Granted, they should have had some en mass testing of the inferno difficulty level (which is what is causing these skill nerfs). I'm not really that bothered, Blizzard always tweaks abilities and will for years to come. I'd rather them work to fix things than just ignore everything and leave them as is. I'm hoping the end result is that there are multiple valid ways of beating the different difficulty levels.
It's not that a game like that won't require tweaks and adjustments as time goes on. It's the fact that they had a lot of time to do beta testing with what they had and they never once bothered to see how things scaled through levels and let the game roll out live for a week before finally realizing that maybe there was some unintended results from certain abilities/skills. Add that to the fact that there are people who are now playing at the highest levels of difficulty that have just watched their characters get gutted and you get unacceptable results from a company that should know better. As it said in the article: I have no problem with developers adjusting and tweaking things within a game to make it more dynamic, fluid, and challenging. But to think that you have things all sorted out without ever taking into consideration the way players don't play inside the box, how skills grow as levels increase, and that people won't rush through content just so they can say first....well, you just set yourself up to fall. Blizzard knows better and yet they continue to act like someone new to the game scene. /rant over *In no way do these changes bother me since I'm still working my way through Normal mode. I just think it's poor business practice to go into games with this sort of thinking*
Just beat the Butcher on Inferno. It took me so god damn long. He rarely killed me; the majority of the time it was the fire blasts from the floor. When he gets sub 15-20% health the speed of the blasts greatly speeds up. Since it's random there were times when literally the entire floor was simultaneously in flames, doing eight to twelve thousand health a second. His combos were all doing in excess of 35-40k when he did hit me though. In other news, my DPS can top out at over 30k and I can regularly crit for over 50k, my highest being 73k.
Not on inferno yet but lol [video=youtube;PEyk63UaBI4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEyk63UaBI4[/video]
Well, after realizing that as a Demon Hunter in inferno from Act 2 onwards literally everything will either 1 shot me, or come damn near close, I decided that I would farm up gold and redo my build a little. The result? I now have a shiny new bow and can critical for an average of 120-130k, and the highest crit I saw was 172k. I almost gave up hope. There were so many times I questioned myself. But I found [it]. So many sacrifices just to find [it]. ... I'm not a mistake. It all makes sense. ... I should have known way back when. You know why David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr. Glass.
Beat Belial on inferno today. It took me many many tries, finally I was able to get through it with a Monk, Barbarian, and then a demon hunter in addition to my own. Some intel for posterity's sake. He just plain hits hard all the time. The following information is based off my DH, so the actual numbers will vary on tankier characters. In the first portion of the fight the serpents did around 25k-28k a hit, and the magi serpents did about 11k a second that you were in their field. When stage two comes around and Belial comes out to play if he rushes to you and punches you he does about 28-30k, whereas his clouds do somewhere in the range of 45k. When stage three rolls around his damage goes very high. His breath attack is about 60k, his ground slams for 60-100k depending if he uses 1 arm or two, and the acid mines are 80kish iirc. Good benchmarks to have stat wise for the fight: As a tank: in excess of 800 all resistance is said to be ideal for both barbs and monks. 50-55k hp is said to be good for barb.s, monks I don't know about too well. DPS: Your health is irrelevant, as are your resistances. I can't speak nearly as knowledgeably about the caster classes, but on a DH I recommend a minimum of 1600 dex (preferably closer to 17-1800), and 35k DPS (without sharpshooter proc'ed). Other things that really help: A minimum critical chance of 15% (again without sharpshooter), and any additional critical damage you can gather (I went without this, but, if you can, go ahead and use it). Also, just get a buddy to do it with you and save yourselves some grief. The good news: I'm on to act 3 The bad news: Literally every enemy in act 3 one shots me. Even in act 2 I could sometimes take a single hit.
I'm slowly catching up to Sardonic in Act I Inferno, and with some new gear it's still at that "challenging, but fun" stage. I'm still kind of looking forward to the "punishing, but fun?" stuff in the following acts, and leveling up some other characters on the side when I get burnt out. Definitely not for the faint of heart or the high of blood pressure! I'm also looking forward to the next major patch to see how things change, as the devs have said they're going to adjust damage in Inferno because of all the one-shottin'. Hats off to Sardonic for toughing it out and coming out on top!
I'm halfway through Hell, just about to start up act III, but I feel my wiz is going to need some major re-gear. Mezz and Sardonic if you guys come across any good mage stuff (or have old stuff you don't need anymore) let me know. I do have a 500 dps wand, but I know thats not going to cut it for long.
I can definitely keep an eye out for wizard stuff! Aside from the usual intelligence/vitality stuff are there any must-haves for your build?
On the note of items: If by whatever chance any of you ever get ahold of a bow with the following stats I would be more than happy to give you a fair price on it, or trade you equivocal items if I had them. 2 handed crossbow or bow 1100+ DPS >/= +250 dex >/= +45% critical damage modifier OR a socket (optional) I understand the chances are slim for that kinda item dropping, but I'm looking to upgrade to my final weapon for my demon hunter, and those are the stats I want ideally. If I'm going to spend an obscene amount to buy it I would rather it be from one of you.
