​So I hear skills may be getting a rework

I'd like to share my thoughts. A little information about me since I'm here to share my view and my opinions are like buttholes. Everybody has one, and an astonishing amount of them smell.

It's been my pleasure to play Diablo II since around the year 2000, both on and off. I joined following the expansion, but just a few years prior to ranewords, synergies, and other runewords. I was first introduced to the game during middle school with my most beloved friend of the time and we spent numerous evenings and weekends in search of things. After completing this game with hell mode softcore (after an extended journey honestly, I was horrible in the past) My friend convinced me to play hardcore which I subsequently lost at level 7 to be lightning-enchanted.

Since then, I've developed considerably as a player. I've played lvl 95ish hardcore hammerdin as well as a high 80's poison Necro. I'm currently playing a tank-level 80ish find item barbarian that horked 4 exceptional exclusives (best one was the wizardspike) and an gul rune last night and am running around with 75% resist to all other cold 400% mf as well as 4k lives. He's not able to kill anything by himself, and must depend on a third party or his merc. However, his stuns can make enemies shiver and make them do 40percent less damage. He also doubles the mana and life of your character, and his merc can make them replenish themselves fairly frequently and can cause enemies to flee to clear chokepoints if required, and makes two players games rain d2r items as the game played by eight players. It's great fun to play since it doesn't steal thunder from anyone else and generally everyone is thrilled with him and isn't concerned about drops, aside from stuff that helps him , such as Guardian Angel, so I'm never competing against all the other DPS players for the identical items.

I love weird designs like ones that aren't part of the realm of the meta. I can still recall the Paladins that my friends and I played with in high school. Back in the day, Schaeffers Hammer could be the most powerful weapon you could find for a Paladin in the endgame. We played Holy Freeze, Fanatacism, and Conviction, with three revenge Paladins which means that nothing was completely invincible to us. Act 1 Hell felt just like the first act of normal with enemies dying due to the combination of the maximum Holy Freeze and Conviction. Many said that they had the most smooth baal runs they've ever had with us on them.

It's a good thing that I'm playing fairly well, and I've got plenty of respect for it. I've never been a top player, as I've always been more of a tank/support player than pure dps. I'm not able to clear things quickly enough by myself (nor am I a fan of repeating the same content repeatedly) enough to earn the top-end runewords, or add to my collection of +skill charms. I've killed Uber Diablo, and Tristram but I've also was able to run content for the end of game with a range of characters that are hardcore and I'm comfortable to say that I'm pretty decent.

Just now, I've stated that I'm a huge fan of the game but my experience with it has led me to be aware of its numerous imperfections. It's not to say D2 isn't a great game. It is evident in its impact on genres such as the Soulsbourne genre and the numerous

Diablo Clones that have been created from the game industry over time. The game is certainly popular however, we also recognize that popular games also have flaws. For instance, you could clearly observe Blizzard trying to correct their blunders by introducing the loot system to Diablo by introducing needs and greed rolls to the later games. The days are gone of all of us huddled together in a circle trying to be quick enough to pick up the only unique or set item, only later realizing that it was darkglow. There are many many problems such as that within Diablo II.

This leads the issue of Diablo II's most difficult issue. Its mechanics and progress. To fully discuss this, I must look to it from the other side, as it's hard to convey in a way that doesn't sound like me saying that the game is too difficult (its really quite easy, with a decent amount of different builds, and it's relatively simple to obtain equipment, but more about this in a moment) What Diablo II seeks to accomplish is create a sense progress. You begin as a massive hero, even in normal mode where everything works easy to play and the majority of enemies are killed in just a few hits, in the right way. When you reach NM and things get more difficult but you can still handle it, and you need to go slow, or the early hell will surely kill you. However, by the end of the game you're a massive hero, teleporting across the map and destroying everything you encounter with ease.

It sounds great, right? The problem is the mechanisms. To be able to reach that game-changing adolescent, you need to construct in highly specific methods. Synergies have to be maximized. The majority of skills are overlooked most of them are considered to be ineffective. There are numerous skills which the majority of players think are useless beyond the point of dip into. Every build order will have str and dex listed as "the most you must have in your gear, the remainder being converted into vitality or energy in the case of an energy shield sorcerer". There's not much variation in the endgame builds. The majority of them are "completely maximize all synergies and load your inventory of +skill charms". What's the point of elements like damage charms? What is the sole determining factor in the vast majority of melee players and characters?

I came across the answer while watching a discussion about an entirely different topic. One of the reviewers I like to watch was discussing common themes in popular media and the reasons why people are so enraged by some properties that people enjoy but they were discussing Sword Art Online. Their argument, the one that made me realise the flaws in D2 is that it's an awful video game (Ragnorak Online is in SAO) in the moment you consider it. Every job is DPS. There aren't tanks and no supports. There are only a few off-the-wall designs which actually perform.

The biggest issue in Diablo II. Everybody wants to play DPS, since at the end of the day, that's the only position that has had the ability to fulfill. It's not a fault of the individuals. It's a flaw in the game.

I'm just finished talking about my Find Item barbarian tank earlier. It was about how much fun it plays. I really meant that. He's able to pass through an enemies in the game and not be concerned about it. He makes it rain with items and players love to see him around. However, it's disconcerting due to his lack of potential. He's not able to kill anything by himself. He's not even able to make his own spells last for longer than a minute without the creature having a particular and easy to get weapon or taking mana potion. He is able to handle large packs of mobs pretty easily, however when he fails to keep shocked enemies out of his way and the unique monsters, his health levels can plummet extremely quickly even though he has 4000 lives and the maximum resistance to all and even a decent amount of defense, despite not being used with high-end items (which isn't easy to find items that are elite with the features you require to ensure you don't get stun locked constantly or instantly die due to an elite monster's death blast).

He works, right? I was taking 8 minions out of the NM at lvl 46, in rares that I bet at lvl 20 mainly. He could wander around and collect around 100 cows and be in the middle provided he's not straying the same area as a poor unique, and then be there for quite a while as long time, while keeping them all stunned as the dps go about their job. However, the guy is boring since it would take me between 5 and 10 minutes to eliminate the majority of mobs with mine own destruction. I was forced to give up so much, to get him to be what is he.

How can we solve this issue? In particular, without making the exercise more of a fun that it is now for some classes?

So, here's my concept. It is composed of three steps.

Lower the influence of skills above the level of 20. You heard me right. Reward reductions are severely diminished for each skill above 20. Let's end the necessity to stack skills and items that are single grand charms. I would like to see sorceresses that invest 10-15 points in the various skills of their tree and will have a reason to keep fire, lightning and cold gcs. They can be used in different amounts based on how much they require to be able to perform certain skills or areas. I would like to see characters who receive the charms for their skill class and referring to them as treasures not as an unfulfilling experience. I'd like to have more diversity in the builds as well as fewer that have 20 points for 5 different skill sets with one point in prereqs , or "must be able to have" capabilities that gain the full benefit from only 1 point.

Give skills breakpoints. There are additional effects available at levels 5, 10 15 or 20. For example, firebolt to the sorcerer. Let's say at level 5, it receives an increase in mana cost. When it reaches lvl 10, it explodes into a tiny AoE, like an explosion. When you reach lvl 15, it gets massive damage boost. When you reach lvl 20, it receives the benefit of a significant reduction in casting time which means you can shoot it as Amazon with the strafe. It's a mini gun that can handle fast and frustrating targets.

Eliminate decreasing returns on skills such as natural resistance. Instead, let them work differently, in which they begin as small but then explode until they reach the level 20. The level 20 natural resistance for the barb will also grant him a cap of 95% in all other resistances. It doesn't have to have hard points. Lvl 20 of fire resistance for paladins grants the ability to resist the fire for allies who have attained 100 resistance to fire, or even confers the ability to absorb fire. The find item level 20 offers a tiny chance of making regular mobs drop items as an exclusive mob, and even less chance to make them drop as an extremely unique or distinctive Council member (we're talking about.5 percent and .1 percentage chance or something similar but it could still be significant in the case of cows)

Let's look at the reasons to invest the 5-10 points they need into their particular skill than 20 or 1 or zero, is what I'm trying to say. Holy fire at higher levels. It adds fire damage to all melee attacks, and increase the damage of weapons and charms by a certain percentage. A paladin can transform into a swift barbarian fiery tornado. Make those charms with +fire damage into useful items for certain class combinations. Develop more two and three combinations of characters that are effective for further builds. The best things could be derived from this.

To ensure that hell mode is not too challenging, make it more frequent for monsters to be granted two immunity. Uniques should be given larger sets of minions, and allow them to share their immunity. Thus, for a sorcerer who has gone for lightning damage, encountering a unique who is lightning enchanted , is an actual "holy the f*ck" moment, not being a "Ugh it's a shame I have to be patient for my character take out the special" time." This makes hyper-specialized builds still effective in fighting bosses, or clearing out areas like cows, or other areas in which they are aware that there is a limited number of things that are resistant to their attack and let more diverse builds such as the traditional Weatherwoman sorcerer also get a chance to shine, especially as they are a skill-based build with attack abilities that cannot be thrown at a rapid pace, but is the most efficient at alone clearing any area of hell.

Take away the hammerdins' ability to bypass the challenges of undead and demons. There is no need for any class which can't abide by the fundamental rule of Hell mode that is "there always is something that you'll have a difficult to deal with on your own. This isn't a problem but a difficult time"

Maybe you can improve the scaling for players 8? It's true that right now it's still a breeze to build an dps-only build using amazing gear, but many class combinations suffer when playing with players 8. As with players 8, ubers are extremely, difficult than simply doing it by smiting. In fact, you should modify the smite no ever hits the same time or fix it to require players to be willing to engage in duels or that players at lower levels are penalized for attacking against higher levels of players. Make sure that trolls are not entering low-level games with paladins lvl 15-30 and charging/one-shotting sixty or more sorceresses is all I'm talking about or that "spider forests waypoint" exploit that allows players can instantly become hostile and end your life when you enter their area of the tp.

Give players more reasons to cooperate in difficult later stages, and less chances to make fun of one another is what I'm trying to say. Also... Find an option to create an option to have a quest system or loot bag for extremely unique characters, and to make them act like as bosses at the very the very least. I've had a hard to process information visually quickly and so trying to get loot and remain alive in D2 is an absolute nightmare for me. If I don't get loot, when I reach NM, I'm dead except if I want to solo grind for hours as the game is so much item dependent. Provide players with a motivation for staying in the game and trade after baal runs or an entire act rather than being overwhelmed.

Include a new feature in town or perhaps one of the shops or the person who rezzes mercs during an act, such as the quest board. Instead of getting the loot direct from a boss or something exclusive, we have to go to town and put on our treasure chest or accept the reward. Players can then share the items they have received and exchange d2r ladder items in the event that they get something else could benefit from. Don't leave completely empty-handed from baal run or whatever, right? You can no longer teleport through the action as fast as you can or avoiding the additional areas, since If I actually do go hunting for a cold crow in this 5-man Game of HC early, we will have five more chances to loot, which can then be traded with one another. The best things could come from this.

That's all I have to say about my thoughts. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Do you have specific suggestions for breaking points in your skill at levels 5, 10 15, and 20? Let us know your suggestions!