What would be the least popular (but correct) balance changes?

My balance changes would be this:

Remove +35% faster cast rate from Insight runeword and lower the ED% from 200-260% to 100-150%.

Reason for this is that it's too strong especially for Warlocks who can wield 2-handers together with a shield (or book but same thing). The mana regen it gives is already very powerful, it doesn't need to have everything for only a

Sol rune. I struggle to find a better ES Warlock weapon currently than simply using an Insight. Most of the alternatives are sidegrades at best, and much more expensive.

Remove +2 to all skills from Enigma

Reason: The ability to

Teleport for non-sorcs only costing mana without charges is already OP, you need some trade-offs here like no +skills on the armor itself. Having an armor that is basically BIS in every single way removes the decision making for the gear you're going to wear. It's okay to give non-sorcs access to

Teleport, so the sorc doesn't become the only option for speedfarming.

As long as Warlock stays in the game, all other changes are irrelevant.

Mizar wrote: 7 hours ago

My balance changes would be this:

Remove +35% faster cast rate from Insight runeword and lower the ED% from 200-260% to 100-150%.

Reason for this is that it's too strong especially for Warlocks who can wield 2-handers together with a shield (or book but same thing). The mana regen it gives is already very powerful, it doesn't need to have everything for only a

Sol rune. I struggle to find a better ES Warlock weapon currently than simply using an Insight. Most of the alternatives are sidegrades at best, and much more expensive.

Nerfing the ED on Insight would impact all classes that rely on Insight as a Merc Weapon for mana sustain, just to nerf Warlock. Maybe adress the problem itself, the Warlock, instead of broad strokes that affect every other class?

I agree on nerfing the Enigma, its just to good. I would just remove

Teleport and stick it on a new charm or a ring, to make it "fair" for all classes. Spirit would also be in a need of nerfing, the package is just to complete. Probably just

Cap it at +1 allskill or touching FCR.

I would say to add

Teleport to all the characters starting at level XX, lady no exception.

ceving wrote: 7 hours ago

As long as Warlock stays in the game, all other changes are irrelevant.

well its yet to see with the pending nerf, the nerf is pretty substantial to be honest, if that brings the most OP build at the moment down to his knee, warlock won't be as desirable, I'd actually like to see the dev sticks to their plan, even though I enjoy the current ES warlock (or any other lock builds) I want this game to be back to its former albeit already somehow broken state, for now ES lock is just too god damn OP,

Nova is fast but not as strong and versatile as ES lock, javazon is strong but no where near as fast as ES lock, even one hit wonder smiter is being caught up by ES lock's Uber clearing speed, dude can also easily stack resis and mf, is simply absurd.

Lehdro wrote: 7 hours ago

Nerfing the ED on Insight would impact all classes that rely on Insight as a Merc Weapon for mana sustain, just to nerf Warlock. Maybe adress the problem itself, the Warlock, instead of broad strokes that affect every other class?

How does nerfing the ED on Insight affect your mana sustain? It doesn't, it only nerfs the damage your merc does but I don't really see the problem with that. If you want your merc to do more damage there are always better options. Again, gotta have some trade-offs here, there should not be a one-size fits all weapon this cheap.

ganseng wrote: 22 hours ago

i really don't get the Spirit bashing. it took me forever to get my first one. and for most chars 156 strength is a heavy investment, i rarely equip it before anni

don't think this game needs that many nerfs, rather p8 in multiplayer and buffs to weaker builds

same here, I was surprised Spirit gets so much bashing, I wouldn't mind if it's shield only, but to a lot of the players including me, Spirit is a piece for an attainable milestone without endless grinding, sometimes the game should just set you loose a bit and its proven a positive thing to the players because if they keep playing for a short while they have something to look forward to that opens up the game for them, so I think the current Spirit shield is perfect as it is now, there are much broken pieces in the game.

Mizar wrote: 7 hours ago

Lehdro wrote: 7 hours ago

Nerfing the ED on Insight would impact all classes that rely on Insight as a Merc Weapon for mana sustain, just to nerf Warlock. Maybe adress the problem itself, the Warlock, instead of broad strokes that affect every other class?

How does nerfing the ED on Insight affect your mana sustain? It doesn't, it only nerfs the damage your merc does but I don't really see the problem with that. If you want your merc to do more damage there are always better options. Again, gotta have some trade-offs here, there should not be a one-size fits all weapon this cheap.

Yeah, you figured out the problem: If you do not go Insight, because you need phys. damage from your merc, you do not get any mana sustain. Insight in this state right now is already laughable for physical damage properties as you already mentioned. Its more of a crutch, than a proper solution. So, you want to diminish its usability even further? There is already a sizeable gap between Insight and other Act 2 Merc weapon options - but there is no viable alternative if you are mana dependend AND need SOME physical damage. Warlock, on the contrary, has tons of options, so nerfing him in that regard would fix your presented problem - because it only affects the Warlock and no other class is balance wise in need of adjusting regarding the use of Insight.

I will reserve my final judgement for the next patching cycle, to see what changed. Fixing

Eth Weapons is a great step, as well as are some other proposed changes to Warlock.

weegee wrote: 6 hours ago

same here, I was surprised Spirit gets so much bashing, I wouldn't mind if it's shield only, but to a lot of the players including me, Spirit is a piece for an attainable milestone without endless grinding, sometimes the game should just let you lose a bit and its proven a positive thing to the players because if they keep playing for a short while they have something to look forward to that opens up the game for them, so I think the current Spirit shield is perfect as it is now, there are much broken pieces in the game.

I would still use a Spirit shield if it gave +1 to all skills instead of +2. But right now it's basically BIS for a lot of builds so you don't really need to upgrade it anymore once you get it. That to me is a problem, there needs to be better options out there when it's this cheap to make.

Feel free to direct it at me. I can backup both of my opinions in this thread.

To be clear, this has nothing to do with how I like to play the game (this stuff doesn't even affect me, as I pretty much just play SSF; and I'm not advocating to remove trading), but what I think makes the most sense game-design wise.

I've been playing the game since it came out and I'm keenly aware of how it's been and how it works. Also keenly aware that none of these changes are happening at this point because it's all too baked in to remove, but there is a reason why certain things haven't been copied into other games when everything else about D2 has.

d2jsp wrote: 8 hours ago

human_being wrote: 1 day ago

That's another one for me: CtA should just not exist.

I agree, it's garbage that takes up a slot. You also need a Spirit Mon of at least 156 str for everyone except Paladins and those without Enigma.

Use a Barb on a secondary account or find teammates who share your playstyle and can play as a team. Even if the developers listened to the whining that's been going on for years, I'd simply level up a Telesorc on a third account to open portals for my DD and Horker, and I'd still be able to clear areas just as quickly as before, unlike those on walk.

Find friends and set the rules if you want everyone to play the way you want. If you play in public games with random players, most of whom are idiots, you'll have to accept that someone will ruin the game.

This message is not specifically for you, but for everyone who is trying to change something that was added to the game many years ago. It's still a remaster of LoD, although it looks more like a remake.

IMO, it's very good for the game that there are powerful, accessible runewords for new players. Spirit and Insight are critical for someone with a fresh account to get strong enough to complete Hell or be strong enough in P1+ games. I remember feeling how important it was to build up to double Spirit when D2R first came out.

One issue is that Spirit is so good for spellcasters but there aren't similar awesome things for physical classes that have the same accessibility. Sanctuary is close, but doesn't include any offense like Spirit does.

DeathEggZone wrote: 4 hours ago

One issue is that Spirit is so good for spellcasters but there aren't similar awesome things for physical classes that have the same accessibility. Sanctuary is close, but doesn't include any offense like Spirit does.

Yes, and Sanctuary's runes are much more expensive than Spirit's.

Good and cheap starting runewords for pure melee builds (not counting

Holy Fire Paladin) are Malice, Honor, Unbending Will and Lionheart.

But yeah, Spirit is so good it's on a different level.

Don't nerf anything. The fun of Diablo is gaining power over time, not being sent in reverse.

Instead - introduce new buffed bad guys. If Blizzard doesn't want to invest in new content like a 6th act, just do things like make it so every champion or boss in a TZ is a

Herald level difficulty. Make uber meph/diablo/

Baal/ancients randomly spawn in games frequently to f' with you. Or add a new 4th difficulty level "Depths of Hell" where all bad guys are buffed, resistances are worse, etc..

But then as a reward - either ideally new items, but again assuming blizzard isn't going to invest, just buff the rune and unique and

Circlet/ammy/ring drop rates by a huge amount when players are battling the new tougher content. Maybe I'll finally find a

Jah rune after 20 years?