d say including it didn’t influence what other stats they wanted to add to it (like the OA/attack speed).
You could also argue that it should be % Physical damage instead but how much of a gain are you getting from that and is it worth asking to be changed
You keep assuming anyone who’d use this item, would have 2 with 50% conversion on it (45% is average). Not everyone has 2. Not everyone duplicates their gear (most do not).
You still cannot assume people have 2 and assume people will want to use 2, or that both items will be above average. People do play the game without cheating, or without trading. People want to use the item their first play through in some cases.
Assuming everyone who plays the game has 2, and is using 2, is asinine.
Getting multiple Blazehearts isn’t hard, it is just tedious if your first character is designed to be a Fire Defiler (which I wouldn’t say is common) as you have to level another character through to Mourndale on Ultimate again.
Otherwise, you’ll likely have multiple characters with which you can try your luck at getting 2 that total 100% conversion or at least one with 50%+.
Even then, it being a guaranteed Legendary like M. Stormheart means it will likely be up for trade quite a bit so scouring others for their Blazehearts is also a valid option for getting a pair of good blades. Assuming you’re not a dedicated SF player anyway.
So, basically you are saying screw anyone who plays differently than you. Got it.
Not that it matters, the preconversion boost is doesn’t hurt the weapon at all. It is there, like every other item in game that converts damage to another type, because there are a lot of people who use items without 100% conversion.
Edit: a little off topic, but this idea that everyone plays with 100% conversion, trades for their gear, or cheats for their gear is a problem with this game. No game should be balanced around these practices. Games have to be balanced around the average player who will not go out there and play 2 characters to high enough level to do the quest for their 1st character. They do not trade for their gear and they do not duplicate their gear. Balancing around these ideas is just bad.
I did not say I advocate that someone looking for good Blazehearts should do what I suggested, I simply laid out what their options would be discounting other ones that most people wouldn’t go for like using GD Stash to hack one in
If you think someone could do something else than what I suggested, by all means add to what I said.
Not that it matters, the preconversion boost is doesn’t hurt the weapon at all. It is there, like every other item in game that converts damage to another type, because there are a lot of people who use items without 100% conversion.
I made the same point above. The % Vitality damage does not hurt Blazeheart, I don’t know for certain obviously but I ascertain that the devs didn’t choose to put it there instead of other important stats like crit damage or CDR.
Edit: a little off topic, but this idea that everyone plays with 100% conversion, trades for their gear, or cheats for their gear is a problem with this game. No game should be balanced around these practices. Games have to be balanced around the average player who will not go out there and play 2 characters to high enough level to do the quest for their 1st character. They do not trade for their gear and they do not duplicate their gear. Balancing around these ideas is just bad.
Some people could argue that having a guaranteed chance to get your build-enabling Legendary is better than having to farm several hundred mobs/bosses and not get scratch so I think it’s fair game. Unless you want to absolutely push your damage to the maximum, you don’t necessarily need 100% conversion.
Hell you probably don’t even need 2 Blazehearts, kills will take longer but so long as it’s not a radical jump (like the people who are patient enough to do average bosses like Commander Lucius in close to 10m…) and you’re able to keep yourself alive, your build will do fine farming some areas at end game like Twin Falls.
So basically, you are arguing for the sake of arguing, since you more or less agree with me.
The simple point I made was that not everyone has everything available to them, and not everyone is going to play the way the OP things they should. That includes many options not said, in case that wasn’t clear enough.
It depends on what you are trying to achieve. In my case I wanted a “burn” focused buid. So I was seeking “vitality decay” options in the Necromancer tree. Problem is that Necros DoT options are pretty poor. At one stage my build was Canister Bomb + Drain Essence. But found Siphon Souls to be better for applying burn. Canister Bomb alone is enough to get you all the way to ultimate, the rest is a grind till you reach level 94.
I already had Blazeer Signets from previous characters. My builds are always missing gear. I obviously still don’t have Korvaak’s Deception. Those legs don’t suit my build either but they give me an extra 170 DA. I’m after embercore pauldrons as well. Long story short, you make do with what you have until you reach what you’re trying to achieve.
I know other players post builds that only seem to work bacause of godly green rolls. But usually in their guides they will post alternative items.
