Hey there, a question mainly to those who remember the times when FG released (and AoM by the same token): is it the case that when a new expansion drops, most if not all builds from before the expansion get obsolete (at least without changing to incorporate the new stuff)?
I’m not talking about balance patches with buffs/nerfs to skills and gear, because those rarely break the build into oblivion. Like, we can still play Korba trickster and it’s good, jsut not as overpowered as it used to be.
My main concern is the new stuff added to the game. With FoA we get lots of new legendaries and awakened epics. FG added new constellations etc.
The reason I’m asking is that I like collecting GT links for builds that look even remotely interesting, with the idea that maybe one day I get to play that.
Now I wonder if that will make sense in a few months at all, or will my collection of builds from 1.2.1.3 - 1.2.1.6 be as relevant as builds from 1.1.5.1 are today?
The only way is to play the builds at each patch and check regularly what top builders post.
If you build has 20k+ HP, 3500+ oa, 3000%+ damage, 3000+ d/a and 2500 armor with all res overcapped, there is nothing to worry about.
Check the patch notes after 1.3.0.0 hits and see for yourself how builds perform when you level them, maybe you want to change something during levelling and switch it to entirely different build at all.
I would say it is an accurate statement. If you have all those things, then yes, your build should have nothing to worry about.
Is it too much? Absolutely. I have builds with a lot worse than that which work just fine in game. It all depends on what exactly you are trying to accomplish!
Existing builds with strong support rarely get more support out of the gate from an expansion. New items generally are tailored to supporting new content (Masteries) and more esoteric/meme setups from the past.
AoM had the biggest shakeup because it raised the levelcap from 85 to 100 (and raised the item level cap from 75 to 94). It also introduced item skill modifiers for the first time, and raised the Devotion cap from 50 to 55. This obviously means that more or less any vanilla build would need to be nearly totally overhauled for AoM compatibility.
FG’s biggest additions to buildcraft were the Oathkeeper mastery itself and RATA, which didn’t exist prior, and a couple new Devotion constellations. Obviously new items/modifiers came with it too, but I still have some AoM builds live today in the final months of FG’s reign.
Now as a Praetorian (playtester) I’m in a bit of a weird spot addressing this question for FoA, but before the expansion went into testing, I still had a theory on this subject. The big shakeups looked to me to be Potion modifiers, Onslaught, and Ascended items. Zantai has made it clear that barring stat changes, nothing in Devotion will be new. Unlike FG, these are things most every build could theoretically capitalize on if the opportunity presented itself. So there might be more compatibility problems to arise than FG presented, but still less than AoM.
TL;DR I’d say some small tweaks to existing builds could be possible for min/maxing.
I find it silly to think that “x build is obsolete” in a single player story driven ARPG.
If you find a play style that’s fun to you and its decently optimized (meaning, you know GDs game mechanics and chose gear and skills that compliment each other)
then it doesn’t matter how fast or efficient it is.
Really the only thing that makes builds obsolete is Crate removing support from items.
I wouldnt worry too much! The main topic you need to be aware of is that likely there’ll be a lot of new top builds and you might compare your elder characters against them which could give you the sense that they’re nog good enough when there’ll be a ton of balancing to do
Zantai’s stance has been all endgame legendary sets should be endgame viable, even if not equally viable (toxic2031s and all that), i wouldn’t imagine FoA changing that notion
So should something drastic happen, that magically made Korba suck bawls so much it was borderline deemed not meta viable, (not toxic20 viable), that’s exactly what balance updates/PTRs are for and he’d likely bump it up as necessary
Or he’d nerf all the overpowered FoA stuff to make things equal that way the circle of lifeGD patches
aka Zantai giveth and taketh as our one true God so pleases
Oh and since Ascendant is aimed to be similar to SR30-31, it means any build that can handle that will be fine.
I do see potential for ascended epics though to replace some BiS items and/or open up some new toxic build possibilities. Alas, I’m not in the playtest, so all I have is maybes on that front.
SR32 is pretty much a cake walk though if you know how to build
Source - hundreds of hours now running it, stress testing builds
But average Ascendant mode is set to 30-31, which let’s face it, most players will stick to, because this is not Dark Souls. I will, of course, gumby my way through the hardest version, because I desire suffering. Sometimes. Which is how I played far to much SR testing out meme builds and getting frustrated n grumpy.
Fortunately now Zantai Zantarin is less prone to deleting build’s health in an instant these days…
What I am less certain about is this “dread” that can spawn. The Grim Misadventure 183 describes it as:
Which to me suggests Ravager or Calla.
If that is the case, many of my characters would not be able to defeat it even if they have no trouble with Shattered Realm 30-35. I think about 1/3rd of my characters can beat super-bosses like that without lots of kiting and high chances of snuffing it.
Of course, this is speculation and actual difficulty might vary and is likely subject to tweaks. Maybe it’s more on the level of Lokar. Or maybe half my characters will become Brave Sir Robin impersonators. We’ll see on release.
