Also no matter how extensive testing is, and how big testing stuff is, you can never outtest a millions user doing their best to break your game. You can test all day, then someone comes in, put pineapples on pizza and congrats - new meta
As for Reaping arc itself - I personally agree that it does not need converter. In my opinion vit is already extremely well supported damage type and no need to give it one more exclusive toy to play with. %WD nerf - sure, higher energy cost - sure, maybe even slightly less affected targets, but no inbuild converters
Both understand but a bit bummed since we have bonemonger, shadow queen, and the MI mace or Arcanor that all provide considerable elemental support for necro. Necro actually started getting all the most interesting elemental tools outside of scion!
To anyone that starts complaining and will start to complain about double rares used in the testing: Be reminded that almost every build has double rare versions, and thus if double rare build A is stronger than double rare build B, then non double rare build A should also be stronger than non double rare build B except when build B has a non MI defining item.
Again, I don’t think a game should be balanced around underoptimizations. That doesn’t mean casuals are ignored, unless you’re the type of casual who wants all buffs and no nerfs.
Maybe Fire/Lightning to Vitality conversion would make more sense over Ele to Vit? Or is the idea here to kill Cold RA along with the untested memes of Fire and Lightning RA?
Also I think new RA not only shines light upon the issues of 2h meta, but Spellbinder meta as well. Why am I not surprised that the best build is once again Spellbinder? RATA builds are nerfed multiple patches in a row because their DPS is too high for their survivability, but Arcanist and especially Spellbinder seem to go under the radar.
Pedantic and irrelevant. He obviously meant the majority of the people posting in the thread.
While we don’t know 100% that you grinded out runs, we also can’t assume otherwise. However it is common sense to do a few runs though for the sake of showing fast times, that’s just normal.
Yeah sorry dude, now you’re off your rocker. Feel free to click the third blue icon of buffs. Look at that, it ups the stats! Anyway, his build is FAR more realistic than yours. If you seriously think “realistic” builds all use double rares, you’re completely lost. His build is plausible, you can craft the weapon for crying out loud. And your fantasy build doesn’t actually exist, you GDStashed it. Read that last sentence a few times, and then talk to me about “realistic”.
This is like saying Usain Bolt runs marathons in realistic times. Sure bud, we’re all at that level too.
Oh man, that’s a good one. Using legendary sets, craftables, and other endgame items is apparently underoptimizing because they aren’t top tier greens. You are actively saying the game should be balanced around double rares. Where do I even start with this logic… Big Z save me!
It’s always been fluid how many Praetorians actually test due to various reasons; they move on to other games, get burnt out on GD and need a break, real life gets in the way, etc. Pretty much the same as anyone else who plays the game.
The last couple of times Zantai’s asked for players to apply to join the Praetorian ranks
but with no more major new content on the horizon I doubt we’ll see such again any time soon.
As powbam said there are a lot more non-Praets than there are Praets and your input is just as valid once you get your hands on a patch as ours is which is why there are hotfixes and further balancing after a patch comes out. We’re not infallible or all-seeing/knowing so the more eyes to spot problems the better. We just get a look at stuff before you all do so can give our feedback a bit sooner, that’s the only difference.
it is easier to compare BiS builds with eachother because there is a spectrum of “non BiS” versions of every build, so by comparing the best A vs the best B you can get a better control
Hmm okay, this makes more sense. I would still say this only gives you a rough sketch of balance. Purples and blues can offer unique set abilities and bonuses, you would miss out on things if you went all greens. Take build comparisons with a grain of salt.
The problem with his build is not the color of the items, but the choice of them, especially the weapon which was designed for one skill only and not only is missing flat or ANY relevant bonuses for the build, it also doesn’t have AS for crying out loud.
Realistic version of the fantasy build, with singlerares, is extremely easy to assemble - and to farm for because the items involved are very common, and MIs now drop with increased chances of relevant affix. And i even gave Alex this version right after he asked for it. The way he ignored it is very similar to how you managed to ignore
this line in the very post you quoted. That’s very weird.
In any case, i suggest to focus on the topic and stop throwing random s**t into the faces of people peacefully providing data. Provide your own data and let others to judge upon its validity. Data trumps all.
If this was ever the case the hail mamba meme builds I posted would’ve been the best builds in the game
Nothing gives you a perfect picture of balance. However by making the comparisons BiS to BiS, there are less parameters out of your control that will come into play. It’s the same way as irl stuff like laboratory tests. You want all factors to be under your control, meaning all differences in results will be either due to your own mistake or due to the difference on the tested subjects itself.
Greens in many slots have as much unique abilities as blues and purples. And also we’re comparing builds here. Not single items or skills. Even in this thread while it’s about Reaping arc, we’re testing builds with reaping arc, not just reaping arc itself as that would provide a very incomplete view of the situation.
That said, I suppose I can see going in the other direction and embracing the wider use of it and replacing the % Aether bonus with a % All damage modifier. Uroboruuk was such a smart fella, maybe he dabbled in other magics.
Seems like quite a stretch. If Reaping Arc is going to be turned into a generalist skill then it should be placed on its own relic, while Uroboruuk’s Reaping could get a different skill entirely. Like a player-scaled pet would be really cool. Or pseudo-pets like Azrakaa’s wind devils.
Personally I felt like scourge strike is a better place for a main attack/filler skill to be added instead of a +1 class relic. It would be similar to the Oblivion relic then, but with melee arc filler instead of casting. (I still like the idea of turning scourge into a 2h auto attack replacer instead though)
Yeah, it’s exactly as I thought recently - move RA to the Scourge relic and rework Uroboruuk’s Reaping to support, for example, some sort of pet or other neat concept.
Uhm… Why suggesting to reverse things and complicate everything? Leave RA(with WD adjustment mentioned above) as it is and make scourge something else?
Make it cold version of the Annihilation? Make it buff like stormcaller? Give it elemental RR like ignaffar proc? or WPS as suggested above? I agree it is useless as it is but swapping newly changed RA is…
I tried it before the 1.1.9.1 with a dw cold reaper, used as AA replacer but 2,4 CD is too long; you hit atleast 6-7 with basic attacks before rehitting Scourge Strike. Even with %100 WPS the results were worse than beronath. Did dummy tests and SR. It diminish sustain significantly. Did 75-76 without much problem but again didn’t felt good and I don’t believe %30-40 more WD will change it. Even lesser CD might not work since DW with capped AS you reach almost 4 attack per second.
With regards to Pierce Reaping Arc, the suffix “of Amarasta’s Fury” is one of the most stacked affixes in the game. It gives flat Cunning, Pierce Damage, Chaos Resistance, Slow Resistance (the most necessary for an attacking Nightblade), and points to Lethal Assault - a very good flat damage boost where both types can be converted to Piercing thanks to the belt.
If you make it so that both Elemental and Acid damage can be easily (or with enough greens) converted to Piercing, “Amarasta’s Fury” stacking will bork a Nightblade build similar to stacking “Stalwart” affixes when DA stacking provided increasing returns.
I don’t think there’s an affix which can provide so many necessary bonuses at once - maybe “of Blades” for retaliation (though with all the retal nerfs, viable gear that provides good bonuses + retaliation is hard to find), maybe “of Solael’s Malice” for Occultists, but rings can be abused far less than armor affixes. When the difference between a no MI Pierce build and a build with 4 “Yellow Resistance prefix of Amarasta’s Flurry” could be up to 50%, that’s something that should be looked into.
Yeah Amarasta’s Flurry is stacked but Cuttroat’s prefix is even stronger.
I’d say both need their cunning bonuses removed. The main reason MI pierce builds have so much more dmg than purple ones is first and foremost cunning stacking which trippledips the dmg through %dmg, higher OA and faster Assassin’s Mark proc.
LA bonus must stay because it’s a different rout to aquire dmg on WD focused builds and, again, on many, many builds it’s viable only just, especially after OA removal.
Why the need to nerf pierce affixes all of a sudden? Because pierce RA is OP or what? Yeah, right, lets hit every build because of that. “Cutthroat’s” is only available on jewelry and belts. Now tell me, how many pierce builds use green medals, rings and/or belts?
For “Amarasta’s Flurry”, if you struggle to get slow res and your build can allow for, say, two of those suffixes, then why shouldn’t you use it?
People seem to abuse “Formidable” and “of Kings” more. Shall we nerf them as well? Because they can be used on pierce RA as well.
We have now 2 Arcs from relics - spam and CD. And the last one looks like doesn’t work well. The one way to address the issue is to move spam arc from Necromancer relic to Scourge and the other way is to redesign the skill on Scourge to make it more useful and attractive to players.
Let see feedback/thoughts on this from other community members and maybe Zantai as well.
