This game has 0 balance. OMG is it unbalanced!

Ceno · September 28, 2019, 9:51pm

There is literally nothing else to do!

Alright everyone, back to talking about how the game has no balance…

…

So when can we start CC’ing shit?

Aikimox · September 28, 2019, 9:52pm

So, a question for Everyone - Is the Battlemage in a good spot right now? By design? No complaints?

Maya · September 28, 2019, 9:53pm

No, needs more pets.

sir_spanksalot · September 28, 2019, 9:53pm

We are talking about build diversity here, not a perfectly balanced game. It is possible to achieve the former, without attaining the latter.

EDIT: @aikimox - Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for battlemage buffs. But I’m also against OP, broken ass specs like the ones you so dearly love. Which, by the way, is perfectly fine by me.

I just find it odd that you believe build diversity can be maintained while simultaneously holding onto OP specs.

The 2 diametrically oppose one another.

Aikimox · September 28, 2019, 9:55pm

So, no viable BM builds = no effect on build diversity = all is good?

Ceno · September 28, 2019, 9:55pm

No, it’s garbage. We already had a thread for that, though: Soldier + Arcanist

From that thread, on the topic of Spellscourge…

Soldier + Arcanist

Soldier + Arcanist

In your opinion @Ceno, what does spellscourge need?

A good question.

It depends on the direction Crate wants the set to stay. I, for one, do not like Blade Arc and even if it did a gazillion damage I’d probably still hate sets built around it ( I have never played Bloodrager… ), but I am not of the mind that adding Physical Damage to BA is the call (for various reasons, one of which you just learned. ) Those small values of Physical Damage pale in comparison to what one could theoretically get out of BA’s % Weapon Damage; I say theoretically, however, because Spellscourge uniformly has godawful flat Weapon Damage on account of its shield and Arcanist/Soldier offering literally nothing in that regard.

DoT Spellscourge BA might be able to squeeze out some damage with new Overload, however if you’ve played much Spellscourge you’d know the set is not actually all that tanky and losing the ability to benefit from ADCTH on account of going DoT isn’t great.

Furthermore, Spellscourge does have the energy regen to sustain BA + Maiven’s, but not much else. Devastation is a massive load to add in to the mix and for not entirely much gain. Other utility spells and a movement rune (which is also unaffected by -%Cost) will quickly kill your energy pool.

What this all comes down to is that Spellscourge needs:

Damage

Damage Mitigation OR sustain

(More) Energy Regen

Given that that’s basically everything that every build needs, I’d personally argue that Spellscourge offers literally nothing to Battlemages and is not worth trying to build around. I don’t normally advocate for total overhauls (anymore), but the Soldier-side of Spellscourge sorely needs it.

jinsaotomex4 · September 28, 2019, 9:56pm

I’m sure that BMs being bad has been brought up 1000 times over the past 2 years but it’s not like mentioning it magically makes them good.

Norzan · September 28, 2019, 9:56pm

Delete Battlemage and save us the trouble of having it to make it good. Can’t make something good if it doesn’t exist.

sir_spanksalot · September 28, 2019, 9:57pm

I would love a response to this

EDIT: @aikimox - As it currently stands, the only logical conclusion I can come to is that you are using “build diversity” as a facade to push for buffs to the battlemage because of some “super duper, secret af, OP build” you have planned for it.

This is ENTIRELY based on an assumption, and I could be completely wrong.

But color me skeptical of your intentions.

tean101 · September 28, 2019, 10:02pm

Let me say it like this: I think that’s where you’re right

tean101 · September 28, 2019, 10:04pm

13000 Hours, its a little bit crazy …

Anonymous918 · September 28, 2019, 10:06pm

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere long ago that a lot of that was leaving the game open, and doing things like posting on forums, for example. Still, powbam does have a lot of time in the game, regardless.

Norzan · September 28, 2019, 10:08pm

Continuing the Battlemage thing, I’m becoming more against RR being just slapped on everything just as an easy solution to fix things, but i don’t know why Spellscourge hasn’t got a physical RR proc or skill as the final set bonus just to see how it would improve the set.

That PRM Arcanist set (i forget its name) and Blightlord each got one, so don’t know why Spellscourge can’t get one.

sir_spanksalot · September 28, 2019, 10:19pm

Do you mean invoker’s? And didn’t it get nerfed something fierce?

Norzan · September 28, 2019, 10:20pm

It’s still 15% elemental and aether RR (even though the latter doesn’t matter for the set). The point that it has it and i think Spellscourge could benefit a lot from a similar one but for physical.

sir_spanksalot · September 28, 2019, 10:21pm

Fair enough. I dunno what spellscourge needs, but I think @ceno has made some excellent suggestions above

Sobertooth · September 28, 2019, 10:22pm

It would just improve mediocre Spellscourge Warlord rather than promote Battlemage imo.

Something ridiculous like “50-60 reduced physical resistance to IEE” could make me try Spellscourge Battlemage.

Contragor · September 28, 2019, 10:22pm

In all seriousness, the reason is very simple and has nothing to do with OPness. We have discussed this many times with a large group of HC players on discord. It boils down to the fact that Crate has no intention of balancing the game for HC. Meaning, providing us with means to make farming builds, - reliable, durable and performing in mid SR or crucible. That is minimizing the risk of death. Not 80-85% survivability rates. 99%+ like in other games - D2,D3, POE, etc.

And given the fact that there’s nothing we can do about SR damage spikes or HC focused builds that boast survivability and half decent damage, we have to cling to these 4-5 op specs and use them as our farmers. Dead simple. If Crate expressed any interest in balancing the HC / SR / Crucible, Aikimox would post his builds. He has shared them with every HC player who had asked for it.

Norzan · September 28, 2019, 10:23pm

You mean Templar? Warlord sounds terrible with Spellscourge.

But really, does it matter along it improves Battlemage? Supposed Warlords and Templars getting better from this don’t matter much if Battlemage ends getting better as well with the set. Unless it makes the former two combos broken but i highly doubt it.

sir_spanksalot · September 28, 2019, 10:25pm

Which is why I’ve mentioned that I’m entirely fine with it. I can understand why HC players would want OP builds.

But…:

You cannot make the claim that such a playstyle supports/encourages/promotes build diversity (quite the opposite, really).
You need to accept that GD isn’t going to be balanced around HC. It’s kinda like marriage I guess? Like if I marry a woman I’m not attracted to, I can’t demand that she becomes prettier.

EDIT: If all HC players openly said, we want OP builds because we need them in HC, I would have no problem with that. I wouldn’t agree with their stance, but I can empathize with it.

What bothers me is using manipulation and deceit to get what you want (for the record, I’m not accusing aikimox - or anyone for that matter - of doing this, I’m just saying that that’s what it seems like to me).